Arch Cape, Oregon to Baker City, Oregon

Day 1 - July 19 - 385 miles

Map - Day 1

The plan was to get close to, or in Baker City the first night and then try and use smaller roads as much as possible for the remainder of the trip. I started in Arch Cape, just south of Cannon Beach and about 30 miles south of Astoria, roughly the northwest tip of Oregon. I took Highway 26 into Portland and then interstate 84 to Baker City. I left the coast mid-morning which put me into Portland around noon. By far the worst traffic of the trip was going through Portland. Traffic on the last bit of 26 and first part of 84 was stop-and-go. From zero to 8 MPH and back to stopped again. No accidents causing this as far as I could tell, just too many cars on the road.

Once out of the Portland area traffic on I-84 was moving at a good pace. I stopped in Hood River for lunch at Subway and got fuel before getting back on I-84. The highway runs along the Columbia river for a long stretch and eventually the speed limit jumps to 70 MPH (with traffic at a slightly higher pace) so you can make pretty good time on this road.

A bit west of Pendleton I-84 starts to turn southeast. As it does this it climbs some mountains and goes from two lanes to three lanes and also splits such that the east bound traffic is no longer in sight. That third lane provides a place for the big trucks which cannot climb hills with any speed. There are big sweeping turns and a clear left lane - great fun for motorcycles. Here is a photo looking out over the valley taken from a turn out on that grade. You can see from the shadows that the sun is starting to head toward the western horizon.

Valley view

It was very warm so I was running with the wind screen pretty low to give me a lot of air. About 30 minutes outside Baker City I found my eyes getting dry due to the warm air coming through the helmet vents. Pretty quickly I went from blinking a lot to try and get some moisture on my eyes to finding it hard to see. I stopped on the side of I-84 and got some eye drops from my tank bag which solved the problem. After this I ran with the wind screen up a bit to reduce the air flow.

When I was about 2 hours from Baker City I decided that I was going to make it that far before I needed to stop so I called the Oregon Trail Motel and made a reservation. I arrived a bit after 7 and changed clothes then walked to Barley Brown's a brew pub about 10 minutes away in town. They have good beer and good food. I got a seat at the bar and ordered chicken fajitas, something I had not tried before at this restaurant. They were great. I will be back in September and plan to order this again then.

Dinner

Link to next day, July 20.
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