KATU-TV (story): http://www.katu.com/news/local/59789107.html
KATU-TV (witness report): http://www.katu.com/news/local/59798742.html (click the video icon below the picture)
The KATU witness link above has helicopter footage and the WhoWhatWhenWhere info. I was about 2 miles back in the reported seven mile backup. After 20 minutes or so with my feet down in the left lane I worked my way across to the right shoulder (would have been impossible in a car) and put the sidestand down. I sat there watching traffic creep slowly along (not really moving, just getting the bumpers closer together as the pack contracted from the front to the back) for an hour. The truck I had been behind before I pulled out was clearly visible for the first 45 minutes. Then a bigger truck got in the way. If not, the first one would never have been out of sight. 
looking south (left) and looking north (right) about 5.30pm - these vehicles have not moved in at least 15 minutes
After the first 20 minutes a lady named Fay (the topcase said "Steve & Fay" on it - she didn't look like a Steve) went by on a Goldwing trike and said she had heard on the CB that it was a bunch of bikes down just before the next exit. Twenty minutes or so later a guy I had passed several hours before went by on the shoulder on a heavily modded ratbike (fiberglass rear fender broken off halfway up to accommodate the oversized rear tire) and asked if I needed help...the BrotherSpeed patch on his jacket didn't mean anything until I saw the TV report later in the motel. Then I recalled that the guy with the super high apehangers I talked to at my gas stop in Eugene had had the patch as well and he'd said he and "a bunch of us" were on their way from the Medford area to Portland for "a function." Knowing a little about outlaw culture, the flat way he said it could have meant "we're gonna set some guy on fire because he looked at Jerry's sister" or "a party to which you are not invited" - really could go either way.
In fact, an SUVist jammed on the brakes and the tightly grouped bikers behind (him?/her?) dominoed all over the road. Following too close was probably a factor. This is supposition on my part, but outlaws in formation frequently do it to intimidate cagers out of the way - the "footprint" of a tight-packed group is as big as a semi truck, and automobilists - especially SUVists - are also frequently guilty of using their greater mass as a tool to intimidate drivers in smaller vehicles. It's apparently common enough amongst Oregonians in general that there are signs about following distance all over the place. Just a thought.
Not how I intended to spend my day. I was thinkin' maybe I'd blow through Portland, get some gas on the Washington side (where one can roll up, pump some gas and roll on without waiting for one of the extras from Deliverance to hand over the nozzle and push the button - I still don't know if the no-self-serve rule is because Oregon wants to provide jobs for as many people as possible or if it's because the average Oregonian is too dim to pump their own gas without spraying half of it all over Dear Mother Earth) and stop at Comet's for the night. Instead I got off the freeway ASAP and circled back to the previous exit where I had seen a cluster of motels and a Denny's (Woodburn, OR), took a really long shower and went to bed.
This is why I don't like to ride in groups.
