The Y2K+6 Ride, S.O.U.P.C.A.N.

(Semi-Organized Ultimate Pacific Coast Annual Navigation)

Pictures, Trip Reports, Photo Links, etc.

The Riders…

And their steeds…

Attendees

Name	Home City, State, Country	Bike Ridden
David Busey	Beaverton, Oregon	1998 PC800
Rick Corwine	Chanhassen, Minnesota	2006 FJR1300
Roy Coss	Elk Grove, California	2003 GL1800
Jim Geary	Felton, California	2005 ST1300
George Hilsinger	Yakima, Washington	Funny looking 4 wheeled thing
Gloria Hilsinger	Yakima, Washington	“Passenger” with George
Thomas E. Humphrey II	Clayton, California	1994 PC800
Paul Jacobsen	Danville, California	1990 PC800
Mike Kanitsch	Phoenix, Arizona	passenger with Roy Coss
Michael Knutter	Tenino, Washington	1989 PC800
Jim Ledakis	Great Falls, Montana	1989 PC800
Dave Misunas	Santa Cruz, California	1990 PC800
Harry Mitchell	Great Falls, Montana	1995 PC800
Chris Moore	Fort Bragg, California	1989 PC800
Fish Mosser	??, Washington	1989 PC800
Peter Noeth	Rocklin, California	1996 PC800
Bruce Pickett	Federal Way, Washington	1990 PC800
Ned Porges	Seattle, Washington	1989 PC800
Jason Scarborough	Santa Ynez, California	1995 PC800
Leland Sheppard	Placerville, California	1990 PC800
Joe Smith	Port Angeles, Washington	1989 PC800
Carol Spencer	Coos Bay, Oregon	passenger with Harry
Harry Spencer	Coos Bay, Oregon	?? GL1800
John Treiber	Lake City, Florida	1996 PC800
Pat Treiber	Lake City, Florida	passenger with John
Bob Walton	Milwaukie, Oregon	1994 PC800
Dean Williams	Springfield, Oregon	1998 PC800 in glorious yellow
Kel Williams	Cottage Grove, Oregon	1999 BMW 1200C
Jerry Wright	Beaverton, Oregon	1997 PC800
David Zagorodney	Tigard, Oregon	1994 PC800
30 people		25 bikes, 20 PC800s

Tom Humphrey’s Trip Report

Monday, September 18, 2006

Trip Report – Y2K+6 “SOUPCAN”

A late start on Sunday Morning, Sept. 10th was necessary as the prior week I was on “vacation” in Escondido. But that added a new excitement: Dave from Santa Cruz was to meet me at my house and we would ride together to meet the group at Ft. Bragg on Sunday evening.

Dave arrived promptly and was immediately established as a quality rider – already gassed up and ready to ride. So a half hour or so of freeway droning and we were soon on CA Hwy 128 in Napa – the renowned Silverado Highway. Calm traffic, scenic wineries & vineyards, and great vistas on wonderful roads took us through the wine country and around Calistoga where the road turned more twisty, rural, and fun. A short slog on Hwy 101 and then back on Hwy 128 in Cloverdale and into the remote and lovely Anderson Valley. A stop for lunch in Boonville and a shared Anderson Valley Brewery Oatmeal Stout was great! Then a nice leisurely ride until Hwy 128 terminates in the Pacific Coast Highway about 20 miles south of Ft. Bragg. Dave went to the Super 8 motel, and I continued to the north end of town to the Vista Manor Best Western – the “approved” hotel of the ride. What? Nobody there? Unknown to me, so many riders were not able to book there that the Super 8 became the motel of choice this year. Oh well, at least the room was superior with a new thick and oh-so-comfy mattress and divine pillows and nice cotton fitted sheets. Wow, if the entire trip is going to be as comfortable and refined as this night, I’m in heaven.

