We pick this up where I experienced the traffic Eclipocalypse. After the sun came back, we left the viewing party and I got into my gear and on the bike. I got outta town and southbound as quickly as I could. Oregon 99W was moving right along until about 10 miles outside of Junction City, when it all came to a stop. The road did have a substantial shoulder and I rode that for quite a ways until I found the cause of the obstruction which was a bridge under construction with flagged traffic. Once past that, traffic was heavy, but moving.
Against my usual preferences, I took I-5 from Eugene south. There were no delays until somewhere around Central Point. There had been a crash on the highway and traffic was backed up like this for a few miles:
Note that all the license plates you can see are CA plates. For this reason I just pretended I was still in CA and filtered my way along for a couple miles. I took the pic just as the crash was cleared--in the previous mile I'd gone by some people who had lawn chairs out on the road. I got two pieces of guff on the way. One was a guy in a lawn chair who said, "That's not cool." Actually, it
is cool--keeps me from cooking my air-cooled bike. The other was a guy with a Honda VFR with CA plates who waved me down to tell me that "They'll bust you for splitting in Oregon." I said, "Thanks" and continued on. Quite seriously, the last time I was pipped for a mover was in 1985. I'm looking forward to my next ticket. For all those of you who are with the "That's not cool" guy, please have yourself a read:
http://newatlas.com/motorcycle-lane-spl ... rch/34425/
Once past the obstructions I made my goal of Ashland and got a nice room at the Palm Motel. She told me they'd had a cancellation just five minutes before from someone who was stuck in Eclipocalypse traffic somewhere in Eastern Oregon. The time I saved with splitting got me a room!
After a shower, I headed out for a yoga class. She says her background is in Iyengar and the class was a bit different than what I usually experience. Her style was such that I kept expecting her to say "Simon Says Downward Dog." A good class nonetheless.
I'd picked out a taqueria on Google when I was planning the trip but it appears Ashland is a bit too upscale to support one, as it was closed when I went by. So I went instead to a more formal place, La Casa Del Pueblo, and got this:
Yes, that's a margarita. I was a pedestrian. Here's how it looks in the dark:
After that, it was back to the Palm for a great night's sleep.
Call me Mel. Some years ago- never mind how long precisely- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me at home, I thought I would ride about a little and see the other parts of the world.
