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Message started by Bear_Rider on 08/07/08 at 18:49:39

Title: 1200 Mile Round Trip
Post by Bear_Rider on 08/07/08 at 18:49:39

I just got back a couple of days ago from a trip to the southern Oregon coast. 1200 miles with a grand total of 12 miles of freeway thrown in.

I loaded the bike up the evening before and took a little test drive in the light to see if everything stayed on.

Up at 4 AM, ready to start out at about 5:00, so that I can get across the desert before it gets hot:
http://www.silverspringsonline.com/savage/Oregon08/0500%20AKA%20O%20Dark%20Thirty.jpg

About an hour out, a nice twenty-minute break. Notice the cloudy skies that kept the tempertatures low:
http://www.silverspringsonline.com/savage/Oregon08/NDOT%20Roadwork%20North%20Of%20Nixon.jpg
No, they didn't burn off. I finally drove out from under them a couple of hours later.

Thinks went along very well, with a lunch from a can heated on the manifold and eaten in a shady city park.

However, I got a reminder of just how short-legged the Savage is when I pulled into Cedarville to gas up for the hop over the mountains to Alturas. As I pull into the Texaco station, I notice the lack of people, then I see the "Sorry, Closed" sign. It turns out that it had closed two months before.

I'm sitting there wondering what to do when I notice a hand-scrawled sign in the general store "If you need gas, see us." It turns out that someone with a commercial account was selling gas to needy travelers. The price wasn't bad -- actually lower than what I'd been paying, but the lady charged a $4 service fee for driving down to the station to unlock the pump -- just about enough to pay for the aggravation, so that seems like a fair deal.

From then on, the riding was very straightforward. I camped the first night at Howard's Gulch, northwest of Canby:
http://www.silverspringsonline.com/savage/Oregon08/Night%201%20-%20Howard's%20Gulch%20Campground.jpg

It turns out that my 60-year old body was incompatable with that 30-year old thermarest mattress. The following morning, I clawed my way to my feet, limped around while packing everything up, and hit the road about 8:00.

Towards the end of my day, I stopped at Diamond Lake Resort and bought some snacks:
http://www.silverspringsonline.com/savage/Oregon08/Diamond%20Lake%20Resort.jpg

It's quite a place, but the bugs were thick on this side of the lake.

My second night out was at Tokatee Falls:
http://www.silverspringsonline.com/savage/Oregon08/Night%202%20-%20Tokatee%20Falls%20Campground.jpg
I had the thermarest figured out by then, but my body still hadn't recovered from the toll of the night before. I ate some peanuts, put a large book on the back to seal it, and went in to take a nap. When I woke up and went back outside, all I found was a big pile of peanut shells.

After three days on the coast, it was time to start back. I decided to take the advice of some bikers that I had talked to on the way up, and while on the coast. I spent the night at the Super 8 Motel in K Falls, with the restaurant right across the parking lot. Much better! I definitely need other equipment before I camp again.

Title: Re: 1200 Mile Round Trip
Post by Reelthing on 08/07/08 at 19:19:03

Looks like mighty fine road trip! thanks for the pics very nice.

Title: Re: 1200 Mile Round Trip
Post by Gort on 08/07/08 at 19:26:28

Did you notice any handling differences with the cases on the back? Did driving at high speeds cause the air to affect your stability?

Title: Re: 1200 Mile Round Trip
Post by PerrydaSavage on 08/08/08 at 01:52:27

Great pics! Thanks for sharing ... Glad you enjoyed your trip and arrived home safely!

Title: Re: 1200 Mile Round Trip
Post by FreeSpirit on 08/08/08 at 02:24:15

Nice pics there! How long were you gone?

That does seem like a big load youre carrying ,I'm wondering if you had any problems with it also.

I'd like to hear more though about your trip!! :)

Title: Re: 1200 Mile Round Trip
Post by 07S40rider on 08/08/08 at 07:02:21

Making a trip like that solo takes more than a little courage. Sounds like you had a good time and a safe trip. Good deal, and a good write up too. I think that is the most load I have ever seen strapped onto a motorcycle of any kind. One big question I have; Did you experience any mechanical trouble with your bike on the trip?

Title: Re: 1200 Mile Round Trip
Post by Bear_Rider on 08/08/08 at 16:14:29

I have something on the order of a million miles behind the wheel of a car, but this was my first trip on a bike. As a result there were times when I wondered if this trip required courage or insanity. My biggest mistake was combining camping (something that I haven't done in over a decade) with my first trip. However, I had little choice because I didn't know how far I could get in a day. I had three campgrounds and one town picked out as potential stop points for the first night, and a whole slew of campgrounds for the second. If I was going to do the trip again, I would take two days each way with a slightly different route, and camp in picturesque Motel Sixes along the way. ;D

The biggest problem that I had was when parking, particularly with the Camelback full of water. It sat atop the load, and if you weren't careful to park on the level, or if you picked soft ground, the bike wanted to topple over. This became particularly evident towards the end of the day, when my legs were getting a little wobbly. I ALMOST lost it on the second(?) day as I stopped for the night.

