Here and there, like yesterday. I do miss that 60 degree morning though.
Where did you ride today?
- Thread starter W0QNX
- Start date
Took the direct route to the Baltimore office and the curvy, shaded, low traffic rural route home. It adds maybe 15 minutes to the trip, and is as pleasant and relaxing as the direct route is ugly and stressful. I skimmed the shadows at the edges of tall stands of corn, smelled new-mown grass, swooped and dove through shaded forests, felt the delicious cool air in the bottoms of creek valleys, and just generally enjoyed all of the sensory pleasures to be had. What a great ride!
Rode down to Winlock, WA on Tuesday to meet up with a friend who just sold his home in Seattle and moved to where there's no traffic. I envy him. 
Left on Wednesday and headed east on Hwy 122 past Mayfield Lake and then northeast through the southern portion of Mt. Rainier National Park. Kept going east to Yakima and rode north through the Yakima River Canyon. Then headed north and west to Lake Easton where we camped overnight. Lastly, home on Thursday after a nice relaxing breakfast at a local diner.
Some pics (to prove it really happened! )
The route.
Mayfield Lake
Mt. Adams in the background.
Heading toward Mt. Rainier
Mt. Rainier in the clouds.
I love signs like this one.
We stopped at Lake Tipsoo for a snack. The wildflowers were in bloom.
Lake Tipsoo
Yakima River Canyon. This road is a real revenue producer. The speed limit is 45 mph...but it begs for 65 mph. I saw three LEOs on this trip.
Lake Easton
Doug, my riding partner.
That's the dam in the background at Lake Easton. The river is the Yakima River.
In the lower right corner, you can see the edge of the cliff I was standing next to. Luckily, I had brought a flashlight, because the light was gone in a few minutes after this.
Our campsite.
This was hiding behind the sign for the diner we ate breakfast at. Per the diner owner, the woman who owned it was restoring it and staying in one of the rooms there.
Chris
Left on Wednesday and headed east on Hwy 122 past Mayfield Lake and then northeast through the southern portion of Mt. Rainier National Park. Kept going east to Yakima and rode north through the Yakima River Canyon. Then headed north and west to Lake Easton where we camped overnight. Lastly, home on Thursday after a nice relaxing breakfast at a local diner.Some pics (to prove it really happened!
)The route.
Mayfield Lake
Mt. Adams in the background.
Heading toward Mt. Rainier
Mt. Rainier in the clouds.
I love signs like this one.
We stopped at Lake Tipsoo for a snack. The wildflowers were in bloom.
Lake Tipsoo
Yakima River Canyon. This road is a real revenue producer. The speed limit is 45 mph...but it begs for 65 mph. I saw three LEOs on this trip.
Lake Easton
Doug, my riding partner.
That's the dam in the background at Lake Easton. The river is the Yakima River.
In the lower right corner, you can see the edge of the cliff I was standing next to. Luckily, I had brought a flashlight, because the light was gone in a few minutes after this.
Our campsite.
This was hiding behind the sign for the diner we ate breakfast at. Per the diner owner, the woman who owned it was restoring it and staying in one of the rooms there.
Chris
Mophead
Site Supporter
Rode down to Winlock, WA on Tuesday to meet up with a friend who just sold his home in Seattle and moved to where there's no traffic. I envy him.
Some pics (to prove it really happened!
The route.
Mayfield Lake
Mt. Adams in the background.
Heading toward Mt. Rainier
Mt. Rainier in the clouds.
I love signs like this one.
We stopped at Lake Tipsoo for a snack. The wildflowers were in bloom.
Lake Tipsoo
Yakima River Canyon. This road is a real revenue producer. The speed limit is 45 mph...but it begs for 65 mph. I saw three LEOs on this trip.
Lake Easton
Doug, my riding partner.
That's the dam in the background at Lake Easton. The river is the Yakima River.
In the lower right corner, you can see the edge of the cliff I was standing next to. Luckily, I had brought a flashlight, because the light was gone in a few minutes after this.
