Rescued

We were going straight to Salem after the rally to get new tyres but the BMW Garage was closed on a Mondays so that gave us the opportunity to visit Crater Lake. We drove along the 58 to Oakridge where we were going to take a scenic Forestry road that connected to the 126. Gertie the GPS was sending us on a straight line course up a dirt track (++and David followed it! Reminded me of driving through farmers yards in France!!++) so I stopped on a rather steep hill not wanting to go that way. The bike started to go backwards with the front wheel locked up and me paddling backwards trying to keep the bike upright. I'm not very good at riding backwards and before we were 15 yards down the hill (++to the sounds of me shouting “we're gonna go David!”++)we were over on our left side, Jill tangled in wires and petrol flowing out the carbs. See the skid marks and the petrol. Having picked myself, Jill and the bike up in that order, we noticed that the pannier rails had broken. At that moment Dan pulled up at his house across the road and asked if we needed any help. Asking if he knew a welder he replied 'yes I am'. We wheeled the bike into his garage porch and he very expertly welded the rail up. 90 Minutes later we were on our way having been repaired and watered. Great kindness was showed to us by Dan a Harley rider but nobodies perfect and his wife Becky and we are very grateful to them both.
They showed us the route we should have taken in the first place telling us about a covered bridge we would pass
and suggested a place to wild camp which was wonderful and got us started on free camping in the National Forests (no facilities of course that's why it's free) of the USA. Travel is about learning new things about the world and yourself, and Jill is becoming really good at digging a hole rather than using a flush. Just thought you might like to know that! (++Thanks David!!++)
This road was a 10 out of 10 road for a bike and we a stopped at the Cougar Dam
before meeting Murph again at a T-junction as we travelled onto Salem and the BMW garage. We chatted about our respective routes and discovered we we going in the same direction, so tentatively arranged to stay in touch and meet up for a beer (oops soda!). I had rung the BMW garage and ordered the tyres when we were in Calgary as the sizes are not kept by bike shops. I rang them again from Redmond confirming they had the tyres and that we would be there on Tuesday for fitting. On arrival they had the tyres but hadn't got us booked in to fit them and the rear tyre as the wrong size but 'only by a bit' so they said! They managed to fit us in and charged $116 for the privilege of fitting the tyres on top of $260 for the tyres themselves. I think I got the tyres in England for about £160 fitted ($240 roughly). Some things are expensive over here. Just as we were leaving the fitter (right of picture) said 'Oh you know your rim is split, I'd get that fixed' and walked back into the garage. Sure enough there was a split between 3 spokes. Having been offered no guidance as to what to do or where to get help with a split rim in a foreign country we drove off to Mt Hebo hoping that the rim would fix itself by the time we had driven the 80 miles!
We drove to the top of the mountain and set up camp above the clouds to be treated to a great sunset and a really peaceful night above the clouds. ++The sky was clear, the stars bright and we decided to get up in the middle of the night when the moon had descended to get a better look. At around 4am David got up for a pee. I stirred too, and made my way out of the tent to find David stood very close to the doorway whispering that there was an animal in the trees so to be quiet. He had wandered over to the trees for his pee and on hearing a few twigs crack made a hasty retreat back to the tent! I bet he painted a comical picture naked as a jay bird, his creamy flesh illuminated by the twinkling night sky, pointing percy in the direction of a quietly grazing bear. Needless to say we didn't stay out admiring the sky for long before scrambling back into the tent. Not sure what protection that would offer to an offended bear.++