Day 14 - Klamath Falls and homeward...

Day 14 – Sept 29th, 2005

Klamath Falls and Homeward Bound…

As I leave Klamath Falls, Oregon up Hwy 97 I ride along the 20 mile expanse of sparkling Klamath Lake. Here, the leaves are just starting their amazing metamorphosis and the air is redolent with the scent of the fast approaching autumn. It is another picture perfect morning, filled with blue skies and sunshine – albeit considerably cooler. Speaking of pictures… I have updated some of the pictures on earlier posts if you’d like to view them. Also, in response to an email I received asking me to make all the pictures larger – if you click right on the picture it will automatically enlarge in a new window.

Coming into Collier Memorial State Park, I run into major road works and blasting. I wend my way to the front of the line and enjoy a nice chat with the flag girl Shelli. It’s 11:45 a.m. and we are “held” for about 20 minutes giving me time to make a few notes in my journal. Shelli gives me the “heads up” allowing me time to get my helmet and gloves back on before she releases the rest of the traffic. Thank you.

I fuel in Chemult before I head East on Hwy 58 into the Willamette Forest and pass. At this higher altitude, the deciduous leaves are a riot of intense colours. Several float lazily on a downward spiral reminding me of the feather in the movie Forrest Gump. My back wheel kicks up several which bring them to renewed life and travel. I ride through a corridor of giants in and out of dappled sunlight. The enormous and fluffy pine trees are dropping their progeny via humongous pinecones. I wish I had room to pick some up to bring home as souvenirs of the trip but I will have to make do with the memories this trip. Every time there is a blast of frigid mountain air, I mentally send it down to Cousin Linda in Texas. Her spirits have been flagging in the intense heat they have been experiencing and I hoped it might be able to refresh and invigorate. Linda’s husband Gary said – “either the heat wave will break or my wife will… “. I do hope it’s cooling off for you now. Linda, I loved your idea about all of us buying bikes and doing Mc trips. Now, did you mean Mc as in motorcycle or Mc as in the McIntyre clan? Either way , it’s a great idea. Don’t you be worrying about Gary, I think he’s pretty aware and will ride safely. My personal philosophy around riding for more than 30 years without an accident (touch wood), is to pretend that I am invisible. That allows me to anticipate all the crazy things that other vehicles will do and have a “Plan B” as an alternative way out. The other thing I have always done is to keep my high beam on during daylight hours. You want to keep yourself as highly visible as possible. Mostly, people don’t “do” things intentionally; they just are not programmed to see motorcycles the way they do other vehicular traffic.

I feel I need to digress and give credit to “Paladin” for his terrific performance, even at high altitudes. It was something that I had been concerned about as the jetting would tend to make the bike run rich and may have the tendency to get “boggy”. I had experienced quite a bit of trouble with this when I had my 400 Inline Four Supersport. We had tried to make allowance for both jetting and had changed the sprockets to alleviate running at higher RPM’s but as with most things, when you change one thing it affects something else, sometimes in ways you don’t really desire. I absolutely LOVE the sound of Paladin as he decelerates. A nice, throaty rumble that never fails to make me smile. You can hear the power and torque that lies within his great heart. Although Robert has kept the stock exhaust he has made some modifications that give it this great sound. For more info, I invite you to visit Robert’s amazing and informational website at http://www.hilliard.ws/ I have Yoshimura exhaust on my Interceptor which is more of a “barky” sound but I have also enjoyed them enormously.

At 2:30 P.M. I fuel in Eugene, Oregon and reluctantly I turn Paladin north on I5 as Johnny Horton belts out “North to Alaska”. No, I’m not headed quite that far… North to Portland, north to family there, and finally north to the border and homeward. In some ways, I am anxious to be home. In others – well I have always had that wanderlust spirit and love the adventure of “the road less travelled”. I have to wait until Monday to present myself at the border before 3:00 P.M. to get through all the paperwork and red tape associated with the export of the bike from the U.S. and then the importation into Canada. We faxed all the information from Texas before I left and Rod has confirmed with them that it has been received. Let’s all keep our collective fingers crossed.

I plan to spend the weekend with my cousins in Portland and it will be great to have time to visit with them. My dear husband Rod, plans to come down on Saturday to join me here. I have missed him even more than I knew I would and I count the hours til he’s here with me. Originally, he had thought to come on his bike but the weather has turned really nasty and is expected to last into next week. Yikes! I’d better pull out that rain gear. They have predicted 3” of rainfall in the Seattle area and I admit I have some concern about the front tire in that case.

I never did make it to the Starbuck’s in Klamath Falls, but I know there’s one quite close to where cousins Walter and Sandi live and I even know how to find it without getting lost.

Cheers!

Linda Sue