The iMBC2012 is over

I've been without internet access since Friday night so while everyone else has been posting our activities I am late and there is not much left that I could add. I do have photos and some things to say about my trip but I will now concentrate on the CURRENT and catch up last weekend's Blogger Convention when I get back home, which will be next week

I can't believe that a few of us had travelled so many miles to be at our get-together in Baker City, then onwards to the mountains of Hell's Canyon. Richard came from Fairbanks Alaska by way of Santa Cruz California. Karen rode her Vstar from Kingston, Ontario Canada. Erik from Minnesota on his lime green Ninja. The weekend was too short and now we have all gone our separate ways, mostly from where we came.

I left Joseph, Oregon early this morning, around 6:15am. I stopped by the hotel where Brad & Brandy were staying to grap a few bites of their continental breakfast. Actually I felt a bit quilty just walking into the breakfast room to fill my plate so I took it to their room to be devoured in peace. I thought that I would continue my journey to Central Oregon and it made more sense to ride together.

While we were at the Chevron station in Enterprise we saw Richard riding by. We soon caught up and passed him, then Brad had quilty feelings about leaving Richard behind in the dust so we pulled over to see Richard wave and pass us again. Richard was moving at a very brisk pace and we were unable to catch up to him. We were hoping that he would wait for us at Elgin so we could say our final goodbyes, but he must have been "in the groove" and just continued on his way heading North towards the Canadian border.



We continued our trek to La Grande into Flatistan and the land of semi-trailers until we arrived back in Baker City, the place where we started out on Saturday morning. The idea was to have a quick snack and beverage at that healthy bakery that we wanted to try out on Saturday morning before heading into the Mountains of "Hell". Most of the stores made so much money on the weekend that they stayed closed. The lady in the building a few doors over said that their food wasn't very good so we went on our merry way



Hours later we stopped for photos at the John Day Fossil lookout. It was getting warm and the sun was beating down



Brandy was looking for relection photos and I managed this one in the mirror . I don't recall being a sandwich before but . . .



it felt gooood. Then Brad started winking at me. He may have felt right at home with those joyous people at the LogHouse RV park.

Brad was our squadron leader, from the mountains of "Hell", to Flatistan then Curvistan. I must say we were doing very spirited riding and I didn't even know that I may have been singled out for a ticket as I was the last bike to make the pass after the right lane vanished. I was in turbo mode with screaming pistons trying to keep up whilst attempting to pass a long line of cars. Later I find out that the Trooper actually made a U-turn and was about to start his pursuit . . . ignorance is BLISS, I knew nothing about this until later



We said our goodbyes at a Starbucks in Redmond, Oregon where they still had a 3 hour ride home in heavy traffic.

After our short beverage break I continued down Hwy 97 into Bend, OR to find the local REI so I could buy the Monarch folding chair. GULP, they did have them in stock but for $69.99 I didn't need one. I went to the desk and explained about the special REI email I received which offered these for sale at $39.99 for a limited time. I thought I was in for a battle, but she said OK and I walked out of the store with an Orange one under my arm.

Try as much as I did to find a Campground here in Bend, most are RV facilities with hook ups so I ended up at IronDad's favour haunt, the EconoLodge with A/C and WiFi. Finally, my computer can talk and I don't feel excommunicated with the world

today was a great day with Brad & Brandy. I rode just over 356 miles.

Tomorrow I will be heading west toward Sisters and Hwy 242 and perhaps Aufderheide Memorial Drive
Instead of putting on the miles, as was first intended, I am going to explore the local roads which I have been hearing so much about. I should end up somewhere between Eugene or Albany and the next day may find me on the coast