A Walk in the Woods with SpartanBabe

On Sunday, Troubadour was teaching a Team Oregon class and I felt the need for some exercise so SpartanBabe (aka Meg) and I arranged to go for an early morning hike.  I drove East across the valley  and arrived at her house about 7:30 am.  She readied the dogs (Annie & Oakleigh) and off we went.

I am not very familiar with Linn County so I let her pick a hiking destination. She chose McDowell Creek Falls County Park - good choice.

There were over 50 of these stairs cut into the mountain close to the start of the trail.  I could feel my legs burning by the time we got to the top.  SpartanBabe even spotted a snail on the trail.

We were rewarded with beautiful views of the falls.  There are three waterfalls in the park.

According to the sign we were in a temperate rain forest.

We zig-zagged over the river. The county provided very nice wooden bridges.  One set of stairs had a step missing and SpartanBabe ended up carrying Annie (the black lab) down when she wouldn't hop over it.  Much to Meg's dismay, Annie was still wet from swimming in the river.  We laughed and carried on.

The thimbleberries and salmonberries were blooming. As were the bleeding hearts and other shrubbery.

 Thimbleberry bloom

Salmonberry bloom

Faded almost done blooming Bleeding Heart

Random yellow bloom with a little bug on its petal

Back to the trail, we saw the Royal Terrace waterfall.

Bridge where I took the picture of the falls

Panoramic upriver

Before long we were back at the parking area.  It was a short hike, but a good one.

I spent a few minutes taking pictures of the old mossy picnic tables and the dogs.

 Annie and Oakleigh

 Oakleigh

My Keen hiking shoes - sorry Bobskoot no bare feet for me this day.

Next up SpartanBabe and I are doing a 5k run at the 106th Annual Rhododendron Festival in Florence tomorrow while Troubadour is teaching another Team Oregon class. The Oregon Vintage Motorcycle Show is on Sunday so hopefully there will be a lot of cool bikes on display.

Have a great weekend everyone.

-Au Revoir

"Great things are done when men and mountains meet.  This is not done by jostling in the street." - William Blake
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Saturday Ride to Cycle Parts Triumph

Lucy landed in a local mechanics shop Friday after giving Troubadour some grief on his way home from work Thursday afternoon.  Corvallis motorcycle mechanic extraordinaire Donn diagnosed her with a bad regulator/rectifier.  Luckily Cycle Parts Triumph in Eugene had one in stock and held it for us to pick up on Saturday.

So.....Saturday we rode the bikes to coffee; Troubadour on the XT and me on the Gladius.  It was fairly cloudy out early on, but it had warmed significantly by the time we left Coffee Culture so we opted to ride to Eugene on our favorite back roads stopping for a snack part way there.  The Muddy Creek Charter School makes a nice way point for a break.  It isn't far from home but we hadn't had lunch yet.

As you can see in the background of the first two pictures, the rhododendrons are blooming in full force too.

As we arrived in Eugene we turned onto Highway 126 for the last few miles to the shop.  Where it turns to two lanes divided in each direction I spotted a green pickup truck in my left side view mirror.  It appeared he was driving with his left tires up on the curb of the center median.  I double checked 3-4 times thinking my mirrors must have been vibrating and I was seeing things so I chatted to Troubadour on the Sena and gave him a heads up to be wary.  Sure enough he confirmed I was not hallucinating and the guy was in fact speeding and driving half on the median.

We immediately slowed to get out of the way. As he rode by he and his passenger were both drinking and in a company truck no less. And not from bottles or cans either, but from glasses.  We hung back giving him a wide berth thinking he was going to plow into the cars in front of him at the next light. Luckily he didn't.  He turned off and we continued on shaking our heads.  If we had of had bluetooth to call 911 on our phones we would have and it would have been good to have a GoPro at that point as it would be easier to report after the fact.

As it was, by the time we got to the Triumph shop he was long gone and we could only shake our heads and hope he didn't kill anyone and that someone else phoned it in.

Waiting for us at Triumph not only was the new rectifier, but drool worthy motorcycle eye candy. Triumph has had a love affair with red, black, and grey lately and it seems to work.  Combined with a matte finish we thought it very eye catching.

They also had the Street Triple in white with blue accents.  It was inside and jam packed against other bikes so I couldn't get any pictures.  There were other bikes to be ogled outside with different color combinations.  

And then something caught Troubadour's eye......  A gently used Tiger 800, fully loaded with only 4400 miles on it.  The Universe was throwing temptation at him.

But he resisted.  He decided he already has a Tiger that he loves and left it there for another Triumph fan to purchase.

