Today’s Mileage: 207 miles
Total Trip Mileage so far: 4164 miles
I am listening to: Alt Pop: Sarah McLachlan, Maroon 5, Nora Jones, Barenaked Ladies, etc.
Following Patty’s recommendation I started out this day by going straight to the Evergreen Air Museum (http://evergreenmuseum.org/) about an hour northwest of Salem. She was definitely right about this facility. The first thing I noticed as I drove up was a 747 sitting atop a large building – as I drew near, read the sign and looked closer at the airplane I realized it was a waterpark! Sliding tubes came out of all the airplane doors and led into the building. From the number of cars it looked to be very popular.
Parked (no motorcycle parking…always a pet peeve) and went in, a bit expensive, even after the retired military and senior discounts it was still $20. But on the other hand, restoring and preserving old aircraft and spacecraft is very costly. The museum campus is very high-end, not just a bunch of planes stuffed in a hanger – the displays are on the quality of Dayton or the Smithsonian. A fine place to spend the morning…and I did. Notably, in addition to the Spruce Goose, they have, among a zillion other cool vehicles, an X-15, a B-17, and a SR-71. I had never heard of this museum before – from the number of folks walking around though, some knows about it!
After taking another look at the 747 waterpark I took a small, pleasant little road over to the coast highway – 101. The coast was, as always, beautiful…but a bit windy and cool. But no complaints the road was great. Some traffic but not so bad, you could time the breaks so that there would be no cars in front to mess up the curves.
I have been talking to a lot of Canadians, who all seem to be riding Victories or Harleys. All very friendly, and as everyone seems to be, curious about my KTM. I have yet to see another on the road yet. Perhaps in Southern California…
About 50 miles out of Coos Bay, a group of Nortons pulled up along side…yes, Nortons! They rode with me for a while and then pulled on ahead, willing to take more chances than I on passing with double yellow and on-coming traffic. About 20 miles down the road I see them sitting at a gas station and they all wave so I turn around and return for a better look at their bikes. The Nortons are very nicely restored and sound really good, well, Norton-like!. They tell me that there is about 40 Nortons in their group from Los Angeles. They all shipped their bikes to Seattle, flew up, and are now having a group ride home. So far, only a few have had mechanical problems and one person crashed. We talk about my bike for a while and it seems they are very knowledgeable about it. It turns out that two of the three are moto-journalists. We know a few of the same people. Finally, I head on to Coos Bay for my hotel.
Tomorrow the Pacific Ocean will be to my right all day as I head south to Eureka through the Redwoods.
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- Spruce Goose
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- Space Capsule Pickup
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- 747 Waterpark
RideAbout65.4 arrives at the Pacific Ocean
