Day 8

Had a good nights sleep and a lonnnnggg hot shower in the morning. When I was gearing up for the day I couldn't find my gloves. The last time I saw them was when I left them on the bike when we went into the restaurant the night before. I don't remember if I wore them from the restaurant to the campsite or not. They were a very nice pair of vented leather gloves that have been discontinued from Aerostich. The sad thing is that they were finally fully broken in on this trip. There is not much out in Cowboy country of Oregon but was able to find a pair of gloves at the gas station. They were leather on the bottom but a blue neoprene on top. Actually they were really comfortable in the heat. Not much protection in an off but protected from the sun.

This day I again rode with Bruce H and StevenM but were joined by RevRayfrom New York City, and Tank who is from Oregon.

RevRay


Tank is on right in white T-shirt.


We left John Day and headed north on Hwy 395 with Tank leading the way. You could say that he is a more spirited rider when leading than Bruce H was. I like either pace but it was nice to run a brisk pace in a group setting as I don't ride with others too often. Here we are with Tank in the lead and RevRay behind him.


We rode north for about 85 miles where we found a nice place for a swim.




I knew tomorrow was going to be long day for me so I parted ways with the crew and drove back to John Day after the swim. I had laundry to do plus I had to break down and pack my camp. I got a room for the night at the Americas best so I would be ready to leave first thing in the morning. Passed this on the way back to John Day..



Some bikes at the hotel



When I was at the laundromat, Twisties came in to do his and his wife laundry. Boy she must have him trained. He is from Salt Lake City, UT and had a nice chat. While we were waiting for our stuff to dry a young lady pulled up on a BMW 1200GS to do her laundry. Come to find out she wasn't part of our group but passing through from the Washington DC area on her way to California to attend a gathering of the riff raff from the Advrider.com community. We invited her to our banquet dinner that evening. She told us that a light was out on her bike pointed her to Americas Best and there would be a bunch of people to help her out.

That evening I headed over to the banquet at the fairgrounds. There were about 100 registered people but I am sure there were more than that there. Had a nice meal and met some more great people.




After dinner we broke out my map to see how I was going to get to West Yellowstone tomorrow. With the help of Tank, Bruce H, StevenM, and many others who chimend in, it was determined that I probably wouldn't make it in one days ride.


I wasn't thinking when I made my reservations. On the map West yellowstone is just across Idaho from John Day but there are these things called Mountains in the way. I could either head south through Boise and back up or head north to Walla Walla, Washington and on to Lewiston Idaho. I chose to head north becasue I wanted to ride the famed Lolo Pass/Hiway 12. More on that on Day 9...