While wandering around the shop, the clouds cleared completely and the temperature rose even more.  We took the liners out of our jackets and decided an iced cold yummy coffee was in order. We rode down West Eleventh to the newly built Starbucks.  I had a iced vente unsweetened black tea lemonade and Troubadour opted for the iced vente vanilla soy Starbucks Doubleshot. (5 shots of espresso - the XT wasn't the only thing vibrating on the way home)

The barista taking our order asked us the standard question: "Aren't you hot in all that gear? " He then proceeded to let us know the Vulcan out back was his and that he rode it everywhere because he doesn't have a car.  Then he told us how odd it felt to be riding in the warm weather in just his shorts, t-shirt and flip flops.  Really dude?  Face palm. I guess he hasn't taken a bee up the shorts yet.

We had one more stop to make before heading home and delivering the rectifier to Donn for installation.

We arrived home just after 4 pm and the thermometer in the back yard indicated it was 89˚F (31.6˚C) in the shade.  Yeah, that would be why we were a little toasty waiting at stop lights on the way home.

Changing into something cooler was the first order of business before making a giant salad for dinner.  And as always, Basil appeared happy to see us.

(Photo taken later that night when the sun went down)

- Au Revoir

"  It is a cruel season that makes you get ready for bed while it's light out." - Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes)

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A Picnic, a Peony, & a Pussycat

While winter is trying to hold on to its death grip on some parts of the country, Oregon has decided to kiss the sun.

We are experiencing record breaking temperatures in the high 80's.  Last week we saw nothing but blue sky and sunshine and the forecast is for more of the same for this week, although not quite as warm.

Yesterday was the second annual spring picnic for our local motorcycle forum.  There is also a fall picnic.  Yesterday was also the warmest picnic we've had.

A fairly big group turned out, but we didn't get too many pictures.  A lot of people drove since they were bringing the family and or coolers or crock pots of food items.

(3 out of 4 founders of the forum - RickRick, Wiley & Troubadour)

(A few of the rides)

(Even the kids were having fun)

(a few more bikes)

(A Harley, a Nighthawk 250, and a few VFRs in the background)

It was approximately a 25 mile ride each way.  A popular route through the back roads we take all the time and it was nice to get out on the bikes while the temperature was warm.  Note to self - your mesh jacket will be cooler without the rain liner in it.  Should have checked that before we left, not after we got home.

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With all of the warm weather the plants and shrubs are blooming like crazy.  The news is telling us allergy season has arrived two weeks early.  I believe it.

A lot of our trees have already bloomed and are done but the tree peony is just getting started and opened it's first bloom this week.

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And with the warmer weather our fluffy Basil is doing what he does best - napping.

And sometimes he'll wake up and survey his kingdom.

Before going back in the house and falling asleep on the sofa.

Life is good.

- Au Revoir

"Fun I love, but too much fun is of all things the most loathsome.  Mirth is better than fun, and happiness is better than mirth." - Thomas Carlyle
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Chilly Sunday Group Ride

While at Saturday morning coffee plans were hatched for a small group ride around King's Valley on Sunday.  

Sunday morning dawned chillier and more overcast than we anticipated.  I opted to ride Max not only because he has heated grips, but also the plug for my heated jacket liner too.

PolarBear (Andy), SpartanBabe (Meg) and her hubby Josh, crossed the valley to our house and arrived just after 10 am Sunday morning.

Routes were discussed and debated and we chose PolarBear as our fearless leader.  Thanks for leading Andy!

We headed west on Highway 20 and turned north on Kings Valley Road.  It is not a technical highway but you do get to see some nice countryside before one group of 25 mph twisties.  This put us at Ritner Creek Covered Bridge.  A popular wayside along the route.  A nice time to stop for a snack.

 

(A Suzuki V-Strom, 2 Triumph Tigers, a Triumph America and a Suzuki Gladius)

(Josh, Meg & Brad)

Somehow I managed to get a picture of all of the bikes but Lucy.  I think because she was parked by the loo and that doesn't make a great back drop.  Hope I didn't give her a complex leaving her out.

I did get one picture of the river taken from the bridge.

(Luckiamute River)

We saddled up and hit some more back roads meandering east over to Highway 99W and then north before cutting back across to King's Valley once again.  We stopped at the covered bridge for another break before figuring out a route home so that the parties could ride together for a while  before having to split to the different sides of the valley.

We arrive home just after 2 pm.  We only rode 100 miles but it was a good day to get out with some friends and ride.  It was probably far enough as my darn toes were cold by the time we got home and it also started to sprinkle on us too - just enough to get the face shield spotty.  My fingertips were a little chilly, but my upper body was toasty warm with the heated jacket liner on.  Man I am glad Troubadour urged me to buy it.

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I've noticed that the photos above are a little on the dark side.  This may be due to the overcast day or me getting used to another new camera.  More details on that in a follow-up post. But I will say I followed Bobskoot's advice and bought a "life proof" Olympus Tough TG-830 camera and returned the Nikon to Costco due to iPhoto interface issues.

I also managed to find Basil's happy face while testing the new camera.  He was happily sunning himself on the back deck last week.

- Au Revoir

" The function of a friend is not to have a function." - Detlef Cordes
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