A long trip, so we did it in two days rather than one.
First day....
Somewhere in Oregon along Interstate 5, we were being pelted with rain and hail. We, being Rick Willis and I, in a new to me 1998 Ford Explorer. Rain was predicted for both days of the event at this point...so we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into...
Rick went along with me two years ago for the inaugural DirtQuake USA, and was nice enough to be my "Crewchief" again. Rick and his wife are avid bicyclists, and have spent a lot of time in the Pacific Northwest and I was lucky to have him along to be my navigator as well.
The 98 Ford...packed to the gills with gear, and a partially dismantled Honda 100 (inappropriate road bike class "racer"). The idea of DirtQuake is to see real pro racers in action on the track the first day, and then on the second day provide beginners a chance to get a taste of dirt tracking in a hopefully fun and safe manner.
By the end of the first days driving, we began thinking that our plan to camp out at a State Park about 45 miles past Albany Oregon was starting to look like a bad choice. From the view on the freeway, the mountains ahead looked like they were engulfed in a rainstorm...so we opted for a motel room in Albany. (setting up a tent in blowing rain didn't seem appealing...).
By next morning the weather had cleared, so we drove over to Silver Creek State Park, known for it's many easily accessed waterfalls. This is the South Falls.
(This is an addition to the original post...found some of he waterfall videos...if it works)
A view from behind the falls, many of them had trails into the caverns behind the falls. I seem to not understand how picture transfers from my phone- to computer- to the blog here, works...have some videos that don't seem to want to post here...so some "stills" for now... just had a thought about that, this computer organizes pics in an area that seems to be one of those "bully programs"...that seems to be there to make life harder than it needs to be....be right back. Back, and pissed off, it seems this "Bully" program is worse than I realized...arghh! This is a new computer to me , and up to now I was thinking it was ok...but , not having total control of my own images is a bit dis-heartening....forge on...soooooo....what I am having to do, is e-mail my own pictures from the afore-mentioned "Bully program" to myself and save them to a folder I've created for that purpose. Now to see if I can post them here....here goes...
Aha! it works....a real pain in the caboose...but it works.(it remains to be seen if I'll be able to do the same with my video clips) This is Thor of See-See Motor Coffee Company. He has teamed up with Sideburn Magazine for the third year running to put on DirtQuake USA...which is an offshoot of the original Dirtquake's in the UK. In the background is Castle Rock Raceway....so you can see we made it to Washington State, and for the moment it had quit raining. This was on a Wednesday, and the event was still two days away....so we were among the early arrivals.
The little blue boat hides an old Honda ATC 90 three wheeler. The USS Newton, which pays homage to a real boat from last years DirtQuake US that ended up being towed on land behind a pickup truck...and ended up sending a few over zealous revelers to the hospital to be patched up. Fortunately no real serious injuries. The first year this same chassis masqueraded as a Pizza...
Was a pizza, now a boat....
The original Newton, has been relegated to a children's play area where it thankfully stayed for the duration...
Eventually the very spacious campgrounds areas would be filled with all manner of campers. Rick's "true ten by ten foot pop up shade and rain cover" and my giant dome tent established our pit and campsite...close to the track, and close to the porta-potties. It did rain off and on, but fortunately it quit before both days of racing in time for the track to dry sufficiently.
The next day we unloaded my play racer... a 1970 SL 100...that had to be dismantled to fit in the back of the Ford.
Even with occasional drizzle, it wasn't bad under Rick's pop-up shelter.
It didn't take too long to put on a new front tire and reassemble the bike.
Here are Skooter Farm Dave and Gary Inman of Sideburn Magazine setting up their accommodations for the event.
Roland Sands Hooligan racers based on Indian Scouts.
Some more Hooligans, that were lined up for a magazine photo shoot...Modified Sportsters and the one on the end is a newer Harley Street750 water cooled.
The Cowlitz river flows by the race track.
This will be a good point to end this...part one....our tent aglow with an ice cream cone nightlight, from "The Pippa and Ike Show". Click here for link----------> Gifts for children...(and adults who refuse to grow up?)
Will be back with more, maybe some video...remains to be seen if I can wrest control of my images from the "Bully"...
Thank you for sharing your experience during that amazing road trip. From your pictures, it looks like you had quite the adventure. I especially loved seeing that you made it through the adventures in a Ford. It makes for a great option for carrying around your gear and being able to pick all sorts of fun things along the way.
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