Todays ride took me through the popular Oregon destinations of Wren, Hoskins, Kings Valley, and Airlie. Places I'm sure you've all heard of. Heading west out of Philomath on hwy 20 you climb to about 700' before dropping back down to Wren. From there you go north on hwy 223. The first stop was the Marys River which also goes through Philomath and joins the Willamette in Corvallis.
I didn't expect to see the Marys this far north and west since I thought it came from Marys Peak which is well to the south of here. It might meander a bit. From here the road started climbing again at a nice gentle grade. Came across an interesting place.
Good ole friendly Americans. I was thinking I may get shot at while I was taking the picture of this guys house below. It didn't help that I watched Easy Rider last night. Can you believe that I never saw that movie before?
Mr. Smith and Wesson's humble abode.
A little further up the road I saw another sign that let me know the locals and I probably wouldn't see eve to eye on very many things.
Soon I was cruising downhill at a nice pace into the Hoskins Valley. It would have been more fun but it was drizzling rain. But it didn't last and the sun was peaking though the rest of the day. This valley, which became Kings Valley, looked a bit rugged and scrubby, probably as a result of over logging. Still it was a nice backwoods setting and there was very little traffic.
The town of Kings Valley actually had a sign and a store. It is on the Luckiamute River, which I had crossed before on my ride to Moumouth.
I have no idea how to pronounce Lukiamute.
From Kings Valley I doubled back about a half mile to Maxfield Creek road, which headed back east and north. Now I was really on a quiet road. The scenery was nicer also with some nice places along the way. The road climbed back up a ridge and then went north for a while before hitting Arlie road. I didn't see anything like a town, but there were a few houses and the map says it Arlie. This is Polk county now and Arlie road had nice pavement, although no shoulder. The roads goes straight East at this point and you could see that you were coming back into the valley.
A field of mustard.
You see a lot of mustard being grown for seed in Oregon. I used to think it was rape seed, which used to be an important oil crop, but this stuff looked more like the kind I grown in my garden for greens.
Airlie road ends at hwy 99w and becomes Sauver road on the other side. I took this to Independence Highway which heads back to Corvallis over some nice rolling hills. When I got home I had 50 miles