North American Biker » Day 2 – Moscow, ID to Sumpter, OR.

Day 2 – Moscow, ID to Sumpter, OR.

Posted By TwoWheelsTebo on May 19, 2009

Well, last night was uneventful…except for freezing my feet off. I slept in my riding suit and in my sleeping bag in the Winco parking lot. I got up a couple

Morning view on Hwy 26 West of Moscow, ID

of time through the night and walked into Winco just to get my feet warmed up. Finally about 5:45am I gave up and figured I’d be warmer if I was riding. So I packed and was on the road by 6:00am, headed to Sumpter, OR. So as you probably guessed, my reason for going to Sumpter is that the Scoop & Steamer Station Cafe was another RCGT check point. I had never been to Sumpter and had no idea what I would find there, except for the Soop & Steamer. But that’s the way I like it.

What? What’s that you say?

Took this shot between La Grande and Baker City, OR on the way to Sumpter.

Uh, yes…I was just in Oregon yesterday. And yes I am heading East. And YES, I went back to Sumpter, OR! lol And it gets better, but you’ll have to read on to find out how.

It was a cold, but beautiful morning and the ride was awesome. My route was very scenic and well worth back tracking parts of the same road that I road yesterday. Fortunately today the bike ran like a top. By now I’m convinced that the fuel filter was the problem and that it’s resolved. As I got further South it got noticeably warmer. And by mid morning on I84 I was out of my riding suite and in just a jacket. The sky was clear and blue as I had ever seen it. Not a cloud anywhere.

I made it to Baker City by late morning, got some gas and headed West to Sumpter. The road from Baker City to Sumpter was a very nice bike road. Good pavement and plenty of mild curves. There were a few spots with a bit of gravel on them. But very few. All in all it is a road and a destination that I would highly recommend to anyone wanting an awesome bike ride.

The Scoop & Steamer Cafe in Sumpter, OR. It's a cool old mining town with a steam engine train that you can ride and a very interesting gold dredge that you can tour.

I pulled in the the Scoop & Steamer around noon…give or take some. Is was a very clean and neat restaurant. I was hungry, and the place smelled like they had some good food some where around. So, I ordered some. And my nose served me well. The food was excellent.

I wasn’t planing on a long day and figured I’d stay in Baker City for the night. So, I took some time to tour the gold dredge in Sumpter. That is one amazing machine! After checking out the dredge and taking some pics, I headed back to Baker City to find a place to spend the night. Like another parking lot. lol While relaxing in the Baker City park I decided to call my mom. When she found out where I was, she told me that I had some cousins that lived near La Grand somewhere. So, I got their phone number and called them. They gladly invited me to spend the night at their house…and I gladly accepted. lol It was about an hour of back tracking from Baker City, but it was worth it. Not only for the bed, supper and the breakfast they offered me tomorrow morning, but for the ride. They told me about a back road route between Baker City and Cove. Wow! What an awesome ride that was.

The day started out very cold, but ended up being an awesome day and an awesome ride. And the evening was very pleasant spending time with relatives that I hadn’t seen in 20 some years!