Day 1: Thursday, May 20th, 2004. Hillsboro, OR.
The day had finally arrived! I had packed the bike the night before, laid out the riding gear and went to bed like a kid before Christmas: Early. This morning I rose before dawn, ate the last of the perishable food in the house and worked until noon. One last check of the weather confirmed the California coast would be sunny for few more days, but thunderstorms were forecast for Grants Pass so I decided to book a room. Camping in the rain can't compete with a military discount at Holiday Inn Express.
I had decided to start the trip with Thai food. I met my good friend Scott at Thai Princess in Hillsboro. This is the best thai that I've ever had. On the way I noticed that the rear of the bike tended to pogo a bit, and I already had the preload cranked up to about 95% to handle my fat butt and all the food...er.. Camping supplies... on the back seat. I've recently installed a Penske sport shock with an 1100 lbs spring. Although I've set the sag correctly with about 75% of the preload, having the front rebuilt made rear feel mushy (must be the food), hence the higher preload. Once I got to the restaurant I increased the rebound dampening three clicks. Hopefully that should do it. Inside, we discussed taking care of the cat, ate up, and then I was off!
The sky was overcast, it was about 70 degrees, and traffic was light. I didn't have far to go, only 250'ish miles, but it's all boring interstate. I turned off the GPS and turned on one of the seven or eight books on CD I had ripped. First one was Ann Frank's Diary ... Good enough, clear speech, straight and boring I-5.
The interstate between Roseburg and Canada is pretty boring and straight. Today is no different. Clouds over the cascades to the left, blue sky and hazy coastal ranges to the right. I swear this road does not turn for 30 miles a shot. It will be a good test to see how the new tires wear. They are the Metzeler Z6's. Supposedly, they are long-lasting with an incredible dry and wet drip. Interestingly, there is no tread on the center section, so now I'm wondering if the front tire really will push water away for it... Then again, what we're seeking isn't straightline wet traction, but cornering traction, where there is groovage. This is all fine and dandy. Then it hit me: With no groovage in the center, how do we when it's worn or squared off? Hey ... I think Metzeler just hit on a great product feature! The consumer can't tell if it has a problem! Hmm... I wonder if I can use that concept at work. Basically,don't give the user any indication that the operation failed or succeeded!
Well, back to motorcycles. Once in Roseburg I gassed up and checked the GPS and found that I would be arriving early at the hotel, at about 6pm. Not only that, but the skies are mostly blue with some darkage to the southeast. I really don't want to spend my vacation sitting in hotel rooms typing on PDA's (hey!) and I must have breakfast in Ashland, so I thought ... Maybe I can do a loop in the mountains... Lo and behold, Mapopolis shows a squiggly road from Roseburg to just south of Grants Pass. Known as 227 or Tiller Trail Road, it adds about 40 miles to the trip.
First it goes east along some river, with smooth sweepers and almost no traffic. After a few miles the road narrows and the foliage starts to look like something from the eastern side of the cascades. It hugs the canyon walls as it continued to climb higherin elevation. The turns tighter and tighter while the pavement got worse and worse, but so bad that I was ready to turn back. Eventually it angled south and connected to 62 and then 234, following the Umpqua or Rogue river to Grants Pass. Good thing I took the side route ...it added a couple hours of riding to my day. I'll have to remember that road.
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