A fine dinner at the Warf (under new ownership) was excellent, with all Coasters served quickly and the food was better than ever. I broke out the package of Ann Reid’s “goodies” and after reading her Riders Prayer and explaining some exploits of Ann to the newer Coasters, we dove into the goodies: wooden nickels, plastic bugs, snakes, lizards, aliens, wall-riders, and other strange and childish goodies that Ann is renowned for. The favorite was a big assortment of finger lights – little lights that Velcro attached to a finger with colored LED bright lamps in colors that either were steady-on or that flashed at different rates. Wow, was that exciting! The entire restaurant was abuzz with wonder at the lights, and the staff (extremely attractive young ladies) bugged us for the lights, which the guys seemed willing to give the ladies and the ladies wore proudly as the evening progressed. The place was a light show, with a couple of dozen finger lights blinking and lit everywhere in the place, and we were the hit of the town. So while Ann couldn’t be with us this year, she really made her presence known.

Monday was cool and a bit overcast, and as we gathered at the beach for the start-of-the-ride photo, there were about 16 PC’s and 3 “other” bikes in attendance. One PC with a trailer; a one-wheeled Uni-Go, and another PC with a big wart on its right side.

Oh, that was no wart – it was Leland himself leading us in his red PC with matching Hannigan side-car. If you can ever get Leland to give you a ride in his sidecar, you are in for an amazing experience that is a totally different experience to “normal” motorcycling. Do it.

The ride continued north, and the “Ugly Iguana” of Hwy 1 from the ocean to Leggett was run without incident. I counted 325 corners in about 22 miles. While the Tail of the Dragon boasts 318 turns in only eleven miles, the Ugly Iguana still brings smiles and a good workout. What a great road.

On through the Redwoods in the Avenue of Giants after a satisfying lunch in Garberville, and on to the “Lost Coast” road – often one lane, rutted and pot-holed and full of gravel and sand and a terrible road, but such magnificent vistas of the ocean and the desolate Lost Coast that we ignore the beating the road dealt to our ‘cycles and ourselves. And no Fog. Honest! There was a finger of fog here and there on the coast, but the ride was not frigid and the vistas were as never before seen. What lovely weather we were treated to. I was able to follow Leland on the twisty roads for about 25 miles, and wow can he man-handle that PC with sidecar! He attacked the corners and you could see how hard he was working to turn and muscle into the twists, turns and hazards of the road. Try as I might to keep up with Leland, I often lost sight of him and the sidecar. Now Leland has always been a “cornering fool” where few can compete, but I was amazed that his sidecar weight, size, and width didn’t seem to slow him down. Leland sets the standards in cornering ability, both in a naked PC and with little difference in his sidecar unit.

Arrival at the Motel 6 in Eureka was not well anticipated as that is a nasty motel – one of Motel 6’s all time worst. While it has been renovated, it is still among my least tolerated. But dinner at the Woodley Island Marina was excellent, and the social fun lasted almost 2 hours of food and fun and fellowship.

Tuesday brought excellent, but cool, weather. We wandered up Hwy 101 past Crescent City and into Oregon. On the coast past Brookings, Gold Beach, Port Orford and into Coos Bay to a much nicer Motel 6. A few more “Coasters” joined us and dinner at the Italian Restaurant was excellent in both food and service, and “goodies” were passed out and a motorcycle trivia quiz was played for a complimentary dinner. With sheer guessing, I won after tying Rick twice, so a flip of the coin purchased my delightful veal dinner. Lucky me!

Wednesday was also bright and cool, and we left Coos Bay and continued up the coast. The lighthouse side tour was passed on due to fog, and a bit of the ride was fog shrouded. Lunch in Newport at Mo’s on the water brought smiles as warm clam chowder in bread bowls warmed the chill off of some Coasters tired of the fog. The afternoon ride stopped at the Tillamook Air Museum in the blimp hanger – wow, what a huge building! Built in 1942 during WW2, the building is 1,072’ long, 296’ wide, and has an interior height of 192’. It was filled with actual flying antique and historical aircraft, many privately owned and all airworthy, and while we were there only about 60-90 minutes, I could have spent hours more exploring these aircraft. If you are ever in the area, make the Tillamook Air Museum a “Must Stop.” It is seen from Hwy 101.

