The day started off pretty routine, everything had been packed up, so all that was needed was to wake up, shower and then wish my daughter a happy birthday. I had wanted to take off at 8:00 a.m. and by some luck, I was actually rolling at 8:00 a.m.
The Goal was to try and beat the afternoon heat in the Central Valley. The weather started out in the low 60’s and then eventually got up to the mid 80’s by the time I hit Redding CA. I took off my fleece knowing full well that within an hour I would be at elevation and it would be getting cooler. I gassed up in Redding at about 250 mile mark and kept on going.
As I entered Weed, CA I was thinking about lunch. All I could smell was a smoker and looked over and there was a guy in front of a random old gas station smoking meat. So I spun around and entered the “Asian BBQ”. The owner(one man show) asked if I knew what I wanted or would take a suggestion. He suggested the ribs because they were about ready and I wouldn’t have to wait. Sold. The BBQ was good and came with sticky rice because that is what he had. I sat outside by the smoker for a bit and ate and trying to decide if I was going to be able to side trip to Crater Lake. Eventually, I decided to not decide until I was at the junction, I geared up and started riding. Last trip I had troubles with after lunch sleepiness so I wanted to see if that was going to happen again. Luckily it did not.
When I got to the junction I decided that I really wanted to see Crater Lake. I knew the Rim Road was still closed to snow, so it would be a backtrack to get to where I was going. Although there was really only one viewing spot, it was pretty crowded. On the way up, there was still plenty of snow on the sides of the roads. It was cold. It got down to 42 degrees up there so I switched to my medium weight gloves and soldiered on.
Leaving Crater Lake it stayed in the 40’s and after a while I started to feel it in my hands, so the heated grips went on. Yes, I’m spoiled with all these things, but I’ve paid my dues wearing trash bags in the rain to try and stay dry. The only real bad thing that occurred was on the way out of Crater Lake heading east. I went to pass a very slow car and the car behind me decided to pass me while I was doing the pass. She was aware how dissatisfied I was with that idea and execution.
I continued on to Bend and arrived at my hotel. I learned a few weeks back that just north of here this weekend is the BMW MOA National Event so upon arriving, there was a bigger group that had coned off an area to park. I figured, why not. Would they really know I wasn’t part of their group.
I checked in, grabbed by stuff which would be the first actual unpacking and usage. I find that it takes me a few days to get my packing/unpacking just right so it will be efficient. Which will be good, so hopefully I don’t get the award for slowest person in the morning.
I asked the Hotel Clerk for a suggestion for dinner. She gave me the name of a Brew pub down the street. I figured it was a Saturday night and I’d be waiting, but it was pretty empty. That scared me a bit, but I sat at the bar, ordered one of their beers and food. It was all pretty good. From there I hit up Walmart to get a cheap mouse to hopefully be able to edit videos from my IPad Pro. I’ll work on it over the next few days so I can share videos along the way.
I settled back in the room and set out to get my charging down. The one thing I miss about my old setup was it all ran from the bike. there was no charging needed. However, now I have cameras, my SPOT needs to be charged and I have two headsets along with my phone and my iPad. I did buy a nifty charger for the trip which seems to have been a good purchase.
So that was day one. Tomorrow I’m heading to Kelowna, BC which is a bit shorter in distance than today, but you never know how long a border crossing will take.
Phat Barstewards 