264 miles, 9 hours.

Since we had such a busy weekend (Tamara: completing MCAT, Ted: teaching with Team Oregon, both: company every evening), we needed to finish packing and rounding up everything for the trip. We hadn't began loading the bikes, though we weren't worried, since we've done these type of long camping trips previously.

We finally got on the road around 10:40am. Immediately there was something wrong with the V-Strom. It wouldn't hold its idle. I've had that problem before (it's still rare!), and it's always self-corrected. I figured it would be fine after warming up.

After 405 merges with I-5 South, Tamara was leading. I couldn't keep up with her- the bike was falling on its face at about 60mph and 5000 rpm. I tried lugging it and tried dropping down a few gears. It just wouldn't go. We pulled off onto Barbur and looked for a gas station- I figured getting some fresh gas and looking at some bits on the bike would be good.

The bike looked fine at the gas station. I suspect the problem was a vent hose pressing against the throttle, so at large amounts of throttle it would be pinched and inhibit acceleration. In any case, it wasn't there by the time we were stopped, and the bike was fine. It's only the second or third time in 25,000 miles, though last time it happened I did zip-tie a vent hose out of the way.

The first planned stop was at the high fashion store of the Northwest, also known as REI. We needed to pick up a handful of freeze-dried meals, a decent sized water bottle, and I ended up a few pairs of lightweight travel pants.

On the road again, we headed down to Salem. We stopped for a wikiphoto, gawked at a motorhome fire that spread to the nearby house, then dropped in at a doctor (long story!), then went over to Dean's house. Since Tamara was on a new bike, Dean supervised her for some skills tests (braking and swerving). The next stop was lunch with Dean. It was fun to ride with him, even if it was only for a mile or two- his DRZ SM is a very entertaining bike to ride and to look at.

After lunch, we left Salem for the big slab south. We were headed to Roseburg with a short stop in Eugene. The temperature in Eugene was 90 degrees, we were both wilting on the bike, but I was wilting AND sleepy from a food coma. I was glad Tamara was leading on the freeway.

Thankfully, the freeway south of Eugene starts to curve and climb slightly. It was much more entertaining than the dead-flat and dead-straight slab from Salem to Eugene. It got much better as we turned west at Roseburg, heading into the Coast Range. Tamara and I really enjoyed the twisty road toward the coast, and the traffic was light enough to really enjoy things.

I'll be honest- the radar detector saved me from a ticket. I had just passed a pack of four cars, and was making sure I had adequate space including behind me (in other words, I was speeding away). When K-band started dinging, I slowed down. About a mile later, an undercover law enforcement officer came by in the oncoming lane, with his front radar on full blast.

We turned off of the main highway and went 18 miles south on a very scenic and curvy road to Powers, Oregon. It's at the end of a spur highway, so the traffic was especially light.

Camp is nice- water, toilets, shower, for a nice price. It's a little busy with families in their travel trailers, but they settled in when the sun went down.