Oregon or Bust!

There’s nothing like experiencing an exciting road for the first time. Crossing the state of Oregon on the way to the 2010 BMW Motorcycle Owners of America (BMWMOA) rally at Redmond, Oregon, there are two possible routes, one short and one long. Naturally the longer route is the more exhilarating ride.

You know you’re in Oregon because the Tourist Information Kiosks are replicas of the venerated Conestoga Wagon.

Highway US26 out of Ontario runs flat and straight for many miles through farm and ranchland. The wait is worth it. First through hilly scrub brush and then through alpine forests, the road is a ribbon of twists and turns. Most of the curves are easy to track and suggested at 30-45 mph, so there’s no grabbing for handfuls of brake in an unexpectedly tight curve.

Once you pass through the town of John Day, you will begin to see that name a lot. Seems everything is named for this fellow, starting with the river that runs through this whole area of

eastern Oregon. There’s even a National Park named John Day that’s all about fossil beds andpaleontology. So who is this John Day guy?

Idyllic campsite at the BMW rally site – first come first served must mean these folks arrived very early.

Well, it seems that John Day was an early settler who got robbed one day in 1810 at a well-known river crossing. From that day forward everyone called the river John Day, and the rest is history. Nice to be famous for something.

The curvy road is a delight, as is the BMWMOA rally site, the Dechutes Fairgrounds. Lots of grassy campsites, a very pretty central water feature that flows like a babbling brook, and plenty of air-conditioned display halls and event centers.

The Beer Ladies having more fun serving brewskies than drinking them!

Like any big motor bike rally, there’s food, a beer tent, music, every sort of motor bike gadget and farkle for sale, and plenty of seminars on everything from avoiding dehydration to picking the right kind of tires. And of course there are thousands and thousands of BMW and associated brand bikes to look at and their owners nearby ready and willing to gab at length about their bikes.

New roads, new bikes, new people to meet, there’s nothing like it.

Western Colorado’s Wonders

All due respect to Ike, our 34^th president and Head Coach for the last big world war, but the Intersate sucks. Okay, for truckers and for everyone else trying to get everywhere else as fast as they can, the U.S. Interstate Highway System is a wonder. But for the love of Mike, if you’re not in a rush, use the exit and take the back road once in a while, you will not regret it.

The blogger aboard a 2009 R1200GSA headed north from Santa Fe to attend the 2010 BMWMOANational Rally in Redmond, Oregon.

The story goes that Eisenhower, after the war, was so impressed by the beloved German Autobahn that he set about trying to duplicate it in the U.S. The guy responsible for the autobahn idea has a “good idea” “bad idea” ratio that’s so heavily weighted on the bad side that it’s really, REALLY hard to give him credit for what a good idea the autobahn is.

The autobahn, technically called the Bundesautobahn, which roughly means “divided carriageway,” is a meticulously maintained, gently curving scenic highway system in Germany mostly famous because most of it has no speed limit, it has lots of other rules, though, like very strict lane discipline and a hard-nosed no insults rule. It's amazing what you can learn from the Discovery Channel.

Any one who has driven any part of the U.S. Interstate system knows that it is not, in any way, meticulously maintained. If you’ve driven the Interstate in any of the western or Midwestern states, you know how mind-numbingly flat and straight it can be – sleep inducing in its arrow-like trajectory.

So here are three roads that will not put you to sleep even though they do have speed limits – which you might want to think of as guidelines, rather than strict mandates.

For a head-spinning drive, go straight north out of Durango, Colorado on US550 and into some of the most beautiful mountainous terrain in the world. From Durango to Silverton and up into Ouray, experience all the beauty of the Western slope of the Rocky Mountains, and all the curvy roadway delights on a stretch of asphalt some call the “Million Dollar Highway.” This road is almost impossible to describe. If a piece of asphalt could be made to fold over on itself like a ribbon of taffy in multiple figure eights, this would be the $1,000,000 road.

Twisties and mountains and twisties, US550, oh my.

The story varies on how this road got its name, some say it’s because of all the

riches taken from these mountains during the 19^th century, others claim its because of the cost of building the road – given its engineering complexity, an easy argument to believe. But who cares? The road is a bargain at any price.

There’s another surprisingly fun road that marches straight up the Roan Plateu from Loma, Colorado, a small farming community just west of Grand Junction, to Rangely, Colorad0.

CO190 winds its way through the Salt Creek Canyon

This road, Colorado State Road 139, is a blast. Prepare for bunches of 20 mph hairpins that are long, sweeping and heart pounding when taken at significantly higher velocities – again 20 mph is a suggested speed, right? There are also lots of nicely spaced passing lanes (thank you Colorado Department of Transportation) and multiple s- and double-s twisties that climb high into the aspen trees over two mountain passes, Baxter and Douglas, and then pitch downward with the same zeal at an 8% to 10% grade. Ride it at your ultimate pleasure. Oh, yeah, and the road is just about deserted, so enjoy your solitude, too.

Once you get over into the North East corner of Utah, there’s yet another “don’t miss it road" that runs north out of Vernal, Utah, US191, toward the Flaming Canyon National Recreational Area.

The Flaming Canyon National Recreational Area

More curves, more scenery, an unreal azure lake that emerges from the canyon, and a drive that you will always remember with a smile. Honestly, when was the last time you could say that about the Interstate?