2014 Dual sport road trip - Day 7

Leaving the lodge in Halfway after a damn fine breakfast Tony and I went looking for a ghost town that was just north of Halfway. One of the reasons we'd chosen it for a stop was it's proximity.

It was a short run till we left civilization behind



Or did we? This was immediately to the left of the picture above:

Now, you might ask, who needs a wifi hotspot in the middle of nowhere? Well, don't look at me, I don't have the slightest :)

Unfortunately most of the buildings in the 'ghost town' were actually occupied or had big No Trespassing signs, but there were a few we could get close to.





Tony took more photos of the buildings, I stalked this deer :)

Yeah, I didn't get all that close. But I had fun.

Our bikes, resting.


From there we rode west and even a bit north. At one point I wasn't sure if we were on the right path (note: GPS units only help so much), but we were and the road was amazing, and so were the views.




The road


From here we rode to "where the hills have eyes". If you don't know, consider yourself lucky ;) Didn't stop there for lunch after all though, but we did chat with a bunch of sunburned Harley riders. The looked at us rather suspiciously with all our gear on. Then we pushed on, further across Oregon and towards The Dalles.

It was damn hot, so shade got the thumbs up


Lunch was at an old diner in Hoeppner. The town had had fought a wildfire just a few days before and the entire town was surrounded by scorched earth. Pretty scary.

The last stop before The Dalles was an abandoned old house just off the highway.


That's not a bloody hand print, is it?


I sure hope there isn't some creepy mass-murderer inside!

Nope, just Tony :)

The bikes were getting impatient, so we mounted up and rode towards cold beers and food.



It's strange, but these days when I get into The Dalles it feels awfully close to home. I've made it back from there in a day, but Tony and I were planning to make one more stop. Though finding a room proved really difficult as just about everything we wanted was sold out.

But that's something for the next post :)

2014 Dual sport road trip - Day 6 part 2

Earlier in the day I finally got some cell coverage in Clarkston and I managed to call the Pine Valley Lodge in Halfway, where we were planning to stay. From the website it certainly looked 'quirky' but over the years I've learned that sometimes the smaller 'one-off' places are actually the most memorable.


Rush hour in Halfway



Parked for the night



The place was definitely cowboy themed, which was very appropriate given that the main house was actually created by joining a several old buildings together.



These paths connected the two buildings and the additional sitting areas





View from the front porch






Nothing's wasted



The lodge even came with a cranky old man in a rocking chair on the front porch ;)



We didn't make reservations, but managed to get a seat anyways :D



Object deArt



I know I went on for a long time about Halfway, but we really did have a nice stay. Best of all, they had laundry facilities and didn't even charge for their use. Perfect timing too, because some of ... well, let's just say it was high time we did some laundry. Also, we did have plenty of beer.

Good times :)

2014 Dual sport Trip - Day 6

I know it's been a while coming, but that happens ;)

We headed back west for the first time, though we also went south, so it didn't feel like we were heading towards home at all.

This shot turned out very well, I like how the bikes look ready for us to start the day.


Just past rattlesnake canyon, it was time to take a stop in Oregon








You can see some of the haze. We were now heading towards the fires and the rain at the same time.


Where we came from


And then it got wet. Leaving Enterprise, OR we started riding through some very strong wind and some increasing rain. The bikers coming towards us were wearing their rain gear. Tony and I were just in our jerseys and armour, which Tony did get a very positive comment about at the gas station, from a mother who liked the example we were setting for her sons.

Us? Role-models? LOL.

Anyway, we got through the rain, bit cold and slightly wet, but never enough to stop and put on the rain gear.


Beautiful red rocks around Tony


Mandatory stop at the Hell's Canyon lookout







This was pretty much all the blue sky there was ;)






I'll split this day in two and talk separately about where we stayed this night.

2014 Dual sport trip - Day 5

Up the Lolo.

Tony and I had several options mapped out for Idaho. But we also wanted to get into eastern Oregon, so we decided to hit the Lolo Motorway. I'd done it once by myself in 2009 and didn't mind heading back to it.

Of course I completely forgot how to get there, so I just kind of rode by feel. We were on a great road, twisty and fun and eventually, yup, we were in the right spot.

Easy gravel to start


Confirmation


Soon enough we got off the big gravel road onto the small Lolo motorway, the actual path Lewis and Clark took.


Along the way the big story boards told the tale


Just past here was the first rough climb and ... no Tony.


Turns out he got a bit close to one of the trees sticking into the trail and knocked one of his side cases right off the bike. No permanent damage and I didn't have to ride too far back to find him again.




The trail was much rougher than it was 5 years ago when I rode it. At the time I did see a grader working on it, so perhaps I got lucky. Our progress was slow, with both uphill and downhill rock gardens.

But we did reach some gorgeous spots. It was hot, so parking in the shade was the way to go.


Dusty too.


The drops offs were not too bad, but we were up there, over 6000 feet.


Not far to the very top.


Oh yeah, the view :)



After this it was still a ways till we got to the only cut out where we could get back to the highway. It was this or ride the entire motorway.



Even more dusty ;)


Since it was past 2pm we decided to cut out, hit the highway and head towards Lochsa Lodge and get some elk burgers. Well the fact that Tony would have run out of gas may have had something to do with the decision as well.

The ride out was a pain, either sand or rolling marbles. But we got to the highway and I _thought_ I'd picked the right way. Eventually it proved right and we got to the lodge, got gas and had some food. Out of elk but I had a very tasty bison burger. YUM.

I did hit the mother-of-all-bugs on the way to the lodge:


After a good meal, it was back to the hotel, another 2 or 3 hours of riding. It was smoking hot again when we got there, over 100 F. But happy none-the-less.

Back at the hotel before we went back for more mexican food and grade cervesas, this is what a good day looks like:



Tomorrow we'd head into Oregon and leave Idaho behind once again.