Blasted into Oregon, pulled over somewhere for gas, dreading the Oregon-gas attendant wierdness. The girl bounded over and I was like "do you have to punp the gas?" she said no, she'd prefer not to touch it, but she had to hand the thing to me and push the button. Still annoying, but whatever. Apparently, they're supposed to give you a dribble rag too. What am I, some kind of fucking moron who can't pour gas without spraying it everywhere?
Pulled off of I-5 in Sutherlin, took 138 to 38 to get to the coast. These two roads are fairly scenic, riverbanks on the side, nicely paved, light traffic. And now that I'm off of I-5, I'm railing along at respectably unpublishable speeds. If it weren't for all of the RV's and logging trucks, all of the roads I took Thursday would have been nice. At approximately double the speed limit. Ahem.
Got to the coast at Reedsport. Stopped to lube my chain and read a little sign about the Dunes. And then North along 101. I thought this would be a nice ride. And it would have been, if there weren't so many goddam tourists and trucks. Ugh. Well, I'm glad I did it, but I'll never go back. The first hour or two of 101 was really goddam pretty though. This, I could see doing again, maybe cut out around Florence. The Dunes National Park area is really stunning, there are little lakes or lagoons or whatever on the side of the road, and then the dunes poke out every so often. Apparently, a good portion of the park is open to OHV, so I wished I had my DRZ for a little foray (into crashing. I have no clue how to ride sand. It's been explained to me, but, I'm a trainwreck) All the bridges and rivers/bays/whatever are really pretty. Stopped a few times for gas and met two other motorcyclists on a road trip from Santa Cruz.
Yes, everyone, I'm travelling alone. This seems to strike a lot of people as odd. But, seriously, I want to go. I hate herding cats. I am not putting my life on hold simply because I can't sucker people into doing stuff with me.
Stopped for food in Tillamook and gassed up. Then took 6 (Hello! Now I am REALLY speeding!) to 26 (boo, now I am not speeding.) into Portland. No, I had not planned or looked at a map. My plan was "go to Portland." but I managed to go directly to my hotel. Days Inn, meh.
I had refused Charles' friends company and hospitality based on the thought that I would be arriving late, like 9:30 or later, and exhausted. But I was in at 5:00! I couldn't believe it. I may have been speeding? Looked at a little map of Portland and suddenly wished I'd done some sort of research or planning of what to do once I got there. So I walked around looking and decided:
Portland is very pretty.
There's not a lot to it though.
I generally have a very good sense of direction. But Portland, for some reason I was constantly lost, and confused.
I wished I had a travel partner at that time. I guess I got bored.
Ate, had a cocktail, then I was omigod sleepy and dragged myself back to the hotel. On the way back I passed a club I thought maybe I'd come back to. Yeah, right, maybe in my younger days! Once in the hotel I flopped out. I don't even think it was 10:00.
Comments:
B. 
hehehe you lubed your chain.
Traveling alone rules!
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