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remember are trees , and a cross-section of America . Stopping to use the bathroom at a McDonald ’ s , I had to negotiate my way through a crowd of boisterous kids wearing matching blue T-shirts bearing the name of their church summer camp , ready to fill their bellies with Happy Meals . Outside , two young women were sitting on the curb , holding a sign : Family in Need . And next door I topped off the Tracer ’ s tank after the flirtatious — not to mention bald and tattooed — gas station attendant handed me the nozzle . ( In Oregon and New Jersey , you ’ re not allowed to pump your own gas , but attendants often let motorcyclists break the law .) I was just passing through , little more than an observer . Experiences like these give me something to mentally chew on while ticking off miles .
Passing through Chemult , a truck stop on U . S . Route 97 , brought back memories of stopping there to refuel during my one and only SaddleSore 1000 ride back in 2013 — a very long day that I ’ m not likely to repeat . Turning west on State Route 138 , the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway took me to Crater Lake National Park , where I queued up behind a rumbling Harley and a line of cars and RVs outside the northern gate , keeping my face shield closed to prevent the army of mosquitos from waging war on my nose . Crater Lake was high on my list of mustsee places , and it didn ’ t disappoint . Created thousands of years ago when a volcano collapsed , the caldera lake is nearly 2,000 feet deep — the deepest lake in the U . S .— and because it is filled only by rain and snow , the water is pure and a brilliant shade of blue . But I was pressed for time and there were construction delays on the East Rim Road , so I ’ ll have to go back to ride the full loop .
On the not-politically-correct but wonderfully twisty Dead
The Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway passes through Crater Lake National Park in Oregon and then wraps around two volcanic peaks — Shasta and Lassen — in California .