> > > Wet Leather : The Gather 99 : Departure : Oregon Trails



6 August 1999



The showers here are great! Men's and women's bathrooms contain toilets
and sinks. All showers have external door -- and they're full size! Still
doesn't stop the unhappy child from screaming his head off because he
doesn't want to get wet (or clean), though.

Pack and head down to Newport for breakfast; Shilo Inn right on the 
beach. I think I've been here before, from my pulp and paper days. Or
else I'm just having deja vu.

We decide to try 101 -- RV traffic wasn't bad yesterday. But it is
today. At Florence, JC gets a high performance driving award from
one of Oregon's finest. I am saved by an oncoming car -- not enough
room to pass, so I declined the opportunity. Still, novice that I am,
I violate accepted protocol and sit behind the cop car while the damage
is done. In the process, I discover that one of his lights is "out" on
the bubblegum machine--left side, yellow. I try to explain this to him
before he leaves ... he looks puzzled ... and I have to laugh as he
walks back up to his car, stops, turns his head to look ...

We stop in Reedsport for coffee and donuts and trip plan adjustment.
No way are we staying on this road all the way to Coos Bay! We take
SR38 to 138, which follows a river (twisting nicely along the way).

When we get to I5 -- I have to have a potty break. The locals recommend
we eat at Canyonville -- at the casino. They also recommend we stick
to I5 due to local road construction.  

JC and I are discovering on this trip that we have the same dining
tastes. We're like an old married couple, either ordering the same
thing or one of us orders the other's "number two" choice. Scarey -
but hey, we're both southerners!

Upon departing the casino, we discover that an inflatable duck has
been placed at the main entrance. We take pictures of each other
cavorting with the duck.



[insert JC duck picture when you get it back from him!]

Now we're heading onto some serious mountain/twisty roads, from
Canyonville to Trail on 227. We both get a nice rhythm going,
although JC still runs faster than I do thru the curves.

Curves are conservatively marked. I enter posted 25s at 45 and
do not wince at all. Of course, I did a nicely banked hairpin
to the left at 50 yesterday ... RBG. Still, I notice (subconsciously)
that the road has narrowed. Now there is a sign, "Rocks next 3 miles."
And I see a right hand curve ahead, marked with arrows, not a little 
curve sign. But all curves have been conservatively posted, so this 
can't be tooo bad.

Then Beth's voice appears in my head. "I try not to enter a blind curve
any faster than I could stop if a cow were in the middle of the road."

I scrub off 5 mph or so as I enter the ... unmarked, decreasing
radius turn followed by ess. I cross the center line - not a lot,
but enough to make my heart race and my adreneline rush. LEAN,
hold throttle, breathe ... flip back for left ess ... and I'm outta
there.

But there's JC. On my left, standing. With his K75S planted in the
hillside! Damn!

Pull off the road and run to him. "I'm OK" are his first words. "I
didn't go down."

He hit the curve hotter than I did and hit a bump in the road at
the apex. Bottomed out. Lost his line and ran into the gravel on
the "run off" section of the road (which was easily as wide as the
road). Hit The Rock From Hell and took out his wheel ... tire ...
brakes ... no handling. The only solution was to point the bike
at the hillside, 70-degree slope, which it valiently tried to climb.
Then stopped. Then tipped over.

A logging truck stops ... calls a tow truck. Two local women stop. 
We learn that a woman totalled her sport bike on the same curve the 
week before. (Technically the speed limit for the curve was 55, the 
same as the main road.)

We get the bags off, right the bike, and slowly roll her down the
hill. JC borrows my throw-away camera and gets snaps of the bike
and the road. We drink water and obsess a bit. Just when we 
remember we have chairs, and haul them out, the tow truck arrives.

Load the bike and head to Medford, to Hansen's BMW. Call Charles
Cherry and he plans to meet us at the dealer. I'll head on down
to Ashland to stay with my girlfriend, as planned.


Arrival 



> > > Wet Leather : The Gather 99 : Departure : Oregon Trails