Sometimes You Out Grow A Thing, Like A Bike

I previously mentioned my friend Phillip and his 650 one lunger. What I didn't mention was that he just got his motorcycle endorsement late last summer and it is the bike he learned to ride on - sort of. Phillip started riding with me in late spring and there was a lot he needed to learn and in the process of nearly 3,000 miles up to now he did. He also found that the bike wasn't designed for hundreds of miles at highway speeds and that he'd gotten all he could from it.

Soooo... we took a ride over to High Desert Harley Davidson in Meridian, ID - the folks who've taken care of my bike. This is Phillip's 2011 Wide Glide, 96 inch six speed in Burnt Sienna and Black.

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Our bikes make a pretty colorful piece of scenery. Better yet, it does everything Phillip needs in a bike, it is stable and powerful - also loud and beautiful.



I've always considered the Dyna frame one of the nicest rides Harley makes and the Super Glide family one of the best deals. The Wide Glide with the rake on the forks looks like it should be going a million miles an hour sitting still. Phillip is a pretty understated kind of a guy, but this thing is breaking that mold. He uses Phillip in place of his Chinese name and he was born and raised in Hong Kong and owns, big surprise, a Chinese restaurant and lounge. He is a friend and has turned into a great riding partner ... and he now has an extremely cool motorcycle.

A Dinner Run, A Long One

My friend Phillip and his wife Gina, myself and my wife Scottie took a little ride for dinner. This involved OR7 to the Dooley Mt Hwy OR245 to US26 east to Ontario, OR and Mackey's Irish Pub and great food. Dooley Mt Hwy has a huge number of curves and this shot is on one of them and the blue grey bike is Phillip's 650 Suzuki Savage one lunger. It sure isn't much of bike but it is something to learn on, which he's done. Yes, my Harley is that much bigger.

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From Ontario we took OR201 to Weiser to I-84W to Cement Plant Rd (old US 30) into Baker City. This shot is one I've tried to get for years, sunset over the Elkhorn Mts above Baker City. Really, click it to enlarge.


Oh yeah, 218 miles round trip.

One Of My Favorite Short Rides

Union Oregon is north of Baker City and it is the mid-point of one of my favorite shorter rides. Just outside Baker City north is OR203 known as Medical Springs Hwy. This picture is taken on the plains outside Baker City.

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This picture is shot north east into the Wallowa Mountains and was taken in early July. At Union you will find Poppa's Steakhouse and Saloon and on Thursday night you can get smoked prime rib and Friday smoked ribs and the smoking is in-house and beyond excellent. The route is OR203 to Union from Union south on OR237 to North Powder and US30 back to Baker City. It is a round trip of 85 miles with a really swell meal in Union. The roads are excellent and the traffic light to non-existent.

Motorcycle Service Fun (Sarcasm)

Some of you know that I own an FXSTSSE3 and that I ride - a lot. (in English that's a 2009 Custom Vehicle Operations Screaming Eagle Springer Soft-tail) Riding a lot means that Harley-Davidson's 2 year unlimited milage warrantee expired this mid-May and the bike just rolled over 40K miles. That expiration means that I feel free to do my own maintainance. I know a company can't make you use their service centers to honor warrantees, but I also know that this is an expensive bike that gets way more miles than Harley anticipated and conversations that start and end with "your people are the only ones who ever touched it" cut a lot of wiggles out. Yes, I own the actual Harley service manual for that motorcycle.

So, back to my tale. I am mechanically adept, I am damned good with tools and with reading, understanding, and following instructions. I cannot do anything with the computerized bits but that is outside the perview of service. Some of the service is complex, partly because the bike has a springer front end but it isn't beyond me or anyone competent. The last service was done while I was on the road back from FL and it seems that somebody managed to not understand torque specifications. To change the oil in the primary case you pull the drain plug in the bottom and then remove the primary cover to replace the oil. The drain plug was no problem, the #27 torx head screws in the primary cover were an issue, well ... two of them were. The specification are 84-108 inch pounds which isn't a lot. The top two screws refused to move with a hardened tool steel socket and 1/4 inch rachet. The torx grooves on the top one simply started going away, even with tapping with a light brass hammer and that is what it took for the next one left to it. The top one took being driven loose with a chisel, a bad thing, but I did get the cover off and the oil replaced. I will have to replace those once I can get to a dealer. I was not happy.

