Day 9 - The Oregon Coast
(Ashland, Oregon to the Pacific Coast and back, 377 miles )
Our Route, Thursday August 1st, 2002.
Our run to the Oregon coast took us, once again, back into the Ashland-Medford morning rush hour traffic along Interstate 5. We blasted on through the traffic and were soon near Grant's Pass at the town of Merlin where we exited and got on what we hoped was the road that would take us into the Siskiyou National Forest (Our experience had shown us that Oregon's secondary roads are often poorly marked).
Just before heading into some mountains, we stopped for a break and got to know a rider who had joined us that morning. His name was Harold Moscho from the Seattle, Washington area. I had seen his name before on the ST1100 email list. It was nice to place a face with a name. His mount for the day was a new BMW R1150GS. Harold's riding buddies from the day before had left that morning to go back home to Washington so we invited him along with us.
As we rode through the forested mountains we passed through the town of Galice, then a few miles beyond we found ourselves at a bridge over a scenic gorge near the intersection of two roads. I initially thought this must be the road to the coast but when I consulted my map, nothing made sense. The road at this intersection turned out to be one that would take us back to the Interstate! Just in the nick of time a guy hauling rubber rafts in a pickup truck stopped and asked us where we were trying to go. After we told him we were heading to Gold Beach on the coast, he informed us that we had missed the UNMARKED turnoff for the coast (Park Road 23) near Galice. I actually remembered this road because there was a National Guard Humvee parked there with an army grunt in it. It turned out that the soldier was there awaiting word to close the road because of a severe wildfire nearby which was growing. We thanked the guy in the truck and hauled ass back toward Galice to find the road. Luck was with us as they still hadn't closed the road, so up into the mountains we went.
Park Road 23 turned out to be in pretty bad shape. The map showed it to be paved, but in many places it was just gravel and in other places the road was torn up and not repaired. The ST1100 doesn't make a good dirt bike so it was very slow going. Even Harold's GS was having a difficult time along this road. It was also quite smoky from nearby fires except along the crests of ridges and mountains. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Park Road 23 got better and the smoke cleared.
About 4 or 5 miles from the coast we began to descend. I was expecting the temps to rise as they normally do as one loses altitude but it actually got cooler! Then I started smelling the ocean and knew we were almost there. Finally, as the road T-boned into Highway 101, we saw the Pacific Ocean. What a pretty sight it was with the mountains and hills coming right down to the water!
We hooked a left on 101 then shortly thereafter wheeled into a restaurant on the water. I figured this would be a great place to get some good sea food. A big chalk board sign at the entrance to the place announced that "The Catch of the Day" was pork roast with vegetables! Laughing out loud, I jokingly thought to myself that it must have been quite a sight seeing the local fishermen take all those squealing pigs off of their trot lines! :-) <For those who haven't a clue what a trot line is see the NOTE at the bottom of the page>
Once we finished our meals, we took off north along the coast. The scenery was spectacular, especially for someone like myself who is from the gulf coast of the U.S. where, unlike the Oregon coast, it is flat as pancake and hot.
Somewhere along the Oregon Coast north of Gold Beach. Notice the lack of swimmers even though it is August. The ocean currents here are obviously cold, which affects not only the water temperature but the air temperature as well.
The ride up the coast was beautiful but it was time to head back to Ashland as fast as we could so that we would be back in time for the WeSTOC closing ceremony and other activities. We took Highway 42S at Bandon, which in turn took us to Coquille where we headed east on Highway 42. Sixty-five miles later we turned south on Interstate 5 at Roseburg and wicked the STeeds up for the final run back into Ashland. Just before Ashland we peeled off the interstate at Medford and ran by the Honda shop to pick up the parts that were supposed to be waiting for Ken. They hadn't arrived so Ken made arrangements for the parts to be shipped to his home in Texas.
Once we arrived back at the hotel I had just enough time to take a quick shower and take my bike to the back parking lot for the group photo shoot. I couldn't help but think that this would be the last time anyone would see so many ST1100's in one place. The ST1100's replacement, the new ST1300, would be coming out soon and many members would be trading their ST1100's in or selling them to get the new bike. Next year's WeSTOC lineup would look different.
The WeSTOC lineup. There were so many bikes I could not get them all into my camera's field of view. Two of the bikes in the foreground, a Blackbird and an old Honda Turbo, were just a couple of the "non-ST's" in attendance. There were Triumphs, VFR's, and BMW's as well. (Note the smoke & haze in the background from the nearby forest fires.)
John Oosterhuis (right) shows some leg as he searches frantically for a silver ST during the Show-n-Shine event.
Sandy Wood's bike during the Show-n-Shine. ST owners in general like to customize their bikes to fit their needs and personality. Sandy swapped parts with Ed Grant who owns a red ST then added red pin stripping. In addition, she put small stars on the fairing made of red reflective material. The coup de grace however, was a starburst made of the same material placed on the back of her tail bag. Sort of gave it that "woman's touch".
The back of someone's helmet during the "Show-n-Shine". I actually found myself riding behind this guy at Crater Lake. It was so distracting and funny that it's a wonder I didn't kill myself from falling off my bike while laughing!
The WeSTOC '02 closing ceremonies ended with a banquet at the hotel. It was a fun affair in which some of the list members actually prepared the meal (which was very tasty I might add!). During the meal, Don Feyma handed out awards and door prizes donated by various bike accessory companies. One of the more memorable awards given out is known as the Dan Weber Scofflaw Award. As mentioned in my WeSTOC '00 trip report, the award was named after Dan because of his "performance" at a previous WeSTOC gathering. Seems Dan managed to get two sets of tickets within twenty minutes during that event. He got the first ticket for speeding in one state then twenty minutes later received two more tickets in another state. The last two were for illegal passing across a double yellow line, and speeding at 125 mph. This year's award was won by Texas' own, Sandy Woods. Seems a trooper didn't see the humor in her piloting her bike at 95 mph with one hand while trying to read a map with the other! Don's last duty as master of ceremonies was to announce the location of next years WeSTOC.... Moscow, Idaho. With that, WeSTOC '02 was officially over.
(NOTE: For those not familiar with fishing, a trot line is a long cord with baited hooks tied to it about every three or four feet. The ends are secured underwater to tree stumps or limbs and the middle is weighted down so that it will stay beneath the surface. After a few hours you check it and hopefully have a bunch of fish on the line.)