Hops, Hops, and More Hops

There are worse places for a man who likes beer to find himself than in Oregon. Actually, there are few places better. Spending a few days in Bend, then taking the slowest, most mountainous road over the McKenzie Pass to Corvallis for a day, and then moving on to Salem for the natioanl gathering of BMW motorcycle riders, I found kindred souls. Several blues bands, a well-stocked beer garden (where I was recruited to serve as a bartender) and about 6,000 serious motorcyclists, many camping out, created just the atmosphere that my retired life needed to inspire further adventures.

Admit it. You knew this is what Oregon looks like!

Roadside in the Willamette Valley

Humulus lupulus-- hops!

With a cooler climate than California, the gently rolling hills surrounding the Willamette are home to some of the best (and most expensive) Pinot Noirs in the world, as well as a high-quality Pinot gris. But to me, Willamette conjures up the tongue-bending wonder of hops, that delightful flower that adds so much interest and character to the various beers I enjoy. It seemed only right to take a few days to sample the fruit of the land.

Not a bad combination

I discovered Oregon has 137 craft brew companies operating 175 breweries in 59 cities. It was a real task to plot out a course that allowed sufficient sampling while still balancing on two wheels. Bend, with a population of about 80,000, has 15 brewing establishments. I decided to completely avoid metropolitan Portland which has 69.

The Deschutes Brewing Company of Bend, Oregon is the fifth largest craft brewer in the country. They us no pelletized hops but only whole-flower, and they use about 3 tons of these little guys every month to make beers such as Chainbreaker White IPA and Fresh Squeezed IPA, a citrusy brew using mosaic, nugget and citra hops. Their Black Butte XXV limited release beer was available at the brewery when I visited. It was lyrically described as "Like the plot of some eerie mystery you can't put down." Makes you just want to take a sip, doesn't it? For the beer geeks, it uses millennium, cascade and tetnang hops, along with cocoa nibs, mission figs, medjool dates and sour wort.

I would hope to some day develop the palate to discern all the complexities of flavor and taste. I'm sure it would not only enhance my enjoyment of beer but also make me pay more for wine, which right now reaches its sensory ceiling at about $9.00 a bottle. At Deschutes, the "tasters panels" are created from volunteer employees who undergo over a year's training in discerning tastes. How this for moving beyond "bitter, sour, malty, sweet?"

Principled management...and free beer at the end of each shift

Parked in front of Crux Fermentation Project, Bend, OR

 

Boneyard Brwing Co., Bend, OR

                                                                               

 

Boneyard turned out to be my favorite in Bend

Even strip malls have brewpubs in Oregon

Corvallis, Oregon

Lava fields in the Cascade Range

Mechanic turned horseshoe sculpture artist: Pilomath, Oregon

 

 McKenzie Pass

 The McKenzie Highway over the coastal range of mountains west of Corvallis is a wonderful diversion. As I passed over the summit expending little more than the twist of my right hand, I watched dozens of professional bicycle racers competing in one of a week's events in the area, this one going through expansive lava fields and over the McKenzie Summit. US 20 ends at the Pacific Ocean in Oregon  right in front of a motorcycle shop. Stopping seemed a necessity.

This was worth a stop

Motorcycle contraption...long-time travel home to this old timer at the rally

I'll be starting east on Sunday. Hope to follow the Oregon Trail. That should leave me in Independence, MO...which I don't think is very near Chelsea, MI. I better keep an open mind.

Caves of Our Darkest Past

Hwy 161, Modoc Plateau, California

I once knew an American physician of Japanese descent who spent her teen years at Tule Lake, California. I noticed California 161 ran directly along the Oregon state line into the Modoc Valley, the site of the Tule Lake Japanese Internment Camp. It was worth a detour.

Originally built as a Civilian Conservation Corps camp in 1935, it was expanded to house Japanese Americans. There's not much left of the camp today, but I learned it was a "maximum security" segregation center where those citizens who did not "properly" answer a controversial patriotism questionnaire were sent. By 1944, close to 19,000 Americans were imprisoned at Tule Lake, the largest of ten such concentration camps. Interestingly, there was a POW compound nearby housing Italian and German combatants. These men were let out each day to work the agricultural fields of the widely irrigated basin. They were allowed into town and some even romanced local girls. At the end of the war, they were qualified to apply as veterans for the homestead lottery, although none were lucky enough to win. I'm not sure what the imprisoned Americans were eligible for.

