UnRally John Day, Oregon 2008
A number of good folks at BMWST.COM put together an unbelievable gathering of BMW motorcycles this July in John Day, Oregon. My agenda for this ride included testing a new Sargent seat, visiting with a long time friend of 43 years and former Yoshimura and Honda HRC motorcycle tuner Mike Velasco; read a short nighttime book to my granddaughter; ride cool mountain roads, and stop in on the doings in John Day to visit with the iron butts.
I departed on a seven-day adventure from my home in Coarsegold on Saturday July 5th leaving my wonderful co-pilot wife behind to make sure the landscape didn’t dry up. This first day’s plan was to include a stop to meet a forum member, Mike M, otherwise unknown to me for the first time in Medford, Oregon. He graciously offered assistance to members traveling through to John Day. I ended up spending the night after his wife, Debbie M, prepared a very tasty meal. Mileage logged 479 miles.
The second leg of my ride began at 5 am, planning to stop a few hours later for breakfast, skip lunch and would take me to Kingston, Washington. Early that day I needed to stop south of Salem. I was getting cross-eyed, never a good sign on a motorcycle. A roadside rest area was just what the doctor ordered. Wide benches overlooking a river afforded a perfect place to lay down in my riding suit and take a short nap. By then the sun broke through the cloud cover providing me a comfortable ride. I chose the bypass around Portland because I never liked riding the Portland freeway mess. Besides the scenery was better anyway. Arrival time in Kingston was 4:30 pm. We had a wonderful dinner on their dining room balcony overlooking trees and ferns with the Hood Canal in the background. Mike set me up with my own suite for what was a very comfortable nights sleep. Not a sound was heard all night. The local woodpecker brought me a familiar ta ta ta ta sound but I was still in sleep land, rolled over and caught a few more zzzzzs. Mileage logged 471.
Before noon on the 7th of July Mike and I rode out to Olympic National Park. On the way we stopped at a Lavender Farm that belongs to the family of a friend of his for a chat. Lavender farms are a common sight on this side of the peninsula. Lavender soap, lavender lotion, lavender tea, lavender, lavender, lavender, not for me so we continue on our ride. Mike’s not accustomed to long rides of this nature. He commutes a short distance to work on an elderly 1150 ES Suzuki and rides a ultra fast Ducati Superbike on the track. Eighty miles to Olympic National Park was stretching his posterior’s limits. However, the day was absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. A day for reserved for capturing picture postcard photos. A day landscape photographers live for; blue sky, white puffy clouds, and cool clear clean mountain air. It doesn’t get any better. I picked the best day of the year to be here. One can’t ask for more. Mileage logged 160.
This view is from Hurricane Ridge Olympia National Park Visitor center. Canada lies in the distance.
Mount Olympia
The third leg to this adventure began under drippy foggy skies and wet roads. Not unusual for this area. Slow going for me. It was wise to be cautious on these back roads to Port Townsend to be in line to catch the Whidbey Island Ferry by 9 am. As I waited up front in lane 2 and I decided to call Juanita to bring her up to speed with my progress and plan for the day. The Northern Cascades Highway was my plan. It was not to be. As I spoke to her I walked around the motorcycle looking at various bits.
No wonder the rear brake seemed a little reluctant to slow the bike.
Failures like this are never fun and neither was this one. It’s a good thing I wasn’t leaning over much on the wet roads because the right side of the rear tire was splattered in 75w-140 full synthetic final drive lubricants. Gee! I wonder if I’m now a member of the infamous BMW final drive “gotcha” club. It could have been worse. One fellow on the forum taking a vacation aboard his 2005 R1200RT in Colorado at the same time as the Unrally had his bike’s final drive grind itself into metal bits. He was lucky because the bike stopped very close to a newly opened BMW shop in Grand Junction. He was unlucky because the final drive assembly was not in the dealers stock. Elapsed time to get the bike rolling again was three days. BMW North America made it all good under his warranty once the proper procedures were followed, by overnight delivery of the final drive assembly and picking up two days motel and meal tab.
The ferry is getting closer so out came the BMW Roadside Assistance card. The fellow on the other end of the line Google searched my whereabouts and landing on Whidbey Island and dispatched a tow truck to the location. Wait time was an hour and fifteen minutes give or take on the island.
