The Ride Home--Bandon,OR to Seattle

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While in Bandon we spent one day going to town and visiting our favorite stops. We had lunch at The 2 Loons deli in the downtown area. It is always one of our favorite places to eat, with that local flair that only a small town has. The food was delicious. Our next stop was the Wagon Wheel, where we always buy a T-shirt. When the T-shirt wears out in a couple of years, that signals us that it is time to make another trip to Bandon. The other place you cannot miss is Cranberry Sweets. Bandon is the Cranberry capitol of the world, and we just missed the Annual Cranberry Festival the day before we got to town. Cranberry Sweets is a candy store that puts out plates of little candy samples, so of course you want to buy after you've tasted all the wonderful flavors.

As we headed back to our motel down the little road that goes from town and follows the coastline, we passed Face Rock. It is so cool. Can you see the face?

We left town on Wednesday morning and made a quick stop on the north side of the Coquille River where the historic Coquille Lighthouse stands. It is a landmark for artists and photographers to appreciate. It is from the 1890s and not in operation any more from what I understand.

The view looking back towards Bandon.

Once we got on the road we headed back up the coast with the intention of heading inland towards McMinnville for the next nights stay. This morning was the coldest and most miserable of any on our trip. The further north we went we rode through mist, fog, and very cold temps. I had on 4 layers on top, my jeans and chaps, and my Buff around my neck. I had only brought my regular gloves. By the time we rode a couple of hours, my fingers were numb, I had pulled the Buff up over my nose like a bandit, and my legs were cold through my chaps. I could feel that my teeth were cold, even though I kept my mouth shut (no comments from the peanut gallery). We stopped in Waldport for a hot cup of coffee at another DQ.

After we thawed out, we continued on north until Lincoln City. Then we headed inland towards McMinnville. Once we were away from the ocean, the sky opened up, the sun was out, and we started warming up. We passed through the most lovely countryside and followed a river. Soon we saw amber fields of grain, vineyards, Italian prune orchards and wide open spaces. This was one of my favorite roads on the trip, probably because it was 30 degrees warmer than along the coast. We stopped in McMinnville, which is a cute little town where McMinnamin's Brewery started. It's a Northwest favorite. We found the Hotel Oregon, that houses McMinnamin's. We considered staying there, but they only had on the street parking. We weren't comfortable with leaving our bikes out on the main street all night. So we had a beer and thought about it......

There was a Native American casino and hotel that we had passed about 20 miles back. We decided to go back, get a room, eat a nice buffet dinner, and gamble. We got a really good rate on the room which was luxurious and big. It was so good to be warm, and to walk around for a change. We were able to watch our bikes from the 5th floor room we had. We had a wonderful time, lost our shirts (not literally) and were ready to ride home on Thursday. By the end of the day we had ridden 6 hours and about 250 miles, for a total of 729 miles so far.

We left Thursday morning for the home stretch. I was ready to get home and see my cats. I miss them when I am away, they are such a part of my life. We were about 90 miles from Portland, so once we hit Interstate 5 it was freeway all the way home. I led and had to go 80 most of the way through Oregon to keep up with traffic. It was windy, cold, and raining off and on the last day. Once we got through Seattle I felt a great relief that we had made it all this way with no motorcycle problems or events. The only thing that happened was Dave's zipper pull breaking on his motorcycle jacket while we were in Bandon. He was able to use the inner zipper for his liner to keep it together so he could make it home. We got home around 4pm Thursday all in one piece and happy to be sleeping in our own bed that night.

The second day was about 250 miles and 6 hours of mostly freeway riding. The total trip was 987 miles. I would do it all over again, now that I've rested up. I can't wait to plan our next trip.

Destination Bandon: The Second Day--Pacific City to Bandon, OR

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On the second day of our ride from Seattle to Bandon, OR we woke up with our bikes soaking wet with morning fog.

We wiped them down, packed up and off we went south towards Bandon. We expected it to take about 6 hours of riding. Before we left Pacific City we went back towards Cape Kiwanda to snap a few photos. It was around 10 am.

