Oregon 2008 Chief Joseph Rally
Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 12:41 pm
Last weekend I returned to John Day, OR for the annual Chief Joseph rally. 500+ folks in attendance over 4 days, mostly BMWs in everything from old airhead to latest K/F/G/HP variants. John Day in located in central/east Oregon, in the shadow of the Strawberry Mountains, and the journey there (280 miles) includes a ride up & over the Cascades, through lava and fossil beds, tiny 2 street towns, and snaking alongside several rivers. Note - The following pictures were taken with my BlackBerry, not good photography but convenient.
We've had a long, cool, wet Spring in western Oregon, so getting up to the inland high desert is a nice change, though +30degF change in a couple of hours takes adjustment, shade, and cold refreshments.
My Rockster and I hang out with the airhead crowd via our long-term riding companions, who ride two-up on an early 70s slash5... the Oregon airheads group is a great bunch: very hands-on, practical, friendly... as opposed to some of the newer hands-off "bling" riders and hard-core ADV-types and wannabes. There were some beautiful older BMW bikes at the rally.
There are also a few characters at the rally. These guys bring their pets each year: a mini dachshund, and a salmon-shaped pillow named "Simone" with rally pins stuck through her fins.
A smattering of Roadsters present, but I didn't recognize andbody or anybike from the Roadster board.
Summer squall rolled through on Saturday, causing the vendors to hold down all the tents and merchandise. I added my not insignificant weight to the task, since I was getting a replacement rear tire... a new R1150R Roadster friend (silver bike with nice aftermarket stuff) noticed that my Rockster's tire looked bad - I just though it was dirty. Seems a few hundred miles of rough, high silica chip seal road surface shredded my Pirelli Strada: that's frayed steel belting showing through in the middle.
FYI - the tire guys were sold out of 180s, so they put a 170 Pilot Road (old stock) on my 5.5" Rockster rear rim... handled fine on the way home. And next year I'll have on-bike video aimed to capture some great roads to and from the rally.
~sweatmark~
We've had a long, cool, wet Spring in western Oregon, so getting up to the inland high desert is a nice change, though +30degF change in a couple of hours takes adjustment, shade, and cold refreshments.
My Rockster and I hang out with the airhead crowd via our long-term riding companions, who ride two-up on an early 70s slash5... the Oregon airheads group is a great bunch: very hands-on, practical, friendly... as opposed to some of the newer hands-off "bling" riders and hard-core ADV-types and wannabes. There were some beautiful older BMW bikes at the rally.
There are also a few characters at the rally. These guys bring their pets each year: a mini dachshund, and a salmon-shaped pillow named "Simone" with rally pins stuck through her fins.
A smattering of Roadsters present, but I didn't recognize andbody or anybike from the Roadster board.
Summer squall rolled through on Saturday, causing the vendors to hold down all the tents and merchandise. I added my not insignificant weight to the task, since I was getting a replacement rear tire... a new R1150R Roadster friend (silver bike with nice aftermarket stuff) noticed that my Rockster's tire looked bad - I just though it was dirty. Seems a few hundred miles of rough, high silica chip seal road surface shredded my Pirelli Strada: that's frayed steel belting showing through in the middle.
FYI - the tire guys were sold out of 180s, so they put a 170 Pilot Road (old stock) on my 5.5" Rockster rear rim... handled fine on the way home. And next year I'll have on-bike video aimed to capture some great roads to and from the rally.
~sweatmark~