Day 9: the ride home

Being without internet for a few days at the beginning of my journey meant that I could not do daily ride reports, as was my original intent. Day 8 was a short riding day for me to transport myself from Waldport to Corvallis . I had made arrangements to meet up with Troubadour and Trobairitz for Thai dinner at the same restaurant where they took Richard



I do not easily accept offers for accommodation but I am glad that I accepted their kind invitation for a place with a warm room, a mattress and free WiFi for the night before I headed home the next morning . We had a most excellent meal


Trobairitz


Troubadour

and I made a big mistake when I ordered my meal. I didn't need that "extra" stuff I added on an impulse. It was Snap Peas with Tofu. I love tofu and always have. The sauce was very tasty


Bobskoot's meal

My plate was full to the brim and there was more food than I needed, but because it has this "extra" stuff on it I didn't realize that as Vegans, the leftovers could not be shared by them so I had to overeat, not that I haven't done this before


My room for the night

Here they are fussing over me, blowing up the air mattress when I could have just used my own sleeping pad but I really appreciated it

I try very hard to be a low maintenance visitor and not get in the way, especially on a work day so I was issued a time slot for the washroom and set my alarm for 5:31am. Then I went about packing my bike for the final leg home.

We were set to leave at 7:30am and I followed Troubadour on the long twisty way to work. There is very little traffic as compared to what I am used to

I wish to thank the both of them very much for making me feel at home. I felt very comfortable with them and they are great hosts.

It was time to say goodbye to Troubadour



Our reflection in Troubadour's office window



in his serious pose. I wished that I could have stayed the weekend and made it for Saturday morning coffee but my travel medical only covers trips of 10 day durations and I had to be back into Canada by Midnight Saturday night.

The ride home was uneventful. There were a few things I had to do before I got underway. I gassed up, had a quick breakfast and headed to Walmart to buy another digital AM/FM radio for bike use. On long trips like this riding solo I find that a bit of music would break up the monotomy. I didn't leave Salem, Oregon until around 9am.

I arrived home just after 7pm Friday evening, counting a 2 hour stop just north of Everett to meet a Blogging legend, writer and photographer from Cincinnati, Ohio who rode across the country on his V-strom


Here he is showing off his shy pose

I am honoured that he sent me a message for a possible meeting. More photos coming . . .

This was the second iMBC meetup. Our first meeting was held during July 2010 in Bend, Oregon. We have determined that our next meeting will be sometime during 2014, perhaps farther EAST to be more central for our Eastern Blogging contingent.

I managed to put on just over 1,800. miles with 2 non-riding days, and a few short mile days during my time alone on the Oregon coast.



and here we are. Participants of iMBC2012 we had a great weekend of riding



and comaradarie. And also a down day to get to know each other better