I took a look out the window this morning around 4 or 5 and was everything was wet. By the time we actual got loaded up it was raining and has continued to do so all day. We started the day on beautiful tiny roads just outside of Newport. The problem is, is that my attention focuses solely on safety. I stop being able to appreciate the things around me out of safety’s sake. Swampkat is the same way. He has also been dealing with a small leak in his back tire. It would hold air fine when it was warm, but over night it would lose half it’s pressure. We have a pump so we can maintain pressure, but soon we’ll be in the middle of now where (can’t wait!!)  and don’t want to deal with something we can address now.
So, we decided to hit the nearest triumph dealer we could find and try our luck. These walk-in situations can be bit hit or miss. Outside of Eugene is where his the shop was and after speaking to him he told us he could get it in today.  Score! It turns out that his shop was actually no longer a triumph dealership because he couldn’t afford the 30k in renovations the suits wanted. This was unfortunate because we could tell he was a good dude and the shop/showroom were totally fine. The tire was fixed super fast and he gave us some good advice in regards to tire pressures when the bikes are this loaded down.  We’d like to thank Rod Johnson and his mechanic down at Cycle Parts for treating is right. Thank you.
The repair time gave us a chance to review our options. Stay on small roads and miss the scenery or jump on the highway where rain isn’t as big of an issue and try to ‘ stage ‘ for tomorrow. We’re not idiots.. well he’s not so we decided to shoot north to Salem so that we are in a good spot with less rain for tomorrow’s ride. Sorry guys not a lot of stuff for you today.