Foothills Church Poker Run - May 30, 2009

Foothills is a church in Stayton, Oregon just down the road from my house. Russ on his Honda 750 Magna and me on my Honda 1100 Sabre joined about 100 other folks for a Poker Run in the country. The Poker Run followed roads I'd ridden many times before but that didn't matter as they are always fun.

Our stops along the route to draw our poker hands were: Scio, Lyons, Silver Creek Falls, Cascade Hwy just south of Silverton and Foothills Church on Fern Ridge Road in Stayton.

I was feeling good as my first two cards drawn were ace's followed up by a pair of jacks but the best I would get was two pair. You needed at least three of a kind to be in the money.

After the ride everyone enjoyed a hot dog BBQ and a raffle drawing. One guy and his wife were the luckiest people I'd ever seen. Even though they only bought a few raffle tickets they won three of the four big items: two riding jackets and a helmet - Amazing!

Hard to beat a sunny day in Oregon in May

Stop along Silver Falls Hwy

This route was about 70 miles

Here a map of the route we rode:


View Larger Map

Alsea & Mary's Peak - September 26, 2008

The ride began in South Salem at the Union 76 station on Commercial Street SE where Greg, David, Russ and I met up. We'd be taking back roads from Salem to the east side of the Buena Vista Ferry to meet up with Terrie and his wife.

Crossing the Willamette River on the Buena Vista Ferry

After crossing the river we traveled into Albany and over to Corvallis & Philomath. We topped off our fuel tanks in Philomath and then followed Hwy 34 to Mary's Peak Road turn off. Marys Peak, at 4,097 feet, is the highest point in Oregon’s Coast Mountain Range.

Taking a rest break on the road to Mary's Peak

After enjoying the views on the top of Mary's Peak we rode down to the town of Alsea where we had a great lunch at Deb's Kountry Kitchen.

Lunch Break in Alsea, Oregon

After lunch we headed south on Little Lobster Valley Road. This took us though some amazing valleys and then we connected with Five Rivers Road and Hwy 34. Next we traveled east on Hwy 34 back to Alsea. Back in Alsea, we connected with road South Fork Road and rode east to Alpine and north on Bellfountain Road to Philomath. We then worked our way back to Corvallis. In Corvallis, Terrie and his wife split from the group since they live in Millersburg, while the rest of us wandered back to Salem.

These were great motorcycle roads with beautiful scenery and no traffic.

This trip covered about 200 miles

Here a map of the route we rode:


View Larger Map