OUR RIDE TO REDMOND, THE 2001 BMWMOA NATIONAL RALLY

By  Ed Eismann and Greg Cullers

Many months before the rally, we began discussing about actually making the pilgrimage, thinking about our available vacation time, and how much we might need to cover the still undefined routes.  As the time of the rally drew near, we met a couple of times and exchanged phone calls, discussing the potential sights we would like to see going out and coming back, as well as the “high” or “low” routes for the outbound and return “flights”.  Ed had previous experience riding in the West, as he had ridden with Ernie and Alice to the BMWMOA National Rally at Missoula, Montana a few years back (’98?), and had some sightseeing spots in mind.  Ed and Jane prepared the trip plan in a readable format for the map windows of our tank bags.

We’ll attempt to be somewhat brief with the trip description, so as not to bore anyone too much.  We decided on 3 weeks of vacation time for the entire trip.  Leaving on Friday, July 13, we basically “slabbed it” (like that term) from Cincinnati to Mason City, Iowa the first day via I-74 and various other routes (no significant sightseeing, about 620 miles total).  The next day we worked out way west to Sioux Falls, SD and picked up I-90 for the westward trip to Wall, SD, famous for free ice water in the old days, now a tourist town.  Lots of rolling hills, scrub the “Corn Palace” and Cabela’s in Mitchell (we just got gas).  One amusing item - at one of our gas stops along I-90, there were a couple of church vans from Texas loaded with teenagers.  When Greg went in to pay for his gas, the normal questions about the bikes began from one of the young males.  Greg was wearing one of the long sleeve MOA shirts with the BMW logo and the “legendary motorcycles of Germany” lettering on the back.  The teenager asked if we were “Professional” riders for BMW!  Maybe us wearing all of the appropriate riding gear also confused him.  Wall was the jumping off point for the beginning of our sightseeing the next day.  First it was the Badlands National Park, sort of a mini Grand Canyon perhaps, without the Colorado, (or any?) river.  Then to Rapid City, where the sky was looking very serious at distance, dark, lightening, and rain.  After refueling, strong winds and torrential rain began and ultimately hail, maybe ¼ to 3/8 inch diameter.  The streets were flooded.  We sat this out inside the gas station convenient store.  This was the first bad weather we encountered.  After letting the city storm sewers catch up, we dodged the washed out gravel and debris and made our way to Mt. Rushmore, doing the drive-by thing and getting the picture.  Then followed Wy 585 north (very scenic), wondering at times if anyone actually lived in Wyoming, we saw so few vehicles, houses, etc., and arrived at Devils Tower National Monument.  What a day!  Sensory overload!

Then equally scenic routes from Dayton (Wy, not OH) via alt. US 14, experiencing the climb into some mountains, free range livestock on the road that Ed navigated (we have photographic proof), working our way into southern Montana via US 310.  This was the setup for US 212 south through Custer National Forest and the Bear Tooth Pass (10,147 feet).  Ed had done this on the Missoula trip and it was well worth it.  Hugh valleys, sunny weather, the road twisting higher and higher.  As we neared the top, the weather changed with the clouds rolling in and the cold rain began.  We saw what we think was a wolf in this area.  We made it through and stopped for the night in Cooke City, MT, where a group of Beemers that followed us by about 10 minutes told Ed that it was snowing when they went through the pass.  After surviving something that didn’t agree with us from the previous night’s meal, we traveled the few miles to the northeast (Silver) gate of Yellowstone National Park.  There were a few solitary bison alongside the road and a large herd in a valley.  Saw the falls at Inspiration Point and visited Roosevelt Lodge as well as the lodge at Lake Village (complete with a male elk with a full set of antlers), on the banks of Yellowstone Lake.  Then on to Old Faithful geyser, which must have just finished erupting, as the huge parking lot was emptying.  The weather was windy and raining, so we left our helmets and rain gear on, we must have looked like spacemen/aliens to the “regular” tourists.  Waiting for the rain to clear, we met a nice couple from Wilson, near Jackson, WY, who had motorcycled up for the day.  The conversation led to our route plans and due to road construction outside the west gate, they graciously offered to lead us out the south gate to Jackson, via Grand Teton National Park, which hadn’t been on the itinerary.  They were riding Harleys (she a Fat Boy and he we’re not sure, although he had recently purchased a new Gold Wing).  Beautiful scenery!  The night was spent in Jackson, WY and NO, we didn’t start ANY of the fires!  Through the recommended Teton Pass (8,429 feet) the next day, lots of bicycles (an event), into Idaho and the volcanic sights at Craters of the Moon National Monument on US 20, finishing the day in Vale, OR (the Bates Motel, no kidding).  The next day was Thursday, 7-19, and it was a sunny, easy, scenic, and enjoyable ride on US 26 into Redmond.  The John Day Fossil Beds were noteworthy.  The closer we got to Oregon and Redmond, the more and more Beemers we saw.  As Ed said, “The gathering of the Clan!”.

