Awesome road trip yesterday! We rode 268 miles on one of my favorite routes. Tricities to La Grande, Oregon via Elgin and Tolgate. The trip had us climb up to 4,000 ft. and stop at a viewpoint. This time of year it's cool enough in the morning to keep our leather jackets on going up the hill. Coming down on the other side of the summit meant we had to shed the safety of those jackets and ride bare-armed, risking road rash vs. falling over from heat exhaustion in upper 80's weather. Soon, the weather won't be an issue and we'll be riding in the absolute best riding month. Gotta love September!
So were riding along on uneventul day until we came around a corner and spotted this very old mountain sheep on the road. I couldn't believe my eyes. As we got closer, we slowed way down and I realized he wasn't going to move out of the road. Very odd behavior for this type of animal. We drove past him and pulled off the road and tried to get him to go back up the hill he came down. Not only did we not want to see him killed, he was big enough to do some serious damage to any car or truck, much less a biker. As Gene walked toward him, I could see he wasn't going to move. We think he was injured and very disoriented. I stood at the corner and waved to traffic to slow down and eventually he sauntered up the hill a bit. It was a weird sight to see.
We stopped in Elgin for lunch at a local spot. A shirtless young man walking his husky/shepherd mix pointed us to the better of two places to eat. He reminded me of Alaska is so many ways. He was right on about the diner. Gene had a big bowl of clam chowder and I had a perfect 1/2 chef's salad.
We drove right through La Grande without stopping. Farmers were burning their fields and it was a smoky, hot mess. We took a back road off the highway to a viewpoint and stayed long enough to snap 2 pictures and move on. It was gettin' warm. We haven't done a lot of riding this summer, for various reasons but I suspect September will see us making up for lost time. As much as I love summer, fall comes in a very close second. The peaches are ripe, the morning air is crisp and life is good.
Not a bad start to a 4-day weekend!
love, susan
25 quarts of peaches so far..yummy they are good. Jon got them for me from tri cities someplace. He picked them for 69 a lb. Hope to get more next week. Love ya..
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