The evening was spent at an upscale and roomy and very comfortable Motel 6 in Seaside. Big rooms, interior hallways, microwave and fridge – sure beats the Eureka Motel 6 by a factor of 10! Dinner at the steakhouse next door was good, with a really hustling waitress taking good care of us.

Thursday morning found new rain on our bikes with overcast skies and cool moisture promised for the ride. Across the mighty Columbia river into Washington. Now the famed north-west fir forests were the norm, with much of the road like a trench lined with green.

Lunch at Lana’s Hanger Café at the Hoquiam airport was a bit slow getting served, but as some riders were still trying to find us it all worked out. The motto seems to be reflected in the sign in the café: “Beware of Attack Waitresses.” A good lunch, this year with a higher ceiling and actual aircraft activity as opposed to the last time where the heavens dumped massive water on us while we ate and the airport seemed deserted.

Last ride I remember trying to ride the 207+ miles from Seaside to Forks on one tank of gasoline, and I woosied out and gassed up 2 ½ miles off the road in a park, only to calculate that I could have made it to Forks on 4.0 gallons. So this year I decided to try it, and it worked! I limped into Forks after 216.3 miles on 3.855 gallons of gas, giving me an excellent 56.10895 miles per gallon. Amazing what shifting before 4,000 rpm and keeping speeds around 55 mph can do for good mileage. The motel was fine; dinner at the Smokehouse was excellent with Joe from Port Angeles joining us with his girlfriend. He brought his 33 year old Norton through hail and rain, and impressed me by starting it on the first kick. We were now down to about a dozen for dinner: 5 PC’s (one ridden two-up), a GL1800 also ridden two-up, a blue ST1300 and Rick’s blue FJR.

Friday morning was cool and sunny with patches of white clouds – a welcomed respite from the forecast of rain. Years ago Leland an I rode a 3 day, 1,000 mile annual Death Valley Ride where some 3.9 gallons of diesel fuel somehow found its way into Leland’s’ PC. I have been teasing him about it for years, and telling others, too. Every year we ride the same ride, and we always stop at the same Chevron station in Ridgeway and fuel up at the same pump. It is a ritual game we play, and the diesel was an anomaly due to 4 hoses at one pump – anyone could have made the same mistake. And to prove that anyone could make such a fueling error, it seems that Jim pumped almost 6 gallons of diesel into his ST1300 in Forks! So Leland was able to advise him what to do (experience IS the best teacher) and after an emergency fuel dump and thanks to the 5 gallon fuel bottle Leland had stashed in his sidecar, the ST1300 was back to its 125 hp glory. Well, after performing a great job of mosquito abatement blue cloud procedure for the town…

A picturesque ride past rain forests, deep-colored lakes, and into Port Angeles traffic. It was time to fuel before the ride up to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic Range in the Olympic National Park. While the ride up was enjoyable, we soon were in the clouds near the summit and had temperatures around 36 degrees. Cold!

The visitor center was enjoyed, much hot chocolate was consumed, and we briefly saw some peaks and glaciers between clouds. Descending from almost 6,500’ back to sea level we stopped at a few vistas: The Strait of Juan De Fuca, the San Juan Islands, Vancouver Island and British Columbia Canada and Puget Sound were all visible. Lovely!

Lunch was at a place Bruce recommended right on Hwy 101 at the junction of Washington Hwy 20. A burger stop. Burgers and fries. And what burgers! Two 1/3 pound patties, special sauce, fluffy buns – three of them! – and home-cut fries. Three of our brave crew were able to actually finish the burger…

Feeling all warm and frugal, I tried again to ride the day on one tank of gasoline from Forks to Tumwater. And I did it again, this time getting my all-time best mileage. I was able to go 216.2 miles to Tumwater and refilled with 3.785 gallons (just 87 octane, please) to get my best mileage of 57.12 miles per gallon. Yea! Keeping speeds down to 55 and less, and rolling gentle on the throttle and short shifting really pay off.

