The second day of the posts post. Two might actually be all we need to catch up. I think I fixed the captcha comments problem too so let me know if ya’ll run into any further troubles.

I had a very tough decision on Friday with leaving the Sanctuary. Either spend 9-10 hours on the road and hit the Oregon coast or spend a little more time hanging around and head up the 5 for a much more direct route. I chose to hang around but the 5 wasn’t completely uneventful. In fact pretty soon after Ashland there’s a pretty cool mountain pass, where you spend quite a while climbing and winding and quite a while descending into the Oregon wine country. A decent ride for sure and my first glimpse of an actual mountain. The kind of mountain where if you asked a kid to draw a mountain they’d do a pretty good job of representing what I was looking at. Snowy peak and straight up mountain. Maybe I’m just too easy to impress.

My destination was just south east of the city of Portland in a place called West Linn, where Cami’s high school friend Kathleen and her boyfriend Kevin live. We quickly hit the town for some local brews and made it back with enough energy to bust out the N64 for some Smash Bros and Blitz carnage.

Portland is a pretty cool place. For a larger city it never really feels like it’s that big. It’s comfortable for sure. I was given the grand tour by day and night and it’s safe to say I’m more familiar with Portland/Northwest beers than beers in any other city or place I’ve been to thus far.

Sunday funday was a day of rest and recuperation. A nice walk in the nearby park and by the Willamette river (that’s pronounced Will-Am-It :)), some bags and BBQ and I was ready to hit the road earlyish Monday.

Life is so interesting was the theme this weekend. Interesting conversation and interesting people and just a good time. Thanks again guys for being wonderful hosts and showing me a good time!

I decided to hit highway 14 in Washington through the Columbia River gorge before making my way to Seattle since I kept hearing it was something to see. I didn’t get very far though before the old girl started acting up. I eventually had to make the call to turn back and reevaluate. I found a bike shop in Vancouver Washington but they unfortunately weren’t willing to work on a bike as old as mine. The weekend was fun but I was feeling the heat, it was time to cash in at the closest motel and think about everything in the morning.

I spent almost all day Tuesday calling places and visiting the odd shop in hopes someone had some time to take a peek at the motorcycle. I was confident it was the same issue as last time seeing as similar symptoms were presenting themselves, though based on my description of the problem it could have been anything in the eyes of a mechanic. And anything takes time and money to diagnose if I was even lucky enough to find someone willing in the first place. Damn.

Welp, it was a tough decision but it was time to let the old girl go. After some used dealer shopping and craigslist scouring I found something that fit the bill perfectly. He was even willing to take my bike off my hands. I’d like you to meet Lipstick – Infernal Destroyer of Worlds

Farewell! Ya dun good.

A good night’s rest and a fresh start for Wednesday morning. Just a quick stop at the DMV and I was on my way. Just a quick stop at the DMV, said no one ever. 3 hours later and I was on my way, travel permit in hand that’s good for 22 days so I can register the new bike in Illinois whenst I get home.

Since I’d spent a few days on this hangup I decided it was best to forego Seattle and Vancouver BC and make my way back east. Spokane seemed like a good destination. 2nd round on highway 14 through the gorge and this time was a winner. A beautiful ride. I crossed the Bridge of the Gods back into Oregon and jumped onto Interstate 84 to make up some lost DMV time. The rest of the ride wasn’t too eventful. Dried up yellow farmland for quite a long time before hitting pine trees and some elevation just outside of Spokane. I wound up making it all the way to Couer d’Alene Idaho, previous home to friend and renown novice tennis star Copper Garf, no relation to Steffi Graf.

Instead of heading out bright and early I decided to take a day to make some adjustments on the new bike since my neck and wrists were all but obliterated from the handlebar position. The guy I got it from also mentioned he kept it on a battery tender most of the time and it was evident after two days that it was on it’s way out, so a fresh battery is on charge waiting to be swapped out as soon as it’s done. Also a great time to air up the tires and add some oil. Oh yeah, and blahg posts.

It was a good chance to check out town too. A nice little place Couer d’Alene. A decent downtown area, great food from what I’ve experienced and Lake Couer d’Alene looked beautiful. A cool little nature trail at Tubbs hill was right in walking distance of the place I was staying. Very cool little place with neat rock formations and excellent views of the lake.

And so here we are. I’m finishing up this post and sipping on a Longboard Island Lager, the battery tender just started blinking green which means it’s at least 80% of the way charged. Tomorrow I make my way into Montana and through Glacier National Park before hitting it hard towards the Badlands and then eventually home.

Here’s my route to Portland and Yesterday’s to Couer d’Alene:

Later!