Downtown Bend & Crocs

By the time we arrived in Bend we had already ridden 5 hours from Toppenish, WA through some of the roughest roads Oregon has to offer. Traffic was fairly light until we reached Madras and things started to back up. It was refreshing to leave early at around 6am and experience the cool crisp air, but eventually we had to remove our liners as the heat of the day started to seep in.

I was minding my own business walking with Cheyenne on Bond Street wearing my Pink footwear when a voice called out from a customer of the local coffee shop regarding the colour of our shoes. We quickly explained that we were colour blind and we thought that our shoes were black



when I noticed another person wearing a matching pair



Our family has finally been re-united. The Crocs from Key West, FL have made contact with the Crocs from Vancouver, BC. From opposite ends of the continent we are together in an unlikely place in the middle of Oregon



We took another photo of this momentus moment, imagine two curmudgeons from opposite worlds together for the first time. It was a great meeting. It was as if we had known each other for "years" .


(Bonding time)

We walked and talked while Cheyenne intently listened. When we reached this store there was a voice which commanded us to go inside.


(Mr Conchscooter & Mrs Conch, the one without the crocs)

It was Mrs Conchscooter which started this whole Pink Croc affair. Mr Conch cannot be trusted to bring back suitable footwear and told Mrs Conch that he would wear anything that she deemed suitable for his purpose and that colour didn't matter.


(Layne, aka: Mrs Conchscooter)

It didn't take long for Layne to select a pair of pink footwear in a differing Croc style.



The Crocs are modelled in front of Cheyenne for her approval



Mrs Conch was anxious to wear her newly purchased Crocs immediately, as you will notice



We had a pleasant lunch together and walked about for an hour or so and I started to get text messages from the group riding in from Corvallis. The first message came from RichardM, and another came from Troubadour. Time was running out and soon the Conchs' had to be on the road and on their way back home to Key West.

We didn't know where to meet so I texted back to meet at our Hotel as we had not yet checked in. I told Mr Conch that the others from the IBC2010 were heading to the hotel and he said that he would make his way there too on his way out of town


(Conchscooter, RichardM & Mrs Conch)

Mr Conch was admiring the Suzuki TU which resembled a smaller version of the Triumph Bonneville.

Here`s a closer view of RichardM, with his Crocs all the way from Fairbanks, Alaska, complete with matching shorts


(Hmm, I wonder who is behind in the Yellow crocs)

The group from Corvallis had just arrived and wanted to go somewhere for lunch, and soon they were all suited up and rolling out of the parking lot


(Stacy and Stacey)

and here`s Bluekat (Kari) on her green Ninja with matching Ninja Green Crocs


(Ninja Green Crocs are safely tucked away, out of view)

We were all socializing and walking by the river when I received my first text message from that legend, Irondad Dan. As a group, we all decided to go to Irondad`s hotel and use it as our meeting place



When we arrived at his hotel I got my first glance at his FJR with the unmistakeable licence plate. We had finally arrived . Irondad is in the building