Day 37 – Friday, June 26, 2009
Start: Pendleton, Or.
End: Pendleton, Or.
Trip Miles Today: 47
Total Trip Miles: 9009
Today was day spent in the Pendleton, Oregon area. Pendleton is pretty well known as the home of Pendleton Woolens and Knits (no woolen knits required today – 80 deg. and sunny!) Less well known, at least to people outside the motorcycling community, is that less than 20 miles up the road is Athena, Oregon the home of Hodaka Motorcycles. In the early 60s Athena based agribusiness company PABATCO (Pacific Basin Trading Company) found themselves in the motorcycle business through an odd set of circumstances including the bankruptcy of the obscure Japanese motorcycle manufacturer Yamaguchi, currency trading restrictions with Japan, and the critical mass of motorcycle enthusiasts within the PABATCO management corps (Long story made short!) The Hodaka product was pretty advanced for it’s time – employing a steel tube frame for it’s “trail Bikes” when the products from the Big 4 Japanese manufacturers were still pressed steel weldments. Also, these capable little bikes had lights, horns and other street equipment which allowed the owner to ride to the trailhead rather than haul them in a trailer. Success rapidly followed and the company sold 10s of thousands of bikes (in the US only) in just a few short years. This success was rather short lived as the little company never really had the resources to compete directly with the much bigger Japanese manufacturers such as Honda and Yamaha. When the big guys finally got it right with their “dirt bikes” (think Yamaha DT1) in the late 60s and early 70s, the Hodaka brand was wound down and finally closed about 1978. Nonetheless these bikes have quite the following nationwide and their annual “homecoming” is in Athena this week. Attending the event is special treat for me as I have a “basket case” Hodaka at home awaiting its turn for restoration. It’s exciting to see all the different models (Hodaka was famous for it’s “tongue in cheek” names for the different lines of bikes – “Super Rat”, “Road Toad”, “Dirt Squirt”, and “Wombat” were all part of the fun). Importantly, these are not just show bikes but they are ridden and ridden hard! Nice to see classics out there in the dirt! Anyway, I was able to spend the afternoon at Hodaka Days just absorbing the ambiance. I plan to return tomorrow to spend another half day experiencing the bike parade, swap meet and bike show. But, all good things must end and I plan to depart about noon or 1:00pm for destinations east. I’ll try to put a couple of hundred miles under my belt tomorrow afternoon – perhaps over near Boise, Idaho. Then the next few days afterward will be mostly just pounding out those boring highway miles while making my way home. At this time I anticipate arrival in SE Pennsylvania on Friday, July 3. I should know more after a couple of days but that seems a reasonable projection for now. I hate to see the end in sight but there you are! However, we’ve got another week to ride and anything can happen so I hope you’ll stay with me! Thanks again, Jack.
There are many more pictures available to see at http://jackb1.smugmug.com
The 2009 Ride to Alaska for The Austin Hatcher Foundation is supported by RevZilla.com , Philly's Premier Destination Motorcycle Gear and Apparel store and by Hermy's Cycles of Port Clinton, PA.
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