Medford, OR to Lost Hills, CA

So first off the bat today is Monday. I figured this out when arrived at Hansen's Motorcycles to see if I could get an oil change. The current oil has about 6,000 miles on it and its definitely time to change it out. Hansen's is closed on Mondays (as are most shops) but thankfully and with lots of luck Craig was there (the owner) dropping off some items and he came walking out. There was no one around when I arrived but I just figured there wouldn't be until they open at 9:00am. I arrived early and figured I'd just hang out until they open. Craig was a rockstar and invited me in to buy some oil, gave me a few rags, an oil drain pan and made sure I had everything before I left. I picked up a gallon of Spectra Platinum 4 and a BMW filter and was ready to go. Craig set me up out back of the shop and I happily pulled out my tools and hopped to it. I met Craig when my bike broke down on the way up and his shop took care of me so I could continue me trip.

I laid out my jacket to lay on, figured I put that CE approved armor to good use. After a few bolts came out I pulled off the filter and drain plug (not in that order) and out came the used oil. Yummy. Some of you following the blog and are die hard boxer fans will probably gawk at the Fram filter sitting there but it was all I had access to at the time of the previous oil change. I put a proper bmw filter on there as it has a pressure valve and I'd like to think its a better filter.

Next up on the list was Siskiyou Pass in Ashland, OR. Below is the view I had crossing the top. It was sunny and 50 degrees at the bottom. Not so much up there! It was really quite spectacular to see the landscape become white all around me as I went up the mountain. Thankfully my electric jacket was keeping me toasty :-) 

Over the top and it was clear sailing. 

This is the view of Mt. Shasta from a few miles away. Not much to see here as the cloud cover wasn't agreeing with my camera lens. I had no idea I'd get a better view later down the road. 

Much better view this time! Pretty much wrote off any more views of anything when I decided to take major highways back to the East coast but man I was so happy to see I was wrong! 

Interstate 5 then proved to get pretty flat after Sacramento. Nothing but high desert for the next 5 hours. 

Here I am concentrating on the road ahead...

the road ahead...

Tomorrow its off to Interstate 40 East. Crazy to think that I've traveled nearly 580 miles today just to get South enough to avoid the bad weather. I was thinking if I could have just taken 84 East I'd be in Salt Lake and actually closer to home. No worries though. I'll be on the way soon enough. It was also hard driving past the signs for Yosemite National Park as well. Really would like to have seen that one as well.