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Yes, it was a very early start for this drive! However, Doug (being VERY excited) arrived 20 minutes before the official meeting time.
We headed out onto I-5 for the boring part of our drive:
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And enjoyed a nice sunrise over the mountains:
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At Salem we picked up Aaron and Shonda - who had been shooting at us from an overpass.
Shonda shooting at us as we were shooting at her:
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At Eugene we met up with Paul and Elizabeth, Jeremy and Brooke and Bryan.
At iHop:
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The "elitest" NFRs who refused to park with the rest of us:
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Thanks to Shonda, we had a nice "backroads" route past Marcola and to the McKenzie Highway:
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Passing Marcola Lake:
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We stop at the Ben & Kay Dorris park for our last pit-stop before heading up the mountain:
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Looking like Christmas in August:
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The first two drive groups arrive at the lower end of the McKenzie Pass Highway and wait for Doug's group to arrive:
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Finally that pokey Doug and his group arrive:
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And, we start our drive up our favorite pass.
The euphoria didn't last long as we immediately caught up to a white van who was going to spoil our fun.
No matter how much pleading or any other attempts by Aaron to get by the guy, he just wasn't about to pull over and let us by. And his idea of "fun" was driving 14 mph!
Frustrated with the guy, we pulled over to cool our heels and let him get far ahead:
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Then it was back on the road to enjoy those great twisting, winding curves:
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Unfortunately, in no time at all we caught up to the jerk in the white van - who continued to refuse to let us by. Aaron's blood pressure spiked and we reverted to that famous maneuver made popular by Amy a few years ago - we "slowed-down-to-go-fast". After catching up to the jerk, we would stop and wait for a few minutes before dashing off through the curves again.
Sadly, the jerk was going all the way to the top of the pass. Six months of planning and anticipation for this particular section of the drive were dashed by one inconsiderate person.
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At the top of the pass we passed through many lava flows:
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And enjoyed spectacular views of the central Oregon mountains:
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At the top we made an unscheduled stop at the Dee Wright observatory before continuing on toward Sisters.
After refueling (which gave all the appearances of a Chinese Fire Drill) we continued on to our lunch location.
Paul tried his hand as being a Drive Leader:
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He actually got us to the correct place! According to Paul it was due to a combination of "brilliant driving, a fantastic navigator and sheer blind luck".
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At the River Bend Park we set up for our lunch:
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Of course it was also an opportunity to celebrate Amy's birthday.
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We gave her a card, a certificate for her room at next month's Oregon Caves drive , and enjoyed some nice Jaciva's birthday cupcakes:
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Elizabeth with her two "cupcakes":
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Following lunch and the party we headed out for the second half of this exciting drive - Quartzville Road.
At our pit-stop before hitting the curves Ken convinces Jody that we are in for a pretty boring straight run up the mountain:
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Au contraire! It was an exhilarating drive up that incomparable one-lane road!
Unfortunately the shadows and many curves and twists limit one's ability to take photos. Here we are approaching the top behind Amy:
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At the end of the road we take a break and "re-live" the experience:
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Janice dances a jig - thrilled with the adrenaline rush while Ken wonders to Jody how he could have been so wrong about the road.
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We headed on back to Salem for a fitting way to end a great day - pizza at Pietro's. We recounted the day and then headed home.
Our final lineup of the day at the pizza parlor:
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All-in-all it was an outstanding day! I think we are already looking forward to doing it again next year!
Originally Posted by Tual06s2k,Aug 22 2009, 05:57 PM
Hope Amy had a great B-Day drive! It was a blast to see all of you again. I can't wait until we do that trip again! Can we say yearly excursion?
I wouldn't mind doing that same trip every year for my birthday drive at all. Those are both my favorite roads...except for the campers right next to the highway in Quartzville...they freak me out.
Thank you EVERYONE for making my birthday so special. You guys sure know how to make a girl feel good. Thanks for the card, the cupcakes, the birthday song and the gift. Got all choked up telling my roommate about it. I love you all. Thank you for looking out for me. You guys are the best.
iust wanna say thanks to everyone. you guy/girls were realy nice and fun! hope to make it to more outings. happy b-day amy! and ill get my pix up tomorrow i hope
Sorry for the delay in posting - I dropped my passanger off, got home, unloaded the car, showered, etc.
Now I have uploaded my images. This is a mixture of pictures I shot and ones that Laura snapped. This was not an easy drive to get pics on since there were so many curves. This is what we got.
Taking a break on the way south.
Heading up McK (look at the shine on that hood!!!)
2009 Mother-Of-All-Drives - pics
, and enjoyed some nice Jaciva's birthday cupcakes:
I love you all. Thank you for looking out for me. You guys are the best.