Motel 6 in Tumwater welcomed us, but it was a sad welcome due to the ride ending. Because of the late 3:00 pm lunch and the huge size of it, I and some others declined the dinner down the street at the Mexican place. Just too full, still.

The next am I was up and out by 7:20 am, waving goodbye at the few Coasters still there. How sad to end the ride……

It was so nice to re-meet so many Coasters, and meet new folks too. There seemed to be a lot of people that joined up for a dinner, a day, or a few days. Also, quite a few left early due to health or being needed at home, or dreaded WORK. Dave, I looked around and you weren’t there – where did you go? It felt like the family was moving away, and that is the saddest part of the trip.

There were only two “incidents” on the trip – one being the diesel fuel issue and another with Jason’s black PC developing a front shake. Bad wheel bearings. He was lucky to find another brand of motorcycle dealer who had the right sized bearings (in a pack of 3 for a quad) who installed them and Jason was back on the road. No known “tip-overs”, running out of gasoline, or crashes or breakdowns. Amazing machines, these PC’s!

Now, ignore the rest if you don’t like statistics…..

I had a reservation at Motel 6 in Weed, CA when I departed Tumwater, but like last Y2K+4 I thought I might ride straight through to home… And I did. The BIG DRONE down I-5. Weather was overcast through Washington, but lightened to blue sky and fluffy white clouds in Oregon. Portland to Eugene was a parking lot with stop and go traffic for almost 120 miles. Car after car was decorated in flags and banners and pom-poms in the Oregon team colors, and the off ramp to the University was backed up for about 5 miles in Eugene. How frustrating for me, but what a party for the Oregon faithful. The road then opened up, and I continued on running in Sacramento Valley heat of high 80’s or low 90’s under clear skies to my home in the SF Bay area. Thirteen hours from start to finish, 5 gasoline stops (including fill-up just before home) and I had covered 736 miles on 14.6 gallons for an average speed of 56.6 mph and a consumption of 50.4 mpg. Not bad for the 2 hours of stop-and-go and then cruising at 65-75 mph. This is much better than in ’04 when I averaged 44.7 gallons doing the same ride (738 miles) on 16.5 gallons and averaging a higher speed of 55.7 mph, when the weather was even cooler.

The total trip for me was 1,984.4 miles, with 37.8 gallons of 87 octane fuel used, for an average of 52.49 mpg. In ’04 the ride was a bit cooler and much wetter and I did 1,969.3 miles averaging 48.86 mpg.

My ‘94 PC with 63k miles has been tuned only once, at about 35k miles and since has run feeling “uneven” when throttle is applied and the engine is under load. It seems to chug and feels like the cylinders provide different amounts of power. More so if I lug it under 3,000 rpm. So maybe a “poor state of tune” helps to increase gas mileage? Or was I consciously riding with economy in mind?

Expenses:

37.8 gallons of fuel (avg. $2.978+ per gal) $ 112.58

Motels – 6 nights (avg. per night $60.19) $ 361.14

Dining & snacks (1 free dinner) $ 176.05

Admissions, gifts, toiletries, etc. $ 50.02 Total………………. $ 749.81

The average cost was $ 124.97 per day, or if you look at it as a 7 day trip (6 overnights) then it is only $107.11per day of riding. Where else can you have so many friends together, such great scenic views, and so much fun for just a hundred bucks a day on motorcycles? Just try booking a reservation anywhere for just just $100 all inclusive? And if you ride two-up and share a room, you can really get costs down to about $65 a day or less per person.

I ate real well – seafood and veal and gained 4 lbs.

“Tuppie” Tom, a.k.a. Hump-the-Grump
“Lemmings Non Sumas”
’94 black PC “Tuppie II”, 67k rider
Lelands Rides, HSTA, AMA, No. Cal. PC’ers, ipcrc, all Y2K rides
President – Clayton Valley Pacific Coast Owners & Riders Club
In the shadow of Mt. Diablo in Clayton Valley, CA
In the End, it will be Alright.
If it is not Alright, then it is not yet the end!

