Day 5
Tuesday 5/10/16
We left Mountain Home, Idaho and headed to Boise 45 miles down the interstate to a Cracker Barrel with my heart set on those pancakes.
41 degrees when we left and then 50 in Boise.
Pancaked up and road ready……..
Al navigated us onto a nice two lane highway after riding the interstate for a couple hours this morning.
Rolling green Hills on either side through valley land with a river and sweeping wide curves to glide on in our journey as we were now in Oregon heading to the destination of Bend, OR. for the night.
Al had contacted a motorcycle shop there where they had ordered in new tires for my bike.
It is not unusual that one of us needs a new tire mid trip.
Last year in New Mexico, we called into a shop in Albuquerque that had Al’s specific tire in stock. So we boarded a 2 hour train commute from Santa Fe where we were lodging and enjoyed the 2 hour train ride and then caught a bus to get us in the general location of the motorcycle shop that we walked to, purchased the tire, walked to the nearest train depot in the rain. On the train ride back to Sante Fe we shared a set of ear buds and watched a movie on Al’s Samsung-pad. The next day we had a Sante Fe bike shop install the tire.
Sometimes it gets complicated but we just roll with it.
A couple years earlier we road from Breckinridge where we were lodging, into Denver to have my rear tire replaced.
So……two and a half hour time invested at a bike shop today in Bend, OR. They said they could get it done today if we arrived by 2:30pm; all went very timely.
Always love new treads, but I have to go easy for around the first 70 or so miles.
Bummer !
We were going to spend the night and then head on to coastal Newport, OR. where our coastal HWY 1 journey begins.
Well ……the man in the shop sold us on the idea of hanging in this area an extra day.
Because there is some great rides to be rode. And sites to see; huge snow capped mountains and water falls.
No MORE snow passes, I hope, but who knows. We ARE adventure bound.
Right this very moment we are sitting in a movie theater getting ready to watch…….
Captain America’s most recent adventures !
We unloaded our bags and gear in a hotel room and off we went. Sat down to a plate of Peruvian tacos in a joint next door after we purchased our tickets.
Al has his popcorn and I fear he is going to eat that huge bucket before the movie even starts.
We missed our photo opportunity of the Oregon state sign as it was on a bridge with no room to pull over.
Now…… everything that follows is very random maybe not so notable stuff:
Our encounter with a small culture difference – Our 1st fuel up in Oregon was at a small town station after riding two lanes for over a 100 miles in the middle of beautiful country side and not much else. With a young lad standing at the pump ready to fill our tanks.
Al said to him “this is a full service station ?”
I was smiling in amazement, “I have not seen a full service station in… like..40 years!” I said to him.
He was a very kind, mannerly and calm lad and he just looked at me puzzled. I said to him, ” this is your normal.” He said, “yes mam, I have been raised with this.” Then he looked at Al and said, “its the state law.” I was amazed. He did hand Al the pump and let him gas his bike, then he handed it to me and I smiled and said I don’t …my husband always fills mine so he handed it back to Al and let him fill my tank. The lad said, “well that’s a good thing.” I said, ” yes it’s a very good thing.” I am married to a gentleman – he would never stand by while I pump gas even on my motorcycle.
We exchanged conversation of how we were use to self serve gas pumps. He said, “well I hear that we are going to get new ones around here some day, the kind that is automatic at the pump and you pay right at the pump too. I smiled and told him, you have no idea how unique this is to us, do you? He shook his head and smiled back.
I took his picture, because he was so sweet and kind. I would imagine he had not even traveled out of state, as he really was very matter of fact about what was his normal.
Then he told us where the DQ was and off we went.
We sat inside the DQ eating our lunch and observed a young girl run that DQ like she was professionally trained in superior personal relation skills; kind, happy, efficient, and energetic – it all came so naturally to her.
Random people, I pray random prayers over random strangers. That they may be blessed and know Christ as Lord and Father, if they don’t already.
Oh…and earlier this morning I had a massive hot chocolate near miss fiasco in the middle of an interstate Love’s Super fuel up Palace as I like to think of them. I have become a fan of their coffee/hot chocolate bar with all the different creamer additives. Do you know there is a Hershey’s carmel flavored creamer? So I held my pink insulated mug I use with the beverage holder on my bike under the spicket waiting; having trouble getting the hot chocolate flowing. It seemed to be clogged and then when it got going good, I could not get it to stop. It ran and ran with weird clumps of nasty looking gunk. I tapped the button over and over. I was imagining that I would soon be standing in a puddle of hot chocolate, as I was stuttering – Oh my! Oh my! The drain tray was over flowing and I shouted over to checkout area – HELP, I need HELP. Help came. I was embarrassed and felt like crawling away with my pink thermos. Al showed up smiling and said – are you having problems? YES !
I totally lost my appetite for hot chocolate and filled my thermos with Dr. Pepper instead.
Okay folks, I know I am delinquent on quotation marks, commas and fractured sentences, but this is as good as it gets. And I am too tired at the end of the day to correct and perfect.
Time to turn out the light. Sleep.
Get up, ride and explore some more tomorrow.
happytrails2U 