Motorcycle Alabama

I know I am friends with a lot of you all on social media so you have probably seen these pictures but I am really writing this out for me!!

After a brief layover in Houston we arrived around lunch in Portland. The truck I rented through Toro was located in short term parking waiting for us so we grabbed our bags headed to the truck and made our way out of the airport.

Mt. Hood is a pretty sweet sight as you descend into Portland!



We were both pretty hungry so we went to a local brewery that I had found located on our way to meet Beau. The place was called Breakside Brewing and they had several really fresh West Coast IPAs plus the hazy stuff that is all the rage right now. We grabbed a couple delightful brews and I had a pretty fantastic seared tuna sandwich. I also grabbed a couple bombers of stouts to either drink at the AirBNB or take home.



Beau was super flexible and happened to be staying with one of his friends just west of Portland so we meandered over to pick up the bikes we had reserved.



We ended up with a 2022 Husky 300 and 2023 KTM 300. The bikes had recently been thrashed as RTR had a group ride throughout the Tillamook State Forest but Beau figured why replace the plastics if we were going to just thrash them some more! He was right, we didn't care if they looked like ragamuffins as that was less we had to worry about breaking. We did opt for some insurance on the bikes in case anything major occurred. We discussed our plans to ride the Tillamook State Forest which consists of many OHV areas. Beau invited us to tag along with a group of riders he had meeting Saturday morning to ride the Jordan Creek area. We told him we would feel things out and see how we were doing as Jordan Creek is known for having some of the more technical trails. We were off from Portland with bikes in the bed of the truck and smiles on our faces!



Portland is a unique place was very interesting places to see and experience. One thing that really stood out were the number of what appeared to be, broken down RVs just scattered along every road way. These appeared to be people who just drove their RVs until the engines died and then decided, this is home! Several occurrences we could see water and electricity being tapped into at nearby buildings. Some of these had pretty swanky setups with outdoor showers, tarp covered patios, and outdoor kitchens.

As we were leaving the city, I get a text from Beau and a refund notice on Paypal (which I had used to pay for the rentals). He had refunded me $100 with the note to take my dad to this fancy oyster restaurant on the bay!! Beau is a freaking solid dude!

It wasn't long and we were in the forest and the mountains began to amaze. The elevations in the area aren't staggering as they are similar to those nearby in east TN or west NC but the steepness was what really caught my eye.



Our AirBNB was located in the center of the Tillamook State Forest. We stopped to check-in but then decided to continue west to the coast to get dinner. It seemed the majority of the restaurants were slated to close early. We left the house and headed west toward Tillamook and then on toward Netarts Bay. We stopped and took some obligatory west coast photographs and headed on to get some oysters!



On Beau's recommendation we went to the Schooner Restaurant & Lounge right on the bay. It was a pretty casual vibe but the menu seemed a bit more like a fancy place!



It was a bit chilly so a nitro stout was by beverage of choice to start.



Beau also recommended we get the restaurant's take of Oysters Rockefeller which were called Oysters Rockoyaki which had a bit of asian flair but were delicious!



I can't get cooked oysters without also trying some of the local raw oysters!



The waitress thought this was our dinner but after informing her that this was just the appetizer we also got some shrimp and grits and trout sandwich to really fill us up.



We headed back to the house after a quick stop for some groceries. We passed a bunch of dairy cows we assumed were part of the Tillamook Creamery located just down the road.

I know I have been MIA for a bit but life with two kids and work have limited my involvement in the forum but anyways... here's a story!

For the past probably 5 years my dad has been all in my ear about planning an epic ride. The Trans American Trail, a ride around the Grand Canyon, or even trial riding the Hatfield McCoy areas in West Virginia. My dad and I have been riding together since I was 8 years old but I really don't think I understood how special that was until recently. I am not sure if it is that I now have my own children or if I am finally starting to understand and comprehend that we have to take advantage of the time we have with each other NOW!!

Enough of the weird sobby deep thinking crap and let's get into the adventure.

I have followed Ready To Ride Rentals (RTR based out of Arizona) for several years after I met them at a Tennessee Knockout where they had rented bikes to several competitors for the event. This blew my mind that someone would rent a bike to someone knowing they were going to throw it down waterfalls and destroy the pipe in the rock gardens. I respected Beau's love of motorcycles and his desire to see people riding.

https://www.readytoriderentals.com/

Sometime in May or even at the beginning of June (2023) RTR posted that they would be in the Portland, OR area the week of June 12th with available rentals. I sent my dad a couple pictures of dirtbikes surrounded by ferns at moderately high altitudes along intermediate to advanced trails and asked if he was interested. He was a little apprehensive as he had his hip replaced at the beginning of the year but he was in. A couple of Instagram messages to Beau and some phone calls had us all squared away to rip up some gnarly trails in the PNW.

By dad is not a technological man so I organized flights, a rental truck, and an AirBNB for the trip. He just needed to get to Bham from Myrtle Beach, SC with all of his riding gear in a single piece of luggage.

Ready to go!

These are nice photos Johnny!

We ended up with 8 bikes, six of them between 125 and 200cc.



We had a great ride.



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I rode over 200 miles and caught a nice sunset on the way home.

We will be riding middle Tennessee on small bore bikes.  This will be ideal for bikes like Trail 125s, Monkey bikes, TW200s, etc. 

Meet:  Old Taft Depot Int of 110 and Old railroad bed RD.

Time: 9:30, KSU 9:45

It will be mostly pavement with some gravel roads.

Beautiful colors

Seven riders showed up for this and we had a great ride.



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Meet at the Shell in Ardmore at 9, KSU at 9:15. Because gravel roads will be very dusty I mostly stick to paved goat trails.

Tennessee River.