Friday morning at the BMW MOA Rally

REDMOND, Ore. - We walked off of the rally grounds last evening for dinner at a nearby restaurant. It was cheap uninspired food.

On the way back, however, Dom introduced me to the Red Dog Depot, an eclectic bar and grill that has hundreds of portraits of dogs covering the walls. If you’re a dog person, as I am, you’d find lots of reasons to smile. I Skyped Maria just so she could see the place through the eye of my netbook webcam. While we were chatting, I got a Skype call from Tim Balough.

He and Webb and Cindy were ensconced at a motel in Baker City, Ore. where they were waiting for a call this morning from the insurance adjuster about where to take Webb’s bike for an estimate and/or repair. Thankfully, Webb was not seriously hurt when the deer t-boned him on the left side. Yep, the deer came across a lane of the two-lane highway to get him. I got the impression that they haven’t ruled out a rally appearance, but got a voicemail from Tim this morning saying they’ve rented a U-Haul truck, loaded all three of their bikes and are heading home to Alma, Colo.

I slept well last night. It was warm enough that I probably could have gotten by with my ultralight sleeping bag. I was up with the sun at 5:30 a.m., brushed my teeth and strolled over to the coffee operation run by Charlie and the BMW RAMS. People were draining the coffee urns faster than Charlie and William could fill them.

I had the buffet breakfast again and chatted with a guy from Alberta who was waiting to have LED driving lights mounted on his GS. When I got up to leave and we shook hands, I noticed he was missing all of the fingers on his right hand. “Frostbite,” he said.

Now I’m hanging out in the Cyber Cafe, charging my phone and iPod and waiting for the UPS truck to bring my GPS cradle and power cord.

The temperature soared deep into the 90s yesterday. Today is expected to be a few degrees cooler. I haven’t seen a cloud since I got here Wednesday afternoon.