Me, a blonde, 2 Ducati's....3,000 miles (and then some)

lol, it's actually iced-tea that Stephanie had brewed. When I saw the picture I figured people would think that though.

And that his heartbeat mimics a Ducati V-twin.

Great to see someone touring a Streetfighter, am just about to embark on a trip from the South of England to Scarborough for a weekend's racing at Olivers Mount and will be taking my Streetfighter with tankbag and tailpack. I personally find the riding position all day comfortable, how are you getting along?

Hello,
Thanks for your report!
Your photos are awesome
Very internes ring road trip :)

Congratulations from France

Have fun together!!

So apparently this thread has generated enough traffic to upset the people at dropbox. They suspended the public folder that hosts my images. Should have it resolved shortly.

Grow up out here and a 45 min trip or more to a Walmart is normal. lol. Ride lots of dirtbikes and fish. Congratulations on your great trip. Loved reading it.

Thanks Mike. I figure people get used to it. Great place to live so I'm sure it has it's advantages

Ride to joseph OR:

This entire trip we've said we were going to leave town early. So far it's only happened a couple of times. We're trying not to just hurry and get to each destination and actually enjoy everything along the way. One of the reasons I carry the camera in the tankbag is to have it readily available. What I found the first time we took a long trip was that having to get off the bike and take off your backpack to get to the camera sometimes means not stopping. It's kind of a hassle and I'd find myself saying, "screw it" and would continue on. But again, having it handy means sometimes not even getting off the bike to snap a shot. Long story short, we stop to see whatever we want to see. For us, that's the point of the trip. It really is about the journey and not so much the destination. Not including Seattle and Victoria, each destination really has been more just to provide decent meals and lodging. Although, we really like Winthrop and wouldn't mind spending a few days there.

The day we left Spokane we actually did leave fairly early. We were out of the hotel by 9. I was surprised at how little "action" there was around town. It was a weekday in the middle of downtown and the most we saw were three guys in shirt and tie walking (to work I assume). Being from Miami I would think a metropolitan area like that would be bustling in the morning. Not a criticism, just an observation.
We made our way along and made a stop in Spangle, WA. What's there you ask? A post office my friends. And that meant only one thing: that my little gypsy was going to unload some of the things she had been hauling around and realized she didn't need.





Spangle is just off HWY-195 and is one of those towns that you'd drive by without even knowing it was there. I waited outside while Stephanie went in to mail her cast-offs. While I waited I watched this lady across the street mowing her lawn and watched what little action was going on around. Next door there was a mechanics shop that seemed pretty busy. And from time to time someone would drive by and watch me, surely wondering what this guy was doing standing there, doing nothing I guess. The package was finally sent off towards home and we were on our way. (still not sure how it took so long when she was the only one there).
We needed gas and stopped there at the towns edge. Also used the restroom here and laughed when I saw that, aside from the "restroom" sign, they had a sign that read "office". A play on how I refer to the bathroom in my house. "I'll be in the office if you need me".
Back on the road it was pretty straightforward 2-lane highway for a bit. Our route would take us into and out of Idaho. This would also be where our first stop for food would be, in Lewiston, ID. Who knew Idao would be so much fun. We pulled over to take a picture of the welcome sign and found these souvenirs they left for us there. Maybe a treasure hunt of sorts??:





Just before we got to Lewiston:
(Prince would be proud of this guy:)




As is the norm, we found a place on Yelp beforehand and our restaurant of choice today would be "waffles 'n more". Before long we were there....Garmina had no problems finding it. Inside we found a typical old-school diner ala "Alice's diner" from the old TV show. I ordered eggs, sausage and a banana/nut waffle that was REALLY good. This place gets a thumbs-up!! Our server was friendly as well. We also met a nice couple that was sitting next to us. They told us of how they have to drive their daughter 1.5 hours to take her to PRE-SCHOOL!!! Crazy!!
We finished up our meal and made our way towards the Washington border again (towards Oregon). Honestly I've started forgetting what state I'm in at this point and start looking at the license plates around me to remind myself of where the hell I am.
Getting on HWY-129 we saw a sign that said the next gas stop wold be 77 miles away. It had been a bit since we filled up and figured better safe than sorry. We turned around and filled up just about a half mile back.
129 started with a few miles of twisty road, but then leveled off to fairly straight road, thru a lot of farm-land. It's stil nice country and you get to see things like this:



Could have gotten a really cool pic here but that damn truck showed up just as I pulled into what otherwise looked like an empty facility. I asked him to hang on a sec while I took the pic and he obliged.

