Riding the New Bike Home, Day 3

Monday dawned crisp and clear and full of promise. I walked over to the Denny’s next door for some grub. One of the best things about being a gal riding solo is how easy it is to Own a Room — all I have to do is wear my motorcycle gear and step inside any eatery in a small town.

I was fat, happy, and on the road by 8am. Did I mention that the weather was perfect?

Miracle #5: The Weather

Those of us who live in the PNW are fortunate enough to be able to ride year round. I’m certainly no stranger to riding in the rain, but I ain’t going to say no to dry weather either. The schizophrenic weather forecast wasn’t much help, but if you can bank on one thing when planning a ride on the coast during February, you can bank on it being chilly and wet. Pack your rain gear!

This was pretty much how the weather turned out around the time of my trip:

Wednesday: rain
Thursday: drizzle
Friday: spittin’ kittens
Saturday: partly cloudy
Sunday: mostly sunny
Monday: glorious sunshine
Tueday: pouring down rain
Wednesday: rain

I somehow managed to catch the only three day window of dry weather in a two week time span.

Anyway, Day 3 was the last day of my trip, and the only day where I didn’t have something holding my nose to the grindstone to keep me moving. I could dawdle my way up the coast, and so I did, and took a bunch more pictures too.

At my first stop, I caught my new bike making moves on this big boat:

What a hussy!

At a turnoff just south of Gold Beach, OR:

Gold Beach is the home of the famous Barnacle Bistro, which serves the best fish-n-chips I’ve ever had. Unfortunately, I arrived too early to enjoy some tasty food, but I’ll be back in June for the Gone Coastal ADV gathering. Perhaps you’ll join us?

I thought I was safe after the incident with the boat, but apparently anything’s fair game to this SV:

This one’s for fuzzygalore!

A little while later, I ran into some road construction.

I may have been stuck in traffic, but that didn’t stop me from checking my email and posting an update to twitter — thanks, modern technology! Then, I looked over to the left and said, “Hey, that rock looks like a whale!”

Indeed it does!

And here’s a picture of some famous lighthouse:

At this stop, I ran into some friendly Canadians — and really, are there any other kind? — who offered to take my picture:

Their car had BC plates so I asked them if they were fleeing from the Olympics. They laughed and said yes, they were in a way, but that their friends back in Vancouver had reported that the atmosphere was very festive. I’m sure it was. I mean, all you need is a box of Timbits and you’ve got yourself an instant party. Or was that a 12 pack of Molson?

I continued to mosey my way north until I reached this bridge, which is my very favorite bridge ever:

Bonus points if you know where it is.

Then back on the road for a little ways, when I just had to get a picture of this:

It’s not every day that you see a 20 foot tall Japanese man offering you a tray of sushi.

I was about 50 miles from home and smelling the barn now. I pulled into my driveway a little after 4:30pm. I was home, and I had an SV650 in my garage. All was right in the world.

Tagged as: Motorcycling