disclaimer

It's the year of rebuilding my confidence.

We (Coyotetrips and myself) had this great two-week trip via motorcycle through Utah, Nevada & Oregon, in June 2014. Even with a wreck in the middle of it - on the notorious Shafer Switchbacks - I was... well, I was amazing, otherwise. I can't believe how well I did. It was the most difficult riding I've ever done, on crazy elevations, on roads with crazy drop offs on either side, in dirt devils/little tornadoes, and on gravel, and even my oh-so-stoic, never-give-a-compliment husband was impressed.

But something happened to me, psychologically speaking. I didn't ride again after that trip for four months, because I was traveling in Europe. In 2015, when I started riding again, I was this cowardly, insecure mess. I started the year making riding mistakes you make when no one has ever taught you to ride: putting both feet down at stops, not turning sharply enough, relying too much on my front brake, and on and on. My heart races on sharp turns. If you saw me riding now, you would never believe that I'd ridden more than 24000 miles on motorcycles. What makes it harder is that my oh-so-experienced, oh-so-calm motorcycle riding husband can't believe that roads I've done oh-so-many times now make me balk.

So, 2015 is a rebuilding year. We're riding a bit every week, spending time in a local school parking lot on the basics - stopping suddenly, sharp turns, u-turns and more. I've watched and re-watched videos by Captain Cash. And I've played a lot of Tetris. I'll be taking a Team Oregon course at some point. I like to take a course every two years, so this will be my third since I started riding in 2009. And, believe it or not, all that has worked VERY well - well enough that we were able to do a very challenging two-week trip this year (see below).

But I'll never try Shafer Switchbacks again - or anything like it. I'm absolutely fine with sometimes being on the back of my husband's bike for some rides, or parking and waiting for others with more skills to go do a road I don't feel comfortable riding.

Below is where we went in 2015 by motorcycle. Follow me on Twitter or like me on Facebook to know as soon as we decide where we're going, and to know how the trip is going once we're on it.

If you know of any relatively easy gravel or dirt roads near Portland (low traffic, no super duper steep hills, packed gravel or packed dirt, and if I fall, I probably won't fall off a cliff), please contact me!

 
Lots of day trips in Oregon & Washington state
Here are photos of day trips in 2013, to give you an idea of what we do. We try to ride on any weekend that it's dry and not freezing. Didn't do nearly as many in 2015 as we did in 2013, because we were, instead, in a school parking lot, practicing the basics... 

Two-Weeks Mostly in British Columbia, but including Hydar, Alaska.
Completed September 6, 2015. Yes, I've now ridden all of the legendary Stewart-Cassiar Highway and the Alaska Highway in British Columbia. Woot! Still can't believe I got my motorcycle riding groove back and was able to do this!



Eric Haws Memorial / formerly Burning Moto Man, plans & dates TBA
If it happens, it will happen in Westfir, Oregon, 40 miles east of Eugene on the Middle Fork of the Willamette River. 

Where's the proposal for weekend camping trips via motorcycle? This year, that's not going to happen. Why?  Because at Christmas 2014, we adopted a puppy, Lucinda, and we've decided to do car camping with her instead. We'll do our weekend and long weekend motorcycle trips in 2016. 

And since then? And before then?

In 2018, we went around Steens Mountain, and toured Great Basin National Park and Rachel, Nevada, and more. We spent 13 days, going over 2657 miles / 4276 kilometers, mostly in Nevada. It was a terrific, but incredibly hot and smokey, trip.

In 2017, we traveled for 10 days in Washington State on a Smokey Motorcycle Adventure in August. Yes, it was ridiculously hot. But it was still a terrific trip.

In 2016, we went to the exotic land of Idaho. Included at least 120 miles of gravel. Hells Canyon, Silver City, Idaho, Bruneau Dunes State Park, City of Rocks National Reserve, Sawtooth Scenic Byway, Salmon River Scenic Byway, Custer, Idaho, Ft. Missoula, Montana, historic Wallace, Idaho, Lake Coeur d'Alene, White Pine Scenic Byway, Hell's Canyon Overlook, Oregon, Joseph, Painted Hills, and Little Crater Lake in Mt. Hood National Forest. It has been one of our favorite trips to date - nothing in North America has been more beautiful and interesting as this trip.

For our Motorcycle Travel & Rally Activities for 2014, we went to Moab, Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Goblin Valley, Farewell Bend Oregon State Park, Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, and Camping in a cow pasture in the deserts of Nevada. And I had my first motorcycle wreck!

Our Motorcycle Travel & Rally Activities in 2013 (a sad year when we bought a house instead of doing a two-week trip)

Our Motorcycle Travel & Rally Activities in 2012, including camping in Antelope amid the ghosts of the Rajneesh colony, seeing the Alvord Desert for the first time, amd a big Motorcycle Journey in Northern California, Nevada & Southeastern Oregon.

In 2011, we went to Yellowstone, Western Montana, Wyoming & more
in June 2011. 15 days, 2680 miles. The trip ended at the legendary Burning Moto Man 2011, in Westfir, Oregon. We also spent one week in Washington state, September 2011 to celebrate my husband's 40th birthday, visiting Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, Ape Cave, ice cave and lava tubes, Gifford Pinchot National Forest and a bit of Mt. Hood.

Our Motorcycle Travel & Rally Activities in 2010, my first long-distance motorcycle trips! Acutally, we took two! One to the "Lost Coast" of California, and another to Canada (Alberta and British Columbia, Jasper, Banff & Kootenay National Parks) and Glacier National Park.

Before I started riding my own bike, and before we moved to the USA, I went on a few trips on the back of my soon-to-be husband's bike.

• 2008 Motorcycle Travel (pillion): Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia
• 2007 Motorcycle Travel (pillion): Northern France
• 2006 Motorcycle Travel (pillion): Scotland
• 2005 Motorcycle Travel (pillion): Bruges, Belgium
• 2004 Motorcycle Travel (pillion): Norway & Sweden (my first motorcycle trip)

Also see this list of all my motorcycle travel dreams, big and small!

Photos of Me & My KLR