Portland to Ashland, Oregon to Reno, Nevada, to Salt Lake City, Utah to Omaha, Nebraska, to Des Moines, Iowa (Miles 6,857 - 9,214)

14 - 20 September 2014

We had heard that Ashland, Oregon was a cool place to check out, so we packed up our stuff, said our goodbyes to Dan, Sarah, and Nathan and headed out to Ashland.  It was an easy ride, just under 4 1/2 hours south on I-5.  We rolled into Ashland around 5:30 PM, checked into our hotel, then headed out for dinner and to hit the 3 breweries in town:

Caldera Brewery, Ashland, Oregon

Swing Tree Brewing Company, Ashland, Oregon

Standing Stone Brewing Company, Ashland, Oregon

After dinner and three breweries we headed back to the room for a great night's sleep.

We woke, packed up our bikes, and headed downtown to see what the town was like in the daylight.  We walked up and down the main street, walked through a really nice park, and was making our way back to the bikes when I saw these water fountains in the middle of town.  After all that walking I was quite thirsty, so I ran up and took a nice swig only to spit it out all over the sidewalk.  What the heck kind of water is this?  Then a local woman walked up and guzzled it down like it was the most delicious water she has ever drank.  All I know is that this "Natural Lithia Water" must be an acquired taste, that I am far from acquiring.

What the heck is this "Natural Lithia Water?"

We then hopped on our bikes and stopped at Dagoba Organic Chocolate Factory (no...Yoda wasn't there) where we got to taste all the flavors that they package.  Of course we left with a few chocolate bars to enjoy later.

At this point we just needed to make miles, so we hit the road and made the following stops:
15 September - Yreka, California (forced to stop because the I-5 was closed due to a fire in Weed, CA)
16 September - Reno, Nevada (Nice $35 hotel room)
17 September - Salt Lake City, Utah (Shared hotel room with an old friend, Bill who was there on business....good timing!)

In Salt Lake City we did manage to find a brewery:

Red Rock Brewing Company, Salt Lake City, Utah

I failed to mention that I had another bike issue.  Somewhere between Reno and Salt Lake City, the bolt that attaches my rear shocks to the swing arm snapped, so I had to ride 150 miles to Salt Lake City trying to avoid any more bumps and hoping that the other bolt hangs on tight.  We went to the Salt Lake City Harley shop hoping that they could fit me in, which they did.  After over 4 hours of waiting my bike emerged cleaner than it has been in years.  They even washed the rear wheel while it was off the bike.  I had to take pictures of the nice clean bike:

Back on the road with stops in:
18 September - Laramie, Wyoming
19 September - Kearney, Nebraska
20 September - Des Moines, Iowa
And along the way we managed to stop at a couple of breweries:

Thunderhead Brewing Company, Kearney, Nebraska

Upstream Brewing Company, Omaha, Nebraska

When we woke up in Des Moines, Iowa we had a decision to make.  Originally we planned on heading to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but that was back when we didn't plan on going as far west as we did.  We made the decision to let it depend on weather.  The weather looked great up north, so we decided to head north instead of heading straight to Ohio.

Oh...did you notice that we have now gone over the 8,000 mile point.  Our 8,000 mile motorcycle adventure is now turning into much more.

Numbers Games
Total States Visited: 18 (New ones: Nebraska, Iowa)
Total Breweries Visited: 60 (New ones: Caldera, Swing Tree, Standing Stone, Red Rock, Thunderhead, Upstream)
Total Miles Ridden: 9,214