The next problem point was the oil filter, no filter wrench I could put on it would budge the damned thing. Not the light rubber strap wrench which should easily have removed it, and not even the Harley wrench borrowed from a local motorcycle shop. This filter is to be torqued 1/2 to 3/4 turn from gasket contact by specs. That is a bit more than you could manage with your bare hand, but it isn't a heck of a lot. I wound up driving a screw driver into the filter and cranking on it - not once, but three times for a total of 3/4 turn and then the Harley wrench barely got it off. At that point the gasket was squealing as it turned. I don't know how much beyond gasket contact that thing was turned but it was a lot and with holes through the side of the filter a lot of oil ran out on the engine.

The engine and tranny in these bikes go through a very wide temperature range, they get darned hot and they are subject to vibrations and that is a consideration whenever messing with one. But way tighter is not way better. This is what Harley publishes torque specifications for, that difficult environment. By the time I was done with these problems I was pretty unhappy - swear words were involved.

The oil all looked good which in nice and having nice fresh oil in the bike is very good - and better yet, I won't have this mess again.

Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally - Baker City, OR

Thursday the bikes started rolling into town and though I don't have anything like a count I'd guess around 100 and that's well ahead of the weekend Rally. I've put over 38,000 miles on my 09 FXSTSSE3 (25 months) so I've been around a bit. I have not been anywhere with better riding for roads, traffic density, and scenery. Yes, it is my home and I'm a bit ... prejudiced, but I'm pretty confident that if you tried us you'd not be disappointed or feel over-sold.

The weather is looking a bit iffy, which is pretty much the norm for the second weekend in June around here. Road conditions are good, winter gravel is mostly gone and the surfaces wintered well. It is quite green thanks to lots of rain - rain I'm sick of.

We'll show the kind of hospitality that'll impress and make you want to come back. I hope it's plenty nice weather, looking forward to seeing you all.

*Update
I regard to weather guessers in this area - today (Fri) was forecasted day before yesterday to be sunny and warmer - reality of today was rain all morning and leaden skies. The forecast now has only some resemblence to two days ago - so who knows ... sunny Sunday. Who knows what they'll say this evening.

Takng A Little Ride

Some few people may have noticed a bit over a month of no posts on this blog. Well, Harley Davidson played a rather large role in that lack. Back in March two friends and I faced with the presence of snow and stinking weather forecasts trailered our bikes south to Las Vegas for a week of riding without frostbite.

***Click the pics for full size***

That would be the Grand Canyon shot from the South Face. We rode a 580 mile loop from Las Vegas around the North Face to the South Face through Flagstaff back to Las Vegas. The problem with the North Face was that it was closed due to snow, deep, deep snow.



This piece includes a bit of the problem with the whole loop - Flagstaff is about a mile elevation and the Grand Canyon is up hill from there - ie. damn cold on a motorcycle. You'd think that if there were two live brain cells talking to each other amongst three boys from Baker City, OR at 3500 ft elevation surrounded by mountains that this little factoid would have entered our thinking. Nope. Popsicles.

Riding around Las Vegas for a week certainly doesn't explain a month. That would have a lot to do with my thinking process that included being south of snow and my son's home in Bartow, Florida about 40 miles east of Tampa. A map was generated which used "other than Interstates" diagonally from Las Vegas to Bartow. Quickly, Las Vegas - Phoenix - Show Low, AZ - Roswell, NM - Lubbock, TX - Dallas, TX - Lufkin, TX - Alexandria, LA - Baton Rogue, LA - New Orleans French Quarter - and I-10 to Tallahassee, FL and I-75 to Bartow, FL. The return trip duplicated the route minus I-75 & I-10 running up into GA east of Tallahassee and cutting across GA & MS & LA by way of Dothan, AL to Natchez, LA. The entire trip, including the Las Vegas riding totalled just over 8,000 miles with the side trip down to Key West, FL and other tourist type things in FL.

My object in the trip was to use full access roads, primarily US Highways and to a lesser extent State Routes. A motorcycle is not a reasonable method of short travel times. Given that, the opportunity to stop in smaller places and meet folks from "real life" as opposed to Freeway stops and to see the country closely pays dividends. The freeway portion of the first route was the result of a cold front in TX and northern LA - I just had to get south to near the Gulf to get away from freezing my hind end off, highs in the lower 40s are pretty brutal on a bike with no windshield or other cover when covering hundreds of miles per day. Both ways I averaged mid-400s miles per day a bit short of my goal of 500 miles, but interesting places and some cold weather interfered.



