RubenStone

Been meaning to post up a report from our ride last month to the Ruben and beyond to Yellowstone so I'll give it a go. Someday I'll upgrade my camera and stop more often for pictures but for now this will have to do.

Day one we rode up to La Pine Or. via the scenic hwy 395. Gayle is having some fun behind me on the hippo.



Ok Ok, didn't take a single picture at the Ruben gathering parking lot fun but we did have a good time. I did however grab a picture of our Ruben leader Ray and Patti



One other picture I snagged during our local ride at the Ruben is of Mr and Mrs. Speed aka AuburnFJR. Holy mother of Pearl, Bryan and Marissa were hustling their FJR at warp speed through some nice twisties. It's always impressive to watch a bike 2 up briskly moving through the curves but with a trailer in tow? Wow!



Well we had a blast at the Ruben but come Sunday morning we loaded up the Hippo and bushtec and rode across Oregon on Hwy 26 toward Mountain Home, Idaho. It was a nice day and a wonderful route. Monday's plan is to ride to Craters of The Moon national park on our way to Jackson Hole for the night. Craters of The Moon is a unique place that I had a quick stop a couple years ago but this time with Gayle we planned to do some hiking while there.

We had a great view atop this cinder cone, this is a great place to visit.







A quick photo stop in Arco, the first Atomic in the US.



On our way to Jackson Hole we spied some nice color and even some snow on the big hills.. It was nice to see some color after trudging across the wide open desert of Idaho.



Well I left the camera on the bike so no pictures of downtown Jackson but we did have a good time window shopping and good Mexican dinner at Piglets.

Tuesday morning we hit the road for our ride through Yellowstone on our way to meet up with some friends who moved to Cody, Wy this summer. We saw Moose on our way out of Jackson but traffic was heavy so no camera shots. However we did stop at Yellowstone falls and hiked to the falls. Awesome views but next time we will change into hiking shoes.





Yellowstone is a huge and wonderful place.



More to come.....

We rode out to Cody via Chief Joseph Hwy. I feel it's one of the best roads anywhere but I didn't take any pictures this ride as we were just soaking it all in. Go ride it sometime.

By the time we made Cody Gayle had logged 1,500 miles on the bike and was just not feeling the love anymore so a day off the bike with friends was in order. We had a wonderful time in Cody with our friends but I could feel Gayle was not to keen on riding 3 days to get home. No problem, booked her a flight from Cody to Salt Lake and then on to Sacramento where our son would pick her up.

Gosh darn, I'll just have to ride the Hippo home all by myself via Beartooth and Lolo pass. From now on the days would be well over 600 miles each day, something she would not have enjoyed.

Beartooth on the GPS



Here up top things were really brown at the end of summer



What a bitching road, notice it at the top of the pic too? What fun!



I pushed onto Missoula Mt. for the night after a very enjoyable day of riding. The next morning I was ready for a early start riding lolo Pass across Idaho and into Oregon. A bit of a cool start and temps stayed this low for quite sometime. I enjoy chilly riding and it was much better than the 94 temps I was in by afternoon.



It was a beautiful morning and even some light fog in a few places along the river.



\

Even passed a working mill, nice to see a renewable resources in action.



However by early afternoon the dense forests were behind me and it was becoming more like eastern Oregon.



I am on my way to Hell's Canyon, Oxbow, Baker City and ending up in John Day Or. for the night, looking good on the gps



Things were heating up as I was nearing Hell's Canyon



But I did find a nice park below the dam, a great place to cool off in the mid 90 degree heat.



Almost 700 miles of mostly twisty roads, not a bad day. Things were just fine in John Day with a big moon on the rise.



One more day to finish....

My last day on the road had a sad and sobering start, hwy 395 follows the river below John Day and was just beautiful until a fire this summer burned 58 homes like this on in the blur pic.



Seeing way too much of this fire damage this year, sucks.

Below Burns I rode to Fields Or and Denio Jct, Nv. Good stuff..



Below Denio I jumped on Hwy 140 across southern Oregon to Hwy 395 in Lakeview. Apparently the motorhome crowd doesn't listen very well.



Nice views of the wide open spaces in these parts.



From Lakeview it was just another lovely ride down 395 to hwy 80 in Reno. It was butt vibrations * (street vibrations) weekend but we renamed it due to all the Harley pirates in town. I just put the Wing and Bushtec in the fast lane and blew by all the noise in no time.

Ahh, a familiar sign at Donner summit reminds me I'll be home in less than an hour. Great friends, great trip!

Great RR and pics Doug

You guys are da bomb!

Very nice Bugnatr!Thanks!

Looks like you good time the rest of your trip, I have followed Bryan and Marissa a few times and the pace is always fun! Nice pictures.

Panman said:

Looks like you good time the rest of your trip, I have followed Bryan and Marissa a few times and the pace is always fun! Nice pictures.

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+1

Very nice, my next new bike is going to have a trailer. I gotta get out west.

Dave

Thanks Doug and Gayle Started my day off right.

Awesome trip Bug - didn't realize you had added the towing capacity - that must take the whole rig to just south of a metric ton!

Great to see those parts of the west again though its getting a little overwhelming to be reminded how parched the whole region is getting.

Great report, thanks Doug.

Thanks for the RR. Have ridden all of those roads and am sitting here just dreaming of riding them again. Great pics and seeing you in LaPine.

Nice RR Doug,

Wish I could have joined ya. John Day and Baker City have some fun riding. You hit many of my bucket list rides........

One correction Doug. How could you take a picture of Patti and when she was with your wife quilt shopping?? It was my oldest daughter on the back of the wing.

Nice RR Bugs

Nice RR and pics Bug..did a lot of that same country this summer!

--G

FJRay said:

One correction Doug. How could you take a picture of Patti and when she was with your wife quilt shopping?? It was my oldest daughter on the back of the wing.

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CRS baby, good grief I even sat next to her at lunch. Just habit to think of you and Patti on the bike, that was a darn nice loop you led us on.