September 10th marked my first trip over the Cascade mountains to visit my friends in Sisters, Oregon, Tamra and Gary. She has been asking me to come and visit, so I made arrangements to go September 10-12. We all had a good time and it was a huge blessing to have sometime away from home. I never really have seen Sisters, but to have such great tour guides, I got to see some great places such as the Dee Wright Observatory.

My journey of course took a little preparation before I ventured off. One of the biggest issues is gas stops. My Honda Shadow has a 2.9 gallon tank with a 0.9 reserve tank, so I usually keep it at 100 mile mark between filling up the bike. I also wanted to do a loop around, so it was either head towards the Santiam Pass or over Mt. Hood. At the last minute I selected heading over the Santiam Pass. I spent the morning getting what few clothes I could pack and finishing up last minute details. Once that was done I went to get my bike from a friends garage and bring it to y place. I then loaded up the saddle bags and secured my pack on my back. This was now the time to roll. I headed to the I-5 on ramp and once on the freeway I decided follow through on my recent thought. Go to Woodburn, head to Silverton and veer south on the Cascade Highway SE to Stayton. It was a peaceful ride down and once in Stayton, I filled up with gas for my trek to Sisters. From Stayton it is about 94 miles give or take and I probably could have made it on the 2.9 gallon, leaving my reserve for an emergency. But better safe than sorry. The next stop was Mill Creek where there was just one station, therefore topping off the tank.

Advertisement