Mist, Oregon

(not a grand tour stop.)

Only Paul's Shadow Knows...My friend and co-worker Paul and I hadn't been riding together yet.  He and his family live in a splendid house in Scappoose and he had been telling me all about the wonderful roads around his place.  So, we hooked up.

We couldn't have chosen a better day to be out on our bikes.  The weather was perfect; cloudless skies and not too hot.

With fuel cells fully charged we headed out northwest from Scappoose.  Just to make sure that our machines were in good operational order, we tested the acceleration characteristics of our Hondas: Paul's Shadow 1100 and my Nighthawk 750.  As it turns out, both did very well in those tests, but I'm not at liberty to disclose specific numbers! <wink>

The Mist StoreOur first stop was Mist, Oregon where we visited the aptly-named The Mist Store - the oldest operating business in Oregon (or so I'm told).  Today was certainly the day for motorcycling for, when we arrived, there were a number of very fine British, Italian and Japanese bikes already parked out front.  Paul and I exchanged pleasantries with those pilots and then took a place inside to enjoy some refreshments.

Before anyone could tempt me with a slice of pie (a really don't need to eat more sweets than I already do), we continued North on Highway 47 to Clatskanie.  Let me tell you that this stretch of rode is like butter: Lots of nice sweepers and the pavement is in very good condition.  One should be careful though as there's nothing to stop you in a turn should you accidentally go in too hot.

At Clatskanie we turned right (east) and rode back to Scappoose, but not before stopping at a local bike shop to drool on some new machines.  Fortunately drop cloths and bibs were available in the show room.  Also fortunate: they didn't have an ST1100 in stock, thus an impulse buy on my part was avoided.

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