I was surprised that the temps at 4 am were in the upper 60's and 70's. I got off at a truck stop and got a coffee and a banana for half an hour. This was also my first experience with the Oregon gas law where the attendants have to pump the gas for you. For motorcycles, however, they just stand there or push the button for you or just look interested. It really is silly...
Then I departed along highway 20 into the darkness. I was on a 2 lane highway with no traffic and with my pukey stock headlights (although my high beams are pretty decent). The road was good but I kept my speed down to the speed limit of 55.
At about 5:30 still in total darkness I came upon a flagman indicating a one-way construction stop. I sat there for about 15 minutes waiting for the other side to come along. The flagman said it was a center stripe painting crew. So finally the other side passed by and we went. The several cars and I drove several miles until we came to the painting crew and then several more miles until the leading truck pulled off and let us go on. All that time wasted and several miles at 25 mph for a hundred feet of painting crew! Gawd I hate state workers! Wasted almost half an hour!
After that it started getting light slowly as I rode through the beautiful hills of eastern Oregon. Slowly the outlines became visible, then some shapes, then the textures and details, then finally some colors. Then finally the sunshine cleared the hills behind me and fell on my back. Man that felt good. It was a nearly religious experience! I really love riding at night (and flying at night too!) but it is just too risky with critters to do it very often. Only when I have to...
Here is a piece of map showing the hills of eastern Oregon. You don't normally think of hills in eastern Oregon, in fact, who even knows WHAT eastern Oregon even looks like, but this was a pleasant surprise. I missed some of it since I started in the dark, but as it got light you can see the kind of terrain I was riding through. It really was beautiful!
As I progressed westward along the Malheur River (I think) I got higher and higher and it got cooler and cooler. I saw the temps go from the 60's down into the 50's and then 50 and then 48. I only had my air mesh jacket on and a t-shirt and my mesh gloves. I kept thinking it would warm up again but it kept getting colder. As I got up on top of the hills onto the high plains I saw 39 degrees and was shivering. Finally I stopped on the side of the narrow road (I had not seen a car for 30 minute) and put on my Gerbing heated jacket and gloves. I cranked them up and they felt GOOD!
I was somewhat surprised to see the central highlands at such an altitude. My Garmin Nuvi 765 GPS has an option to display the altitude instead of the arrival time so I could watch my climb.
From that point it was a long fairly boring flat ride into Burns for gas. I got a quick McGriddle breakfast sandwich at McDonalds and was off again. I couldn't take any chances of any further delays to prevent me from arriving on time in Redmond.
From Burns to Bend and Redmond was about 145 miles of flat, open land with a good highway so I made 70 mph most of the way. Very open country and at times you could see for probably hundreds of miles. I can't remember when the first of the volcanoes came into view. Mt Hood or the 3 sisters or Adams - I can't keep them straight. But it was the middle of July and they were still completely snow capped. Here is a pic from somewhere on the high plains of my first glimpse of the mountains. They really are impressive the first time you see them.
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| Central highlands - first view of the volcanoes. |
So finally I arrived in Redmond and found a gas station and got a receipt at 9:30 am with 30 minutes to spare (adjusting for the time zone change). And, yes, I made sure the date AND the time were on the receipt
I finished my Iron Butt qualification ride in 23 and a half hours. I actually didn't feel too bad. I could have made it in a shorter amount of time but I wanted to stay conservative and take enough butt breaks and eat and drink along the way that I wasn't completely exhausted when I finished. My plan worked very well and I felt really quite good considering.
Then I went to the county fairgrounds where I ran into some friends from Kansas City - Leland and Slina Prothe and Lee and Verna Hunt. This was Monday morning and the rally didn't start till Thursday so there was little activity and quite disorganized. I had Lee witness my odometer to complete my requirements for the Redmond 1000 ride. We chatted for a while and they left to start their volunteer work.
My plan was to continue up to Vancouver and spend the night with my sister and brother-in-law. I tried to nap a little until about noon but couldn't sleep due to the noise and wind. So about 1:00 I took off for the 155 mile ride up to Vancouver and Camas, WA.
Here is a Google Map of my ride up there.
As I rode north I saw Mt Hood getting closer and then decided I couldn't resist riding up to the lodge and taking a look around. It was cool and windy up there with lots of snow and tourists. So I took a few pics and left. Here is a pic at the lodge.
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| Mt Hood |
I rode into Portland and crossed the river and up to my sisters place in Camas. There I met my mother who was visiting and also my brother Tom and his son, Jake, who drove from White Salmon to see me. It was a great reunion and we told lots of stories and memories. Brother-in-law Steve is an amazing cook and we enjoyed a fantastic dinner (and breakfast the next morning as well!).
So after the previous day of 730 miles and the 3 am start to ride the remaining 330 miles (total of 1060) I rode another 155 miles to complete my day. So the total was about 1200 miles in about 30 hours with 3 hours of sleep. Not too bad! Felt great, but ready to relax for the evening.
Here is a Google Maps snapshot of my entire route to Redmond (doesn't show the ride up to Vancouver). You can click on the pictures to see them in a larger view.
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| 1000 miles in 24 hours - One third of the way across the US! |
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