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Thursday, March 19, 2015

Two Bikes, Two Covered Bridges

Last Friday I managed to score the day off.  It helps when your boss wants the day off as bad as you do.  We were really hoping for a dry day to go for a ride prior to the rains returning on the weekend.

While we didn't have beautiful blue sky and sunshine like the previous weekend, it was dry and a balmy 60˚F (15.55˚C) when Troubadour and I rolled out of the driveway at 1 pm.  We were headed east across the valley where we still needed to find two covered bridges in the Sweet Home/Cascadia area.

My Gladius needed petrol so the first stop was downtown for fuel.  From there we headed over the bridge and out Highway 34 to Peoria Rd.  We meandered our way south and east across the valley taking back roads.  Some I remember, a lot I don't since hubby was in the lead.

We found our way over to Highway 228 (aka Halsey/Sweet Home Highway) and through the little hamlet of Brownsville.  A good portion of the movie Stand By Me was filmed in Brownsville 30 years ago.

Further East on 228 and just before the town of Holley, Troubadour decided to explore where Upper Calapooia Drive went.  I followed and it was a beautiful two lane country road along the Calapooia River.  After about 6.5 miles we were stopped where it turned to gravel and there was a Weyerhaeuser Forestry Gate. Apparently we'd come upon the Weyerhaeuser Calapooya Tree Farm.  Since I was on Max we decided to turn around there.  Neither of us wanted a trespassing charge either.

A good spot for a break.  We stopped in a gravel area and had a snack and drink of water.  Wandered and took a few pictures.

(Entrance to Tree Farm off Upper Calapooia Drive)



(Oh, if we had the dual sports - and there were no logging trucks)

(Max just chillin')
As we were getting ready to leave I went to put my helmet on and noticed a moth resting on the top. He was pretty cool looking.


Troubadour remarked how it looked like a piece of tree bark and picked up a piece for comparison.  If the moth was on the trunk of a tree it would be completely camouflaged.


I put my helmet on and it was still there when I got on the bike. Hold on little moth.


We rode back up to Highway 228 and once more headed east towards Sweet Home.  There in Sankey Park we would find the first covered bridge of the day.  The Weddle Covered Bridge.  

(Weddle Covered Bridge (Ames Creek) - Sweet Home, Oregon)
The Weddle Covered Bridge was built in 1937 and spans Ames Creek.  It is 120 ft (37 m) long.  We would have wandered through it if a handful of teenage skateboarders hadn't made it their playground.  We did manage to keep them out of the pictures though.  For more info on the bridge click this LINK.



(Troubadour heading towards the flowering plum tree)
Before we left I too managed to get up close to the beautiful flowering plum tree.

(Flowering plum, Sweet Home, OR - March 13, 2015)
Back on the bikes and further east on Highway 20 towards Cascadia.  Fun fact - Cascadia was originally a stage stop on the Santiam Wagon Road.  A brisk 12 mile ride on the highway and we arrived at Short Covered Bridge

(Short Covered Bridge (South Santiam River)  - Cascadia, Oregon)
The Short Covered Bridge spans the South Santiam River and was built in 1945 and is 105 ft (32 m) long. For a bit more information on the bridge click this LINK. When walking on the bridge I noticed how low the water level is.  Not enough snow pack in the mountains this year means not a lot of run off.

(Looking right)

(Looking left - I was surprised at the color of the water)

(A view towards the bikes from the bridge)


And if you wander into the shrubbery enough you can get around the ugly "stop sign ahead" sign.


From the bridge we saddled up and raced for home.  Traffic was heavier as we were into the commuting time late in the afternoon.  It wasn't until about half way home that we saw our first motorcycle of the day.  I think we only saw 3 total and all appeared to be commuting home.

We arrived home close to 5:30 pm having put 140 miles (225 km) on the odometer. I noticed after we arrived home that Max hit a milestone.  He finally made it to 10,000 miles (16,093 km). Considering it has been four years this month since purchase, that seems pretty darn sad.  But we made it nonetheless. He now sits waiting patiently for the next ride with 10,004 miles on the clock.

If you are interested in the covered bridges of Oregon at all, Troubadour started a tab on his blog listing all of the covered bridges in Oregon with pictures and links.  Check it out HERE. So far, we've found over half of them. 

- Au Revoir

" Bridges become frames for looking at the world around us." - Bruce Jackson
.

32 comments:

  1. Lovely pictures as usual Brandy, I've just read about those beautiful covered bridges on Troubador's blog as well - very interesting. Nice pictures of your bikes, I see you're riding in cold weather there.

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    1. Thank you. We are lucky to have so many covered bridges in Oregon. It is a little chilly here compared to your temperatures, that is for sure.

