On the Road Again

As Willie Nelson says.. it is great to be on the road again. I left Shasta Lake in 107 degree heat and headed north to the BMW Rally in Redmond Oregon. The distance was about 290 miles and as soon as you leave Shasta Lake on I-5 you start to climb. California's central valley climbs into the high desert of central Oregon past Shasta Mountain. I traveled I-5 to the intersection of Rte 97 and then North to Redmond, OR the site of the Rally. I arrived at about 10:30 and was actually kind of cold the last hour or so when it got dark. The sky here is totally cloudless and the temp dropped to about 48 degrees. At one point, I pulled off the road where there were no background lights, turned off the bike and just looked at the stars for about 10 minutes. It is simply amazing how many there are. I felt like I could reach out and touch the milky way. The scenery is vast and the volcanic mountains are mostly snow covered even at this late date. They had a lot of snow out here this past winter and had a cool spring so things are still melting in the mountains. I had to dodge one mule deer and from that point on I was on "high alert" the rest of the way into Redmond. My seat was so comfortable that I did not want to stop riding. I am really going to like this seat.