This ride starts by meeting up in the Safeway parking lot in West Salem because it is easy to find and it has a large parking lot. Take the first or second exit after corssing the bridge and stay along the river. You will see it. Click on the map for more details and driving directions.

Saturday, May 20, 2006 - Oregon Coast - Florence: We headed out at around 8:00am. This ride covers aproximatly 255 miles round trip and takes roughly 7 1/2 hours to complete including a couple rest stops to enjoy the view and allow everyone to regroup and a meal break. This is a very enjoyable ride but being this long it isn't recommended for a first time group ride or to anyone on a rather small motorcycle. The first leg of the ride is through Dallas and down the Kings Valley Hwy. We continue to wind our way through the country side and over the mountains to make our way into Newport. Taking this route from Salem to Newport covers about 80 miles and takes around 2 1/2 hours. We take a short break along the way to let everyone stretch. When we leave Newport we head south to Florence which is about 50 miles South and offers 90 minutes of spectacular costal views. Once we reach Florence, we are going to play it by ear depending on how everyone is feeling. Assuming we take the most direct route back to Salem, we would spend another 90 minutes to ride 60 miles East into Eugene and then North on I-5 for 65 miles where after our last 55 minutes we get be back in Salem where we head our own way. Download the full map.