Motorcycle Pursuits

My New Ride!

Why would I trade in my beautiful BMW R1200RT for a new FJR? Many reasons. I admit to lusting after this bike since I read a review of the electronic suspension variant earlier this year. I elected to buy the model without electronic suspension, mainly because I rarely changed anything meaningful on my BMW. I am hoping the Yamaha will cost less to maintain, and that it will cost less if something does go wrong. The only real complaint I had with my BWM was the cost of maintenance.

Some other things I already like about the FJR:

- The gas tank is metal. Why is that important? Because my magnetic tank bag will work on it. The BMW had a plastic tank and a funky attachment system. The BMW tank bag was several hundred dollars, thus i never got one.
- The FJR has a few more horsepower - like about 40 more! That really isn't too important to me since I never really felt like I used everything the BMW had. But now I can brag? And the bike does have two settings - touring and sport - so I can take it easy in the touring mode and it is a much more manageable power delivery.
- I can't lie - I love the way the black rims look with the dark red color.

I signed up for the Big Money Rally again this year. This rally starts January 1st, runs through Memorial Day, and involves taking pictures of landmarks throughout the US with your bike in the picture. I did the rally last year and attained finisher status. With my upcoming retirement and plans to take leave for the last couple of months in the Navy, I should have plenty of riding opportunities. I plan to write a little about my trips this year.

Hiking Mt Townsend

Danny and I are planning to hike to the summit of Mt St Helens later this month and decided to use a hike up Mt Townsend as preparation. I recently bought a new pack and wanted to try it out before heading up. It was a pretty nice day and we were on the road before 8 to top off our tanks at a local restaurant. There are literally hundreds of day hikes within about 2 hours of our house, so an early start isn't always necessary.

The trailhead is at the end of about 15 miles of single lane forest service roads - some paved and some not paved. It was a little nerve racking and made me miss my truck a little bit as I felt my car bouncing through dips and over bumps. We made it to the smallish parking area at around 10 and headed up.

The trail starts out very steep as it winds through forested land in the Buckhorn Wilderness area. I imagine many less prepared people turn back because of the somewhat daunting start to the trail. It is well maintained and easy to follow but somewhat steep. After rising about 1000 feet in the first mile the trail becomes more manageable and settles in to a series of about 24 switchbacks as it works its way up the remaining 2000 vertical feet over about 3 miles. The views into the Quilcene valley are pretty amazing as you wind higher and higher - even Danny gave it a serious compliment when he said "this doesn't suck." Wildflowers were in full bloom along the trail for the first couple miles. The last half mile is brutal as you seem to climb straight up to the summit at 6280 feet.

We spent some time at the top taking pictures, eating a snack and trying to decide if we wanted to hike the additional mile to the lesser summit on the north side of the mountain. We elected to not go out there and instead began our descent. The hike up took us about 2 hours and the hike back down took about 1.5 hours. For me, the hike down is always more painful on my knees. I recently bought some trekking poles and that was a big help. Also brought some ibuprofen with me, and that was a bigger help.

All in all, a very good day. Mt Townsend is about 8.2 miles round-trip (4.1 out and 4.1 back) with a roughly 2900 foot elevation gain. Mt St Helens will be a 10 mile round-trip with a 4500 foot gain. I am expecting some awesome pictures from the summit, and we are taking some good company with us to Mt St Helens - our friends Mike and Ken.

Looking back down the trail into the Quilcene Valley.

Wildflowers were in full bloom along the trail.

Another look into the Quilcene Valley from higher up the trail (we were at about 5200 feet here).

On the summit, looking back at the approach trail with the Olympic Mountains in the background.

On the summit looking north towards Canada.

On the summit, looking towards the Olympic Mountains and Olympic National Park.

More Reasons To Love the PNW!

One of the things I like most about Washington is the ability to visit multiple national parks and national forest areas in a day trip. Mt Rainier National Park, Olympic National Park, North Cascades National Park, Mt St Helens National Monument and several very good state parks are all within a couple of hours of our house. We have been successful convincing the other 49 states that it rains 364 days a year, so the parks are typically not too crowded unless you go to the obvious tourist stops on the obvious visiting days.

Olympic National Park is a gem. The way the park is situated on the Olympic Peninsula creates several distinctly different smaller parks. Rain forests, mountains, river valleys - you want it, you got it. I have not spent enough time up there in the past and plan to change it this year. I only have a couple more years with my hiking buddy in the house so I have to make the best of it.

I visited two of the parks this past weekend. On Friday I went hiking in Olympic NP with Melissa and Danny in the Staircase area. On Sunday I went for a ride through North Cascades NP on my bike. Both days were fantastic, although Sunday verged on being too hot. I have found that I can comfortably ride in temps up to 90F with all my gear on as long as I stay moving. Anything above that and I get too hot. I saw temps at 100F on Sunday - thankfully not the entire ride!

Looking upstream of Enloe Dam in north central Washington.

Washington Pass in North Cascades National Park. The weather was warm verging on hot!

Looking out on North Cascades National Park from near Washington Pass on US 20.

A photo op in North Cascades National Park.

Our hike on Friday was great! It is pretty easy to get to the trailhead at Staircase. A nice drive that includes about 10 miles of well maintained gravel ends at a ranger station with ample parking. We went a little over a mile out and then turned around. A nice picnic lunch wrapped up the day.

Skokomish River tumbles down rapids near Staircase in Olympic National Park.

And I thought I had moss problems on the roof of our last house!

Skokomish River inside Olympic National Park.