CAUTION: The views here reflect only my poor memory and subjective viewpoints. Your mileage may vary. Not intended to imply actual facts. Not responsible for, well, anything, as I have proven so many times before. And will prove again in the future.

Leland Sheppard’s Trip Report

Hi Coasters and PCHers,

Well, the Y2K+6 PCH ride also known as S.O.U.P.C.A.N. was a dandy.

I started out Saturday 9/9 from Placerville with Handsome Hannigan loaded with stuff. I headed for the usual rendevous in West Sacramento where I met Peter Noeth, Roy Coss and Mike Kanitsch.

We headed west and after winding through the Napa wine country for a couple of hours descended on the Mickey D’s in Windsor. 

After lunch, we headed north on US101 until we got to the junction with CA128. Following this lovely road which angles off toward the northwest and the coast at Albion, we cruised through Boont (Boonville) and the surrounding wine country. We stopped for a brief break at the junction of CA128 and CA1.

Several more people joined us in Fort Bragg and we had a good dinner and conversation at the Cliff House Saturday evening.

It seemed strange not to be staying at the Vista Manor this year. They had been booked up when I made my reservations and I ended up staying at the Super 8 at the other end of town. A bunch of the other folks had run into the same problem and were also at the Super 8. That worked out quite well since we were able to walk to dinner at the Cliff House and, if there had been a sidewalk, we could actually have walked to the Wharf on Sunday as well.

Sunday, we took a little jaunt back up through the coastal mountains. >From Fort Bragg we took CA20 to Willits (a dandy stretch of road that one), US101 to Ukiah, CA253 (another dandy) to CA128 and into Boonville for lunch.

After lunch, Peter Noeth headed for home. Roy Coss suggested we try an alternate route to get to the coast so we took Mountain View Road out of Boonville down to CA1 where it intersected just above Point Arena.

This road was reminiscent of the Lost Coast route in that it was rough pavement. But it was a good route with lots of curves and good scenery. Good thought, Roy. We might just incorporate that one into the regular route for Sunday.

We got a nice run up the coast on CA1 from below Manchester all the way to Fort Bragg.

At several points after we left Ukiah, Roy took the lead on his Wing. Handsome Hannigan and I just weren’t going quite fast enough. I think I did better at following someone else than at leading with the sidecar rig during this trip.

Sunday evening, bunches more people had arrived and we had a good dinner at the Wharf. During dinner, Tom Humphrey passed out a bunch of goodies that Ann Reid had sent. I had made the mistake of telling Ann how quiet I thought the ride would be since she wasn’t going to be there. She took care of that in good shape. 🙂

Everyone, including the staff, ended up with lighted fingers, aliens in their pockets, etc. My pictures, which will soon be on the web, pretty well show the situation. Ann was certainly there in spirit.

Monday morning we headed for McKerricher Park just north of Fort Bragg. There is a nice 2 level parking lot right on the beach. Makes for a good photo op and we took full advantage of that getting photos of the PCs, the mongrel (non-PC) bikes and the folks riding all of them.

After that, we headed for The Ugly Iguana, that wonderful stretch of CA1 that stretches from the coast to Leggett. Tom Humphrey said he counted 329 corners. I thought there were more than that but in any case, the sidecar was in the air for most of those. Yeeeehaaaaaa!!! Handsme Hannigan and I were getting a workout!

We stopped briefly along CA1 at Leggett and, when everyone had gathered, headed for the drive through Chandelier Tree in Leggett. Most of us got our pictures taken driving through the tree. Handsome Hannigan JUST squeezed through. In getting off to get a picture of the bike sitting in the tree, I had to climb out between the sidecar and the bike.

