Motorcycle Adventure, Day 18
New, thank you for your comments. I have ridden a lot of miles in Northern California over the last few days and I can confirm it is a scenic as anywhere I have ever been. It was a cool, sunny morning in Arcata, CA at 0530. I have been doing some real good guessing here lately. I almost stopped south of Eureka for the night and the traffic was pretty thick when I went through there yesterday afternoon. I guessed if I went north of the city, the traffic would be better this morning and it was. I used my lined gloves, long sleeve t shirt, sweat shirt and chaps. I didn’t take off the sweat shirt until mid afternoon. The redwoods were calling me again, so I went through the Redwood National Park. I took a scenic detour which let to a three mile long dirt road that looked out toward the ocean while being among the trees. It was spectacular and I had the whole place to myself. The ride to Crescent City was beautiful. I headed east on Hwy199 which took me through the Smith River National Recreation Area. It was absolutely beautiful. I pulled into a rest area a few miles before the Oregon border to clean my windshield. I met a fellow rider with his little dog that rides in a tank bag. He was from Washington and inquired at to my destination. As I was unclear, he suggested Crater Lake. That had never been on the list of places to go, but once I studied the map, it seemed as good as anyplace else. As I had put more than 5K miles on the geezer glide since this trip started, I consulted the Harley road guide to see if there was a dealer where I may get a quick oil change. D & S Harley Davidson was located in Medford, Oregon and that was right on the way to Crater Lake. I pulled in at 1320 and the first person I dealt with was Jaclyn, the grand daughter of the dealership owner. She consulted with Greg the service manager and between the two of them, they found a way to get me in for a Jiffy lube. The tech who came out and got my bike, Eddie, was only a young fella, but he couldn’t have been any nicer. While I was milling around the store an older gentleman approached me and asked about my trip. I filled him in on all the details and he told me of his cross country trips over the decades. It took a while before all the pieces of the puzzle fit into place, but I was talking to the owner of the dealership. This man knows how to run a business and treat customers. I told him of my great experience at Carson City and he just smiled. I yapped with him for an hour. Almost all the employees there were his kids, grandkids, or people he had hired many years ago. He introduced me to his oldest daughter who runs the company website and she wanted a picture of me to put into their blog. I have not seen it yet, as I am busy with today’s documentary. I told her about HDT and she is going to take a look at it. I made it to Crater Lake later than I would have liked, but I didn’t want to go much further without an oil change. I am unable to describe Crater Lake, I will let the pictures speak for themselves. I stopped at a little town called Chemult, OR and got a room for the night. 331.4 miles today; 5361for the trip thus far. Pictures to follow.