Oregon in July

[azoomm]

Well, started out the trip with a flight into Portland. BMW had me scheduled to meet up with the fleet in Portland for a dealer Demo on Saturday the 10th. Since the BMW MOA rally was scheduled for the following week in Redmond, OR it didn't make sense to fly me home and then back to Redmond with only a few days between. So, we took bikes from the fleet between work days.

I don't like starting out a trip with drama - but, I almost missed my flight. I woke up at 4:50. As you can see - my flight wasn't at a forgiving time:



So, flew in on the 9th to set up. Decided to check the route with this little baby...



The route went along the river - which had these really cool house "boats". They were more like floating houses that were anchored to the side. Just HAD to get a picture of them.



Mt. Hood is rumored to be the most photographed mountain in the world. Just for that reason, I needed to stop and get a picture at our turning point on the route.



After the demos with the dealer we choose bikes for the week and packed up the semi. We were given a list of four bikes to choose from based on the lowest mileage on the fleet. I wanted something that had bags - and due to pain in the ass factor of loading this bike on the truck, can you guess the bike I chose?



It has a trunk, and the little door right above my purse is a vanity mirror



Starting mileage, and yes, that little yellow light on the right hand side is the indicator for the POWER center stand. This bike also has reverse, which is priceless when trying to move around the truck that it is.




See, reverse:


That is one big ass bike:


Lauralynne and I were going to try and get together. The problem was, she had too much going on for the weekend to come down to Portland. So, I decided to head up to Seattle and say hello. The first stop was Mt. Saint Helen's:



I had a group of Harley's come up as I was parked there. All of them were two-up with their wives - who promptly gave me the stink-eye. Apparently, their husbands had talked to them about riding their own. They had told their husbands how unreasonable it was to expect a woman to ride by themselves, especially for any long distance. I broke those rules for them, and they didn't like it.

Well, motor on North. Second stop -


Got into Seattle, this was the striking view from my hotel:


I had valet service downstairs, this I gave a valet a ride to their private garage on the back of the bike. He let me into the garage - then I gave him the key. The very thought of giving them the key to park it was laughable, at best. He told me it was his favorite vehicle to park yet.

I met up with Lauralynne and kidnapped her from her life, if just for one night. We hung out downtown - and my cousin met us for a few drinks as well. I haven't seen my cousin since 1981. It was really great to catch up.

Next morning, of COURSE it's raining:


That just meant I had to maneuver the bus uphill through Seattle streets all the while avoiding their paint stripes. Those little buggers are slippery enough dry!

On to Mt. Rainier on a route Laura's husband was kind enough to share with me. A few stops on the way just to stretch my legs.

IMHO, every town needs a "Dick's"


On the way into the Park


PRETTY roads, and not many cars.


More and more trees as I get closer to the mountain.