May 21 - 23: North Meets South Rally
What a fantastic weekend! Just got back from my first motorcycle rally and had a blast! Went to “North Meets South” in Ashland for the weekend. I arrived late Friday since I wasn’t able to arrange for a sub. But still managed to get tons of riding in. Went on the “Gorg(eous) ride with spectacular views of the Rogue River Saturday day, spent time with Harley owners from all over Oregon and Washington Saturday night, and of course, took the long way home Sunday – through California.
Driving down to Ashland was a little nerve racking since a warning light kept going off on my dash. After researching a little further I found that it most likely was something related to loose turn signals and could be addressed the next time my bike is in the shop in about ten days. What a relief!
On Saturday, the event organizers took a group of over twenty of us on a beautiful mountain rural ride of about 140 miles though the historic logging towns of Butte Falls and Prospect. We stopped at an overlook to take in the Rogue River and ate at a local Tavern about a half hour from Ashland. From there, Grant Myers and I took the long way back by first going to Crater Lake National Park. The ride was beautiful, with lots of trees, snow-capped mountain views, and 2-3 feet of snow on the ground.
Today (Sunday) we decided to take the extra long way home by going south to California first via highway 199 to Crescent City. What a beautiful ride! I loved swooping around the twists and turns, breathing in the crisp mountain air, and being surrounded by Redwoods. We passed through the Redwoods National and State Parks on our way to Crescent City then headed north to Brookings for Pancakes.
From Brookings we headed north on highway 101 to Reedsport with gorgeous views of the coastline. Heading inland we went east on highway 38 through Drain and then up to Eugene for woodfired pizza at “Hey, Neighbor.” I absolutely loved the hand-tossed Neopolitan, wood-fired pizza with crused tomoto, fresh mozzarella, ricotta, pepperoni, basil, and Mike’s hot honey. What a great way to end the weekend.
