Boxerworks.com

So I've had this bag for a while:



I got it NOS from Duane, and Eclipse also made some interesting bicycle bags BITD. I figured it was time to take the Eclipse bag to an actual eclipse. Here it is, loaded up on Ernst at sunrise:



The sun's coming through red here not just for sunrise, but for all the smoke from the fires in NorCal and SoOre. Yes, my moto lives away from home now. I ride my bicycle to ride my moto as there's no parking at the storage facility.

I went north on 101 through a whole lotta smoke. It's not typical for it to be so smoky on the coast. In Gold Beach, I thought the eclipse came a day early, it was so dark.

Things cleared up north of Coos Bay, though. Here's a generic Oregon Coast pic:



I was pretty hungry in Florence. Thankfully, a meal was ready to hand:







Yes, right next to the gun shop. I'll leave off here for now.

I love Florence Oregon! The sand dunes are so much fun to run around in. I had one of those Eclipse tank bags for decades. Was state of the are back in the 70's.

Where did you go? When I saw the first burrito picture I thought you had messed up, as it was not yet half-eaten.

As I predicted, I saw the eclipse in Albany from the parking lot of the food processor where I make my war profits.

Slow down, ZM, don't sprain a finger!

I have only been to Florence, Italy.

I, too, had an Eclipse bag for a long time. Best bag going. Mine was state of the art, though.

From Florence I continued north on 101 where I found myself in my first experience of Eclipocalypse traffic. It was like everyone from Eugene was headed to Newport. Thankfully, I turned off at Waldport onto Oregon 34 and had no traffic the whole length of it, except for one quickly dispatched Rialta RV. Oregon 34 is my new favorite road. A couple turns later and I was at enigmaT120's beautiful house and property in Falls City.

Ed and Gael were great--they served me dinner and breakfast and Gael took me to the neighbor's house for an eclipse viewing party (Ed had to work). Here's a couple minutes of totality:

WTF is it with tank bag manufacturers, that they don't make tank bags waterproof, but they include a rain cover that takes up half the space of the tank bag?

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.

It was good to meet a real Boxerworks person, you're the first one I've met. I should have met ZM at Redmond though, but didn't. And that's good hot sauce, thanks.

I seem to always get stuck behind RVs on 34 but when I don't, it's a great road. I like the sweepers on Kings Valley highway too, the one that heads north. Oh, and yeah the scenery. When I look.

How long do they hold the poses in Iyengar? I never heard of that one before. The main reason I need my dvd for yoga is that I would never hold poses long enough if left to my own devices.

I bought my Eclipse bag in 1976 and strapped it to an R60/6. Great bag! My current Cortech bags are just marginally better, and definitely not worth the extra $.

We viewed the solar version from Franklin, NC. Thankfully, we were able to stay around Franklin for several more days while the worst of the traffic died down.