Day 2: Boise to Bend

This morning, we started out with Bret making a quick morning run to get a new battery and a quick conversation with the local police. Fortunately, the officer was a motorcycle cop, so he was more understanding. We then headed out of Boise bound for Bend, OR. Our original route was to take us to Baker City, OR, then head west to Sumpter, and over some beautiful mountain vistas into Ukiah, OR.

We hit the turn off for Sumpter and started climbing. The landscape was awe-inspiring and you couldn’t have asked for more fun twisties to climb. It was when the going got slow that things got eventful.

Brendan decided it would be best to lead by example, and this is what happened:

Not wanting to be left out of the fun, Steve decided that it would be fun to try riding over snow. Albeit briefly. Here are the results of that attempt:

Right after Steve dumped his bike, it became clear our route was impassable. We were so hoping to carve up the road to Ukiah. But, alas, we had to turn around. By now we were hungry and ready to have a late lunch. Heading back to the booming town of Sumpter, only one eatery was open – Mad Dog Saloon. With slot machines in the back corner and a shuffle board behind our table, we sat down to what turned out to be mighty fine tasting burgers and fries.

As we relaxed and warmed up, we found our conversation moving towards our respective businesses and the challenges of growing our business while maintaining culture. It wasn’t long before we realized we had burned close to 2 hours of daylight chatting and relaxing. We were able to figure out a different route that would take us on HWY 26.

At this point, it was ride as fast as possible while avoiding two things: Wildlife and the Police.

We stopped in Pinerville, OR, for a quick fill up then headed south to Bend, OR.

We arrived at 11pm, booked two rooms, enjoyed some Polish Vodka and Sausages, and went to sleep.

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April 4, 2016 by Steve | Routes

Four friends. One passion. One goal. #RoadToImagine