Our campsite.
This was hiding behind the sign for the diner we ate breakfast at. Per the diner owner, the woman who owned it was restoring it and staying in one of the rooms there.
Chris
Wonderful pictures! Reminds me of the Texas Panhandle. We have asphalt too! That's about all in common with your pics.
You also have blue skies!
Chris
Chris
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Well, more errands run. Turned a 2.8 mile run to store this weekend into 9.7 miles (didn't have much time to spare). And today took off on a ride around Saylorville lake taking the LONG way to get there ending up with 52+ miles. Just because. OK, I did stop at the grocery store on the way back to pick up stuff.
- Joined
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Today I rode the scoot to lunch at Burger King just down the street. Then decided to keep on going on the return trip turning a 2 mile round trip into 99 miles. Found a new road I haven't been on so went that way. Stopped at the gas station one the way back to fill up. I could have gone another 70+ miles on this tank per the gas meter and the miles counter that I use to show how far I've gone on a tank. The display showed I went 158.7 miles on the tank when I stopped. The display showed the usual erratic mpg result at 54 mpg but I calculated 61.7 mpg. Last time I calculated 61 mpg the display said 58 mpg so just to show how perfectly erratic indicated vs calculated mpg can be. Speeds were mostly 55 mph (about 90%) and a little at 65 mph with the rest at small town slow mph (25 mph). All on county highways. Rode past the John Wayne Birthplace Museum and ventured south out of Winterset. Then back east and rode past one of the many covered bridges of Madison County. There was a crowd at both places so didn't stop for any photos.
Yesterday, I rode to Mt. St. Helens with some friends and new friends from the Kawasaki Concours Owners Group (COG).
I think at one time there were 12 riders in the group. It made for interesting seating challenges at the restaurants we stopped at for breakfast and lunch. I think Charlie (the leader) took pity on the restaurant staff and about 6pm, we stopped at a gas station and food store for snacks instead of a sit down meal.
Here's a few shots from the trip.
The scene outside of our breakfast stop. I think there were more Concours bikes there, than interior space inside the tiny restaurant.
I got a chuckle as we were gathering inside for breakfast. Apparently, at one point, there were three guys looking at my F800GT. One of them had some serious lust for it.
On the way. Charlie made sure to include some twists and turns for our enjoyment.
In the true spirit of COG, Steve fixed two...yes, two...punctures in his rear tire, while Andy and I cheered him on. The only thing missing from my Bun Cooler training last year, was the beer and about 30 more guys giving suggestions.
Mt. St. Helens in the background.
I climbed this mountain back in the 9th grade when it looked like Mt. Fuji in Japan - a perfect cone-shaped volcano, and a couple thousand feet higher with glaciers on it. I remember thinking to myself as we crossed the crater to get to the other side and the true summit, that this was an active volcano, supposedly, and what would it be like if it blew.
The area is still pretty desolate. And it has been almost 30 years (May 18, 1980).
Chris
I think at one time there were 12 riders in the group. It made for interesting seating challenges at the restaurants we stopped at for breakfast and lunch. I think Charlie (the leader) took pity on the restaurant staff and about 6pm, we stopped at a gas station and food store for snacks instead of a sit down meal.
Here's a few shots from the trip.
The scene outside of our breakfast stop. I think there were more Concours bikes there, than interior space inside the tiny restaurant.
I got a chuckle as we were gathering inside for breakfast. Apparently, at one point, there were three guys looking at my F800GT. One of them had some serious lust for it.
On the way. Charlie made sure to include some twists and turns for our enjoyment.
In the true spirit of COG, Steve fixed two...yes, two...punctures in his rear tire, while Andy and I cheered him on. The only thing missing from my Bun Cooler training last year, was the beer and about 30 more guys giving suggestions.
Mt. St. Helens in the background.
I climbed this mountain back in the 9th grade when it looked like Mt. Fuji in Japan - a perfect cone-shaped volcano, and a couple thousand feet higher with glaciers on it. I remember thinking to myself as we crossed the crater to get to the other side and the true summit, that this was an active volcano, supposedly, and what would it be like if it blew.