Once we got on the road it was comfortable riding and the sun was coming out. The road is narrow and twisty so we took our time as well as followed lots of logging trucks and large RVs which kept us at a slow pace. The scenery was lovely so it allowed us a glimpse of the ocean every once in a while. We finally stopped at Cape Fowlweather for a break. According to the sign, Captain Cook discovered and named this Cape. We were there on a nice day. Winds can be over 100 mph here with no visibility.

There was alot of fog to ride through from this point south.

Cape Foulweather did not have a public restroom (?!) and I take advantage anytime we are stopping. I had already had a couple cups of coffee earlier in the morning. We headed south again down 101 and, lo and behold, we ran into road contruction. This was a Monday morning and they had the road down to one lane on a major through way. I tried to stay calm and not think about it as we sat with our engines turned off for 40 minutes as nobody moved. The fog was surrounding us so we couldn't really see the scenery either. We finally got going and so did the miles of cars and logging trucks behind us. The first town we came to I stopped. What a relief!

As we rode on further the temps got cooler and the fog was covering the ocean view. We stopped often for hot coffee and food. That day DQ became our fast food friend. Almost every small town in Oregon has a Dairy Queen with clean restrooms and hot strong coffee. They would prove to be our rest stop of choice for the days to come.

We finally arrived in Bandon around 4 pm after riding 6 hours and about 180 miles that day. So far we had gone 479 miles on our trip. It felt much easier than the first day, although challenging terrain. The road is narrow and passes inland through deep dark forests, and then moves out right along the rocky cliffs next to the Pacific Ocean. Again, my mind registered so many images I was having trouble processing it all. We would be staying at this little motel for 2 nights. It is called the Windermere and was originally built for artists who would take little cabins and park their Model A's in between. It has been updated but still keeps the quaint woodwork and charm of a beach motel. It had a little kitchen area fully supplied with necessities. There is a sliding glass door which looks right out to the ocean. I could have lived there. Some mornings the fog would cover the whole beach, but if you waited for the window of opportunity there were a couple of hours a day you could actually see out to the horizon. Our other window looked out to the bikes so we could keep a good eye on them. It was perfect and 1/2 mile down the road from my aunt.

Again the fog and moisture took over our bikes as the sun went down. The motel was great about giving us alot of rags to wipe them down in the mornings. They were also very interested in the Victory and the motel owner was seen checking it out many times in our 2 days there. Everyone we met along the way was interested in the bikes. These were all Seniors travelling along the coastline like we were. We talked to people from Utah, the Netherlands, and other motorcycling travellers.

In Oregon you are not allowed to pump your own gas. Can you believe it? They don't want the public breathing gas fumes, but it is OK for the guy working the pumps. With motorcycles it is a different story. They have to slide your card into the 'pay-at-the-pump' slot, and then hand you the nozzle. I always fill my own and Dave does too. I think bikers are more particular with their gas drips, so they always had a paper ready for me to catch them with.

As we wound down for the day, we looked out at this lovely view. Now we could relax, visit with my aunt, and rest up for our ride home on Wednesday.

Ride to Bandon, Oregon

Sunday my husband and I are taking off on a ride to Bandon, Oregon. The town is on the southern Oregon coast not far from California. My elderly aunt lives there and we like to go down every few years and check up on her. It is also a lovely little fishing town with not much to do except enjoy looking at the beautiful rock formations in the ocean and walk the beach.

We decided to go suddenly when the weather looked like it was going to stay dry and warm for yet another week. Here in the Northwest it is always a gamble whether we will have rain or not as summer ends. Once it comes, you can kiss summer goodbye.

We'll be going on the Vulcan and the Victory with only what items we can stuff into our saddlebags. My husband also borrowed a T-bag from a friend so we should have plenty of room. We'll take two days to get to Bandon, stay a day or so, and then two days to come back. We plan to be back home on Thursday evening.

Our route will go across on the Edmonds ferry to the Olympic peninsula. We'll take back roads all the way down to Astoria, Oregon. From there we will follow the coastal highway all the way to Bandon. If there aren't too many RVs on the road to slow us down, we should have a fun ride. The coastal highway is a winding two-lane road so there are not many places to pass. My friend and her husband are also heading down the coast on a British car rally, so we'll probably see alot of sports cars along the way.

I will be taking photos as we go so stay tuned for a fun virtual trip.