Late Summer Weekend Tri-State Ride (lots of pics!)

Back in early May I had the 15K service done on my Multistrada, but it was only at about 14,800 miles, so they couldn't reset the little reminder on the dash. So, for the last 5000 miles or so, I've had to look at that "Desmo Service" nagging. My dealer is over seven hours away, so I've been trying to figure out a convenient time to get back over there so they could do the five-minute reset.

This weekend, the weather looked PERFECT here, there, and everywhere in between. Seemed like a perfect excuse to take a beautiful 1100 mile ride through three states (Idaho, Oregon, Washington), and try out some new roads I've been wanting to check out, and have some fun playing on some of my regional favorites.

It was a fantastic ride, start to finish. Of course, I brought the camera along to snap a few pics of the amazing scenery. And, my friends at MotoCorsa got rid of my annoying reminder.

Friday afternoon there were swirling thunderstorms around as I approached Prairie City, OR. A little rain on me, but not too much.



As I rode down the hill into Monument, OR, the sun was coming out just after a shower had hit the area.







Cool to see a dad teaching his son to fish down below in this shot.



The road between Condon and Heppner, OR is one of the best in the northwest. Epic curves, grippy, and with almost no cars, ever. Just awesome.

On Saturday morning, I rode across the Columbia River over to the Washington side, and into the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. It was the most DENSE forest I've ever seen. In some places I was literally riding through a dark tunnel of foliage that covered the road - tough to see through my tinted shield. Great road, twisty and fun!



The view from the top near Mt. St. Helens, with Mt. Rainier in the distance.



After getting the service in Portland, I headed southeast past the spectacular Mt. Hood. Wow!



One of the very best roads EVER is the 40 miles or so between Shaniko and Fossil, OR. Unbelievably fun, flowing, and grippy. So great!







Spent the night in John Day, OR after 514 miles of awesomeness on Saturday. Sunday AM headed south on 395, which had some really fun and scenic twisties.



Headed north from Burns, OR toward home near Boise, which had some fun desert canyons to rail through.



A great weekend on the best bike ever. Just about 20,000 miles on her now, and she just keeps getting better and better.

great photos as usual! Man, those are some awesome roads up there...

Those roads look amazing. Thanks for posting!

Nice pics. What camera were you using?

Epic. Your photos are incredible. I really need to learn some photo-craft.

That Fossil,OR pic is stunning.

Thank you! For most of them, I was using my Canon 5D Mark III with 16-35 f/2.8 lens, or my 85mm f/1.8 lens. On one or two of them, it was the pocket Canon S100.

How long are you on the road for typically? If I end up stopping for pictures as often as I'd like, I find my trip time increases greatly. I'll often stop for a smoke at the same time, slowing me down even more.

I am never really trying to rush anywhere and instead just making sure I make my destination by night fall. For example, I took 7 or 8 hours to go from SF - Fortuna. Granted, there were gas, snack, water, smoke breaks.

Thanks for the camera info.

bwhip said:

...

One of the very best roads EVER is the 40 miles or so between Shaniko and Fossil, OR. Unbelievably fun, flowing, and grippy. So great!

.

Click to expand...

I know that road! Great road!
Was there last year.

RightCoastBias said:

How long are you on the road for typically? If I end up stopping for pictures as often as I'd like, I find my trip time increases greatly. I'll often stop for a smoke at the same time, slowing me down even more.

I am never really trying to rush anywhere and instead just making sure I make my destination by night fall. For example, I took 7 or 8 hours to go from SF - Fortuna. Granted, there were gas, snack, water, smoke breaks.

Click to expand...

Depends on the trip. When I'm by myself, it's easier to stop more than if I'm with a group. Sometimes I'll rail through fun twisties, then circle back a mile or so if I saw something whizzing by that looks like it might be picture worthy. If the sky is crappy (smoky, drab gray, whatever), I'm less likely to stop because I know the overall quality of the picture is going to be poor.

I might stop for five minutes or less to take the photos when I do, trying some different compositions or lenses. I've done it enough now that I usually know what I want and can get it pretty quickly. Often I have to because I'm standing in the middle of the road!

Every once in a while I see a spot that looks really good, but I don't stop because I'm hoping I might see an even better spot ahead. When I don't, I hate the feeling of regret for maybe missing a really good shot. But I also don't like when I stop, unpack the gear, take several shots, pack everything up, put helmet and gloves back on, and then 1/2 mile later see a way better spot! Oh well, it happens.

98.9% of the time I'm enjoying the ride, twisting that throttle and testing the grip! But I just can't help always thinking about photo opps along the way...

Thanks dude! Your photos are epic as always. I'm looking forward to trying some of the roads you mentioned, as well. Thanks for the inspiration.

I always look forward to your ride post. Great photos as usual!

Thanks very much!

Great way to spend a little time- i really enjoyed your post- spent time at the m/c sections of yer blog too. Great photos. Thanks for posting!

Thanks for the report. I too always enjoy your pics as well.

It's funny. I went on a long trip and dragged my DSLR and tripod with me. I never once pulled either out electing to just use my iPhone instead.