The Pacific Northwest and the day I turned my compass East..

July 18th

My time spent in Portland was short; however it just leaves me more to see the next time I come to the west coast. I drove around the city for a bit and ate lunch at a quirky place which Let’s Go recommended to eat at, which was Roxy’s in I assume it was downtown Portland. Similar to San Fran and most other West coast cities everyone there rides bikes. Everyone. Roxy’s was good and was also able to bring my laptop in and do some emailing and other assorted work, no blog updating though, as you may very well tell from the delay in this update. I left Roxy’s for the dreaded Interstate 5 which I had to take all the way up to Seattle where I would be staying for a few days with my great Aunt and Uncle. I really dislike driving on the interstates and I avoid them at all cost, however I had somewhere I needed to be and this was the most direct route. I arrived in Federal Way on the outskirts of Federal Way in the early evening to a warm welcome from my Aunt Anne and Uncle Frank. It really was great to get there finally to Seattle and to see them and I was glad I was spending some extra time there with Aunt Anne and Uncle Frank. My Uncle Frank had a full itinerary planned for me which was good because of course being in a new city I have no idea what to do or where to go, so it is good to have a local show you around. That evening they took me out to dinner at their club and I got to have a real Pacific Northwest salmon, and it was the most amazing thing I have eaten on my entire trip. It definitely is in contention for best meal against the Southern Delight Special I had at Hyman’s in Charleston whilst visiting Chris Back. Tomorrow my Seattle adventure will begin!

July 19th

Arising early, my Aunt Anne and Uncle Frank left to pick up my Mom’s Cousin Judy whom would be going with us to the awesomeness that is Mount Rainer. Now all I remember or know that is of Mount Rainer is what I read one time in Boy’s Life Magazine when I was probably 8 or 9. I just remember it being a really serious mountain and it having varied weather conditions and how dangerous it was to climb. Other than that I knew it was big, a fourteener at that, however I would not be climbing this fourteener as I do not even own adequate equipment. I enjoyed spending time with Judy and I got some real insight into my next adventure after this, which would be getting a dog. We drove all over Mount Rainer and saw some amazing sights, like the Rockies there was tons of snow still on the mountain itself. We drove by reflecting lake however it was not reflecting on this particular day due to the wind, so it was more like ripple lake. When we got to the main Mount Rainer visitors center we grabbed lunch and then Judy and I decided to take a quick hike up the mountain however much to our surprise the mountain had so much snow this year that the walking trail was completely covered in snow, it was basically like walking up a ski slope; we got all of 20 feet and had to turn back because it was just too slippery. I forgot to mention that we also made a quick hike down to the Grove of the Patriarchs, which I highly recommend to anyone visiting Mount Rainer. What it is, is an old growth forest which is completely surrounded by water and had been protected from any forest fires so the trees are absolutely huge in there. My Aunt Anne and I held our hands out and we didn’t even span the width of an entire tree! So Rainer was basically awesome, and to top it all off I had mentioned that I really like Mexican food, and Judy said that she knew of a really good place that their family goes all the time. So we went there and I got to see the rest of my mom’s side of the family as well. The food, wow it was like I was back in the south west riding when I ate burritos every day at every stop I made. At the conclusion of the day I was completely exhausted from my big day at Mount Rainer. I was extremely glad that I got to go there and that my family took me, it was one national park trip that I will definitely not forget.

