After fifteen miles on U.S. 26, we rolled into Mitchell, OR - population 125. There was one restaurant open, so we chose that one!
No, that's not a masked bandit escaping from the dining room after helping himself to the cash register drawer - though it does kind of fit the Old West feel of the area. He was our waiter! While more relaxed than in the Portland area, central Oregon did still have some COVID regulations in place. Outdoor seating only, for one, and masks for restaurant employees.
No problems here. As you all know, I always prefer dining "al fresco" anyway.
One of the benefits is positioning yourself so you can gaze upon your iron steed while you wait for your food - yet another first for me and the Ural!
Here, Dan asks our masked waiter some pertinent questions about the menu, and we quickly settled on a couple of promising options. Once our orders were in, a fella across the patio struck up a conversation with us about - you guessed it, our motorcycles.
But we'd arrived before the normal dinner rush, so our wait wasn't long. Dan's is a curry and rice dish. Mine is - well, it's pretty apparent what mine is. They were both delicious!
The next priority was to find the lodging establishment Dan had booked us. It was supposed to be up on that hillside across the highway. Hmmm, can't see it from here. Good shot of Michell's main drag though. It was really starting to get busy by this time!
The Skyhook Motel was not hard to find. And indeed, it was positioned high up on the ridge, with a commanding view of the valley and town below. The proprietor however, was absent. She'd left a nice note on the office door though - personally addressed to Dan, and instructing us to make ourselves at home in Suite Number 3. She'd been invited to dinner - at the place we'd just left!
After unloading the bikes and changing out of our traveling gear, we headed back to the parking area to perform some daily maintenance.
Dan lubricated his chain - something that for the very first time in my decades of riding, I did not have to do. The Ural is shaft drive - no chain!
I did check my oil - in three places. Since I'd just tripled the three-wheeler's single day mileage record, I checked the motor oil, the transmission oil, and the final drive oil. A bit to my surprise, all were still well within range. The motor had burned a little, but much less than my KLR 650 did, even when it was brand new.
Finally, the gas station had indeed been closed (as I feared in my last blog post) so I was excited to try my new "D" cell powered fuel transfer pump. Sliding it into the jerrycan that is mounted on the other side of the car, I was able to extend the hose all the way to the bike's tank and refill it, without having to remove the can from its holder and pour the gas in with a funnel. Very nice! No stress, no mess.
Should have gotten a photo though. Next time.
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