June 23rd - Troutdale, Oregon (BST -7hrs)

George’s group moved out at 6am, and we were awakened by the unmistakable sound of half a dozen Harley exhausts farting away outside our bedroom window.

We said goodbye to Doug and Joanne too. They are now on their way back to Michigan, with their trailer loaded to the gunnels with our surplus luggage.

After breakfast, John and I delivered my ailing BMW to Portland Motorcycles for its 24,000 mile service. Then we went shopping for camping equipment and mosquito repellent for the next leg of our trip. For the moment, at any rate, we are all alone. However, there are now, effectively, four separate groups of Mother Road riders going to Alaska, so it remains to be seen whether any of our paths will cross along the way.

We couldn’t very well leave the Portland area without, at least, telephoning Brad and Gina. But it must have been 4pm by the time we got back to the motel, so we couldn’t honestly expect them to alter their plans to meet us with so little notice.

As it happened, Brad was only too glad to be let off a small construction job in the back yard. They cooked us an al fresco dinner and we ended up spending an extremely pleasant evening catching up on each other’s news over the last 3 years or so since the last time we all rode Route 66 together.

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