What can you say about the Oregon Coast other than it is magical, what a special place. When we lived in McMinnville, OR I believe Ms.OK walked almost every inch of the coast. I missed most of it because I was always gone on a trip to BFE, The Sudan or some other place half way around the world.

Low Tides

The tides were the lowest of the year and people were out in droves to walk the beaches and to harvest shellfish.

Made it to the Oregon Coast

From Hood River we rode through Portland, OR then OR6 to the Coast. We set up base camp in Cape Lookout State Park. From there we took day trips up and down the coast and each evening returned to camp for dinner, a campfire, wine, beer, and martinis. I took one day off to have the OEM Dunlops replaced with Metzeler Marathon 880's. The Dunlops still had a lot of miles left but the Metzelers made all the difference in the world when riding in the rain. I wish I had done it earlier.

Photo of Oceanside, just north of Cape Lookout.

Lolo Pass

We left Butte on I-90 for Lolo and US12 to cross over Northern Idaho. Lolo pass was a highlight of the trip. The only negative, the OEM Dunlops do not handle rain well and a couple of times the bike got a little squirrelly going through Lolo pass. We made it to Hood River, OR where we shut it down for the night.

Lake Jackson

After Grand Junction we cut across Western Colorado on CO139 to Vernal, UT to spend the night. I've ridden or drove most of the roads in the western US but this was my first time on CO139. It was a pleasant surprise, I wouldn't say it was a great motorcycle road but it was much better than expected. The next morning the plan was to ride to Jackson, WY to spend the night and the next day do Yellowstone NP. We had a couple of ways to get to Jackson and I picked the eastern route over the western one because of WX. It turned out to have been a good chose. We watched rain to the west almost all the way into Jackson and only had to put our rain gear on about 50 miles south of Jackson.

Yellowstone was pretty much a bust, too damn many people, RV's, cars and road construction to enjoy the park. I almost lost the bike and trailer going over several of the road work areas. The mud was really slick. We exited out West Yellowstone and rode to Butte, MT for the night. The ride up US287 to connect with I-90 was one of the prettiest of the trip. After the crowds of Yellowstone it was most enjoyable. BTW, this part of the the trip, from Jackson, WY to Lewiston, ID was mostly in the rain. All I can say is thank you Frogg Toggs and Shoei, they kept us dry and comfortable.

On the Road to Silverton

After Red River we rode to Durango, CO to position ourselves to do the Durango-Silverton-Ouray (US550) ride the next morning.

One of the advantages of traveling on a bike is people will stop and talk to you, other bikers as well folks in cars, trucks, and RV's. We met a woman just out side of Durango who had been riding solo for 6 weeks. She was from the Seattle area and had lost her job. She decided what better time to see the USA on her Harley Soft Tail. We rode together for a good part of US550. She is on the left and Ms.OKGuy is on the right.

Last for now

I have not a clue what they were doing

Four bikers

Rambling on ROT

ROT as usual was a blast. There is not much to be said other than it is totally tasteless and tacky....but what the hell, tasteless and tacky is usually fun. I didn't spend a lot of time on the parade route this year so I really can't say if there were more overt sexual activity this time or not. For the record I only saw one guy getting a blowjob and one gal the first night being eaten out on stage. Anyway I will attach a few of this year's photos without much commentary.

More Vacation 09

After ROT we spent another day in Austin visiting with our girl child and her SO and short visit to Hippie Hollow. We left Austin early Tuesday AM and rode to Amarillo, TX before we shut it down for the night. The next morning we did the short ride on to Red River, NM and camped by the river.

Red River is still beautiful and not too overrun with people. It had been over 30 years since my last time there and there were a few changes but even with the new development it was one of the best places we stayed on the trip.

09 Vacation

I left Tucson June 11th for Austin, TX so as to meet friends at ROT. Ms.Bubba was in Scotland visiting family and would meet me in Austin for the final day of ROT, after that we planned to ride to Oregon, with many stops on the way, to spend a week camping on the Oregon coast. we needed to be back in Tucson no latter than July 4th.

That's the back story, as always, when I get on or in a traveling machine I tend to do lots of miles with few stops for pictures or much of anything else. Ms.Bubba is more of a smell the roses kind of person so most of the photos are hers .