July 20th

For my next adventure with Aunt Anne and Uncle Frank I got to spend the day in Seattle. That morning we went to mass; two weekends in a row, I’m on a roll! After church we headed into the city and passed through all the shipping ports and a small fact about me that you are privileged to know is that I am absolutely fascinated with shipping ports, so much so I spent about half my time looking for a job specifically in the shipping industry, however I didn’t exactly spend all my time in school working towards a degree in that field, it was just something that really interested me. So going to the ports was a big deal for me, I got to see all the container ships along with all the cruise liners. We then made our way over to pike street which is known for all the fish markets and open air vendors, along with an assortment of other things. This is also where they throw the fish around, which was rather cool to see. Walking through the market on an empty stomach was a big mistake for me because there was so much food, but luckily they had a plethora of free samples which I took full advantage of. The seafood in Seattle is not like any seafood I have ever seen, they had scallops which were the size of baseballs, and I think the biggest ones I have ever eaten had to be the size of quarters, so there was definitely a big difference between the seafood here and everywhere else, that and it was completely fresh! Ok so I watch a lot of Discovery Channel specifically Deadliest Catch and I got to see all the Alaskan King Crab legs that were on sale at the market and wow those things are gigantic. Watching it on tv and seeing the real thing is completely different, I should also mention that these things cost a whoping $15.00 a pound! Another highlight of the market was getting to see some street performer figure out a rubix cube in all of 30 seconds. I couldn’t spend thirty years and figure one of those things out. Lunch time rolled around and we made our way over to the Seattle Sky Needle where we had the biggest meal ever, and I mean biggest because I was full for the next three days. Im actually still slightly full right now and I’m typing this a full four days later. It was three courses and the whole time we were in a restaurant that turned around, ie you sit in one place and the restaurant rotates around so you get to see the entirety of Seattle. Of course I got the salmon again and it was fresh and delicious and amazing, which is the usual case I have come to find out for Seattle seafood. Having not ridden a seattle ferry yet we took the Bainbridge ferry to go see Chief Seattle’s grave. The Puget sound I might add is rediculisouly big, since Im actually writing this a few days later and I have since taken three different ferrys all of which I have been on a minimum of 30 minutes a piece! It was very interesting to see the grave of the person who basically brought everyone to this particular regon and was later infueltial enough to have an entire city named after him. The ferry ride back was a little delayed as there was a long line to get on the ferry back to the mainland. When we got back I again had a rediculsy amazing good night’s sleep, and I got to sleep in the next morning as well, and in a real bed too with a real pillow not a threma rest with an inflated camel back blatter as a head rest.

July 21st

One thing I should mention is that not only has this been an amazing trip in that I am seeing some of the most beautiful parts of America, but I am also getting the chance to see some of my family whom I do not get the chance to see as much as I would like to. At the conclusion of this trip I will have seen every one of my aunts uncles and cousins on both my mom’s and dad’s side of the family. So it has really meant a lot to have this opportunity, if nothing else I will always remember the time I have spent with my family this summer. Today was a down day for me, no touring no sightseeing, and definitely no eating as I stuffed myself the day before at the Sky Needle on some amazing food, hungry as I am now I wish I had my Aunt’s bread pudding….. mmmmm. Today Mav got a much needed oil change and I also replaced the welded on shifter lever that some of you may have read about a month back. To anyone who doesn’t know, I was in Southern New Mexico leaving my campground when I pulled in the clutch and shifted to the next gear when my shift lever just fell right off, the metal had sheared completely off and I had to call my tow company to bring me to a welding shop where this guy John 90 years young welded my shift lever back on and it has done me well ever since Truth or Consequences New Mexico, yes that’s the name, Wikipedia it for more info as to why it’s named that. I put the new after market shifter on and it works like a dream, as strong as good old John’s weld was, it wasn’t just quite perfect and the shifter was rubbing against the engine casing which made shifting a bit of a burden, the new MSR shifter shifts as smooth as butter, its like a whole new maverick! I should also add that in my down time I planned my entire rest of my trip all the way back to Virginia, and for everyone wondering when I will be making my return, I should tentatively be back in the Northern Virginia area around August 12ish, but not without a stop in Michigan and the biggest motorcycle rally in the world, Sturgis South Dakota!!!!!! What a way to end my triumphant journey with a huge motorcycle rally!

