Motozor

Up before dawn, rolling through La Grande’s streets with the traffic lights still in their overnight blinking mode - always a good sign, when there isn’t enough traffic to bother turning on the traffic signals!

Good morning, Oregon!

Today was a super uneventful ride across Oregon. I had originally intended to stop in Pendleton, OR for breakfast, but after crossing the Umatillas, I pushed on through to Stanfeld, OR, where I finally stopped for fuel for me and The Morrigan. The wind was a bit brutal, as it always seems to be in this region, but what’re you going to do? Try to wait it out, take side roads, or just go slow and keep an eye out for traffic overtaking you, those are your basic 3 options I guess. I opted for 3, “go slow,” and by the time I merged from I-84 to I-82 to cross the Columbia River back into Washington state, the prairie wind had died down, replaced by a warming sun. I rode fast fast fast along a fairly empty road, littered with left-lane campers that are endemic to the northwest; I’ve been on this stretch of highway so many times, it was a boring morning. Traffic picked up again in Ellensburg, where I joined I-90 again through Snoqualmie Pass, the final mountain range, before dropping 4,000 feet towards Seattle. I rolled in around 1:30pm, greeted by 2 happy cats and a pile of mail and packages.. and a long, long shower!

Home at last!

All in all, this was another great trip, and I’m looking forward to heading to the Southwest in October/November for another long stretch.. but for now, unpack, unwind, and reconnect. I probably won’t do a full write-up of this trip, suffice to say I rode more than 9,100 according to my odometer, and that wow, I live in a big, big country…

Miles: 335