The Stars Allign

I've had a couple of rough days of riding, but today made up for it.  It started out not too promising....the temp gauge on my motorcycle read 0 degrees Celsius (freezing) when I went to breakfast, and by the time I got underway it was 39 Fahrenheit .  But it wasn't so bad.  I was headed down to lower elevations and the sun was shining.  I was afraid to use my heated vest, but I did use the grip heaters and the battery gauge looked OK as long as I was moving.  The big relief was that the bike started at all.  It was a little slow to crank in that cold, but good old Kawasaki electrics got the job done.  I did decide to head in to the Boise area and get a new battery.  I had found a Cycle Gear store in Meridian when I was searching online last night, and as soon as I had cell service I gave them a call and found they had the right battery and would put it on a charger until I arrived.  When I got there I did some parking lot mechanics:

Old battery out:

New battery in:

It solved the problem.  Battery status light is happy.  Took about an hour total, but I gained that hour back when I went to Pacific time later in the day.  The battery is a maintenance free gel type that is guaranteed for life. 

The battery change caused a detour from my planned route but it wasn't far, and I caught back up to the planned route just as it was headed into the Hell's Canyon section that I was looking forward to riding.  Carolyn and I did this ride a couple of years ago and I new it was worth repeating.  By this time the temps had warmed up into the 70's, where they stayed for the rest of the day.......perfect for riding.  Hell's Canyon follows the Snake river and has some really nice curvy sections.  I had the road pretty much to myself and it was great.  Pretty scenic too:

Then after a few miles I got to another road that I was looking forward to.  I think it is known as the "Little Dragon" or something like that.  It is highway 245 between Baker City Oregon and Unity.  It is supposed to have more curves that the famous 'Tail of the Dragon" in South Carolina.  I don't know about that, but I do know it has far less traffic and some really great curves.  I had the road all to myself and was loving it.  It's a shame I can't show a good picture of it.....maybe Google Earth would  be the way to go.  I did take this Zumo screen shot:

Then I got to Unity, Oregon, where I am staying tonight.  Got a cute little room in the only motel in town:

Unity is an interesting burg.  I had dinner in the local bar where the bartender serves drinks and retrieves empties and money with this device:

He really didn't want me taking pictures that showed any of the local's faces.......I guess in case I was a government agent. 

Then I took a tour of the main street.  Half of Unity is dying and the other half is dead.  Take a look:

When is the last time you saw a phone booth?

Orv's next project?

These people probably moved out of the old house into the school bus:

Another project?

Well, tomorrow I head for the barn.  Still some Good Roads to ride, but all of them pretty familiar.  Carolyn tells me there is rain predicted for the last part of the ride, but I can handle that.