Next we headed for Garberville and GettyUp Burger for lunch. They told us that if they had known we were coming (again), they’d have locked the doors. Hmmmm… I THINK they were kidding! 🙂

After Garberville, we headed onto the Avenue of the Giants, a long, winding, smooth stretch of pavement through the redwood groves. Gorgeous route. Giant trees.

Coming out of the woods, at one point, we turned onto Mattole Road and headed out onto the Lost Coast area. At this point, Dean Williams took the lead followed by several others. I spent the next hour and a half chasing the 4 of them. That was fun. And I was keeping up with them, sidecar or no. My cornering practice had paid off. Call me tickled…

In spite of the condition of the road, the “highway” through the Lost Coast is CA211. You’d never know it. At one point, the road runs right along the beach. I stopped to get a shot of Handsome Hannigan with the Pacific in the background. It’s a beautiful spot. Just Hannigan and me and the cows and an occasional PCer going by.

At the end of this stretch of road is a grade that I would guess is close to 25%. There are a couple of sections in the Sierras that are 23% and 24% (on CA108 and CA4 respectively) and this one is at least that steep. At the top is a SHARP right hander. I had been concerned about navigating this section with the sidecar rig but needn’t have been. I climbed the hill in second or third (I forget which) and took the right hander in second. Most likely the sidecar was off the ground during the latter but I don’t remember for sure. In any case, the PC handled that grade and corner without batting an eye.

At this point, several others had passed me and I was following Rick Corwine on his FJR 1300. When we got down the hill into Ferndale, we stopped for a butt break. Dean and the others were already there.

We finally continued on from Ferndale into Eureka for the night. Dinner was out at Cafe Marina on Woodley Island and it was good as usual. We had the back room to ourselves and had a good time visiting and eating.

Tuesday, we left Eureka and headed into Oregon. We had a good lunch at the “usual” place in Brookings; can’t remember the name of it but my stomach sure recognizes it when we get there. The Port Orford motorcycle museum had closed earlier in the year so we didn’t have that stop. We did stop at the Cape Blanco lighthouse in spite of the fog. It was cold, windy and foggy out near the point but you could see the lighthouse. A few photos and then back to warmer climes.

We got into Coos Bay early enough for me to go shopping to find a new pair of shoes. My old Clark’s disintegrated on me on the way to Coos Bay. Too much using the feet as the reverse gear for the sidecar rig for them to take, I think.

We rode down near Benetti’s, walked the last couple of blocks and had a fine dinner in the second floor dining room. Nice view across to the water, good food and the usual terrific camaraderie. A few new folks joined us at Coos Bay.

Wednesday, we started out and headed for Mo’s in Newport. Good clam chowder, charming atmosphere. After lunch, we continued on north to Seaside. As we left Mo’s I was remembering the wet miserable day Dean Williams and I had on my preview ride in May of 2004. It was here that Dean lent me his Aerostich over-gloves and headed home. None of that this year though. It was fine all the way to Seaside.

Instead of taking the 3 cape tour this year, we stayed on 101 and headed for the air museum at Tillamook. They have it in a dirigible hangar which is vintage WWII. Amazing thing about the huge hangar is that it is ALL wooden construction. Amazing. The arches (wooden) are 192 feet tall.

Great display of airplanes. I spent 2 or 3 hours wandering around. There were many cockpits you could climb into. And some folks did. This is a good museum. And they fly most or all of these airplanes. They had drip trays sitting under most of them as a way of proving it. I wish I had time for the biplane flight; maybe next time… They had everything from WWII war birds to modern jet fighters, engines, engine cutaways, gyrocopters, etc. Even a small blimp and a couple of helicopters including one that had twin rotors. Now this is not unusual except that these two rotors were NEXT to each other. THAT took some engineering!

At Seaside, we walk across the parking lot for dinner. The locals had told me that they eat at Big Foot’s Pub and Grub which is next door to the Motel 6. Rick Corwine said he felt a thirst coming on… Big Foot’s is rustic and the food is good. Signals got crossed though because the waitress was NOT expecting to do separate tickets even though I had reminded her boss that we wanted it that way. She recovered and handled things OK and we got out without incurring the wrath of the local gendarmerie or washing dishes. I know I quenched my thirst; I expect that Rick did too.