Then things got really interesting. Meaning the road got REALLY good:







Stephanie wanted to hang back to get a picture of me riding off:


It's hard to describe what stopping and seeng scenery like this is like. It's hard for me to say that pictures don't do a place justice because I like to express what I see with a camera, but this definitely holds true here. It's Spectacular to stand on the side of the road, which is essentially the edge of a cliff, and look out into this expanse. Again, what must this have been like before there were roads???
Speaking of which, this stretch of road had recently been repaved and although we had to pass a car here and there, there was barely any traffic on it. Motoring erotica if ever there was.
At this point you're pretty much down in a canyon and the temperature got up into the 90's. Guess that's why this place is there (best known for their milkshakes):







As much as I would have wanted to stay there and enjoy the cool air inside, I wanted to get moving. Remember that recently paved road? Well it seems this was only on the Washington side. As soon as we got to the sign that said "welcome to Oregon" the new, shiny, black pavement just stopped. On the other side was a dusty version of the same road. It was fine, but it was funny to see nonetheless.
A little further along, 129 eventually becomes HWY-3 (on the Oregon side), winding thru now different, forested terrain. These roads were not as twisty, but had its fair share of long sweeping road.
Our destination for the night, Joseph, OR, was just past Enterprise, OR. I originally thought this would be where we'd have to spend the night but then stumbled upon the town of joesph when planning the trip. I'm glad I did because it's definitely a nicer place to stay, with some equally good places to eat. Driving through Engerprise I saw a place called outlaw Motorsports and stopped in for some chain lube. The people that helped me, whom I would guess was the owner and his wife, were friendly and gave me some tips for the ride out the next day. Stephanie took this while I was inside:


Joseph, OR is only 6 miles down the road from enterprise so it wasn't long before we were parking outside the bed & breakfast where we would be staying. Once there we parked the Ike's and went inside. The owner greeted us and showed us around, also offering us the paved parking pad in the rear for the bikes. There they would be out sight. Honestly though, this seems like the sort of place where I cold leave the bike parked on its side stand in the middle of the road with the key in it and nobody would touch it. Not that I would test that theory, but you get the picture.
So another thing that we have been careful to make sure of is that we have places with washer and dryer at least every few days. We obviously pack light and therefor need to wash often. Across the street from the Bronze Antler B&B there is a coin laundry. Perfect. We showered and got dressed for dinner and made a stop to drop our clothes off to wash. We figured we'd drop it in the dryer on the way back. One problem though: it was 7:15 and the laundry closes at 8:00. The restaurant closes at 9:00. With this in mind we went to dinner thinking that we could probably be done in time to come get the clothes and just throw it in the dryer in the morning. Dinner was at a place called Caldera's, exactly half a mile from the B&B AND the laundry. We got there and were seated in the balcony upstairs, with a great view.


