Day 90, Vida to Eugene, Oregon.

You've seen these flowers before on my blog, all in the wild. These were planted along the side walk in Eugene. Eugene has a lot of flowers and trees. It's a really nice city.

This is the entire town of Vida minus the cafe and the motel.

The McKenzie River is a fast moving body of water. If you fall in, you're in trouble.

We followed her for many miles on our gentle descent from the high country.

This covered bridge was located about a mile and a half from Vida. We stopped here to check it out.

I risked my life for this shot. Traffic was pretty busy today. Especially for a Sunday.

The River's Rest Inn where we spent last night.

This art gallery was located across the street where we stopped to refuel.

There were some pretty neat metal art on display out side. If it were open, I wouldn't have minded browsing around a bit.

One of the pieces on display.

Lisa said this was an "Alice In Wonderland" display. When I asked her how she knew, she said that she read the book.

The river from the covered bridge.

Looking the other way from the same place.

This is where I stopped to get my fix of V-8. Where ever I see the stuff in a can, I just can't resist.

This guy has money. He has a huge yard with a designer fence fronting it, and a private boat launch in his back yard.

How's this for mid evil? It is one of the displays at the metal art gallery.

Fabian, our long lost friend. Good to see you again buddy, we missed you.

Crossing the bridge into Springfield. We chose the side walk because of the heavy traffic.

This must be the carriage that Cinderella rode to the ball.

Meet Amber, Fabian's beautiful wife. She's from Kansas, and was a joy to meet.


Day 90, Vida to Eugene, Oregon. “The End In Sight”. 30.52 miles. Total= 4,320.78 miles.

Sunday, August 9, 2009. Our stay in Vida was brief one. This small town has only one gas station which also serves a the general store. One cafe, a Post Office, and a motel. We arrived in Vida late due to our 88 plus mile tide, and the delay at the top of McKenzie Pass. We barely made it to the only cafe before closing time, and by the time we got settled into our room, it was after 8:00PM.

This morning, we woke up at our leisure knowing we had a short day. We walked over to the cafe to have breakfast, and as we were eating, Jordy, a young west bounder we had met the day before showed up. He had camped at a boat ramp a few miles back after getting held up with phone calls and meeting a friend at the last rest stop. We caught up on events, and parted ways. Jordie is going all the way to Astoria. He expects to be there ion three days if he can average over a hundred miles a day. From there, he plans to ride to Portland where hew will catch a train back to Carbondale, Illinois where he is attending school.

On the way back to the motel, we stopped at the gas station slash General store to browse and get some picker uppers. Once we were packed, we headed out towards Eugene. It was a nice clear day, with warmer than usual temperatures. We were only at 800 feet above sea level, so it felt almost like home at this time of the day. We passed through a couple of small town, only stopping for cold drinks and to use their rest rooms. We arrive in Springfield just before noon. It is a fairly large town which is actually a suburb of Eugene. As we were approaching, a VW bus passed by with a guy hanging out the passenger window yelling at up and pointing to the up coming off ramp. It was Fabian. He and his wife Amber were camping near Sisters over the weekend, and was trying to get in touch with us. We played phone tag, but wasn’t able to make contact, and figured it was not meant to be. Strange thing happened though. We were actually off route today, since the map showed a route that would not only be longer, but would take us through the mountains with needless stops in small towns along the way. So our meeting with Fabian was purely by chance.

We pulled over at the off ramp, and Fabian was waiting for us, waving so we wouldn’t miss him. It was good to see the guy after almost three months. We met his wife Amber as she also was excited to meet us after following our blogs. We chatted for a few minutes, and decided to have lunch in Eugene which was only about four miles away. We cheated by allowing Fabian to carry our trailers for us. It was a weird feeling to ride without the BOB’s. We had a hard time controlling the bikes for the first few minutes. It was like the bike had a mind of it’s own. Once we got used to the weightlessness of our rides, we were once more in control. We met the two at an off ramp near the restaurant where we would have our lunch. It was a great meeting. We talked about our experiences , and got to know Amber a little better. Fabian, you are one lucky guy.


Soon it was time for them to go. They transported our trailers to the America’s Best Value Inn where we will spend the night. As we pulled up, Fabian once again was there to make sure we didn’t miss the place. We took pictures and said our good byes. It was both a joyful and sad experience. Hopefully one day they will come to Molokai for a visit, and experience what our special island has to offer.

It’s still early, just after 5:00PM. I’m finally going to have some time to just relax and maybe take a short walk around the area. So long for now. We only have one more day of riding. Fern is flying into Portland tonight. She will meet us in Florence tomorrow evening where our journey will come to an end. It has been a good experience, and I will cherish the memories for the rest of my life. Aloha, Ted.