The VLA in New Mexico, not all that far from the infamous Roswell. From a distance some very large strange mushrooms out by the horizon, kinda spooky.



Kayaking east of Tampa, and yes that guy is a rather large alligator not a stone's throw away. My son and I were in a two-seater and spent around 4 hours seeing things up close and quiet.



A couple blocks from here and you're swimming to Cuba or getting your bike very wet in the waters off Key West. Mainland to Key West is 140 miles. This place is a sort of R-rated Disneyland mostly dedicated to separating you from your money, fun though. I don't guess there's any way to get farther from Baker City, OR.



This is the second time I've seen my model bike on the actual road. This was ridden by a gal in the Lakeland, FL HOG Chapter. I spotted the bike on the way to a rally in Leesburgh, FL.



I have no idea how many bikes were at the rally. For about a mile the street was parked both sides with bikes backed in side by side and about 6 blocks of downtown also had bikes parked side by side on the center line.



Before I left Las Vegas I had a 30K mile service and on the return trip the next 5K had turned over outside Roswell, NM so after spending the night Sunday morning I went to the Harley dealer to see about that. Closed. Being shut out of my service and Harley coffee I went to a nearby gas station to at least get coffee. This bunch rolled in and as per usual my bike invited conversation and the up shot was I went on a run with the Roswell Eagle Riders and Scuffy put me up for the night.



Monday morning I got my service at this dealer. Yes, aliens are, well, a thing there.



At least it was pretty warm up here. I suppose just being here made it worth a picture.



Northern Arizona and southern Utah are the Navajo Reservation and the country is spectacular - so much so that a camera doesn't really capture it. The wind eroded buttes and plateau faces make it easy to see how people could get mystical about the country.

The last day was 620 miles from Price, UT home and it involved once being over a thousand feet above the snow line, lots of cold and rain off and on including a down pour in Boise. A rough last day and one that made me very happy to be home from a trip that started 3/19 and ended 4/20.

Every place I spent any time I found people being nice to me. More than a couple times I had people trying to kill me with their vehicles, which is why you stay very alert. The bike performed flawlessly and a hat-tip is due some Harley dealers - Henderson, NV Harley (service), Lakeland, FL Harley (tire replacement), Roswell, NM Harley (service). This is about absolute friendliness, timeliness, and quality of service. I stopped at too many dealers to note for coffee, a stretch, and maybe a T-shirt and found with only a couple exceptions the same dedication to customers or just a Harley rider from far away. As I noted, this bike starts conversations, especially being a rare cruiser bike* so far from home.

*A cruiser has no windshield, faring, or built-on bags, rare is 2500 in the world ever. This is the FXSTSSE3 - Screaming Eagle Springer Soft-tail CVO (Custom Vehicles Operations). Screaming Eagle is Harley's performance and pretties division and everything on the bike is from them other than the stock main frame. It is a pretty hot-rod Harley with outstanding handling and power.

Roswell Eagle Riders

A Church Just Because

Nothing of particular note about this picture, it was taken not too far from the ND/MT border in ND.
(click pic for full size)

This church is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, if memory serves the nearest town was about 20 miles. My guess is that its location has to do with horse and buggy travel.

On the western edge of the Fort Peck Reservation in MT there is a Spanish style church also in the middle of nowhere but I had no good opportunity to get a photo thanks to no shoulders and a gravel entrance drive up quite a steep hill - something that never works well with this bike and especially with luggage piled high. That one was all boarded up.

As I've noted, there isn't much out here in ND/MT so missing the chance to get a good photo is disappointing. US 2 is fairly narrow and high speed (70 mph) so the entire lack of shoulders in sections means fooling around parked on the road is damn bad idea.

I'm getting ready to pull out of Havre, MT this morning and I'm posting this while waiting for the temperature to warm. 55F is a bit cool on a bike at 70 mph and it also looks as though I'll be riding into ... rain. Yuck.

Weather Maker

I left Ashland, MI in pretty nice weather, temps in mid-60s with a light breeze. About 20 miles from Superior, MI the wind began to pick up out of the NE and the temps began dropping with increasing humidity. Here's the reason why.