In the mean time I ate a small breakfast and the tow arrived at 11:20am for a 90-mile drive and surprise visit to Ride West BMW in Seattle. I was in luck the seal was in stock and if it were the only problem it would be repaired before closing time. Cheers! Only an axel seal was needed and the dealer also tended to two warranty recalls. 1.5 hours later all was buttoned up. How’s that for service? I was on my way north to Arlington, to stay with my son and granddaughter for an overnighter. I discovered that the ride on the tow truck shook the left headlamp bulb to death evidenced by that little icon in the top left corner of the dash display. I would change that tomorrow and crossed my fingers that the right side bulb held its ground. A right side bulb change will make you say evil things.
The next morning I embarked on leg four of the adventure eastbound across the Northern Cascades Highway. Sweeping curves custom made for motorcycles grace this landscape. But before I engaged in such fun I exchanged the dead bulb in the parking lot of Schuck’s Auto Parts in Arlington. Elapsed time for the repair was 18 minutes. I wish the engineer who came up with this design had much larger hands.
Sauk River
Unknown Cascade lake
Highways 9, 530, 20, 153, 97, 2, I90, I82, I84, 395 would take me through beautiful Washington State mountain and canyons, following river bends and rolling plains to Pendleton, Oregon. There I checked into an Econo Lodge to spend the night. Two sips of a beer in my hotel room and I was done. Miles logged 503.
The next thing I know its 5:30 am and time for the fifth leg of this ride heading south on US395 to John Day. This route crosses rolling cattle ranches and the sweet aroma of cut grasses. Then abruptly as turning a corner I find myself in a conifer forest with summits ranging 4-4500 feet elevation. Temperatures were moderately holding at 34 F in the dappled sunlight provided by the thick tree stands nestled along the roadside creek on smooth curving pavement. This could go on forever and I wouldn’t complain. I stopped in Long Creek for a breakfast of eggs, home fries, tasty bacon and sourdough toast and copious amounts of black coffee. The lone proprietor gave me the rundown on the roads to be cautious of due to chip seal. And I should note that I only saw one speed enforcement officer in the last two days and he waved as I passed by. John Day was now only minutes away. Miles logged 126.
Several friends, some I’d never met, were staying at the America’s Best Inn so I would follow their lead and see if a room was available. This is what awaited me.
After I checked in and said a few words to members of this fine Unorganized Unevent called Unrally I decided to ride another 201 miles on an enjoyable jaunt with two other riders. One was from Southern Cal and the other from the SF Bay area.
We came across this scene right out of the ole west. Get along little doggies.
That evening it donned on me that I’ve been riding the current rear tire for some time now. More than I realized apparently. The wear bars were exposed and not being one for taking chances with tires there was no doubt that it needed changing. The problem was being out in the middle of nowhere. Bend, Oregon was 150 miles away. The closest BMW dealer was in Eugene. Out of the question. I had Juanita log on to the BMWST.com forum for assistance. An Unrally rider had already made a similar plea for a tire and members provided a list of dealers and shops in Bend. Tomorrow I would take a side trip to Bend.
My sixth and final leg on this adventure began at 5 am. The temperature at the hotel was a brisk 36F but soon descended to 28F. It’s summer for goodness sake and I didn’t bring my electric vest. 70 miles and I had enough when I reached Marshall. I pulled into the only café in town for breakfast. Chilled to the bone I was except for my hands wrapped around heated grips. I found the only warm spot in the café; you see the doors were wide open. In Bend, I located a large dealer of non-BMW motorcycles. Luck was still holding as they did have a tire of the correct size. It was installed and ready to ride two hours after I arrived. Again quick service came to the rescue. They didn’t have tooling to balance it and without skipping a beat, to my amazement, they drove it up to Les Schwab Tires for balancing.
Back on the road again I continued on Hwy 97. This stretch of road is a pretty alterative to I5 when heading north or south. Mt. Shasta stands tall in the distance as soon as you enter California. And the speed limit increases by 10mph also. Now we’re talking.
Mt. Shasta
At Weed, California I made the connection to I5. Temps were now hovering around 104F and the air quality was terrible. Fires all around the Northern Cal area aren’t helping. I even saw a woman wearing a facemask. Southbound I5 through Sacramento is detoured way out of the way so that added time. When I stopped to refuel in Stockton the thick air west of me completely blocked the sun. There I alerted Juanita that I was coming home tonight. I rolled into my garage at 10:15pm 760 miles logged that day.
Oh! The Sargent seat is going to be returned. My search for a comfortable saddle continues. I hope you enjoyed the ride. Total mileage logged 2500.
