Words and photos by JK
Saturday morning we packed up and Garrett wanted to ship some excess clothes and things back home so a UPS shop was on the menu. He had run out to find a post office and had a fright when he heard a big bang from his transmission. After a lot of checking and chain adjustment he concluded a stone got trapped in the primary sprocket and the chain eventually bust it with a bang. He told me about ten times so I know it had him rattled. Mind you, a major breakdown in Renton WA would have me jumping off a bridge. Talk about traffic jams! The whole Seattle area is a solid sea of metal cubes rubbing plastic ends ad infinitum. We split the lanes rather than spend two weeks riding the 10 miles to the motel. One jealous duffer in an old pick-up honked in rage. Sad man. get rid of your big gas-guzzling hunk of junk and get a bike! Nice small carbon footprint dude!
Saturday morning we packed up and Garrett wanted to ship some excess clothes and things back home so a UPS shop was on the menu. He had run out to find a post office and had a fright when he heard a big bang from his transmission. After a lot of checking and chain adjustment he concluded a stone got trapped in the primary sprocket and the chain eventually bust it with a bang. He told me about ten times so I know it had him rattled. Mind you, a major breakdown in Renton WA would have me jumping off a bridge. Talk about traffic jams! The whole Seattle area is a solid sea of metal cubes rubbing plastic ends ad infinitum. We split the lanes rather than spend two weeks riding the 10 miles to the motel. One jealous duffer in an old pick-up honked in rage. Sad man. get rid of your big gas-guzzling hunk of junk and get a bike! Nice small carbon footprint dude!
I had seen the warnings on the news. Today would be 104 degrees. With the humidity of the north-west this would be tough. 231.1 miles we managed. It was beyond hot. It was hysterical-laughter-in-desperation hot. Nevertheless we thoroughly enjoyed the ride on Hwy 169 to 410 around Mount Rainier, especially when we reached the snow and enjoyed 10 minutes of refreshing cold air. We pulled in for petrol and saw a sea of sports bikes. I grabbed a cold water as Garrett emptied the shop of cheesey-meaty snacks and sweets. I wish I'd had the sense to eat something as later I was hit very hard by the extreme heat. We chatted with the other riders and learned to our disappointment that the road to Mt St Helens was still closed. They reckoned it was snow. So we decided to just get down near Portland and headed out filled with fuel. A short way along the road I felt a small bite on my left wrist inside my glove. I rubbed the glove on my thigh and got a dozen more bites. I pulled over and as I pulled off the glove a spider fell out onto the road. My wrist was on fire and it is driving me mad with itch as I type this a day later! I ran over the little swine.
My butt was beginning to ache and we both realised that it was really the heat that hurt as opposed to a hard saddle. When you open your face shield for fresh air it's like a hair dryer in your face. I stopped for cherries by the roadside. I was beginning to flag. Once again human herding got me ticked off. I had pulled into an empty middle-of-nowhere gravel lot for petrol and the $1 cherries (a vain attempt at health - I usually follow a nutrician-free diet) and within 20 seconds 42 million wallies drove in and proceeded to fight over the petrol pumps.
We got down to Vancouver WA (nice one plonkers, that's not confusing with Vancouver BC just up the road is it?) and attempted to find a motel. Stop after stop resulted in no rooms. Olympic trials and Canadians on hols jammed things up. We stumbled across a large Yamaha dealership called Pro Caliber in Longview WA and I asked about an oil change. 12,000 miles is way beyond the recommended! A very helpful chap called Glen Hobbs told me if I came in at 10am Sunday morning they would take care of my baby. Glen used to use ACT! at his last job in sales. We got a good tip from a receptionist to flee to the Portland airport motels across the Columbia river. We finally managed to get a room and I knew I had been cooked as I lugged the saddlebags the 18 miles to the room on the 3rd floor. I nearly collapsed. A cool shower, a few glasses of water and a quick kip got my heart settled back to it's normal lethargic rate.
We decided on Sunday as a "day off" so I could work all day. I rode to pro Caliber and the mechanic not only did the oil and filter change but cleaned and adjusted the chain for free. Great service. Thank you so much guys! Oh yeah, we watched Germany lose one nil to Spain. I didn't know whom I should cheer for but we agreed Spain was far and away the better side so the best man won. I was pig sick as I read on crash.net that Valentino Rossi fell on lap one at Assen in Holland but at least Ducati won. I made phone calls to set up my visits and the day was gone. Big day tomorrow. No rest for the wicked...
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