Saturday morning saw me warming up the bike and heading over to Ed and Susie's to meet up with them for a ride over to Clarkston and on to Rattlesnake Grade. My first ride on the Grade!!! The weather was coolish, and I was glad I wore my heavier riding jacket and fall gloves. Later it warmed up into the mid-to-upper 70's, just about the best riding weather you can ask for.About 5 miles east of Dayton, we were riding along at the speed limit when a large deer jumped across the road in front of Ed and Susie, who were riding on their Goldwing. I was behind a bit and a sportbike rider was behind me. Luckily, the deer was 10-20 yards in front of the bike when it jumped, so there was no danger of a hit. We all slowed down, though, because where there's one, there are usually others. Didn't see any more deer until the ride back, and the one I saw was well off roadway.
We stopped in Clarkston for gas, then got underway. From this point, it was all new roadway to me. Rattlesnake Grade lives up to its reputation. Lots of t
twisties, and an excellent motorcycle road. We followed a BMW 1200R with sidecar down the last part of the grade, and into the parking lot at Boggan's Oasis. Talking later with the sidecar rider, we were informed the sidecar setup cost him $10,000. Yikes!!!Tom and Mary Ellen Carter had ridden over Friday on their Goldwing, towing trailer, and were camped by the Grande Ronde River. We visited with them at their campsite for a while, and then we all headed up to the restaurant for hamburgers, real homemade potato salad and homemade pie. Bill and Betty were great hosts and made us feel right at home. This place is a must-stop destination for anyone riding between Clarkston and Enterprise.
We got on the road a
round 2:30 pm and headed back up the way we came. Ed had led on the way down, and I led on the way out. The twisties on this road are not to be trifled with. At the beginning of the twisties, the sign says "25 mph next 9 miles." Needless to say, we exceeded that guideline by a little bit. Stopped on the way up for pictures. Outstanding views from up there.The rest of the ride back to Walla Walla was uneventful, although about 2 miles east of Dayton, we came on a motorcyclist at the side of the road waving us down. We stopped for the new Harley V-Rod (complete with temporary tags) and I flipped up my helmet. The other rider (a woman) said, "I know you." Turned out it was [name omitted to prevent embarrassment], who had run out of gas. Ed and Susie rode down the road to the house of a friend, who wasn't home, but they found a gas can in the barn and brought back a 12 oz water bottle full of gas, which was enough to get [name omitted to prevent embarrassment] onto Dayton, where she gassed up.
I pulled into the driveway around 5:45, tired and 275 miles in the saddle on this fine fall day.
Ride pics posted at SmugMug