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  2. Those are the roads I miss. Good to see them

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    1. We enjoy the back country roads where we don't have to go at a break-neck speed and can enjoy the scenery. There were a lot of log trucks out on Hwy 228 which was unfortunate and even one in the ditch that had missed a corner and took out a power pole.

      You would have frozen at 60 degrees but Cheyenne would have loved it.

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  3. Nice photo of the bikes in from of the flowering plum tree. A beautiful area.

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    1. Thanks Richard. It was a nice surprise to see the flowering plum. Considering we didn't have any spring-like pics yet of the bikes it was a nice find.

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  4. Good report, you had good lighting for the motorcycles.

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    1. Thanks Dom. To me, the bikes seem a little shadowy in the pics by the plum tree but they turned out better than if it was bright sunshine we were shooting into or if they were backlit.

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  5. What a great ride. I love those "mental health" days away from work. The photo of the plum tree and bridge is really good.

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    1. Exactly, mental health days. And it helps to be on salary.

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  6. What a great outing, riding backroads, discovering bridges and a plum tree in blossom. What's not to love. I am very jealous of your plum tree. We have had a strong winter, and not much is budding here just yet.

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    1. It was nice to get out on the big bikes again.

      Your spring will get there. One day you'll see the buds on the trees or the bulbs up and blooming.

      Sadly I think most of our daffodils are already spent. Still lots of color to come though.

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  7. A blooming plum tree is always a treat; you found a Fine one! Haven't checked out Troubadour's link but will. I think I remember there were 9 bridges in Iowa, only 1 in Minnesota that I know of. I don't remember seeing any in Wisconsin but a quick Search right now sees that I've missed them all. This will need to be remedied.

    Those roads you found are what riding is for in my book.

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    1. You may not have spring blooms yet, but you found some covered bridges. They make a great destination and help with route planning.

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  8. That plum tree....sigh. Thanks for taking the ride just to share that. :^)

    Great fun to find that moth, too. All the little discoveries make rides more enjoyable.

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    1. Sorry Martha, didn't meant tease with the blooms. But I am glad you liked it.

      The moth was awesome. I like happy little surprises like that. It is good to appreciate the little things.

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  9. Nice. From the looks of the pics it's still a bit chilly over there? We've had a few cold nights but some great sunny days - autumn is coming.

    Those gravel roads look interesting...

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    1. Raining yesterday and today so it has been chilly. Not a warm rain that is for sure. Soon our temperatures will warm up then we'll all complain about the heat.

      The gravel roads would be fun to explore on the weekend. On weekdays they are full of logging trucks hauling as fast as they can not expecting people on two-wheels.

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  10. Loved to see the plum tree in blossom. Still looking at a lot of white here, but it won't be long (he says, fingers crossed).

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    1. The magnolia blooms, and cherry blossoms are spent, along with the daffodils and forsythia. The tulips are trying to bloom and the redbud blooms are just now starting to show. Soon more will be bursting.

      Fingers crossed that white stuff melts soon. Your winter has seemed long this year even though I know it has only just turned Spring.

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  11. 60 degrees with no rain and beautiful blooms to see - sounds like heaven (and 30 degrees F warmer than here today - with a whole lot less snow.) Thanks for sharing, kind of makes me think there may be hope!

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    1. It was pretty darn nice. I would have liked it a few degrees warmer, but I considered myself lucky with what some areas are experiencing weather-wise.

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  12. Wonderful, just wonderful ride report and covered bridge pictures. I'm sure glad each time these treasures are shared with the rest of us.

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    1. I am glad you enjoyed them. I think we have 24 more to find. Most will require a road trip, probably an overnighter. Oh darn.

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  13. those bridges are something we dont have
    great to see they keep them looked after and all can enjoy them for years to come

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    1. It is nice that they have restored them. They are classified as heritage sites and sometimes they will even dismantle and move them to keep the heritage alive.

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  14. Great pics and a an interersting narrative. I am so envious of you folks living further south being able to ride in March. Also, I was struck by your mention of the name of a town, Brownsville. There's a great tune called Brownsville Girl on one of Dylan's forgettable 80's albums called Knocked out loaded. Boring record overall but great song. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thank you. We are pretty lucky where we live in Oregon that we can pretty much ride year round, except for our rare bit of snow.

      Thanks for the mention of the Dylan song. I'd never heard of that one and went and looked it up online. Cool.

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  15. I just love that bridge.....:-). It's still a bit too cold for me to ride though. Besides, we don't have the bikes with us this trip anyway. Looks like a fun day.....:-).

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    1. Thanks Pat. I admit I did have my heated grips on for most of the day, but it was enjoyable.

      Must be weird not to have the scooters with you in BC this time.

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  16. I love bridges and those two are very pretty bridges! Thank you for sharing!

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    1. You are welcome, and thank you for the kind words too.

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