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This is the port of Superior and north is the port of Duluth, WI - on Lake Superior. The largest body of fresh water in the world is larger than many states and over 1000 feet deep and stays 45F year around. It doesn't effect weather, it virtually creates it.

I expected to get 40 miles inland west and get away from that but I ran into another weather system packing wind and a ways back from that edge, rain. Just a bit into ND I found that rain and spent about 4 hours in the rain suit cooking along at 75 mph. The difficulty is that the rain suit is essentially a sail and the helmet attempts to drag the head backward. Fairly reasonably, I'm tired and bedded down in Rugby, ND.

Upper Penninsula

Lake Michigan seen from the Upper Penninsula, there is a whole lot of water thare. It is quite sufficient to seriously affect the weather in its neighborhood.
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The Mackinaw Straits Bridge is impressive no matter what man made structure you've seen. It is also usually windy which makes motorcycles and the steel grate lane interesting.

Yes, it pays to remember that people were here. Lots of casinos around here.


This stuff was taken on the way to Michigan.

MIA

I've been lacking an internet connection and this is short term so no posts until I get somewhere to do so. Arrived in Charlevoix, MI about 6PM Monday safely.

Finally

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I'm real sure you can't tell the difference but Montana is behind me. I made it to Rugby ND and it was too cold for as tired as I was to go farther in the dark. This puts me about 200 miles from MN. 1541 miles traveled since Thur morning so I'm holding to my 500/day. I lost track of the mile markers the last few miles but I believe it is 650 road miles across Montana on US 2, a long ways and not real interesting riding. I've sure met a lot of real nice people on food and gas and rest up stops. That is one of the things about lightly traveled routes, the locals still like new folks that are friendly and interested in them and their locale.

I've had fun and the bike is a hit with those interested in such a thing.

Crossing The Rockies

At the top of the pass there is a monument to Pres TR.

Then there is the rest of Montana, most of it - a long damn ways. I'm posting from Havre, MO and worn out. Quite cold tonight for August.

Outside Bonners Ferry

Read the sign for yourself
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I didn't realize until I posted this that I'd gotten the Walmart truck I played tag with for 300 miles.

Getting On The Road

If you start with a bike like this there are some things you need to do to use it for a trip.
(Click pics for full size)

Harley makes a quick detach seat back and package tray. Oddly enough, the dealer had this in stock - nothing else, ever, you order before you need.

You can then create a mess like this.

Now the truly odd thing about the last picture taken outside High Desert Harley Davidson is the other bike owned by the pretty lady - it is the black and lime version of mine which pulled in as I was finishing loading after the 20K mile service. You will probably never see one of these except at a bike show and rarely then - there were 2500 made in one year only. A fair number will have been bagged and garaged as investments but even without that this is a tiny number and just being in the same place at the same time as one is really unlikely. We were both stunned and spent a few minutes "competing" with how much we love our bikes.

I got away from High Desert HD at about 1:30PM and headed north on ID 55 to US96. Temps were climbing toward an expected 103F which wasn't too bad as long as I was moving at around 60 mph. It was a nice ride until I ran into a storm front that was packing 40-50 mph winds filled with smoke and dust.
This crap took most of the fun right out of this ride. You will note the entire lack of a thing like a windshield. The winds were coming from the range of the right side, head on, and left. The cross winds were enough to get most bikes parked and as stable as this one is it required attention. At one point a head wind was sufficient to make the front end very light on the road, like losing traction... Yes, I slowed down.

I am in Sandpoint,ID about 40 miles from my junction with US 2 which I'll take east. I checked in about midnight (too late and too tired to think about camping) and the miles logged from Baker City show as 559 miles. I fell asleep within minutes of getting into the room. I woke back up awhile ago and showered and posted this, now I'm going back to sleep...

A Major Harley Run

Assuming I can find connections I'll try to blog about this trip, which is from NE OR to Northern Michigan. My parents live in N MI and are 83 years old and also are in good health, physically and mentally - so far. I'm taking the Harley for the sake of the ride and to have something I like to get around on once there.

It's been hectic getting ready for this trip, especially since I made the decision early last week and departure is nailed down as Thursday the 26th for a couple reasons. One is that I need to go early enough to not have my construction season killed and another is that the bike is due for its 20K mile service which involves a 135 mile south and east ride to the nearest dealer and aims me mostly in the right direction and that appointment is for Thursday - today, and I'm there waiting.

