Oregon Figure-Eight Tour, Day 1

We’d been planning this trip for weeks and today was the big day, the day of departure on a 9-day trip around Oregon. Our goal was to visit two of our friends — one in Moscow, Idaho and the other near Lakeview, Oregon — and take the scenic route while doing so. I dubbed this the “Figure-Eight Tour” owing to the general shape of the route.

While this image shows the route we ended up taking, it isn’t the exact route we planned. You’ll have to keep reading if you want to know the specifics why. Also, neither of us are Ironbutt riders, so the plan was to keep the daily mileage under 300. Pretty reasonable, considering that most of the routes were of the twisty variety.

Day 1 – July 2, 2010 (Friday)

Start: Corvallis, OR
End: Fossil, OR
Mileage: 287 miles

The bikes weren’t even loaded before we ran into our first complication of the trip: the Street Triple isn’t really designed to carry much luggage. It has zero attachment points for straps, and the high dual exhaust makes saddlebags a challenge without a purpose-built support rack. We’d planned on camping a few nights along the way, so our gear payload was bigger than if we were going to stay in hotels. What to do?

Stacey suggested using both of our Kriega US-20 tailpacks together. They aren’t intended to be used side-by-side, but by clipping the packs together and strapping the whole deal down, she managed to carry all the stuff I couldn’t fit on the Battle SV. The SV650 was definitely the pack mule during this trip.

We left Corvallis around 10am. As with any trip, the first hour or so is about getting out of familiar territory. We hit rain up on Santiam Pass and it was cold enough for me to turn my grips and Gerbing’s jacket up to high. The dual-tailpacks on the Street Triple experienced some shifting during the twisty parts of Hwy 20, which caused Stacey to stop to re-balance the load. Fortunately, we planned on stopping at the REI in Bend to return a bicycle pump — yes, the pump was strapped atop my luggage! — and grab some lunch. Stacey picked up a couple of kayak tiedowns and used those to keep the tailpacks from shifting from side-to-side.

After our errand stop, we headed north on Hwy 97 through heavy traffic, worse than normal due to the July 4th holiday weekend.

20 miles north of Madras is a turn-off toward Antelope, Oregon. This is where the fun began! The first section of 293 is wicked twisty, and 218 just gets better. The pavement is generally excellent except for a few tar-snaked sections. Auto traffic is nearly non-existent. During the 50 mile stretch to Fossil, we saw a handful of cars, almost all of them going the other direction.

The riding was so great that I — as always — didn’t stop much for pictures. But I did snap these:

Stacey approves of the riding so far.

The weather warmed up as we rode east but remained overcast, and we could see rainclouds to the southeast but our route remained dry.

I’d planned for us to stop at a campground in Condon, Oregon that I found during my research. The “campground” was part of a county-owned RV park just outside of town. Unfortunately, I didn’t make the connection that the Condon wind farm was built there for a reason: it’s crazy windy! And the campground had little tree cover or any sort of windbreak at all.

Stacey and I faced a decision under the setting sun: stay in the roaring wind, or ride back to Fossil toward the nearest campground(s) marked on my map. The sun was setting, and I’d already had a close encounter of the Bambi kind on the road into Condon, but neither of us was looking forward to trying to sleep through that kind of wind against a tent.

Amazingly, the first campground we arrived at had open spots and potable water. Joy! We quickly claimed a spot and set up camp.

A Harley was parked next to an RV and a pop-up trailer in the campsite next to us, and it didn’t take long for its owner to stop by to introduce himself. He was part of a group of Oregon A.B.A.T.E folks who were having a meeting during the weekend, and he kindly offered us sodas and beer and a spot next to the campfire. We had a great time chatting and swapping stories, and I got some much-needed intel on the roads we had ahead of us.

Bellies full of food and beverage, we dove into our sleeping bags under a clear sky.

Day two tomorrow…

Tagged as: Motorcycling