The wind caused the bike no problems. I started at the home of Twain's Washoe Zephyr (it blows rocks, not sand) and ended on the southern Oregon coast, where the gusts have to be over 60 mph to be noticed. She just kept tracking right on down the road. Me? By the end of the day, I was tired from having my head slapped around despite the windshield.

I had no mechanical trouble at all, other than the swaying of the rack that I mentioned in my other thread. I used enough oil during the 1200 miles that I had to top it off when I got home.

During the trip, I logged a total of 12 miles on the freeway. The rest of it was on secondary roads, about 200 miles of it at 55 mph or less, the rest at 65-70. During most of the trip, the temperatures were moderate or even cool. Only the last day was hot, with temperatures around 100 degrees.

The second night out was the worst. After my previous night's adventures on the under-inflated thermarest, I was worn out. I sacked out for a nap, and when I tried to get up off the floor and unzip the mosquito netting, I got a cramp in my upper thigh. Talk about miserable! When you're on the ground, you can't get any leverage to force the muscle to extend, and in a tent, there's nothing that you can reach stout enough to use in hauling yourself to your feet. All you can do is roll around until it stops hurting, and you can't even do much rolling while confined inside a tent.

To top it off, it was when I finally managed to hobble outside that I found that squirrels had pigged out on my large bag of peanuts. At that point, all I could think of was John Wayne's axiom,
"Life is hard. It's even harder when you're stupid." :(

If you're traveling up Hwy 97 in eastern oregon and stop in Klamath Falls, the Super 8 at the north edge of town is a good place. It's mostly used by truckers, and has a good restaurant across the parking lot. The Chevron station on the far side of the highway insisted on my using their coke machine to fill my Camelback with cold, filtered water and ice. I'm glad that they did, because this was the day that I really needed it.

I met several bikers during my trip, and picked up a lot of good advice. They were all amazed that the little Savage was hauling all that stuff, particularly the guy on the Harley that was towing a trailer.

All in all, it was a great experience, and I can't wait to get out again -- as soon as the bruises on my butt heal. ;D

Title: Re: 1200 Mile Round Trip
Post by Ramsforever on 08/08/08 at 19:36:29

Awesome story. Appreciated by all I am sure.

And here I thought working on the bike was a challenge ;D

Thanks for the info. It makes me want to pack up and go somewhere. ;)

Thank you again!

Title: Re: 1200 Mile Round Trip
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 08/09/08 at 08:48:46

I am reasonably sure the riders of other bikes have a few intrepid souls who take the solo trips, but somehow, I get a good feeling by being associated with these fiolks here, who have ripped off for solo trips on their Savage machines. Surely there were some Before I got here, but all I know of, in order of distance travelled, are Beat Duck, who near circumnavigated the world, okay, I exagerated, a LITTLE there, but that was a big ride, Then Bear_Rider with his 1,200 & didnt we have a young lady make a few hundred mile solo run just recently?

Title: Re: 1200 Mile Round Trip
Post by Sandy Koocanusa on 08/09/08 at 18:36:52

A nice writeup and great pictures, Bear Rider. I, like you, have tried camping off the back of the bike and found that I need to pick up some different equipment. In particular, I need to find a tent that folds into something smaller than a volkswagon.

Glad you made it safe and sound.

Title: Re: 1200 Mile Round Trip
Post by buttgoat1 on 08/09/08 at 18:51:47

Bear,
good for you. I have been contemplating an extended solo tour myself. Thinking of doing the camping bit some mixed with the motel part too. Thanks for the confirmation of motel 8's. The "tail" ride sounded good (bout 1000 mile RT), and toymaker's place seemed to beat the motel hands down, especially stocked with the characters, but I just couldn't fit it into the work schedule. Maybe another time.

Title: Re: 1200 Mile Round Trip
Post by Ed L. on 08/09/08 at 18:58:05

Really enjoyed you writeup and pictures. I was planning to do something simular with the Tail of the Dragon ride but ended up trailering and then camping out at Toymakers. What camping equipment did you really need? I took a small tent which blew it's zipper the first night, air mattress, a pot and pan and a one burner propane stove for instant coffee. The milk only lasted two days in the cooler so maybe powdered next time. How many miles did you average per day and what way your longest day in the saddle?