Sunday, September 8, 2002 - Pine Hollow Lakeside Campground near Wamic, Oregon
I slept okay but was awake a few times in the night, this not being my own bed and all. I got up, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, to the sound of a diesel engine starting (sounded like it might have come from Stuttgart) about 6:49 a.m.
I walked down to the bathhouse but found the door either locked or broken. So I wandered a little more and ended up at R.E. and Connie's cabin (modular home?), where they were kind enough to let me use the bathroom and then entertained me with background music, orange juice and conversation.
Back at Cabin 3, I dressed for riding, packed the T-Bag and reattached it to the bike. About 8:15 a.m. I turned in my key at the office. Dave & Pan also turned in their key. Although they had paid for three nights, and Pine Hollow had a strict "no refunds" policy, the office was kind enough to refund 1/2 of the third night's fee since they had run out of propane in the middle of the second night and suffered frosty indoor temps.
We said goodbye to those other Slugs that were still there, although many had already left. We were not in a hurry, since we had an extra day or two to get home.
We left Pine Hollow at 8:40 a.m., rode out Wamic Market Road and through Wamic, west on a (poorly-marked) road that I believed to be OR Highway 48, and into the National Forest. We knew that we wanted to leave by a different route than we'd taken to get to Slimefest, but the road out was not only quite cold, we weren't completely sure we were going the right way. On the other hand, we had some beautiful views of Mt. Hood!
Knowing that we eventually got home, I could say that I was certain we were going the right way. I wasn't "certain," but was reasonbly sure. It turned out to be okay, although it surely was cold, and we did have to go the wrong direction for a short distance. In the forest, we turned west on OR Highway 43 and then south on U.S. Highway 26 and then knew we were going in the right direction.
We entered the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, rode over Abbott Pass and then another 32 cold miles into Warm Springs, where we found a Texaco Station around 10:00 a.m. Perhaps because it was on the reservation, we were allowed to pump our own gasoline, then I again I used my Shell card.
We continued to Madras OR, turned south on U.S. Highway 97 and rode through Terrebonne and Redmond. As we passed the bar and shield sign in Bend, we couldn't remember which off-ramp to take, so we bypassed Bears & Roses.
Just about noon we rolled into Gordy's Truck Stop Restaurant at Wickiup Junction, just north of La Pine OR. As we parked, we saw two other riders who were just leaving and said they'd had an excellent meal. It was a nice big place with lots of menu choices and a great view of the bikes and the highway out the window.
I had blueberry French toast and hot chocolate and it was excellent. While dining, we saw Becky & Terry go by, so we guessed we'd see them again.
We left the restaurant at 1:10 p.m. and continued into La Pine where we fueled at a Union 76 station. The attendant turned on the pump, I filled the tank and he turned the pump off.
The employees must be dog-lovers, because there were two plastic tubs of different size dog bones sitting atop one of the pumps.
We continued south on Hy 97, through Crescent, Chemult and Klamath Falls OR. After crossing back into California at 3:25 p.m. we again stopped in Dorris CA at the Chevron Station near where we'd eaten on Thursday night.
Becky & Terry saw us and stopped. We talked for a while and decided to ride separately but knew we'd see them again.
We continued south on Hy 97, through Macdoel, got behind a real slow truck for a while, then pulled into the Union 76 station in Weed at 4:40 p.m. for something to drink. Becky & Terry went by again, so we waved.
Southbound on Interstate 5 again, past Mount Shasta, Dunsmuir and Castella, through the Shasta-Trinity National Forest and the City of Shasta Lake, then we pulled into Redding about 6:10 p.m. to rest at a gas station and reconnoiter. Pandora was looking for a certain hotel and could not find it; I was looking for a Days Inn and could not find it either. We rode down the main street to see what we could find.
They liked the looks of the Holiday Inn and I liked the looks of the Motel 6 just down the street. I got a ground floor room near the office, where I could park right in front of the room and cable the bike to a pole. I unloaded the T-Bag and put a wet rag on the windshield so that I could clean the bugs off later.
Shortly after discovering that Sprint PCS has coverage in Redding, I talked to Dave on the phone. He said they'd either eat or be in the hot tub; I should get dinner and they would call me in the morning. Sounded good to me.
I walked across the street to an Applebee's Restaurant to have some riblets and lemonade, and to catch up with my notes.
Ribs are so messy, and barbeque sauce on chapped lips is no fun, either. The ribs were not particularly good, but they were good enough for this hongry cowpoke.
I walked back across the street to the motel, turned on CNN, took a shower, had some juice, watched a little HBO and went to bed.
Miles for the day = 403. Miles for the trip = 1167.