A little video and a few stills edited together for your viewing pleasure!

Safely home after five long days on the bike. Rode from Florence, OR back to Seattle with a couple of other riders from STN on 101. We had great weather all the way through Oregon, cool but sunny. Started getting colder and gray once we crossed into Washington. Typical! Other than having to bob and weave around squadrons of marauding RVs we had a fantastic ride back.

I did a little back of the envelope figuring and my rough distance for the full five days was 1,612 miles traveled. My longest day was Day 2 - Florence, OR to Fortuna, CA @ 462 miles (took the long way) and my shortest was my day ride in the Fortuna area on Saturday at around 140 miles. Not bad.

I had a great time but I’m glad to be home and off the bike for a while. Overall the new luggage worked out great, no complaints. The GPS did its job with only a few minor glitches. I’m thinking a new custom seat may be in the future, I’d like a little more comfort on long days!

Today we started the 2-day journey for home. I hooked up with several other riders for the dash up coastal highway 101. The day started cold and gray and stayed that way for quite a while as we winded our way north along the coast and through the passes. As we got up into Oregon a ways we could see patches of blue and finally we broke out into full on sunshine. It was quite a treat!

After several long days in the saddle, you really begin to get tired and sore. This motivated us to minimize our stops today and soldier on to Florence, OR which is our half way point. We arrived fairly early and got checked into a motel for a nice hot shower before we met up for dinner. We had a surprisingly good Chinese meal at a little strip mall restaurant near our motel. Now all warmed up and with full bellies, the group consensus was to call it an early evening and meet for breakfast in the morning before loading up the bikes and heading out for our last day on the road.

The forecast is looking pretty good for tomorrow. I’m hopeful that we’ll have a pleasant run back up the coast and into Seattle. I’ve had a great time but I’m ready to be home.

Today was all about local rides in the Fortuna area. I started the day off meeting some of the other riders for breakfast and we discussed our options for the day. I wasn’t interested in anything too intense after two long days in the saddle and lobbied for a short jaunt through the Avenue of the Giants. This is more of a scenic road that winds through redwood forests.

That part was all well and good but then we decided to head out to a tiny little town near the coast called Honeydew. Honeydew is most notable for it’s reputation in the heart of northern California’s pot growing industry and for the fact it’s a waypoint on a notorious motorcycle ride called The Lost Coast. I’ve done the Lost Coast before and didn’t want to do it again but figured going as far as Honeydew would be fine.

Yeah, right. I had forgotten how bad the road to Honeydew was and how technically challenging it is for a rider on a sport bike. I got through it, but I was pretty sore afterwards. It’s mostly dramatic elevation changes (most of the time you’re going uphill or downhill) and tight, tight switchbacks over very rough and uneven pavement. On a sport bike with a suspension setup for smooth, high speed corners it’s a recipe for a very bumpy ride and a lot of time standing up on the pegs trying to avoid some of the worst of it.

Still, the views from up top are spectacular and that’s a payoff of sorts for enduring the ride. Afterwards we all converged at the house of one of our local riders, Dr. Gil for a BBQ and social session. It creates quite a collection of bikes parked along his street and causes people to stop and visit with us or stop to take their own photos.

After the BBQ I headed back to the hotel for a while to relax and rest, then walked over to our dinner spot for the social event that closes out the official portion of WCRM V. In the morning, we’ll all go our separate ways and I’ll starting winding my way back up the coast on Highway 101 as I head for Seattle over the next two days.

Today may have been the best day I’ve had on the motorcycle ever. I got a bit of a late start (I am on vacation after all) and was just loading the bike when I saw the other riders who overnighted in Florence parade by on their way to Highway 101. My general plan was to follow along in their wake, taking approximately the same route.

I departed Florence on 101 along the coast and then headed inland on Oregon’s Highway 38. This beautiful road curves back and forth as it follows the Umpqua River. As I left the coast behind the temperatures began to rise and it finally reached a point where you could consider things “warm.” This prompted me to begin shedding insulation and finally open the vents in my riding jacket to let the breeze flow through.

Highway 38 eventually links up with Oregon Highway 138 and this eventually connects to I5 heading south into California. Normally slogging along on the interstate is an exercise in boredom and while this section of I5 isn’t much better, it does at least have a few high speed sweepers to provide an occasional bit of fun. It’s main attribute is that it is the quickest route to today’s highlight, California’s Highway 96.

This highway in California is considered by many to be one of it’s crown jewels when it comes to motorcycle riding. This curvaceous road winds its way through California’s northern mountains eventually depositing you back on the coast. At times following river valleys and at others sweeping up and over ridges, you’ll lose track of the corners as they all blur together. High speed sweepers, tight technical twisties, 96 has it all. In fact, by the end of the day you might even think that it has too much. It does make for a tiring bit of riding, but you’ll be happy at the end.