It was at Big Foot’s that Dean Williams brought out the second package of stuff from Ann Reid. More merriment. Once again, Ann was very much there in spirit.

Thursday we lost several people to the weather report. It was raining lightly as we got ready to depart from Seaside and this discouraged several folks from continuing on. Unfortunately for them, it rained for about 10 minutes and stopped and the rest of the day was cloudy but mostly dry. An occasional sprinkle but nothing more. 

We even had lunch at Lana’s Hangar Cafe in Hoquiam, Washington again and this time we had no deluge and actually got to see a couple of planes take off and land.

We continued north after a good lunch and I was looking for gas. Rick’s GPS said there was gas about 16 miles north and the waitress at Lana’s had agreed. Unfortunately, neither was correct. There was a market at that location but no gas. Although starting to sweat, I continued on and, whew, 15 or 20 miles farther up the road we found a gas station. I was pretty much running on fumes by that time; it took just under 4 gallons to fill the beast at that point (that was actually less gas than I figured it would take…).

When we got to Forks, Washington, our destination for the night, I asked the lady at the motel desk if they had had any rain that day. They had not.

We headed up the road a couple of miles for dinner at the Smokehouse. The smoked salmon fettucini alfredo was as delicious as I had remembered. My stomach thanked me.

Friday morning it was clear that some rain had fallen during the night. But the sun was out and it was looking like a good day. It was not so good a day for Jim Geary. He had filled his ST1300 that morning and as he was getting ready to pull out of the parking lot, it was NOT sounding good. Sputtering, no acceleration, smoking some, etc.

I have photographic proof that I am no longer the only PCer to put diesel in his bike. Jim had added over 3 gallons of diesel to the tank of his ST (he also has a PC so he qualifies as a PCer). That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Fortunately, mechanic extraordinaire Roy Coss was with us. Roy helped Jim get the seat, shelter cover and various other parts off so Jim could drain the lower tank (it’s in two sections on the ST) and get rid of the diesel. I contributed my 5 gallon can of gas so that once the diesel/contaminated gas was drained out, we could put some fresh gas into Jim’s bike. It worked. The bike sounded rough for a little bit but by the time we got to Port Angeles, an hour or two away, Jim said it was running like normal. Whew. Catastrophe avoided. Thanks, Roy, for your always able assistance!!

Crescent Lake, on the way to Port Angeles, was gorgeous as usual. We stopped for a photo op along the lake. Rick Corwine had headed north and was going to catch up with us later. We will probably give Rick’s route a try on the next northern run since it was only 18 or 20 miles longer than the route we took.

At Port Angeles, we stopped for fuel and then headed up Hurricane Ridge. The road was wet and we were in the clouds for much of the trip up. It was cold, too, and had dropped to 36 degrees by the time we got to the visitor’s center. A cup of hot cocoa at that point took care of the problem. The cloud cover was heavy but the sun would peek through now and then as would mountain peaks, glaciers, etc. Definitely worth the trip up. And if the road had been dry, it would have been a REALLY good run up. And down…

Coming back down, we stopped at a couple of overlooks, one of which allowed us to see all the way to Canada, the other side of Puget Sound, etc. Great view.

We continued on to Fat Smitty’s. Fat Smitty’s is a local institution near the turn off to Port Townsend. There is a statue (wooden, I think) of a burger out in front of the place. We got a table and a note. Turns out that Ned Porges, Rick Corwine and someone else had skipped Hurricane Ridge and gotten to Fat Smitty’s ahead of us. They waited for a while and then left us a note and went on. We ate.