It's been crazy getting ready since I had a roofing job scheduled and took Monday and Tuesday at 11 hours each and 1 1/2 hours Wednesday. Nothing in the line of business could get done the first two days so Wed was the day for that as well as trying to get squared around packing and loading. I live in PST and the dealer is in MST which means an additional clock hour to travel time. My appointment was for 8:30AM MST which meant leaving at 5AM PST to have time for delays and to unload the bike. I got the bike loaded and home from dinner and into bed at 11PM.

With the bike loaded the garage looked to be a difficult operation so I parked it on my front walk just outside the porch door with the light on and the inside door open - so my dog could lay up on the enclosed porch. He's a 150# Great White Pyrenees and an excellent alarm and guardian. Well, pretty much so. At 2AM I was awakened by very large barks so I put on some pants and went to take a look. Nothing in sight anywhere, just a diesel truck blocks away; and me wide awake. Very wide awake. I gave up at 3:30 and got up and drank some coffee and rode figuring to kill some time with breakfast. So here I am at High Desert Harley Davidson with a grand total of maybe 3 hours sleep after a very hectic day at the start of a 2500 road mile each way trip. I thought about beating the dog with something large and heavy but he was doing what he sees as his job.

I'll put up pictures as I move along and post whatever seems to interest me and hopefully, you.

Eighty Mile Pictorial Harley Tour Of NorthEast Oregon

This is one of my favorite shorter loops out of Baker City, Oregon with its apex at Union, Oregon and returning to Baker City about 2 1/2 hours later. The route is Oregon 203 to Union and Old US 30 back to town.

This is all two lane blacktop with no real shoulders and lots of curves. Oregon is pretty conservative with its speeds for curves; experienced riders won't find close to 150% of speed excessive - if you can see far enough around one for that.

****Click the pics for full size - miss out if you don't*****

Rising up out of Baker Valley gives you a vista of the Eagle Caps of the Wallowa Mountains across sage brush and cheat grass. This is dry country.



The apparent desolation gives way to farm and ranch land where there is water. The hilly land is cut by numerous creeks, the one at the base of this is Big Creek.


Pondosa was a thriving logging/mill town of over 500 at one time, the current Pondosa Store is what's left, a former residence. Pictured is my scooter and my buddy Aubrey on his '07 Kawasaki Concours.

Inside you'll find a warm old timey general store atomosphere and friendly proprietors and something to take a break with.

After winding down through Medical Springs, a one time therapeutic hot springs, you'll begin to climb into the timber and reach Catherine Creek State Park. This is a pretty site with multiple facilities and a large pretty creek.

Not far from Catherine Creek you begin to find the bare bones of the earth as you cut through canyons.

Without the afternoon sun in your eyes (and camera) this is what you're rolling through.

Union is a nice little town with multiple opportunities for food and drink including the turn of the century Union Hotel. There is more to downtown than this but it isn't a big place.

Old US 30 winds though canyons and past a wind farm and tops out looking into Baker Valley and the Elkhorn Mountains, the valley floor is at 3500 feet and the mountains rise to 10,000 feet.

There isn't a lot to North Powder but you can find a couple cafes and convenience stores and nice people.

Haines is about 14 miles outside Baker City and home to the much acclaimed Haines Steak House. This really is about all there is to downtown Haines.


If you don't stop to fool around this ride will take about 2 hours, but where's the fun in that? The road surfaces are quite good and traffic is very light. You never want to forget that you are in country where there may be critters on the road and where the road hugs up against slopes rocks can fall onto it. Temperatures rise and fall quickly in this country and elevation can mean real changes as well.

You will ride through near desert, farm land, towns, and timber all in a few hours and still end up right where you started without repeating anything. There aren't many places like North Eastern Oregon and if you haven't explored some of it you've missed some real riding, fine folks, and pretty scenery - don't do that, come see us.

A Harley, Chilly Weather, Rain, 350 Miles

What the hell is the matter with me? I ask that because I mostly enjoyed it. If it were a matter of public policy I'd call it a GOP kind of thing, but it was...necessary. Harley Davidson built a very cool motorcycle with the Screaming Eagle Springer Soft Tail but that came with a caveat, some of those parts are real ... special. I refer specifically to the front tire, a Dunlop D408F in 130/70R18 a wonderful tire that apparently is made of unobtainium. That is to say that they are on back order ... everywhere. Well, there was one, in Vancouver, WA at Columbia Harley Davidson and that is better than 350 miles from me here in Baker City, Oregon.