The rally was much like previous MOA nationals, lots of people and tents (a.k.a. the “refugee camp”),  vendors, the BMW NA semis with the demo bikes, which had driven straight through from Vintage Days at Lexington, OH the previous weekend, etc..  All at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds, a new facility.  We were told that this was the first event held at the fairgrounds and the county fair had been postponed until after the MOA rally.  The closing ceremonies on Saturday were held inside this year at the “events center”, but there wasn’t any rain as at Midland last year.  If we wrote down the numbers correctly, about 6,677 souls attended this year, on 4,254 BMWs and 397 non-BMWs, the farthest traveler from Key West, FL.  The next issue of ON will likely give the official, correct numbers.  Two BMW motorcycles were given away, an R-1200C and a R-1150RT, no one from Cincinnati won, although our club was recognized with about 9 others for contributing to the MOA Charity Challenge.  It was great to see so many Beemers in one place and meet other Beemer pilots!

We departed Redmond on Sunday and at the suggestion of fellow rally-goer Jack Basham, went west on OR 242 through the volcanic  McKenzie Pass (5,325 feet), north of the 3 Sisters mountains.  A very scenic and twisty at times ride through the Willamette National Forest and a few major routes delivered us to Crater Lake National Park (very impressive), with the day ending in Roseburg.  Then on to Coos Bay and the ride up the Pacific coasts of Oregon and Washington via US 101, crossing the Columbia River at Astoria.  Lots of nice scenery, overlooks, touristy towns, LOTS of RVs. We encoutered some fog in Washington, with the day ending in Shelton.  We had discussed the possibility of going up the Pacific coast of the Olympic peninsula to Port Angeles and taking a ferry to Victoria on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.  We instead opted for and planned a ride up the east side of the peninsula to Port Townsend and a short ferry ride to Keystone on Whidbey Island, which allowed us to miss all of traffic in the Seattle/Tacoma area.  Traveling east and then north on WA 9, we entered British Columbia at Sumas, then took TC 1 west into Vancouver.  We regrouped to figure out the lay of the land (and water) in Vancouver (i.e. Ed got a map) and then found the local BMW dealer (John Valk BMW), where we inquired about scheduling an oil change for our trusty steeds.  John Valk informed us he was booked up, but graciously suggested that we could borrow tools and change the oil ourselves, and he assisted as well.  Talk about “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”!!  John V. recommended the Granville Island Hotel, which provided very pleasant accommodations on the waterfront, with its own brewery, and lots of touristy shops on the island  to check out before we left.  Vancouver is a very interesting city that would warrant further investigation, time permitting.  The next day we took a quick trip through the large Stanley Park and after dealing with traffic jams, we were on our way north on BC 99, the “sea to sky highway”, to Whistler, a touristy/skiing town in the mountains.  Whistler was followed by a scenic, mountainous run on BC 99, where we were joined for some miles by a BC rider on a sharp Triumph Trophy touring machine on his way to Prince George.  After a stop by the RCMP out in the boonies for a drivers license and insurance card check, we parted ways and headed east on TC 1, ending the day in Kamloops.  From Kamloops, it was north on BC 5 (the Yellowhead South Hwy.) and TC 16 east  through more mountains, stopping for the day in Jasper, Alberta.  The next day was south and east through Jasper and Banff National Parks in the Canadian Rockies.  