Stacey — whom all of you know as “she of the Street Triple” — had a milestone birthday on Sunday. I’ll leave guessing the exact milestone figure as an exercise for the brave!
To celebrate, we spent four relaxing days in La Pine, OR. While the intent wasn’t a “motorcycle trip” per se, we did ride our bikes all four days.
Day 1: Corvallis to La Pine
The trip to La Pine is a nice and easy 160 miles through the Oregon Cascades. Highway 58 is a major highway connecting Eugene to Central Oregon and there’s plenty of big truck and RV traffic. Thankfully, passing lanes are just as plentiful. We stopped for gas and dinner in Oakridge, and had a chat with two BMW riders heading to Sisters, OR. I hope you guys made it in time and that my route recommendation was sound.
Our destination in La Pine was DiamondStone Bed and Breakfast.
Day 2: Wherein Stacy Discovers an Unerring Knack For Finding Gravel
After a hearty pancake breakfast, we set out for the Cascade Lakes Highway and Bend, OR.
Tasty pancakes.
… except we didn’t, because I took a wrong turn that put us right at the beginning of a massive repaving project. After 11 miles of muddy gravel, I realized that I’d taken a wrong turn. Oops.
I managed to get us back on Hwy 97 heading north to Bend, which is where we wanted to end up anyway. We ate some delicious flatbread pizza, bummed around REI for a while, and bought some nifty back protectors at Bend Euro Moto. After looking at a map, we decided to take the Cascade Lakes Highway from Bend back to the B&B.
The mountain views were awesome and traffic was light. We stopped at Elk Lake Resort for a snack break and some pictures.
Sailboats at Elk Lake. Mt Bachelor is in the background.
This space was half as wide when we first arrived. Motorcycles make parking easy.
Stacey took this picture so you could see what I subjected her poor Street Triple to.
My bike did not remain unscathed, though!
Day 3: Two Wheels of a Different Kind, and a Crater Lake (No, Not That One)
Stacey forgot to take a food picture, but breakfast was eggs benedict. After we were done eating, our hostess Gloria asked if we wanted to take a spin on this:
The ADV Segway.
Heck yeah!
Stacey gets a quick Segway riding lesson from Gloria.
Stacey's a natural on two wheeled vehicles.
Me, not so much!
Gloria has MS, and she uses the Segway to get around the expansive grounds at DiamondStone. Note the knobby ATV tires: this Segway can go almost anywhere! And when Gloria’s riding it at full speed, you’ll have a tough time keeping up with her.
After the Segway ride, we decided to look for the road her husband Doug calls “PIR” — no, not Portland International Raceway! Paulina Lake Road runs through the Newberry National Volcanic Monument up to the summit caldera and two beautiful lakes.
If you want to see the lake, you'll need to come and visit it yourself!
On the way back, we stopped by the Big Obsidian Flow and walked around the trail. A one mile hike in riding boots and armored pants left us feeling pretty toasty, considering the surroundings.
The stairs at the start of the trail.
At 1300 years old, this is the youngest lava flow in Oregon.
The obsidian can be found in large chunks, but also in delicate ribbons.
That's a lot of arrowheads!
You can see Paulina Lake from the top of the flow.
There's a gravel road to the top of Paulina Peak. Maybe one day!
Interesting obsidian formation.
We rode back to the B&B, then decided to go swimming in the Deschutes River after grabbing a quick bite to eat. Sorry, no pics! We were too busy soaking in the cold water!
Day 4: Hot Springs
Today’s breakfast was puff pancakes:
Delicious!
After yesterday’s cold soaking, we wanted to try a hot soaking. The Summer Lake Hot Spring sounded like just the ticket.
Summer Lake is a 92 mile ride from La Pine, which is a pretty good way to get one’s anticipation up! Our only worry was finding gas, as Stacey’s Street Triple doesn’t get quite as good mileage as the SV does and it has a smaller tank to boot. We ended up finding an open gas station in Silver Lake and topped off our tanks. If you’re ever out this way, remember that gas stations are few and far between, and they often close early (like 3pm!) Fill your tanks often!
Silver Lake has a nice park.
Wagon wheels at the old homestead.
45 miles later, we arrived at the hot springs. And we had the place to ourselves!
Ahhh...
Awesome looking soaking pool. Unfortunately, it was drained because it was scaldingly hot!
The 'Bath House'.
All too soon, it was time to go home.
The salt flats at Summer Lake.
Nice ass!
Day 5: Heading Home
Breakfast was french toast with a side of local sausage.
French toast. (BANANA?)
Four days had passed by in a flash, and now it was time to go home. We chose a slightly different route back to Corvallis, taking the southern half of the Cascade Lakes Highway that we missed on Day 2.
The ride was largely uneventful, except for one incident in Springfield when I saw Stacey suddenly pull over to the side of the road. She’d had an unwelcome visitor in her jacket:
Ouch.
I just started carrying a pair of tweezers in my tank bag “emergency” kit, and I was glad I had them today so I could pull the stinger out of Stacey’s neck. 
Bad, bad interloper!
I spent the last 45 miles scrutinizing Stacey’s riding for any signs of allergic reaction. But we made it home safely despite the cop that almost took Stacey out in an intersection. (It just wasn’t her day, I guess.)
And then we gave the bikes a bath. The end!
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ADV Segway! Love it!!! Beautiful ride and great pictures.
I have often wondered how to make a birthday celebration last for 4 or 5 days. Now I know, but there is enough years on me that I am not sure I care to celebrate it that much anymore. Looks like a great time was had by all.
Twenty years cannot be all that bad.
Those. Pancakes. Look. FANTASTIC!
Nice ride, and I’m glad everyone made it home safely.
I really like the Segway. Always wanted to try one of them. Great pictures. Thank you for sharing your trip…
Awesome!! I’m so jealous. Thanks for sharing the ride.
That reminds me that there are a lot of roads I need to get the FJR on. It will be a new adventure on a different bike. I love taking Century Drive out of Bend and doing that high lake ride. Next time, if you care to, take a small fly rod to East Lake. It’s so deep and cold that the big German Brown trout thrive.
I don’t know if it’s still going, but there was an interesting restaurant I discovered on a bike trip around Silver Lake. It’s up in the hills. They have no electricity. The places uses solar panels and batteries. I believe it’s called the Cowboy Dinner Tree.
The menu each night predetermined. The night we went it was steak. We drank pink lemonade from mason jars. They brought us a whole tin of homemade biscuits. The steaks were huge. And the price was reasonable.
Not as neat as the Segway, still quite eclectic!
@Ken: The Segway was a hoot. It was most interesting on downhills, because you can really feel it working to keep you upright.
@cpa3485: Stacey says you’re very kind! She’s actually 30 now.
@Carlos: You should come out here for a visit and have some!
@RichardM: You too! The Segway ride is a perk that our gracious hosts were only happy to provide.
@Allaina: You three! Heck, all of you should just come right out for a visit.
@irondad: We heard about the Cowboy Dinner Tree too! It’s still open and we did see signs for it along the way. But no one told us any details. We’ll have to check it out the next time we’re out thataways. And I’ll definitely bring a rod the next time I go too. Now… to find one that’ll fit on the bike!