So, peculiarities in interpreting "homeland security" are nothing new.

All that's left of Camp Tule Lake

 

 

 

 

 

Over 1/3 of the world's horse radish comes from the irrigated fields of the Modoc Plateau

Just south of Tule Lake lies the fascinating Lava Beds National Monument with over 700 caves to explore. A remnant of an age when rock flowed like honey.

Fascinating ceiling of a lava tube cave at Lava Beds National Monument

Downtown "Tulelake", CA, withering from the Klamath water rights controversy

 

Honoring the Fallen

In California, US 97 skirts around the northern side of Mt. Shasta, an impressive experience in itself. But it also passes the Siskiyou County Living Memorial Sculpture Garden which I would argue offers the mountain some competition and actually increases the emotional impact of the natural vista.

Established in 1988 by a group of veterans, it displays a series of welded metal sculptures by Marine Corps Vietnam combat vet Dennis Smith. Poignant, emotional and tragic, this roadside park is a tribute to those who stepped forward with brave commitment or, for some, unfortunate gullibility, to serve when their government called. My years of working for the Veterans Affairs department have taught me to esteem those who risked all for their nation's interests as highly as I do those who have labored for peace in this world. This memorial is really a "goose bumps" experience and a wonderful reward to those who get off the interstate and find the real America.

Those Left Behind

The Why Group

Korean War

The Nurses

Mementos left at the POW/MIA sculpture

POW-MIA

 

All sculptures are by veteran Dennis Smith who commented, "Through the arts we have the means to peacefully consider violence and to ask questions as well as to offer possible solutions."

I welcome your comments.
--In peace,
   JGD

Volcanic Legacy

Treated like a brother

Knowing I would need a front tire, I had one shipped to Jeff's place in South Lake Tahoe right before leaving.  I had hoped to get it mounted there. Unfortunately, it was 1 inch too small. And I learned that one of the two motorcycle shops in Tahoe had folded. The other one, Tahoe Custom Cycles, was run by a rough but friendly bunch of gentlemen who identified themselves as the Brotherhood Motorcycle Club. They claimed they could get me the exact brand, model and size of tire I needed by the next morning. On top of that, they offered to match the online price I had received. I asked no further questions and paid them the money. With some emails and phone calls to my usual purveyor of tires in Tucson, the services of FedEx, and a Visa charge of $28, my "short" tire was on it's way back to the web-o-sphere. And I was finally on two wheels with the unexplored northeast corner of California before me. Woo-ha!

Place where the Donner Party snacked on their friends to make it through the winter

California 49 heading northwest

Cajun breakfast at Ike's Quarter Cafe, Nevada, City, CA

It's about time!

 Nevada City, California saw a lot of gold in its heyday. And money brings business...of all kinds. Jeff showed me this monument buried in the weeds behind the parking lot of the historic National Hotel in Nevada City.

California 49 crossing the local swimming hole on the South Yuba River

A "cinder cone" volcano

Okay. Everybody who got an "A" in 6th grade geography, raise your hand. Have you ever heard of Lassen National Park? If you are not into geology, you may be as ignorant as I was about this fascinating place in northeastern California at the bottom of the Cascade Mountain chain of volcanoes. Besides having all four forms of volcanoes (you'll have to google it !), Lassen has some wonderful motorcycling roads as California 89 traverses its several passes.

Travelling north on California 89, Mt. Shasta becomes visible from over 100 miles away. One of seven "recognized" sacred mountains in the world, it does cast a spell on passers-by.  A couple of Cliff bars and a chocolate milk at a crossroads, and I was ready for roadside sleeping in the Tahoe National Forest. But not until snapping a photo of this oddity from days gone by.

The next day, I discovered Weed, California. That's right...weed. This store is called The Weed Shop.

 

Dinosaur tracks, McCloud, California

Fortunately, I did not get here yesterday