This morning, the idea was to ride as much as possible in order to have racked up 500 or so kilometers since the engine rebuild yesterday, for the upcoming visit to the dealer on Monday for a final check.
I got about half the required mileage accumulated, more riding tomorrow. I spent the whole riding time staying close to Salem, just in case something went wrong so that I was within reasonable cost towing distance. Can you tell I am having some trust issues with my Valencia right about now? :)
But first, I went to Corvallis to the regular Saturday coffee meet of local motorcyclists. Two fellow moto-bloggers were going to be in attendance: Trobadour and Trobairitz. Troubadour aka Brad, teaches MSF motorcycle courses on the weekends when not working his fulltime job at the Lowes Distribution Center. Trobairitz aka Brandy is his lovely wife, I forgot to ask her what she does for work. Sorry.
There was a pretty good turnout of riders and we all sat around the largest coffee table to talk about motorcycles and riding. Quite an enjoyable time. After a couple of hours though, it was time to get some riding in. Brandy and Brad led me out of town and I took off to wander, at slower than normal URAL speed, through the country lanes of Willamette Valley.
Trobairitz and Troubadour with yours truly
This part of Oregon is apparently known for its old covered bridges. I would end up finding two of them just by wandering around, both of them on Kings Valley Road:
The Harris Bridge
1929
The Ritner Creek Bridge
1926
I believe this was in Independence, OR
A Grain Silo perhaps?
A nice mural in the town of Independence (I think)
Railroad Trestle
Despite the claim, I didn't find any covered bridges in/near this town.
I covered 320 km today, another 180 more needed for tomorrow's riding. It might be more, have to check the manual to see if its 500 or 600 KM one must ride to break in a new engine.
Valencia did great, her engine sounds fine, and I might range further afield tomorrow.
5 comments:
It was great meeting you and I'm glad you were able to make it to coffee. The Scio covered bridge is difficult to find as we drove through town several times before we found it. There are several more bridges on that side of the valley, check out this link and plan a route. Covered Bridges
Thanks Troubadour, Brad...
I may have seen it, but it was not easy to get at with the motorcycle. Thanks for the link!
It sounds like things are working out and that warm weather is probably getting you ready for Colorado temperatures. I've only managed to run into a couple of covered bridges in OR but then again, I never really went searching for them either. Ive enjoyed the Saturday morning coffee meeting in Corvallis and now make a point of trying to stop by anytime I visit the area.
While my mind is overloaded with all the stuff I am seeing on my trips in and around Germany I have to admit that I dearly miss the west coast. Oregon, my most favourite US state so far...
And your orange hack is posing as photogenic against the covered bridges as it is against an Alaskan glacier.
Dom:
I'm glad you're getting some time to relax and not worry so much about mechanical problems. I've only seen two covered bridges and you seem to be finding them quite easily.
I'm hoping to make it there for coffee one day too
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
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