Last Thursday to Sunday night, I attended the 2023 Northwest Nomads festival (https://www.thenorthwestnomads.com/), which took place about 25 miles south of La Pine, Oregon. The festival is a van life festival, where people who live on the road, inside of renovated/cobbled together vans, buses, and motorhomes, celebrate and share their lifestyle. My buddy Zhuul and I rode our motorcycles down there, and camped out of tents. We didn’t plan the trip much.
Zhuul and I started our day on Thursday morning finishing up some final repairs to his 1978 Kawasaki KZ650, which I had been doing a lot of work on recently. We spent the better part of the day, into the afternoon, driving around, and finding a replacement pod air filter for his bike, as I busted one the night before. At around 3 PM, we finally finished our repairs, packing, and took off. We opted to take Highway 20, as it was a prettier ride than taking I-5 down to Eugene, and taking Willamette Pass to Highway 31. We made our final stop in Sweet Home to grab some gas, as the TW200 wasn’t getting good gas mileage (more on that later), and its range was barely 100 miles. When we started out the day in Corvallis, the weather was still fairly summer, and the temperatures were in the high 70’s. Traversing the pass, the temperature dropped to the high 40’s, and began raining. About 3 miles from Sisters, I ran out of gas, and had to siphon some gas out of Zhuul’s KZ. A cop pulled up behind us, mostly to just let vehicles on the highway know that we were pulled over. While siphoning the gas, we talked to the officer about where we were going. He mentioned that it has been snowing east of the cascades, and that the temperature was likely to be cold, and raining. Nevertheless, we continued onward to Sister, and after, to Bend.
Normally, on Highway 20, a trip from Corvallis to Bend takes roughly an hour and a half to 2 hours. Because the TW’s max speed is about 55-60 MPH, and going up mountains topped it out at about 40 MPH, we arrived in Bend at around 6:30 PM, about 3 1/2 hours after we had left. Zhuul had talked about how the festival “Closed the gates” at 9, and that we might be stuck outside for the night. The TW was also beginning to experience some serious mechanical problems. I was adjusting the intake valve clearance every few days, and I didn’t really understand why. This was contributing to the poor gas mileage, and overall performance issues. On top of that, Zhuul’s headlight had ceased working. When I was working on the bike, I found out that the previous owner had modified it, and cut off the turn signals, and messed up the wiring harness, so it was possible that my repairs had caused the bulb to burn out. By about 7 PM, it had turned pitch black night, and we were still about 2 hours out from the campground.
Zhuul rode basically bumper to bumper with me in order to hide himself from any police that might pull us over, and so that he could use my headlight to see. We took one last gas up in La Pine, and made the turn onto Highway 31, and headed south. At this point, the rain was beginning to let up a little, but the pitch blackness of night made the trek nerve racking. My main concern was avoiding a deer running out in the road. There were a few turns, and Zhuul almost lost me. Nevertheless, at 8:55 PM, we arrived at the campground.
When we pulled up, there was a van sitting in the road, and some rope on the ground. The woman driving the van asked us what we were supposed to do. At this point, we were almost hypothermic, and we shrugged our shoulders, and rode over the ropes. She asked to to move the ropes, which we obliged her. We parked our bikes, and went out to look for someone to check us in. The man checking people in was talking to the woman we had just let in, and was seemingly having some heart to heart with her. I’m still not sure what the reason was, but apparently she didn’t have a ticket. However, she was let into the festival. Zhuul and I checked in, found a place to park our bikes, and set up our campsite. We then boiled some water, drank the hot water to warm ourselves up, and at some hot food.
The campground had a central area, where people were mingling and enjoying music. There was also a warming teepee that had a fire. Still a little cold, Zhuul and I entered the teepee, and sat down and began chatting with the people who were hanging out inside. We were still wearing our riding gear, as it was helping us warm up. The two couples inside were talking about the person we had let into the event, and were skeptical about the “motorcyclists” who had randomly showed up, and allowed her in. Zhuul and I raised our hands, and confessed to letting the woman in. After that, we went to bed.
Overall, the event was amazing. We met a number of interesting and awesome people. We had happened to set our campsite up next to a professional mechanic, who had been wrenching on the road for years. He assisted me in tearing the TW engine apart, and diagnosing the issue, which turned out to be the intake valve was damaged, and no longer seated in its keeper. We met plenty of people who had been living on the road for years, and listening to their life experiences and stories. Every night a different set of local bands would play music. During the day, people would sell handmade goods, in which I purchsed a handwoven wool blanket. The mechanic called them “drug rugs”, because stoners get high and sleep wrapped up inside of them. Zhuul and I also hiked around the area a little, and saw Smith Rock in the distance.
We attempted to limp the TW back on sunday, but it gave up the ghost just outside of La Pine. Zhuul rode back to Corvallis, picked up his truck, and drove back to pick me up and the TW. Zhuul and I learned a lot from our experiences. As stated above, we had no plan, but made it work. I’d say that I learned a lot about myself, and what I’m capable of, and just how much risk I’m willing to take. I would have never gone to a festival like this on my own, so I’m grateful for Zhuul, and all of the people I encountered there and on the road for getting me out of my comfort zone.
I didn’t take any pictures of this trip, as there was no cell service, so I left my phone in my tent. It was rather pleasant not having to worry about technology, or social stuff that isn’t directly in front of me. I’d recommend doing a few days every now and again where you don’t have your phone around, and just enjoy the people and environment you’re in.