Rivers, snow-capped mountains, tourist buses, waterfalls, the Columbia Icefield, avalanche areas (good thing it was July), Lake Louise, with a stop in Banff (heavy duty touristy) for a walkabout and some brief shopping, leaving the mountains, and on to Calgary for rush hour traffic as TC 1 is routed through city streets! (whose idea was that?), ending the day in Medicine Hat (“the city built on gas” (?),  and the world’s largest teepee - sorry, no pictures).  After Medicine Hat, it was all TC 1 east through Swift Current, Moose Jaw, skirting Regina in Saskatchewan, the day ending in Brandon, Manitoba.  The map indicates that TC 1 is a scenic route and it does have its moments, nice sunsets and pronghorn antelope, but we experienced a lot of continuous wind, dodging grasshoppers, and heat.  Nice people everywhere we stopped, asking questions about the bikes and where we were from and were going, etc..  The next day was Sunday and TC 1 went right through Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba, but we gambled that the traffic would be light and wouldn’t have the problems we had in Calgary.  It was a good gamble, as traffic was light. We stopped and saw the legislative building and rode on to the Ontario border, TC 1 changing to TC 17.  TC 71 around Lake of the Woods and south, re-entering the US and negotiating yet another grated deck bridge at the border crossing at International Falls, MN.  Then US 53 to Virginia for the night after umpteen miles of grooved highway as the asphalt had been removed for repaving.  Almost as much fun as grated deck bridges!  At one point we tired of the “groovy” highway and rode on the ungrooved, but narrower, berm/skirt.  No problems.  The next day was Duluth, MN and Aerostitch!  We had stopped there last year after the Midland rally and we lucked out this year as well and found it fairly quickly,.. not the easiest thing to do.  Met an F-650 rider heading back from Redmond to Connecticut, getting ready to head north into Canada and around the Great Lakes, as well as a couple on an R-1100RT trike (he said he had previously owned an R-1100GS, but as age and loss of balance set in, he tired of picking it up!).  Nice people.  Mike LaBar’s right:  “Beemers Rule!”  From Duluth, we traveled south into Wisconsin, stopping a while to visit some friends of Ed at Taylors Falls, MN.  Greg managed to drop the GS (gently) while moving it off the sidestand on a crowned street at the curb (it just kept going over). Luckily, Ed was there to help pick it up. Loaded as it was I tried, but couldn’t/didn’t.  Only dropped bike incident of the entire trip - embarrassing, but confession is good for the soul?  Yet another lesson learned?  The day ended in Hudson, WI, just east of Minneapolis / St. Paul.

The next (and last) day were scenic routes along the Mississippi River in Wisconsin and Iowa, finally arriving at the Quad Cities, picking  up I-74 at Moline, IL.  We discussed the possibility of making it back to Cincinnati, the real sightseeing was basically done, not wanting to deal with another hotel/unpack/repack again, but we were a long way from home.  We gassed up and kept moving.  As we traveled further and further east, somehow not feeling too bad (maybe because of the cool night air?), it seemed plausible that we could make it home.  The last day became sort of an “iron butt” day, resulting in about 820 miles and just under 18 hours, arriving in Cincinnati around 3:30 a.m. on August 1.

Altogether, “Our Ride to Redmond” was about 7,150 miles, quite an odyssey and experience. An excellent trip plan by Ed and Jane.  Thanks to Jane, Kathy, and others for cat and house-sitting to reduce the number of things to worry about during the journey.  The West is truly huge and awesome / overwhelming, lots of room to explore and possibilities for future rides.  And it is a very comforting, secure feeling to be able to mount up every day on a reliable machine in which you have a great deal of confidence and know can “go the distance”, hours and days on end.  Beemers truly do rule!

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8/27/01