The tire issue was not a minor deal, the scooter had reached its 10,000 mile service schedule and the tires were in shape for no more than 500 miles of usage without getting flat out dangerous. Time was an issue, buck season opened 10/3 and closes 10/14 and 10/19 I need to be in Florida until 10/27 for a wedding, October is a scheduling nightmare. I talked to Columbia and the Parts Manager went to the shelf and pulled my tires and scheduled me for 10/1 for tires and service. So far so good, then came the weather reports and they sucked for motorcycling - 50s and rain showers ... and that's not in the mountains several thousand feet higher.

I don't much care for long underwear but I bought a set of poly propylene top and bottom and dressed a bit. At 5300 feet at Dixie Summit it wasn't enough at 65 mph in the driving snow. The operative word for that was, "Brrr." Things moderated a bit later as I dropped down into the valley to Prairie City and stayed pretty good until a ways past Mount Vernon where it began raining ... at a road construction flagger stop. The flagger assured me of a 10 minute wait so I broke out the new rain suit, yes new, I don't like needing such a thing. Ten minutes was a bit conservative, I sat in the rain for about twenty. It was a bit blustery with temperatures barely into the fifties and either high humidity or drizzle so I wore the suit - to Sandy, Oregon. I don't have anything polite to say about the weather crossing Mt. Hood at dark other than two words - rain and cold. The amber goggle lenses proved their worth as did the face wrap. My brother-in-law remarked on my status as "crazy son-of-a-bitch" when he put me up.

The ride from Sandy to Vancouver was pretty nice other than being almost all freeway. I got to Columbia at a few minutes after 9 AM and they pulled my bike directly in and started in on it ahead of some others because I was riding and they understood my situation. The 10K service is pretty extensive anyhow and when it involves that bike it is more so. I got to visit with the tech some as he worked on it and I learned some things that the service manual doesn't cover. Bill Green has a passion for motorcycles and his 30 years of working on them is evident. He corrected the torsion resistance on the springer axle moment arm, a condition that should not have existed and affected tire wear pattern and handling. From the beginning I've been impressed by this scooter's behavior on the road, the correction made a very real difference for the better.

I like family businesses and especially ones that endure, Columbia started in 1945 and is still in the Kreofsky family. I didn't buy the bike from them and I'm not in their service area but they treated me real well, so I pass out a kudo to them. Thanks all.

The return ride was a near replay of the one over, Mt Hood did its job on me and the last 20 miles were also in the driving rain. Some of you familiar with the state may wonder why I took OR7 to US26 to Sandy from Baker City. It is prettier than I-84 a ride and has a much smaller chance of forceful winds. It also allows a slower pace, the difference in wind resistance between 60 mph and 70 mph is astonishing to those who've never ridden and I have no windshield or farings or ... Add to that the idea of riding in the wet road spray of semis and others - well the two lane seemed a much better bet.

That trip tired me out, but in the end balance it beat sitting around picking my nose.

Mackey's Irish Pub and Restaurant - Commitment To Excellence

A couple months ago while I was attending the High Desert Motorcycle Rally in Ontario, OR I stumbled across a place run by Shawn Grove and his wife Angie called Mackey's. As I rumbled by on the Harley I heard live music and swung in. Sean made a point of introducing himself and we had some conversation revealing that he'd grown up in my home town and we knew people and places in common. I was struck that Shawn greeted each customer by name or introduced himself and remembered the names. I asked him about that and he said that in order to justify the amount of work and capital invested in his place he had to have a commitment to excellence, something I understand.

I have visited several times since, deepening our acquaintance and trying out the menu. My last visit was this weekend with riding buddy George and I got some pictures as well as some more experience with the menu. I caught Shawn and Angie outside setting up for a wedding reception and they gave a pose.

****Click Pics for full size****



The place has three elements, a formal dining area, pub, and a wrought iron enclosed patio. The patio and restaurant are both at ground level with stairs leading from each down to the basement pub. The pub is a comfortable mixture of vinyl and carpeted flooring with wood and stucco walls broken into three sections, the bar area, a pool table area and a living room themed area. The bar/lounge is well stocked with liquor and beers and expert barkeeps.


All three pub areas are equipped with TV screens generally tuned to sports. The essence of the place is reflected by the living room themed area, comfort and amiability. The aim is clear, the customer can relax in a friendly well appointed place and spend time enjoying it.