The area is still pretty desolate. And it has been almost 30 years (May 18, 1980).
Chris
In contrast, this is what Mt. St. Helens looked like when I climbed it.
Chris
Chris
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- 69
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- West Des Moines, IA
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- 2024 Miles
- 006503
Do hope Steve has a new rear tire on order now. I'll ride a little after plugging once (to be replaced as soon as time permits in my schedule) but will head right out to buy a new tire at two.
ardykay54
Russ "NeonMan" Knock
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In Iowa some of the best riding ( in the east anyway) is along the Mississippi River. Scrubbed my new tires in by riding to Guttenburg, to Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin, and back home to Hopkinton. Getting ready to go to MnSToc Wednesday! Russ.
We talked about it. Both of us have experience with repairing tires and then running them for the rest of the life of the tire. On my Burgman 400, I had at least four puncture repairs in it when I finally replaced it at 14,000 miles.
We each do what we're comfortable with.
In my case, my first tire repair was a replacement based on the advice I received on BurgmanUSA. Two months later, I got another puncture. There was no way I was going to tell my wife (who didn't want me riding at all) that I was going to spend another couple hundred on another new tire. The repair held, and I became a believer (or sinner, depending on how you look at things). The next puncture on that same tire, became a lot easier to convince myself to repair it. Sort of the slippery slope, I guess. And the one after that...didn't think much about it. What I didn't mention, is that at breakfast, I found a nail in my own rear tire. It seemed to be holding air, so I left it in and monitored the TPMS for the rest of the trip. I pulled it out at home in the garage and it hadn't gone through...even though it was about 3/4 of an inch long. I just went outside to look at the puncture site. My plan was to "seal" the puncture opening with some rubber cement as a preventative. Didn't need to. The rubber came back together to the point I missed the puncture site the first time I looked. I've heard tire rubber revulcanizes as the tire wears up to seal holes anyway. I can't find it in writing and so it may be just an Internet rumor.
Chris
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My daughter was visiting so we went to Hot Springs, Montana. Had lunch and rode back. Turns out that the distance was exactly 99.9 miles
To the Baltimore office, on the busy highways. On the way home, I took the shaded route.
I smelled corn growing, new-mown grass, and freshly-sawn oak as I passed by a downed tree that had been sawn into manageable size chunks. It was up and down, lean and lean again, making lazy curves on the undulating ribbon of two-lane (or less) asphalt, dancing in and out between shadows and sunlight. In the deep shade, the air was deliciously cool and refreshing.
I count it as a bonus that it takes longer to get home via this and similar routes, rather than jockeying for space, getting tailgated and crowded, and having to be hyper-vigilant in a swirl of aggressive, distracted, self-absorbed, discourteous cage drivers.
I smelled corn growing, new-mown grass, and freshly-sawn oak as I passed by a downed tree that had been sawn into manageable size chunks. It was up and down, lean and lean again, making lazy curves on the undulating ribbon of two-lane (or less) asphalt, dancing in and out between shadows and sunlight. In the deep shade, the air was deliciously cool and refreshing.
I count it as a bonus that it takes longer to get home via this and similar routes, rather than jockeying for space, getting tailgated and crowded, and having to be hyper-vigilant in a swirl of aggressive, distracted, self-absorbed, discourteous cage drivers.
scootac
Will Ride for Food
Did PGR funeral escort duty for a 92 year old Navy veteran. My ST, 2 GWs.....and 10-12 HD trikes.
About 200 miles till I got home.
About 200 miles till I got home.
Best I could do is just a pc of Mariah
That brings back a memory of riding in Italy Jim a few years back. We were going through Cortina towards Venice and the temperature was lovely at about 80 with clear Dolomite mountain air. As we dropped down towards Venice it honestly felt like someone had set my coat on fire. Can't ever remember feeling warmer anywhere including the Middle East. What I would have given for an electric screen that day. The cold beer was good.
Upt'North.