THE ONE MOTORCYCLE SHOW - KEN'S JOURNEY

[kpke]

THE ONE MOTORCYCLE SHOW


Hopefully I'll find enough time to keep this "story" going. Of course there will be follow up videos on your favorite YT channel after the journey.

THE ONE MOTORCYCLE SHOW

Wed, 4/17/24 and before

You got to prepare a bit for a journey.

So sell a junky old low mileage 1 ton dually diesel truck. Look at the right rear fender and you will see a scratch. It's pretty much totaled I'm sure you will agree.




And purchase a beautiful newer model ¾ ton diesel truck from a fellow BARFER




Reconfigure the 6x12 for the “new” truck.




Prep the junky old motorcycle for the show.





Load it into the 6x12.




Pick up a fellow BARFER’s custom 2 stroke bike who unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances is unable to attend his favorite MC event.





Drive a few miles up I5 (or The 5 if you are from SoCal)









And arrive at my nieces house where the parking was going to be no problem. She lives on a very steep hill on an extremely narrow street. Parking is a bit of an issue and I will be unable to drop the trailer here after unloading. But amazingly only 1.5 miles distance from her house to Zidell Yards where the event is held.

[kpke]

I missed some worthy photos on the drive up.

Early AM leaving.



The majestic Mt. Shasta. Always a great site coming up this way.







And on into Oregon.

[kpke]

Thursday, 4/18/24 LOAD IN DAY

My better half (not the 500) and I arrived at the show fairly early for the unload. It took quite some time due to my phone directions having been set to bicycle earlier that morning. Kept on getting turned in to building parking lots cuz it wanted us on bike paths. We traveled 650 miles with no wrong turns then got lost on a 1.5 mile trip. I amaze myself sometimes with my brilliance on these “smart” phones.

Once we finally made it everything went well. Unload a couple bikes by the entrance and then push them in.





They line you up for a “pro” photo.





And what??? Interview me??? OK



And a brief interview about Julian’s entry.






Then we were directed to a spot for the bikes. I was a bit sad as to the placement of my bike and asked a couple of times to move my bike. Nope. Okay, we are here, let's enjoy the show.

[kpke]

Here are some random photos on Thursday, the day before the show opens. IMGUR scrambled my pics so there is no particular order. And it’s time to visit with my niece and family, her parents (my oldest brother and wife from Bend), and hopefully later my other brother and wife from Culver.

But first from my morning bicycle ride.


















It is really cool to see remnants of the shipbuilding facility this once was.

[kpke]

Friday, 4/19/24 OFFICIAL DAY ONE OF THE ONE MOTORCYCLE SHOW

Before I forget, remember I would not be able to drop my trailer at Sarah’s house. I made contact with my good RZ friend Charlie (whom I’ve never met) and he said I could leave the trailer in his driveway. Very kind of you sir, THANK YOU. It’s a bit of a drive to his place and thankfully they made accommodations at the show for people to leave trailers. I left it there after setting up Thursday.

We arrived at the show Friday, parked, followed some other people and a minute or two later found out this was not the way to the entrance. Lost again. WTF. A few minutes later we got to the proper entrance and were let in.

They have free moto parking.



After getting through a lot of vendor tents here is the entrance to the giant ship building building.



And now entering the show.



And a few seconds later, holy smokes, they moved Julians bike just left of center in a really cool spot. I was thrilled to see it out of the previous spot. Sent Julain a text right away.



After that excitement wore off and a few seconds more walking, holy smokes again, they moved the 500 front and center about 50 feet into the building. Yes, I was elated.






So happy was I that I searched endlessly the whole show for the most beautiful model I could find to pose with my motorcycle.



More to come.

[JonW]

brilliant posts Ken. Loving the fact they moved the bikes. Thanks for sharing.

[RZed]

Looking forward to finally meeting you in person tomorrow Ken!!

I guess it's going to be real easy to find your bike now.

Charlie

[kpke]

Thanks JonW. And see you in a little while Charlie!

[kpke]

MORE FRIDAY STUFF. I’LL LET THE PHOTOS DO THE TALKING. AND PHOTOS MORE THAN LIKELY WILL BE SCRAMBLED AND OUT OF ORDER AGAIN. ALSO I’M SURE THERE WILL BE DUPLICATE PHOTOS OF THE SAME BIKES AS YESTERDAY.

[kpke]

This post will be non-show non-MC related.

We bring bicycles most everywhere we go. After we left the show Friday we drove to a bux coffee shop then from there walked over to Willamette Park by the Willamette River to enjoy the drink. Spoke to a bicyclist and said where could bicycle around here? It was a great answer so it was back to Sarah’s house to get the bikes. We left at 4 PM and went down the big hills, then had a most wonderful ride. We were mostly next to the river on beautifully maintained paths, crossed over the river on 2 separate giant bridges, rode into downtown, then back on the other side, passed our turn off, kept going and crossed another giant bridge, crossed back, then back toward “home”.