The formal restaurant is broken into several separated dining areas each containing around four or five tables. Once again the comfort level of the customer is the concern, you are never in a large area surrounded by many strangers, rather a level of intimacy is struck, with the comfortable surroundings of wood, plaster, and carpeting. There is no intention of moving customers in and out, there is, rather, every attempt to encourage staying and enjoying your time.

The wait station is central to the dining areas, a second one pictured behind. Again wood and glass dominate, making it a decorative statement as well as the functional station that it is.

Since I am not a drinker, I can only comment that the iced tea is quite good with frequent refills. They do have an extensive library of drink menus in case someone decides to play stump the bartender.

While I make no pretense to write for ratings services, I have eaten at quite a few four and five star restaurants and food is one of my favorite things in life. Yes, I can cook and yes I have worked, in my younger years, in a four star restaurant so I'm not an ignoramus on the subject of good food. This is really the point of this article, Mackey's has good food. I have not eaten every item on the menu, it is extensive. I have had two of their sandwiches, including an absolutely excellent steak sandwich and their prime rib dinner, half rack dinner, and a taste of George's chicken dinner. The prime rib has a dry rub of primarily rosemary and garlic rather than the traditional pepper run, the ribs are glazed with an in-house Guiness rib sauce, and the chicken breasts are stuffed and glazed with another in-house Guiness light sauce. All the beef is aged and of top quality, the prime rib was very nearly fork 'cut-able' while remaining firm and while the ribs had a nice crust the meat was quite tender and juicy. The light sauce crust on the chicken preserved its moisture while creating a nice contrasting texture. All the rubs and sauces are unique in flavor and subtle enough to not overpower the quality of the cuts. The vegetables were at the right level of crisp and cooked. At each dinner I have had the salads which are a nice mixture of lettuces, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheeses, and croutons. I only use Italian dressing on salads and over the years I have had a lot of opportunities to have various types and brands, Mackey's is a traditional Italian of real quality.

With the world of advertising exaggeration it would be pretty easy to take Shawn's comment about a Commitment to Excellence with a pretty large grain of salt. If decor and service were the extent of that, he'd have something; but in the end the food and drink are the real measure - that is the real expense and effort in an eating establishment. What you have at Mackey's is the real expression of such a statement, the complete package combining friendliness, comfort, and unique and excellent food. What a great find out in Eastern Oregon on the Idaho border.

You can find them at Mackey's Steakhouse and Pub. Ontario, OR is on I-84 about 70 miles west of Boise, ID and Mackey's is only a handful of blocks off the Interstate with both off street and on street parking. You will find Shawn and Angie and their employees warm and friendly hosts to a great eating experience. If you happen to bring an interesting bike or hotrod, Shawn is an enthusiast so mention it to him. Live music is presented on select weekends, see their site.

(If you think I'm exaggerating, it was worth a 150 mile round trip ride for this last visit) ((OK, I love to ride and all...))

Harley For AsiangrrlMN

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My riding buddy George and I took a loop that included Union, OR where we took an iced tea break. Pictured are my Screaming Eagle Springer Soft Tail and George's Anniversery Deuce. The Deuce is a very cool bike, the frame has a soft tail but is stretched somewhat to allow the saddle to be lowered (about 2 in lower than mine) and it has a greater fork rake to balance the longer frame.

(sometimes when you ask for something - you get it)

A "Little" Ride

I took a little ride last week, Thursday I left for Gold Beach, OR which is 530 miles by odometer and got there late that night. I visited a friend Friday and left that afternoon for Salem. I did some cruising around the Salem area and returned home Monday. Total on the trip meter was 1480 miles and total bug deposit on the Harley was impressive and depressing.

****click pic for full size****

I had planned to ride from Gold Beach to Newport and cut directly east to Salem but after Thursday night with 40s temps and 40+ mph head winds followed by Friday afternoon in 50s with once again high head winds persuaded me to go east at Reedsport. I got warm and comfortable 10 minutes from the coast and hit an elk viewing area, Roosevelt Elk which are smaller than Rocky Mtn Elk we have here at home. Phone camera has no zoom.

No, the road isn't flooded, this is the Buena Vista ferry crossing outside Salem. I've been on ferries before, but never on a bike. You find interesting and cool things cruising with no destination.