Lake Cushman near where the Skokomish River enters.

A Ride North (and West)

I have always wanted to visit the most northwest part of Washington - Cape Flattery. I have seen the lighthouse several times from the ocean while transitting in and out of port on submarines but had never seen it from land. It takes effort to get up there because it isn't on the way to anywhere else. You have to want to be there. The area is part of the Makah indian reservation. I finally made time to ride up and do a little sight-seeing this past weekend. It helped that a couple of checkpoints on my summer riding rally were nearby - that finally gave me the reason to go. It was a beautiful day in the PNW with almost impossibly good conditions on the coast - mid-60F temps, few clouds and very little wind. I did hit one road block on my ferry ride. The tide was so low that a couple of sailings were cancelled. Luckily it was easy to hang out in the sun and enjoy a nice day. Next time I will check the sailing alerts on my phone app.

Low tides cancelled a few sailings between Whidbey Island and Port Townsend. Lots of sun and a coffee shop made it bearable :)

The coastline near Cape Flattery was beautiful!

Looking south from the Cape Flattery trail.

Looking out at the Cape Flattery lighthouse. It sits on an island a couple of miles offshore.

All three kids made it home for a few days after school was out for the summer. It was nice to have them there, even if only for a few days. Stephanie had a chance to bond with Wilson but had to go back to Bellingham for work. Melissa is home for a few weeks before she heads back to Seattle to work this summer. Danny is off this summer but keeping very busy with running, cross country camp and reading assignments for his AP classes next year. And he had his braces removed!

Danny without braces!

Melissa was home for a few weeks.

Stephanie bonds with Wilson by walking him on the trail behind our house.

Our deer friends are back :)

Deck Ramblings

Jeannette and I (OK, mostly me) decided to build a deck in the back yard. I went through several iterations of me building, someone else building, building a raised deck, building a paver patio, etc. I settled on a raised deck and paid someone to build the structural piece of the deck to make sure it was done right. I came up with the design for the surface and my contractor made it work. Pretty happy with the results.

I decided to not attach the deck to the house. I was having some serious anxiety about tearing up a brand new house to attach the deck and elected to put in another span of posts to support the deck. The existing patio also presented some obstacles since the height of the joists and decking would have been above the level of the house floor if we didn't get creative. I worked through the details with the contractor and we have a nice compromise.

The major work is done now. The planters and benches took me the better part of two weekends to finish up. Another solid reason why hiring a contractor for the main part was a good idea. I have some lattice boards to close up the bottom, and I have the risers for the stairs. I still need to excavate and prepare a landing area for the stairs into the yard. Once all of this is done I can start working on the other areas of the yard to clean it up a bit.

One additional advantage of hiring a contractor was some extra time to ride my bike. I took a two day ride out to eastern Washington and northern Idaho to pick up a few last minute bonus checkpoints for a rally I was finishing. Day 1 took me across northern Washington out to Coeur d'Alene, ID. Weather was pretty good for the most part, just a few rain showers and cool temperatures. Day 2 took me south through western Idaho to Lewiston, ID, and then back across southern and central Washington to get home. Day 2 was a little wetter than day 1. One of the highlights of my trip on Day 2 was a stop in Moscow, ID for breakfast (huckleberry zucchini bread french toast) . Jeannette and I went to college in Moscow and it was kind of nice stopping by and taking a look at the old homestead. Things are largely unchanged in Moscow from what I remembered. The last couple of pictures below show Palouse Falls State Park and one of the dams I wanted to see on the Snake River. The state park is a gem sitting in the middle of nowhere in central Washington off of state highway 261. The roads surrounding it are awesome riding, too. Lower Monumental Lock & Dam is off the beaten path in southeast Washington and is one of dozens that line the Snake and Columbia rivers.

Almost "before". Posts are set and the beams are being positioned to level everything.

Deck is framed and ready. It looks like a lot of framing and blocking, but it was necessary to support the deck layout I wanted.

All decking is attached now. This was the extent of the contractor's work.

Planters and benches complete now. Still have work to do to close up the bottom and add stairs down into the yard. I also need to build a stand in the planters to support the pots we plan to put in each one.

Palouse Falls State Park in central Washington.

Lower Monumental Lock & Dam on the Snake River.

Three Day Weekend

So today is Martin Luther King, JR day, and it is also the day that the President is sworn in publicly. I know there are a lot of differing opinions out there on many politically sensitive topics, and I do not intend to share mine with anyone. I just want to say how proud of my country I am, and I want to work to make sure we continue to be strong. What I find frustrating about social media (Facebook, etc) is the volume of crap people post on subjects that are emotionally charged. Here's a news flash - I have an opinion, and it is different than yours. At age 45, I am unlikely to change mine, so stop trying. Please feel free to continue posting pictures of your favorite foods, pets and nature hikes. I actually do enjoy that aspect of social media. That's all on this topic!

Now, on to the obligatory pictures of the new dog - Wilson. He has adjusted to our home very well and provides hours of entertainment through his zany antics. One thing he has surprised us with is his ability to jump in the air like a pogo-stick. There is no way a little 16 pound dog should be able to get that high in the air, but he does. I would say his favorite activities so far include sleeping and eating - so in that respect he isn't much different than Danny.

We have discovered that feeding him the amount of food suggested on the bag will result in a fat a$$ dog in pretty short order, so I am now being more careful about the amount I give him. He needed to gain a little weight when he came home from the humane society and is now much healthier. Need we need to keep him that way.

Air Wilson!

One of his favorite activities.

You looking at me?!?