Baker to Bonneville Day 1 and 2

Baker to Bonneville 2009

A tradition I have enjoyed for years is to ride with the Devlins and SABMAG friends in Baker City at the end of September. The weather is great at this time of year in Eastern Oregon. I had been dying to take a long ride. I had 3 days of vacation burning a hole in my pocket. Last year we did not have a get together in Baker as Devlins had moved after their ride around America. But Jim has moved back and they scheduled the ride again this year! Also my daughter was singing in a wedding on the Sunday after the ride, down in Nampa, ID. I have also been riding to the Rose City motorcycle club Grand Tour checkpoints this year. Since I was already going to be this far south I thought it would be fun to pick up the Horseshoe Bend, ID and Dutch John, UT checkpoints. During the trip I realized I could stop by Bonneville along the way.

This was a great opportunity to meet again with awesome riding buddies, ride some of my favorite roads, and find new ones. I also was riding farther south and expanding my envelope. I am an Iron butt wannabe and want to continue to learning my limits. This trip would be long days through beautiful country. I ride a 1999 Honda Blackbird CBR1100XX that I have modified to be comfortable for Sport Touring. I was comfortable on it for long days.

I have included map links from everytrail.com. I was able to upload tracks from my GPS. Some of the tracks include speed and altitude charts. The track data has been edited. ;-)


Click on the picture to see my GPS track in Google Maps



Day 1 - Everett, WA to Baker City, OR - 412 miles
View GPS track of Day 1 in Google Maps

On Friday I worked a half a day and then slabbed it to Baker City, OR from Everett, WA. It was about 400 miles. It was kind of a boring run with some traffic on I90 before and after Snoqualmie Pass. But a day on a motorcycle beats working! :-) I arrived at Jim and Penny’s friends, Keith and Paulette’s in Baker about 7pm. Everyone was out in the garage playing ping-pong. The garage was cool, Keith has a workshop at one end, and the garage was full of dual-sport bikes. We all talked and had fun. Then we had pizza! Others had their refreshments, while I continued to drink out of my camelback. We all had had long days so we called it a night fairly early, well I did at least. Thanks Keith and Paulette for letting a bunch of rowdy bikers party at your place!


Day 2 - Dooley Mountain Highway, Unity, Austin Junction, Ukiah, Granite, Sumpter, and then back to Baker City, OR. – 239 miles

View Day 2 tracks in Google Maps

Next morning we met at the Oregon Trail for breakfast. That place has not changed for years. They always serve great food, and the staff is awesome! Jim led us out of Baker to Dooley. It was kind of surreal here, as the group was almost the same crew that had ridden together a few years ago in this area when a car had crashed into a couple of us. It was great to have Don with us; he was driving in his motorcycle like Miata. Dooley is a twisty snake of a road. It was fun as usual, Jim, Rob and I riding the pace. I appreciate the safe pace that Jim set. We had good safe fun. ;-) We took a break at the Unity Reservoir as we have for years. Just after Austin Junction we turned on the Long Creek road. This is a fun road too, twisting along Long Creek of course. We turned north on 395 and had lunch in Ukiah in a convenience store. It was kind of weird sitting next to racks of candy and foodstuffs within reach of the table. We met Brian who had ridden down from Seattle.

Then we Uhhh… blasted the twisties from Ukiah to Sumpter. We were able to rock and roll on these roads. At one point I noticed I had gotten a little bit ahead of Jim. I thought, now is my chance, maybe I can lose him. ;-) Once I got a few corners ahead I was out of site. He was still charging, sure he would catch me around the corner. I don’t think I was going much faster, just hidden around the corner. I had been watching for Bob, he said he might meet us at Granite. Well I saw him and another bike at a turnout, back away from the road a bit. I pulled in to meet with him. I also met his friend Josh. I stop to say Hi, and then Jim flies by. We think he would be right back, but he was still chasing Jeff. :-). We headed up the road and found Jim stopped along a straight stretch. When we left I rolled on hard, hoping Jim would take the bait, but noticed instead Penny very close in my mirrors. Man that R6 is fast! The road between Granite, OR and Sumpter is awesome, one of my favorites. It reminds me of riding a dirt bike in a tight trail. We stopped and took a break in Sumpter.

Then we headed back to Baker for a barbecue at Keith and Paulette’s. Lots of good food, stories, lies and theories given. Paulette brought out some awesome cobbler! It was a great end to an incredible day!

Go to Day 3 and 4 of 6

View Photos from this trip

Baker to Bonneville 2009