(All conversations in quotes are wrong, but close enough.)

Melissa and I are out by the bikes, when Ben with Token on the back pull up.

"We were just heading to Bend for lunch, want to come?"

I picture a fast run down 58 to 97 to Bend, and food within 45 minutes, and that sounds just great. They agree to wait a few minutes while we get riding gear, and off we go.

Down 58 and... why's he signalling a left? Ah, no big deal, you let him lead, so follow.

So off we go down this road, me watching through the corners, folowing his lines and cutting just inside them safely back, having a lot of fun. We get to 97, I pull up beside and confirm that Bend is indeed to the left. We head north, and as we're travelling along, I notice at a gas station looking place a Voltcamp, a Marc Alpin, and what I assume to be a Wendy with a dead Merlin (this part is someone else's story).

As we're cruising up 97 and I'm thinking food food food, Ben takes another left, and pulls into a parking lot/roadside. I pull up, and apparently this is a road they wanted to take from the other side, as it goes by a picturesque resevoir. I'm the spoilsport, I need food. We've been out 45 minutes, and we're still not looking at anything edible.

As we continue into Bend, I notice a couple bikes behind us as we turn onto 97. The bikes come closer, the bikes fall back, the bikes come closer and eventually run alongside. Looking them over, it hits me that this looks like a Red VFR and a Honda Ascot and that the people look like I should know them, so I take over the lead of my group, and fall in behind these wanderers. We get into Bend, and Ben thinks I'm crazy (I'm sure) cause I want to follow these bikers cause I think they are going for food. They turn into a BP, I follow them in, kill the motor and drift up hearing Marc saying "... find a phonebook."

"I believe that bike is called "BBQSlayer"?"

Marc is looking at me confused, Wendy is looking at me like I'm crazy, then Marc laughs realizing that we're Gather material.

"We were looking for the Deschutes Brewery for lunch, but we don't know exactly where it is."

"Well, I have directions here, mind if we join you?"

A little discussion later, after reading the directions, we head off in search of the Deschutes Brewery. We head back down the road we were on, and Marc thinks that one of the roads in the directions is behind us, just almost out of town. We go past the last traffic light, and are almost onto open highway again, and Marc decides we should turn around (good choice, I'm hungry). We each turn left into a gravel patch from the middle turn lane.

As I pull up, I hear car tires behind me, turn and look over my should to see an Oregon State Police Camero.

"Can I take your picture", says the blue-uniformed person rolling down the window.

"Why?", I ask. I don't think we've done anything wrong.

"Can I take your picture", he repeats.

At this point, I'm really confused. I turn to the others and make camera motions with my hands, trying to convey the query of do you have a camera, no one does or maybe no one understand, so I turn back to the officer and report this.

"I have one. Can I take your picture?"

Umm... this still has that 'trick question' feel to it. I guess I still look confused as he pulls up a little further into the gravel.

"Line up over there with your bikes." He points, I turn, and see the "Bend" floral arrangement at the end of the gravel we're sitting on. The rest of the group gets the idea that we're to pull up and form a semi-line for a photo op for the cop, still not exactly sure why. He gets out his camera, and chats with us, asking where we're from, where we're going, all that nice stuff. Turns out he has a TL1000S and 5 months until retirement. He takes 3 pictures and gives them to the males (I think he assumed Wendy and Marc were together.) Marc offers to buy him lunch, he says he can't do that. He drives off, we regroup, and head for food, which we do eventually find.