Morning in either Cecil, Morgan or Ione, south of I84 after leaving the Columbia River valley. This was reputed to be a decent road with sweepers, but we didn't wear much rubber off the sides of our tires until we got passed Heppner.
Jim's home | Motorcycle home | This ride's home
Morning in either Cecil, Morgan or Ione, south of I84 after leaving the Columbia River valley. This was reputed to be a decent road with sweepers, but we didn't wear much rubber off the sides of our tires until we got passed Heppner.
A grain silo near Ione.
It was a great grain silo.
Heading up into the Blue Mountains. Scattered Ponderosa Pine forest with some forest fire damage.
Dave scaring away small animals on his Aprilia.
The Blue Mountains. They really are beautiful.
East of Ukiah we found an incredible section of twisties through a forest fire devastated area. It looks a lot like the blow-down regions around Mt. St. Helens.
A beautiful day in the (burned up) Blue Mountains.
Leaning the VX into one of those incredible turns.
And again.
Dave's Aprilia Falco.
And again.
And again.
One of those curves.
Snow-capped mountains in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, near our eastern apogee of Sumpter. They seemed so far away at first, and then we were there!
Stopping to trade bikes along the upper section of the north fork of the John Day river. We rode along numerous gorgeous little rivers in lush valleys. May's a great time to go since everything's so intensely green. Fun to watch the river get bigger and bigger as the miles go by, when you're not watching the road that is. This stretch, from Austin to Susanville, to Long Creek, to Kimberly, Spray and Mitchell was truely fantastic curve-wise.
Alongside the great twisty roads are some cool geological features if you can steal a glance.
Neat erosion formations.
C'est moi, on a low pass.
Note the dead bugs piling up on the shoulder areas.
More cool erosion areas
Our humble lodging in Prineville.