Boy, did we eat. I looked at the menu and opted for the “Fat Smitty’s Burger”. I wasn’t paying attention to the fact that it was the second most expensive burger on the menu. And when it arrived, it was HUGE. I got a couple of pictures because it borders on the unbelievable. Biggest burger I have ever seen or eaten. Must have been a pound of meat, half a pound of bread, etc. I have a big mouth and used every inch of it to take a bite of that sucker. Fortunately, I was hungry so down it went. In fact, I got kudos for the fact that I out-ate the kid (Jason) and finished mine before he finished his. What went almost unnoticed was the fact that John Treiber, the other old fart at the table was right with me, bite for bite. We finished at exactly the same time. Several people gave up on theirs about half way through. I’m sympathetic. When we got back outside, I realized that the burger statue in front is an exact replica of the burger I had just eaten.

On to Tumwater.

That night, we ate at El Sarape Mexican Restaurant which is within walking distance of the Motel 6. Another thirst hit the group. Needless to say, I had a VERY small Mexican dinner. No room after that burger. Lots of shooting the breeze at this meal because it is usually the last for a number of folks.

Saturday, us die hards left, heading for Seattle and the Museum of Flight. Boy, was it worth the trip. There are WWI and WWII and modern sections. There was an SR71 as well as a Sopwith Camel. Talk about running the gamut. We spent 4 or 5 hours here and could easily have spent many more. There is a replica of the first Boeing Aircraft factory. That was fascinating too. For some reason, no cameras were allowed in the section on the Wright Brothers and their machines.

Outside, there were a number of modern jets, a Concorde and an older Air Force One. The Concorde and Air Force One were open to the public to walk through.

Roy Coss and Mike Kanitsch left us after this as Mike had a plane to catch and Roy was going to deposit Mike at the Seattle-Tacoma airport and then head back home.

So Mike Knutter, Rick Corwine and myself headed for Fauntleroy Cove and the ferry to Southworth. I tried to lead from memory, lost a couple of steps in the process and let Rick take over with his GPS. I think I have it committed to memory now, though, so I could and plan to repeat next time. Anyhow, we got to the ferry terminal, paid our dues, got on board and had a very smooth ride to Vashon Island and then to Southworth. The day was absolutely gorgeous.

After departing the ferry (disembarking?) we headed for Gig Harbor. A charming little town. The Harbor Inn was a charming restaurant. I got lost on this one too and had to ask directions; we then found the restaurant OK. Very nice restaurant, excellent food, very good service. We wandered around the marina for a while afterwards to walk off a little of the dinner.

On the way back, we crossed the Tacoma Narrows bridge. This is the replacement for the bridge that started galloping (Galloping Gertie) in the wind back in the 50s (?) until it collapsed. They built a replacement at that time and now they are building another replacement.

We continued on until Mike Knutter cut off to see some folks and Rick and I headed for the barn.

Sunday, Rick and I said our goodbyes. He was heading for US 12 and starting back toward Minnesota and I was heading north to visit an old friend in Canada.

Monday, I started a Saddle Sore 1000 (Iron Butt run) in Aldergrove, BC, Canada at about 9AM. I drove the rig all the way to Tracy, California and turned around and headed for home. When I reached Cameron Park, California I had about 1020 miles on the rig. It was 3:30AM or so for an 18 and a half hour SS1000. And I only ran off the road once. 🙂

Just north of Sacramento, I moved into the high speed lane on I5 to pass a truck and woke up on the shoulder/median. Since I was driving a sidecar rig, gravel at 70mph didn’t hurt a thing. I slowed down to about 45 by turning the throttle off and, at 45, pulled back onto the freeway. I worked VERY hard not to let that happen again the rest of the way home.

It was a good trip. 2829 miles total. My mileage on the sidecar rig varied from a low of 26.7mpg to a high of 39.9mpg. I drove at 65-75mph most of the time.

Except for about 10 minutes of rain at Seaside and a few sprinkles at various other locations, the weather could not have been a whole lot nicer.

And as usual, we had a really good time.

Thanks for joining me, everybody. Looking forward to next year.

Leland

— 
Leland Sheppard
Placerville, California, USA

…Life is good on the Pacific Coast…