Portland was on fire in the recent past wasn’t it? We are far from being big city folk and I avoid them like the plague however, our big city ride was fantastic and we never felt unsafe. It was gorgeous. We saw some of what has become the unfortunate norm (almost everywhere), and I am sure there are plenty of pockets of really bad areas but we experienced very little of that. Speaking to our Oregon relatives they said it’s possible they have cleaned it up a bit. This could very well be one of the most beautiful big cities in the good old USA IMO. I love the bridges, the trains, the huge river going through the city, the parks, etc. Thanks for the nice ride Portland.

Uhm, we started the ride going down many big hills. Then we had to go back up. Ugh.

Let me share some photos…

The view coming out of our place.







I see my trailer is still safe and sound.

[kpke]

Saturday, 4/20/24 DAY TWO OF THE ONE MOTORCYCLE SHOW


My oldest brother and his wife came up from Bend Friday night. Saturday morning we walked to the show.

Crossing over Highway 5 on this footbridge you can see this cable tram right above you. The elevation does not show up in this photo. This tram connects that hospital up there to another hospital facility down below and is used to transport people between the two facilities. There are no supports between the two ends. Quite interesting.




Saturday seemed to just about double the crowds at the show.








The Vincent’s were part of a well coordinated stunt show. One of their team came over while I was looking at the bikes and I asked how they were able to get a “bathroom” for each motorcycle. He said they paid them a few dollars.





These two officers were genuinely interested in my motorcycle. They were very friendly and seemed to be having a great time at the show. I mentioned that I would probably be in trouble with them if they saw me on this loud and stinky bike. They both said absolutely not and would either just enjoy it or possibly turn and look the other way.















Both of our better halves walked over a little while later and joined in the fun. My brother and his wife seemed to really enjoy the stunt shows. It’s always fun to watch these FMX guys in action. Today they were able to do a whole lot more than yesterday when it was super windy and they had to cut it short for safety reasons.






And the aforementioned Vincent show was quite entertaining.








Walking back from atop the footbridge you can see in this photo that this is a really fantastic venue for this event. There are activities on the right, the main motorcycle show in the big building, and activities and food on the left.




And just before we got back to Sarah’s house there was a fire in the neighborhood.



Saturday evening Sarah’s brother (my nephew) and my other older brother from Podunk town, Oregon, showed up and we had a pizza party. :Party

[kpke]

Sunday, 4/21/24 DAY THREE OF THE ONE MOTORCYCLE SHOW

In the morning I met RZ Charlie at the show. Charlie and I have known each other for 10 or 15 years but never met. We are RZ forum friends. It was great to finally meet you in person Charlie.





I hope to see you again my Oregon friend.




After Charlie left I went back to Sarah’s house to get Pam. We needed to get back to the show to hook up the trailer and set it up in a big line of trucks and trailers staging for loading out of the show.

We watched the awards presentation which was quite enjoyable. Here is a small sample.

















After that it was time to move motorcycles out and get them over to the trailer.



I dirt rode my 500 and then pushed Julian’s bike. Pam took some great photos in the loading zone with bridges in the background.














After returning to Sarah’s house I met her next door neighbor, an optometrist.

He flies that two stroke para motor thing and he has a little hobby car. He has swapped out the original 500cc engine with a 650cc. What a cool little car.

[RZed]

Ken,
It was great to finally meet you after all these years of being Internet friends.
And I had a great time chatting with you about not just bikes, but everything else as well.

That is one sweet RZ you have built yourself for all of us to admire. And your pictures and stories about The One Show are top notch for those that couldn't make it.
I know I enjoyed looking at all the different types of bikes there. And maybe next year I'll see about getting mine in the show.

Thanks again,

Charlie

[kpke]

Thanks and back at you. Your bike should be in that show and a 30 minute drive is a bit shorter than mine, eh?


Monday, 4/22/24 THE ONE MOTORCYCLE SHOW JOURNEY COMES TO AN END

A little more on Sunday. After packing and loading some stuff for the trip home we went for a wonderful hike leaving at 5 PM. Once again Portland delivers. It was beautiful lush greenery the whole time we hiked. Sarah and Troy (and Huxley) had me drive their Tesla there and back. This was a first for me driving a Tesla. Troy switched it to self-driving mode on the way there. As we got close there was a switchback type turn. The car miscalculated and had to be manually reversed and driven around this corner. Was an interesting experience driving this thing.

In the morning a little after 6 AM we pulled out for the drive home.





Going this direction the views of Mount Shasta are even better. And last for a long time.









We chose not to stop in our city.



And just a short while later, after dropping off Julian’s bike at his house it was back to home sweet home.






Oh yes, if someone finds a trailer vent on I5 N somewhere between Livermore and Portland, will you please just drop it off on my porch? Thank you.



It would look something like this one that is ready to fall off also due to rotted plastic rivets.




Still need to go out and wash the bug splatter and dirt off the truck. Maybe today.





All in all, this was a wonderful journey to Portland and back. A bit too much driving though. So will we do it again next year?

[JonW]

Wonderful on so many levels.

Well done on documenting this, loved it!