Friday morning June 22nd began our fun weekend ride to Don & Judy's home in Rogue River, Oregon. (A big sign in Grants Pass says “It’s the climate”). I met Leonard & Ken at Van’s place. Van broke his wrist a short time ago & he wasn’t there to meet us as he had already left at 4:00 am in a motor home (UGH).
We met at his place anyway & we left at 7:00 am & headed up north on hwy 680, 80, & 505 where we met George who had to come from Rio Vista. He took over the road captain duties leading us on up to Hwy 5 & to the Willows airport to Nancy's for breakfast (good food).
Then we fueled up & continued up Hwy 5 to Weed for fuel & while there, my starter broke & George’s starter stuck. We got his working but I had to push start mine the rest of the trip (bummer). Last year George’s starter stuck at the same station. We will not stop there anymore.
We then continued on north to Rogue River, Oregon & after getting our rooms at the hotel, we went on to Don & Judy's home where everyone was waiting for us to put on the BBQ. We were late but at least we did get there. It was fun meeting up with all of our friends from Don & Judy's chapter (there were around thirty there).
This was our second north south meet, so we were getting a chance to greet old friends from last year. After a great BBQ & visit, we returned to the hotel to rest up & get ready for our big day on Saturday.
Saturday, this morning we met for breakfast at 7:00 am at the restaurant that Don’s buddy Larry owns & then we went to Grants Pass to walk around town to see all the animals, Bears, Eagles, etc. Several Eagles were mounted on street light poles & fake limbs fastened to buildings. It was a nice lazy day & before we returned to Don & Judy's we had to stop at the DQ for a blizzard. Then we got ready for our great evening.
The main reason we went up to Oregon was to go on the Jetboat ride down the Rogue River through Hellgate Canyon. We left the dock at 4:30 with 70 people on board. There were 24 in our group. We started out slowly while the driver pointed out many points of interest & kind of told us what we might see & do. He then opened up the throttle & we zoomed down the river alternately fast & slow, sometimes to point out a bird’s big nest up in a tree or show us some of the big beautiful homes along the banks.
Then for our first thrill he went full throttle & spun that very large boat in a very fast full circle giving us a small taste of what was to come. We also got to run some small rapids as we went along, the big boats couldn't run the big rapids so we missed that. When we arrived at Hellgate Canyon we went as far as allowed then returned up river a couple miles to a very large restaurant up on a hill where we debarked & those that could, walked & the others rode up in a wagon pulled by a tractor.
The restaurant was very large & the food was served family style & was excellent. After dinner we returned to the boat & started our return trip which was much more fun as we went faster & did many more spins, making sure every one got good & wet & he was successful. After our ride we all headed back to our rooms to get a good nights rest getting ready for our trip home on Sunday.
Sunday morning those of us on bikes left about 7:00am went south as far as Weed CA. & had breakfast at the Hi-LO restaurant, if you like good food that’s the place to stop. The rest of the trip was uneventful & the traffic was light until we got to hwy 80 in Vacaville & it heavied up a little, but not as bad as it usually is & we arrived to our various homes at about 4:00pm.
That was the end a very fun weekend & we are now waiting for July to get here so we can go to Sioux Falls S.D. for the GWTA Gold Rush rally. I have already started packing, is every one else ready?---
Lets go! Herb.