The first image is of ROT, let me tell you it was great tacky and tasteless fun

Good Weekend

Ms. OK and I loaded up the trailer with camping gear (new tent, never put up....big mistake) and headed for the White Mountains for a Saturday camp out. We had a great ride up US 191 and found an empty camp site a little over a mile off the main highway. Long story short...one of the main tent pole attachments was defective and after several attempts at a "work around" we gave up, packed the camping gear back into the trailer and rode to Show Low for a good meal and a night in a hotel. Oh darn . The next morning we were up early and headed home through the Salt River Canyon where we stopped for a river side picnic.

Monday Ms. OK had to work so I left the house about the same time she did for a ride. As I went out the door I thought about a comment that US 191 South from Alpine to Clifton is different experience compared to running the road north. Doesn't take much to get me to ride US 191. Normally I ride it north bound but this time I turned off US 191 at AZ 75 so as to join US 180 near Pleasanton NM and then north to Alpine so I could ride 191 south to Clifton. It started raining just before reaching Alpine and by the time I was a couple of miles south of Alpine it was a heavy downpour with pea hail. Thank you Frogg Toggs and Shoei Multitec. After running the fastest part of US 191 in the rain I passed a passel of HD riders in their usual riding outfits headed north into the rain, must say that image brought a smile.

I made it from Alpine to Clifton in a little under 2 hours, including a stop to take off the rain gear. Not too bad considering the fast part was in a heavy rain. Door to door, about an 11 hour day. What a great weekend, I got to run US 191 twice, once two up pulling a trailer and the second time solo. Each had its charm.

Camping in the White Mountains

Ms. OK and I did a trial run with the bike and all the camping gear that we need to take with us on vacation. We finally made it out of Tucson around 1330 Saturday afternoon and headed east on I-10 to join up with US 191 and on to our planned stop at Hannagan Meadow. After riding through rain and just missing snow (still on the roadside), we made it as the sun was setting and had to set up camp in the mud and dark. The sleeping pads and bags worked, the tent for a small backpacking model had enough room and was easy to erect. We warmed a can of Pazole on the auto gas camping stove and got a good night's rest. The next morning, after coffee, we broke camp and rode through the cold for several hours and then decended into the Arizona heat for the last leg before home.

Once home, martinis and the pool to end a perfect weekend.

On the Road

Ms. OK was having her morning tea and said the magic words...."I would really like to go on a long bike ride this morning". Damn I love that woman.

Before she could change her mind I was dressed and had the saddlebags packed . We went north with little plan other than to ride by Lake Roosevelt. We ended up continuing north through Payson and Show Low before turning south for home. The photo is at the last stop before home, we had been on the road for 9 hours with 1 more to go. This was the longest Ms Bubba had ridden in one day, before on the VTX an hour to two hours was the max she could set on the back. Not only do I love that woman, I love my V2K. What a road machine.

New iMac

All the computers died last week. I got the POS HP laptop up and running but the Mac is still in the shop so there was nothing else to do but buy a new 24" iMac. I'd thought about it for awhile as I'm no longer traveling so there is no need for a laptop or even a "lugable".

I've geeked for the last couple of days getting everything set up, still not finished but about 90% there. Damn, it is nice to have a full sized keyboard and big screen to work with....I'd forgotten how nice it is.

Once the Mac laptop returns I will post some bike photos.

The Righr Side of the Dial

The big Kawi likes to run. It is so smooth and stable if you don't pay attention she will be over 100 mph before you know it. I was watching the world go by with the BrakeAway Cruise control on when I looked down to see we were going around 110 mph. I had to make a photo before slowing down.

Sunday's Ride

I rode north out of Tucson through Globe to north of Payson. I made a few photos of the the route, this is one made in Globe.

Motorcycle Photos

I have not photographed, worked on making "ART" for several years. The reasons are many but mostly because of changes in location and work the time and interest were not there. Over the years my photographic work revolved around my neighborhood. I was connected to my neighbors and felt a bond with them that I wanted to share. When I left Ogden Street I lost that connection to my daily life and also lost the need to document my surroundings.

During the last year I've joined a new community, Motorcycle riding, and I'm feeling the need to share the joys of that life. I'm working to find a voice and I'm feeling I've started to do things that are interesting. Not all the images "work" but more and more satisfy me and I will be posting those images as I make them.

I guess mostly what I want to say is: This Blog is moving in a new direction and you can expect to see more frequent posts and most of the posts will be about riding and or photographs of bikes and riding.