Friday, August 13, 2010

Relaxing on the Oregon Coast

Note: I have not finished my Oregon series. The previous few posts were inserted as a result of selling my Kymco Xciting 500Ri scooter to DanOnTheDrive . I will continue where I previously left off just so Gary doesn't get more confused.

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We (when I say we I mean SonjaM and Myself) had planned to spend a lazy day wandering about the coast with no set agenda, using Lincoln City as our base of operations. We thought that after a day of exploring it would be nice to have a home to come back to.

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I usually wake up earlier on weekends than weekdays, so while I am waiting for SonjaM to get more beauty sleep I wandered down to the beach to snap a few photos. It started out as a breezy cool day and I wondered if the sun was going to break through the clouds. There was lots of wave action and lots of seagulls. The good thing about modern technology was that we keep in touch sending text messages to our smart phones. We devised a system to keep in contact. While I was waiting for her message I was wandering about and learned that

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you are not allowed to feed the birds . Our hotel has an included continental breakfast so we had our fill and headed south and made our first stop

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The sun came out and it was getting much warmer, though windy. We took the Otter Crest Loop and came to this viewpoint where we saw this unusual HD all decked out

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It was a man & wife team having ridden up from somewhere in California. He (I forget his name but it is on my video) . If you look closely at his bike you will see a lot of details that you miss on superficial inspection

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I was just imagining a certain Gary France riding this machine all across the USA . I think this bike gets a lot of attention wherever it goes. The owner said that it has won a lot of awards and is one of the top ten bikes in the USA for it`s theme. It has been featured in several Harley magazines

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That`s him behind the bike . The Otter Point viewpoint is on top of a cliff. You can get a commanding view of the coastline

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(looking southward)

At Punch Bowl State park we had to stop for more photos

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(My riding buddy, SonjaM with her BMW F650GS)

It was nice to feel the warmth of the sun without a pressing timetable. For the first time since we left British Columbia we did not have to wake up early. We had a day to ourselves to meander as we wished. Start, stop, snap a few photos, sit on the grass, or sit on a log.

We headed down to Newport and visited another lighthouse right before the Yaquina Bridge. We noticed these Yellow bikes and Sonja just had to park next to them. She is attracted to yellow, they are like a magnet

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We chatted with these riders for a while. They were camping somewhere around Tillamook on the 3 cape loop and were heading south to Florence for the day.

Our Crocs were daylight deprived and they were making such a racket that it was stuffy inside our cases so we brought them out into the sunshine for them to pose in front of the Yaquina bridge. We managed to bring a smile to their faces .

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We then headed over the bridge and made our way to Seal Rock where we stopped for more posed photos. It was very windy navigating over the bridge and the surface made SonjaM cringe, but we made it both ways without incident.

When we got back to our hotel we wanted to do some bike maintenance

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Here is SonjaM lubing the chain on her Beemer F650GS. She was doing such a great job I wondered if I could impose upon her to . . .

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lube my chain too. My chain is on the left side

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She asked if she could do this again after we get home. We both have Xena Alarmed disk locks . After we secured our bikes for the night we went our separate ways for a bit before dinner. I spent some time in the SPA and chatted with a couple of other bikers, one of whom was just at the BMW MOA Rally in Redmond. The other was riding a Harley from somewhere just south of Corvallis and was in town on business.

It was too much trouble to unlock our bikes and lose our precious under cover parking spots so we walked a few blocks to the main street and found an Italian Restaurant to have our meal

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(Reflection in a mirror)

I guess we were hungrier than we thought. We started to devour our food before we thought about bringing the camera out. I think it was the fresh salt air . . .

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We had a restful day, just enjoying being somewhere different. Tomorrow we had to start our long trek home. We had allocated two days to get home taking the slow route. Tomorrow we needed an early start

10 comments:

  1. What? No gravy on your fries? What kind of crazy Canadians are you?
    You could have at least asked just to see what kind of response you got.

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  2. Bob me old skoot,
    I had visions of Oregon and Balsa trees - I used to relish winding up my rubber band powered model areoplanes from Oregon!
    N the 75RT

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  3. ps

    that should have been "airplanes"

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  4. Loobman.Never kneel in the dirt again.

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  5. I am easily confused! You were obviously having a bad influence on Sonja - that didn't look like her normal healthy food. I was imprsessed that she lubed your chain. That was a great view of Punch Bowl State Park looking down.

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  6. I read an article that gave tips for "food pornographers". I was shocked that your name wasn't mentioned at all!

    That was certainly some Harley. What colors crocs would match it?

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  7. Hi Bob, I appreciate your photos and rides posted on his blog. You're a lucky man to live in a very beautiful country. Thanks from Brazil.

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  8. Bob, if you're going to learn to be a Kiwi, then the minimum is ketchup on your fries. If you're going to learn to be a classy Kiwi, then it's mayonnaise on your fries!!!

    I like Harleys but would sooner travel by car than ride the one in the photo :-)

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  9. Very lucky those hungry birds didn't make off with your crocs, they look like colorful candy. I'm surprised the birds resisted the temptation.

    That is some Harley. I don't know what else to say about that! Maybe it's best I stop there. :)

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  10. Troubadour: I've never had the desire for gravy until lately, but I have to watch my slim waistline. At McD it is good to mix McChicken sauce with Ketchup

    Nikos: When I think Oregon, I think of volcanos, twisty roads, desert and good things

    Mr Conchscooter: Okay, but Loobmans are costly up here. I should have had you install one for me in Bend

    Gary: I think she just gave up and decided to have junque food for a change. You can't eat healthy all the time, can you ?

    Irondad: When I first saw those horns I asked the owner what happened to the pickup truck. Also that bike is too large for him to handle. He dumped it when they were leaving. It was on its side lying on the ground. He actually rode the smaller Harley, while his partner rode the one with horns

    Edison: Thank you for visiting. Your photos are interesting for me too . It is interesting to view your landscape and scenery. Your work schedule gives you lots of time to ride around

    Geoff: McDonalds McChicken sauce is similar to Ketchup. I usually mix 50/50. Would I be considered a KIWI if I just came for a visit ?

    Kari: I never thought that birds would wisk our Crocs away. Down on Granville Island the seagulls would steal your food if you turned your back on them. If you want to see swarms of seagulls just try throwing a few french fries into the air

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