July 22nd

I departed early from Seattle, the earliest of any of my departures at that! My aunt Anne made me an awesome sandwich which I am not accustomed to seeing that I am on the road all the time; however this sandwich was a welcomed relief from the peanut butter crackers and tuna fish I have been eating for lunch this past two months. (please note, I am typing this three days in delay and I should also mention that I will most likely have any number of wild animals in my campsite after I go to bed as I have been drinking a nice bottle of wine I picked up at an Oregon vineyard and I have also been eating the left over oyster crackers which I bought for the chicken noodle soup I had. However the chicken noodle soup is all gone now and I just have the crackers, but they make great wine snacking food. But the more wine I had the more crackers I dropped so there are many crackers scattered about my campsite. Cross your fingers no raccoons try to drive maverick away in search of more oyster crackers after they eat all the ones I left all scatterbrained all over the place!) Today I went against everyone suggestions and I drove south to Olympia Washington which meets up with highway 101 that takes you basically the entire way around Olympic national park. So Olympic is amazing if you have the time which I did not, as soon as I got into the park which took me 2 hours from federal way to accomplish, I realized that I did not have enough time to see the sights I wanted to see and make the ferry I was destined for. So I basically raced through Olympic all 400 miles of the entire circumference to make it to the port Townsend ferry which later took me to Anacortes which later took me to Shaw Island but that is another story, and a long one at that! Ok so I raced through Olympic I saw Ruby beach, everyone must see this place its beautiful, it’s unreal, I also went to Hoh Rain forest, again very amazing go there if you get the chance. I then raced from 101 to port Angeles and on to port Townsend. I should let you know if you want to go to the famed hurricane ridge which thousands of people told me to see and I missed because I was going to miss my ferry. So I raced to port Townsend to make my ferry by just two minutes. I got on and much to my surprise there was another bike on board, a great guy by the name of Randy. Now randy had spent the past week on the road coming from Glacier, which is where I am headed. With randy being a local he had a plethora of local info for me, and since he had nowhere to be that day he was like ok so you’re going to Anacortes well your ferry doesn’t leave till nine I will show you around so he took me all over the place. Albeit my 650 cc was no match for his 1000cc Suzuki SV which is of course my dream bike behind a loaded BMW adventure GS, but that is another story in and of itself. So my ultimate destination was Shaw Island in the San Juan Island chain where a fellow Virginia Alum by the name of Sara was staying. I should let you know Sara and I have basically had the exact same route for the past month. She started up the West coast right around when I was heading north on the Pacific Coast Highway and we have basically been a day apart in destinations since then, however like I mentioned before she saw me in Crater Lake visiting with the Country 99.7 RV guys and we have since been meeting up. Honestly it is good to have a familiar face on the road as it gets very very lonely being by yourself as I am tonight, I also sure do wish MA was here! So I hung out with Randy for a while he drove me all over Whibley Island and we grabbed dinner in Anacortes at this pizza slash beer joint it was good and I enjoyed some good company. Randy and I met three guys on BMW Adventure GS’s and well being the true to KLR owner I am I was not impressed by their heavy 1200 cc bikes. The BMW GS is a great bike albeit it is heavy and not made for the stuff I am into. I do not mean to be condescending but these guys were obvisely investment bankers or retired trust fund babies who had the money to buy some amazing bikes which they had no business riding. Sorry for the harsh animosity I just do not like nor do get along with someone who rides a GS all over the country then stays in a hotel. I mean please that bike is made for world touring do not ruin it by staying in a holiday inn everywhere you go. If I had it my way I would have asked those guys to follow me for a week and then we would see who had the last laugh. Ok Ok I should stop now they were nice people but I just had to let you in the low down on the dual sport biking community. Kawasaki KLR’s are better than any multi thousand dollar BMW GS you can ever find! So I parted ways with Randy and raced to catch my Ferry which took me an hour and ten minutes to get to Shaw Island. When I pulled onto the ferry the guy ushering me on looks at my plates and says to me wow you came all the way from Virginia to go to Shaw Island and I replied yes. Apparently Shaw island is small…. Very small it’s just seven square miles, I drove the entire thing just trying to find my campsite.

July 23rd

Familiar faces was a good thing. Seeing fellow east coasters on one of the most northwestern islands in the continental united states minus all the Alaskan islands was a welcomed sight. Everyone was up early to catch the 9:35 ferry off the island which was of course late. Waiting in line for the ferry I met a nice fellow by the name of Dave who has a BMW bike, which I was not offended by as he was much nicer and mellower than the cocky fellows I met the day before at the bar with Randy. We talked bikes and traveling for a while and I really enjoyed some relaxed conservation on bikes for once. The ferry was late of course and I didn’t make my way on until 10ish and I didn’t make it in to Anacortes until late 11ish. As soon as I got into town I high-tailed it east. Today I forgot to mention is officially called East Day, as this is the day that I officially turned my compass and head back east. Sad it is that I will not see the Pacific Ocean until I return again, soon hopefully! So yes today June 23rd is East Day and forever here on out I will celebrate today as East Day. I am celebrating by imbibing on a delicious bottle of Oregon Wine, a cabernet sauvignon that is. So the ride was epic, much twisties much mountains, it actually warmed up a bit too, but I finally made my way to just west of Kettle Falls, I am currently in a National Park Camp ground on a beautiful lake, however its beauty is minimized by the barking dog I have heard for the past hour which is about a half a mile away yet still yapping; I sure do hope I can make it to bed tonight, shut up fido!