After getting our drinks and putting in our order we realized that this wasn't going to be a 45 minute thing, so I decided to hike it back to the laundry, get the clothes and drop it in the room while Stephanie waited for me. A brisk walk/jog back to the laundry and I'm taking out the clothes. We had 2 separate washers going so I start taking the clothes out. I see a pair of jeans and think to myself, "hmmm...Wrangler jeans?? I don't remember Stephanie having wrangler J......". Oh shit, that's not our clothes!!! Oops, guess I'll put these back in the washer. So moving over to the washer to the left, I got OUR clothes out and took them across the street. I'm in pretty good shape, but Joseph sits at roughly 4,000 feet of elevation. This fact was wasn't lost on me as I jogged to the laundry. I wanted to get back to the food that I was sure would be on the table already. I also didn't want to be all winded when I got back to said food, so I grabbed my helmet and the key to stephanie's monster (which is the only one of the 2 bikes with rear pegs) and headed back to the restaurant with her helmet strapped to my arm. It is after all just a half mile away. Aside from feeling like a midget on her bike, I made it there in time for the food, which again......score!!! Really good food. Seems we're on a roll as far as that goes.
After the meal we made it back to the B&B and had a nice conversation with a young couple from Corvalis. They were traveling through on their way to visit her family in Idaho. He's a helicopter pilot for the national guard and she works at the university there. He had seen our bikes earlier and told us of some rides he had done with his Ducati Monster s4r. Really nice people.
Aside from almost stealing someone's clothes, it was a good day. Good roads, good weather, good riding and good food. What else do you need on a motorcycle trip??

A good woman. But I think you got that already ;-)

Definitely

Jesus, on sale...

Really like this shot that Stephanie took. She's getting good with her camera:

Hope to update the RR tonight. Here's some pics in the meantime

ahhh.....

Great write up. Thanks for sharing.

You guys sure travel light, when I went on a 3000 mile trip on my 990 Adventure, my bike looked like a pack mule. you guys look like your out for a Sunday ride. I never knew a women who could pack that light for a 15 day trip. And on a Motorcycle at that! Where does a fella find a women like that? I wanna know!

I am guessing that he is sending her stuff around to each hotel before they check in... so it looks like he is travling light... Maybe they are even on the back of a pick up... hahaha

No, seriously, it is not always need for lots of clothes when you ride. The riding gear is the same, they do laundry (as reported) and then, why do one need 15 shirts for 15 days? on a trip, one is allowed to use the same shirt (after it is washed) several times- how posh can they be????

Wait, they are riding ducati's and they do stay at hotels like "Hyatt"... hmmm maybe more to the story than we know?


Nice trip...

lol, thanks NumNuts (never actually called someone that in a friendly manner). Samoht is right. We really don't have to pack that much. You'd also be surprised how much I have packed in there.
Also, that bag she has holds a ton of stuff. She even has a hair dryer and a small curling/straightening iron in there!!! Shoes is the killer usually for women. She finally figured this out and took a pair that folds down to practically nothing, along with a pair of Nike's. Other than that, as previously mentioned, you pretty much wear the same riding gear during the day, so you really just need clothes for dinner. Most of the places we stay at have washer and dryer so we wash a few items every other day.

This isn't exact what I took, but here's a picture of what I can get into that US-20 tank bag when using some eagle-creek packing cubes (KEY element to our trips btw):


In the backpack I have something like this:



Here's the actual list that I used this time (this all fits in the tank bag and backpack):
Jeans (1)
Cargo pants (1)
Dress shirts (2)
Gray Long sleeved t shirt (1?)
Waffle weave long sleeved t-shirts
Undershirts - white (1)
Nike pro-combat shirt
Black t-shirt (1)
Underwear (3)
Underwear shorts (2)
Gym shorts
Under-pants
Black Sneakers
Belt
Socks (3)
Dress shirts (2)
Black Nike visor
ArcT'rex jacket

PASSPORTS
REGISTRATION & INSURANCE
New Rev'it gloves
Eagle creek pouch with batteries and cables
Knife
Watch
OlloClip lens
Motorcycle chain oil
Tools (Tool roll AND Columbia tool pouch)
Flashlight & headlamp
bike lock (2)
AIR COMPRESSOR
TIRE REPAIR KIT
Microfiber towel and quick detailer
SAE cables/adapters
Charging cables
New 4-port USB Charger
GPS (plus extra batteries and new charger ordered from Amazon)
iPhone / iPad
D7000 battery charger AND EXTRA BATTERY
Mio drink mix
Gopro camera
Sharpee pen
Sunglasses
Persimmon lenses
Checkbook