Denver, CO to Portland, OR and back again.

    So recently I found out from work that I needed to go to Portland, OR at the end of August 2010 for some training.  They pay for airfare, lodging food and the like.  Easy enough fly to Portland stay a week and fly home.  Then a friend pointed out that I can get up to the cost of the plane ticket if I drive.  The plan was then hatched.  A work sponsored motorcycle trip!  Who can ask for more?!!!!!  I try to take one big trip a year but if they are willing to pay for it they hey why not get in a second trip in?  I did the math and learned that I will come out ahead if I ride so the paper work was submitted.  What you see here is about the third revision of this plan.  I looked at many routes but settled on super-slab just due to time constraints.  I will ride from home to Twin Fall, ID on day one, then on to Portland on day two.  Here is my selected route to get there.
View Larger MapI originally planned to ride the same route home but then got to thanking that I have been wanting to earn my IBA Bun Burner Gold.  This will require me to ride 1500+ miles in less than 24 hours.  If you want to read what the rules for this ride is click here.   If I cannot pull off the 24 hour time frame then I will shoot for a standard Bun Burner which requires me to make it in 36 hours... click here for the rules for that ride.  So I set out to plan a route for the ride home.  I decided to avoid the mountains since I know it will be night, I will be tired and wildlife will be out and about.  I decided to head north to Seattle and the east prior to dropping south.  Here is the planned route.  According to Google this route is 1544 miles and 24 hours on the nose.  I must average 64mph to make it in 24 hours.  To get it in 36 hours it drops down to about 45mph.View Larger MapSo how did the trip actually go?

Well the trip out went as planned.  I rode from Denver to Twin Falls without incident.  I left home at 4:30 in the morning of August 21st and arrived in Twin Falls, ID at 4:40 I crashed at a local hotel for the night.  I left out at 5:10 on the 22nd to make the last leg to Portland, OR. 

 

Life was pretty uneventful until I got on I84 along the Columbia river around Boardman, OR.  What a great stretch of Interstate to ride.  Long sweeping curves as far as the eye could see.  The river flowing right next to the interstate.  Wind surfers keeping up with my bike due to the high winds. 

I hit a little bit of rain as I was coming into Portland but nothing to be worried about.  I arrived at my hotel at 3:30 the afternoon of the 22nd and settled in for a week of training. 

Oregon is a beautiful state with lots of trees and greenery.  All I could think about for the first half of the week was how much I wanted to ride to the coast.  On the evening of the 25th I got to do just that.  I took a 160 mile round trip ride along HWY 26 to Cannon Beach, OR for dinner.  I filled a small jar with sand and sea water prior to leaving.  I want to own a piece of land from every major body of water in the U.S. all collected via motorcycle at some point.

The rest of the week was training as normal and planning for my (unsuccessful) Bun Burner Gold attempt.

On the evening of the 27th I got a few co-workers from New York to check out my bike and sign a few forms so I could leave early on the 28th.  I got on the road and headed to Seattle, WA at 5:00 am.  I passed thought Seattle around 8:00 in the morning and headed east.  The skies were telling me I was going to get wet, but hey it is Washington so what else is new?

I cross into Idaho around 12:30 and according to the GPS I am still on pace to make it.  At 1:45 pm I cross into Montana.  Time is still on my side but those evil orange cones are not!  I hit one construction zone after another.  I will give it to "Big Sky" country, it was some great scenery.   By the time I made it to Butte, MT I have been on the road for almost thirteen hours and had only traveled about 760 miles.  That left me with eleven hours to make an additional 740 miles to make the Bun Burner Gold.  That meant I had to average 67+ mph to pull it off.  With all the construction and the rain that has chased me since Seattle I decided to call it a day and got a room for the night. 

I still had twenty-three hours left to pull off the 36 hour Bun Burner.  If I got an early start I could make it with no problem... or so I thought.  I woke up to a pouring rain storm.  I decided that I did not care to take the next unfamiliar mountain pass in the weather I was provided.  I ate a leisurely breakfast and let the storm pass before I got on the road at 7:30 am.  I took my time riding home and just enjoyed the scenery.  I arrived at the house at 7:30 pm, two and a half hours past the cut off time for the ride.

Here is the SPOT track for this trip...

 

I could have pushed myself but why?  I have a trip I will never forget and I arrived home safe.  Both are wins in my book!

Next up Moonshine 2011!!!