September 4 - Pendleton and Burns

Yes! It feels SO good to get back on the bike again! Woohoo! I decided to take advantage of the sun and the long weekend before school starts and headed East today. Went from Portland to Pendleton with Grant Myers and then headed south to Burns on my own. I wanted to hit highway 395 between Pendleton and Burns because that was one stretch of road I missed this summer. I loved the rolling yellow brown hills south of Pendleton and then the curving, windy road following the John Day river. Roads were in excellent condition and hardly any traffic - perfect for buzzing around the curves at just the right speed. I feel so relaxed - like I’ve had a deep tissue massage but just cheaper! Spending the night in Burns then heading West to Bend and over the mountains home tomorrow. It turns out it’s good I didn’t ride last weekend because my rear brake master cylinder gasket was leaking! I had cancelled last weekends rides after feeling tired one morning (I think maybe from smoke inhalation) and when I felt better the next morning decided to do some fun errands with my daughter, whip the yard into shape, and write the first chapter of my book instead. So I took the bike into the dealership to be serviced and that’s when they found the leak! The service guys at Latus were so nice - I told them I just HAD to go riding this weekend so they let me hunt down the missing part last night and then they came in early this morning to get my bike done. They gave it a thorough washing too - said they thought the ash on the saddlebags should probably be removed. 😁