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This is a preliminary agenda for the PNW 2014 Oregon Trail VFRD ride. This event will be a little different than usual in that we will travel from town to town. A friend and I recently finished this ride, or at least most parts or it and I am fairly certain you will love the rides and the towns. The Dates will be from Wednesday July 23 through Saturday Sunday July 26th. This is two weeks after the Hells Canyon Rally that we attended this year. Note Laguna MotoGP has been cancelled. Day one Wednesday 23rd we meet in Hood River, Ore. Lodging most likely at Best Western. Sales rep is Kathleen phone: 800-828-7873 booking under the name VFRD. NOTE: Kathleen asked us to use this 800 number from now on. http://book.bestwestern.com/bestwestern/US/OR/Hood-River-hotels/BEST-WESTERN-PLUS-Hood-River-Inn/Hotel-Overview.do?propertyCode=38121 I recently talked with a friend who went to a wedding there and said it's very nice and has a view of the Columbia River and is easy walking distance to town. Second Choice is the Columbia River Gorge Hotel, an old classic, very nice Hotel with landscaped grounds and a river view. It's only second choice because it's about $40 more per room or pushing close to $190. I'm thinking since it's a year out that we can put aside a cookie jar and save for it and go in style? http://columbiagorgehotel.com/ I am not booking this hotel, but it's here for your viewing. Friday morning we head east on scenic highway 30 through Rowena Curves and Mosier Loop. Many of you who attended the Troutdale, Edgefield meet in 2010 will remember the Rowena Curves. I will get the routes posted as soon as possible. This will take us to Heppner where we ride perhaps the finest road I have ever experienced to Ukiah, then on to Granite, Sumpter and Baker City. in all this is about 150 miles of motorcycle nirvana. See routes below. We have 15 rooms, split between single and double beds, at the Bridge Street Motel, two blocks to downtown Baker City and across the street from a Chevron Station and pretty much the junction of the roads in and out of town. http://www.bridgestreetinn.net/ These rooms are fairly inexpensive, $50 to $60 bucks and we can park our bikes right out front and this brings our lodging average down a bit. Saturday morning we head south and immediately ride the Little Dragon, 188 curves in 16 miles. This road is a blast and is a nice meandering secluded road, very good pavement and banking through ponderosa pines. Then we head west through some secluded beautiful country to Bend, see route maps. We will stay two nights in Bend and be staying at the Red Lion Inn. Phone is 541-382-7011 Ask for Susanne. The block of 15 rooms is under VFRD. http://www.redlion.com/our-hotels/oregon/bend/ We arrive in Bend on Friday, the town will be hopping and Saturday we ride a most amazing roads thru Sisters and the McKenzine Highway, a road so twisty they do not allow trailers on it. I've ridden it before and you must experience it. I call it the Twisted Sisters, again, as with most Oregon roads, very scenic and remote, good engineering and pavement. This will be a feature ride and we will return to Bend after circling the Three Sisters and Mt. Bachelor. We will have a wrap up party Saturday evening. All three towns, Hood River, Baker City and Bend are very scenic and have many great restaurants, shops, and, of course, brew pubs. After the rally "officially" ends in Bend, riders can head north through Detroit to Edgefield, a very nice remote twisty road, with tall trees lining the edges and stay or stop over at McMenamins again or not. Others may want to ride west to the Oregon Coast and then head north or south. South-bound riders may want to head directly for Crater Lake. I had three things in mind when planning this rally keeping in mind that people are on vacation and do not always want a hectic schedule. 1. excellent riding through scenic country, remote roads, little traffic. 2. reasonable distances so people can get up and get going on their own schedule, have time to stop for whatever reasons, and still have plenty of time to check in, shower and explore the towns. 3. excellent destinations: Hood River, Baker City and Bend are very scenic, fun towns with lot's of shops, restaurants, brew pubs etc. I wanted to consider that we have wives and girlfriends on these rides and wanted the destinations to appeal to everyone. I wanted people to have time to stroll downtown and not feel rushed. That's all for now. Stay tuned.