Day 14- July 5

Day 14: July 5th 31,781 miles on the odometer

I spend about an hour and a half reworking the saddlebags for the second time. If this doesn’t work, we’ll have to purchase some new ones somewhere, there isn’t anything more I can do with these. River Road saddlebags are definitely made more for show than for go. While working on those, I also discover one of the Vulcan’s tank bolts is loose. I guess her bike is also meant more for show than go. Every day it seems to have some sort of minor problem.
We do manage to spend about an hour on the beach. There is still some fog, but we can see the ocean. There aren’t many shells or sea glass to pick up, but Ceci picks up an interesting piece of driftwood. It would be impolite to describe it. I pick up an ounce or two of black sand for my collection and some ocean water to anoint our motorcycles. At the end of the trip we want to say we touched both oceans. My Bandit has already done this once, but it’ll be nice to do it again.
It is after 1:00 when we get on the road, a very late start. So much for trying to make up time. We had considered skipping Crater Lake to save another day, but I’m not liking that idea. I’m sure the ride up the coast would not be near as bad as our trip on I-5, but I’m not happy skipping stuff just to try and make up time.
We ride about 85 miles along the coast before taking the exit that’ll bring us to Crater Lake. Though the road isn’t always in sight of the ocean, we stop often to take pictures of the arches and interesting rock formations. Our exit follows the Coquille River for a few miles, until we take 42 to scenic 138 which follows the North Umpqua. I like the roads that follow the rivers, as they tend to be curvy and scenic. The water looks like it would be a nice place to go rafting or canoeing, but we don’t have time for that. The local paper also has an article highlighting the dangers of rafting the rivers, as an unfortunate California girl drowned in the Rogue River when her raft tipped her out. Her unrecoverable body was trapped by the current in rocks, serving as a macabre warning for passing rafters.
The ride was quite good; lots of esses and sweepers and very picturesque. We stopped to eat dinner at Munchies in Glide. The food was OK. The sun was setting as we got to the park. Quite a climb in altitude there, as we ended up riding in a snow cloud. Visibility was terrible, so we traveled quite slow. It was a little spooky, but not as bad as the Moki Dugway back in Utah. I hope to find a room at the lodge but there’s no chance of that. They just aren’t ever available in the National Parks, especially on weekends without reservations. We do manage to get a camping spot at a somewhat lower and slightly warmer elevation, but there is still snow in our campsite. Cool. I buy a sweat shirt at the camp store to replace the one I sent back with Andrew in Vegas, and light a small campfire for some warmth before we head to bed.
Two good days of riding has improved my mood after that horrible trip up central California. We only cover 267 miles today, but I am still a happy camper. Despite all the stops and short days, we are a long ways from home. Only two weeks into a two month trip and we are already the furthest from home I have ever been on a bike. We may be behind schedule, but we are certainly accomplishing something.