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| Day 1 - Santa Clara, CA Day 2 - Lee Vining, CA Day 3 - Baker, CA Day 4 - Las Vegas, NV Day 5 - Las Vegas, NV Day 6 - Grand Canyon, AZ Day 7 - Durango, CO Day 8 - Glenwood, CO Day 9 - Highlands, CO Day 10 - Highlands, CO Day 11 - Estes Park, CO Day 12 - Craig, CO Day 13 - Jackson, WY Day 14 - Cody, WY Day 15 - Mammoth, WY Day 16 - Choteau, MT Day 17 - Kelispell, MT Day 18 - Sandpoint, ID Day 19 - Omak, WA Day 20 - Anacortes, WA Day 21 - Anacortes, WA Day 22 - Poulsbo, WA Day 23 - Poulsbo, WA Day 24 - Poulsbo, WA Day 25 - Astoria, OR Day 26 - Lincoln City, OR Day 27 - Bandon, OR Day 28 - Eureka, CA Day 29 - Anchor Bay, CA Day 30 - Martinez, CA FINAL THOUGHTS |
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| We awoke this morning to the sound of a flushing toilet.
As my mind focused, I realized that the sound was actually the crashing
waves, just outside the window of our motel room. Aah, yes —we
have a room on the beach in Lincoln City. Time to get up and on the
road. Well, it sounded good, but by the time we finished some computer
stuff, it’s 9:45 before we get started. This is another foggy morning so, as we get started, we bundle up against the cold. The thermometer shows 51 degrees but we both feel comfortable. The fog is both interesting and a potential problem. As long as the fog stays up off the road and I can see where I’m going, it’s interesting to watch it float hither and yon. But when it drops down on the road, closing off my view to 50 ft. or less, it becomes a problem and I would just as soon be back in the motel room. Fortunately, most of the fog this morning was of the interesting variety.
The Oregon coast is a great place to ride a motorcycle. If you haven’t been here, come here. There is more traffic than I like in the summer but traffic is always a relative thing. I live in the San Francisco bay area so this traffic is more of a minor aggravation. After being out in the wide-open spaces of Montana and Wyoming, this traffic is more than I prefer but, hey, who am I to complain with this type of scenery to ride through? When we reach Newport, OR we know of two fine and interesting lighthouses on the coast, so we just have to stop. The first is Yaquina Head Lighthouse and it sits at the north end of town on a head of land. It is your traditional lighthouse, the type people think of when they take the time to think of lighthouses. It is tall, and powerful, standing in the foggy mist as it was designed to do. What could be more fitting than seeing our first Oregon lighthouse peeking out of the fog, flashing its light to the foggy mariner (photos 1, 2 & 3). Linda and I take a tour to the top of the lighthouse and admire the history and architecture of the Yaquina Head light (photos 4, 5 & 6). If visiting one lighthouse is good, then visiting two must be better. We stop in the southern end of Newport, just before you cross this great looking bridge
(photo 7) to visit the Yaquina Bay lighthouse. This is a light built right into a home. It turns out that one light keeper, a Robert Preston and his wife and seven children lived and worked in this light station until 1936 when the state took it over. They have the place equipped like it was back when the Preston family lived there, with flowers and furnishings from the thirties (photos 8, 9, 10, & 11). It was interesting to remember how we used to live, and the hand water pump in the kitchen reminded me of my childhood when we would visit my Uncle George on his farm. This was in the early 50’s and he still had a pump in the kitchen as well as an outhouse. As a kid, I just thought it was neat. He, of course, was tickled when the city brought in piped water to his house. How quickly we forget how it used to be. After leaving Newport, both Linda and I realized that we were both hungry so we stopped to have some lunch at the Grand Central Pizza in Waldport. There were three teenage girls working and they did a super job. The food was great and the service friendly and efficient. I feel less concern for the future of America. After lunch, we head out of Waldport with the intent to really cover some miles. Yeah, right. Then we come to the Heceta Head lighthouse (photo 12), one of the most scenic lights on the Oregon coast. We turn right, find a parking space right next to another Goldwing with a camper trailer, and meet Ed and Marianne from Auburn, Washington, the owners of the 1996 Candy Apple Red, GL 1500, Goldwing (photo 13). Ed and Marianne are very active in their local chapter of the Gold Wing Road Riders Association (GWRRA). They have been members for about seven years and Ed just finished holding a position in his chapter. They were kind enough to show us how their trailer worked, since I had never seen a tent camper trailer for a motorcycle, up close. They reconfirmed what we had found to be true during this trip, that motorcyclists on the road are generally nice people.
Since we had all come to see this lighthouse, we went up the trail to the light keepers quarters (photo 14) and Ed and I both climbed over the fence and up the hill behind the lighthouse to take some nice pictures (photos 15, 16, & 17). We all headed back down the path, through the trees and under the bridge to Grandma’s house, and to our waiting bikes (photos 18 & 19). Since Ed and Marianne were heading south to Florence, where they would be camping tonight, we decided to ride with them for a short while. We didn’t know where we would be spending the night, but I knew we needed to make a few more miles if we ever hoped to get home before I have to go back to work. After leaving Ed and Marianne, we started to make pretty good time. Of course, there was still one more place we wanted to stop before we got a motel room for the night and that was at EEL Lake in Tugman Park. We have stopped here many times in the past and it is just a spectacular little park (photos 20, 21, 22, 23, & 24). You can camp at the Tugman Campgrounds and EEL Lake has trout and bass in a setting that makes you glad your alive. If you can catch a fish, that’s just icing on the cake. I met a fellow who was there with his grandchildren and was trying to catch a fish for dinner. He volunteered to take a picture of Linda and I on the Goldwing (photo 25), and I believe this is the only picture we have of both of us on the bike.
The hour was getting late so I hightailed it for parts south and when we finally reached Bandon, we stopped for the night at the Harbor View Motel, an independent, and they had one room left with a view of the harbor (photos 26, 27, & 28). We took it and could see the Coquille River lighthouse from the balcony of our room. We could also see the old downtown and rode down to the Wheelhouse for some dinner. We met four couples on Harleys from southern California. They were friendly and complimented us on our Goldwing. This was the day for people to stop and say nice things about the Goldwing. After dinner we were headed into a convenience store and a fellow stopped to tell us what a nice bike we had. He also told me he was an ex-Hell’s Angel, Oakland Chapter, and that he would never admit it too his friends but he thought the Goldwing was a better bike than his Harley. He also said that he could never own one and hoped I understood. I told him his secret was safe with me and told him as long as it had two wheels and a motor, it made no difference what you rode. I find that as I talk to people about their bikes, no matter what brand they ride, many of them believe their brand is the best brand. My feeling is that if you like what you ride, then it is the best…for you. I happen to like a whole variety of motorcycles and would like to have several different brands and types for different occasions. Tomorrow we may actually enter California, we shall see. |
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