April 11 - Maiden Voyage as Ride Leader - Coastal Loop the Long Way

I felt like a kid in a candy store today! Three years ago I had never driven a motorcycle and didn’t think I would ever be strong enough, brave enough, or skilled enough to do so. Today I had the honor of doing my first full ride as the leader with a few brave friends following behind. I tried to piece together some of my favorite parts of riding, all in one trip.

We took off from Latus an hour later than originally planned since the temperatures at 9am were 37 degrees and we wanted to avoid frost on the ground. Mike and Kelly Webb, Leo Guzman Fernandez, and Gene Lord and I headed west from Latus, took the Canby – Marquam road and 213 south to Stayton and then took the Stayton – Scio Road south to Brownsville. The idea was to get almost all the way to my favorite bakery near Eugene using mostly back roads. Traffic was light, the sun was out, and it was very peaceful to pass all the farms full of sheep and cows as we wound our way south.

I go to the Creswell Bakery 1-2 times a month even though it is about two hours from home, simply because eating there is such a treat. Everyone seemed to really enjoy their lunches – roast beef sandwiches, meat pie, and the ciabatta bacon breakfast sandwich as well as the desert I had special ordered for everyone in advance. The bakery doesn’t normally offer their fruit tarts during COVID but will make them for customers upon request. Leo and Gene liked their tarts so much they bought the three remaining ones in the store to take home to their families.

From the bakery we took more backroads to the coast – Oregon Avenue to Camas Swale Road to Territorial Highway to OR -126. I love this route because of the rolling hills, tight switchbacks through forested area, light traffic, and peaceful countryside. I was hoping it might be a new route for at least one of my friends and was happy to find that it was.

From Florence we headed north to another favorite spot of mine – Otter Crest Loop. This loop is very short but packs a powerful punch with Big-Sur like views of the coastline from a small, windy one-way road hugging the top of a cliff. From there we headed north to Lincoln City and fueled up at Pig N Pancake before heading home on highway 18.