My only real heart-in-the-throat moment so far on this trip was on 96 today. Tooling along at a relatively modest pace (only 10 or so over the posted limit) I heard what I thought was a siren, about the last thing I expected to hear in the middle of nowhere, far from any town or anything remotely resembling civilization. Sure enough, a CHP cruiser was in my rear view mirror with his lights running. I hit the turn signal and slowed to pull to the side of the road but he just whipping on by and kept going. Bigger fish to fry somewhere else I guess. I watched my speed for a while just in case but I never saw him again.

As I neared the coast again, the temperate dropped dramatically and pretty soon I was pulling over to put my liners back in my gloves and close up the vents in my jacket. At this point the clouds returned and the sun disappeared. The last 30 miles or so were a stark contrast in weather compared to most of the day. Still, the rain held off so it’s hard to complain.

The evening was spent socializing with riders I’ve met at previous meets, meeting folks I’ve exchanged posts with online but never met in person, greeting a few people new to the STN fold and in general, talking about riding, motorcycles and what we each plan to do for tomorrow’s local area rides. Personally, after two long days in the saddle I plan to do something relatively easy. As of now I’m thinking about riding the Avenue of the Giants and spending a great deal of time with camera in hand.

Tomorrow we have another big dinner and then Sunday we’ll all begin finding our way back to our respective homes.

A few more photos added to Flickr

Wonderful ride today! I had to run a couple of last minute errands this morning so wound up leaving about an hour later than I wanted to but still managed to avoid traffic for the most part. The morning was a cold, wind slog down I-5 t Longview, WA where I crossed the river into Oregon and headed towards the coast.

Since I didn’t have a motel reservation and my only nominal plan was to meet a couple of other riders in Florence, OR for dinner if I made it that far, I decided to exercise a whim around lunch time and take a short side trip to visit Fort Steven State Park. This is an old WWII fort that mostly just contains foundations to indicate where buildings used to be on post. There are still fortifications in places however, and some of them are open to wander through. I decided to eat my lunch here and spend time poking my nose into an older bunker and mortar pit.

After that I headed south on Oregon’s coastal highway, the 101. Riding this road is more about the scenery though there are a few sections with interesting curves as it follows the coastline. Traffic is hit or miss but I had a good day and only got held up a couple of times. For the most part the weather cooperated. It was gray and cold for a good part of the day but several times I encountered blue skies and a bit of sun beaming down through the clouds to warm things up.

By the time I reached Florence around 6:30pm, the weather had pretty much cleared up completely and everything was lit by the beautiful golden glow of the late afternoon sun. I found a hotel near the place we planned to meet for dinner and got checked in, cleaned up and relaxed a bit before walking over to meet the other riders. We enjoyed a great meal at a place called the Bay Street Grill and pretty much had the place to ourselves.

In the morning, if I’m up in time I’m going to meet the others for breakfast and then decided which route I want to take the rest of the way to Fortuna. Right now I’m leaning towards cutting back over to I-5 in order to catch Highway 96 down into Fortuna. We’ll see how that goes!

More photos available on Flickr!

Bike is buttoned back up and ready to go. Hosed it off a bit and test fit the new luggage. A new Nelson Rigg CL-350 magnetic tank bag up front and a lightly-used Ventura Rack system on the back. Together it is far more space than my old soft luggage setup. All that remains is to pack tonight and load the bike up in the morning (after running a few errands). Then I’m on the road for California!

Getting ready to head to California for the 2008 ST.N West Coast Regional Meet. Just need to put the bike back together and get packed so I can hit the road Thursday morning! I’m taking a laptop and several cameras, so hopefully I’ll be posting while I’m gone.

I’ve been going through some of my old videos lately so I can move them over to Vimeo, a much better video hosting service than YouTube in my opinion. The quality is tons better. I just uploaded a video I shot down in Oregon in 2006.

On a previous trip to Oregon, heading back to Washington with a riding friend from Canada, we went through this beautiful canyon on our way to The Dalles. Dave was limping along on a patched tire and we were enroute to a bike shop to get a new tire installed so he could get home. It was cold and raining and because of our situation we really couldn’t enjoy this wonderful stretch of road the way it deserved.

I went back down solo on a later trip to the area and retraced our route to locate that canyon. Turns out it was Fulton Canyon just east of The Dalles. This video was a quick run I did up and back through the canyon. This was shot on my old video rig. I really need to get back down there this summer and shoot it with my new gear! Sounds like a good excuse for a trip to me!

The projects have been stacking up on the bike lately! I can tell that touring season is nearly here. During the winter, I squeeze in a day ride here and there, but any long distance multi-day stuff waits for better weather. In the mean time, upgrades to the bike pass the time…

The next project is installing a wiring harness to power the Garmin StreetPilot 2610 GPS I just picked up for the bike (and the car). The factory refurbed units were a deal I couldn’t pass up. I ordered a Garmin factory motorcycle kit with the GPS, which includes a mount for the GPS (which connects to a RAM base) and a fused wiring harness. The bike end of the factory wiring harness ends in bare wires, so my first decision was whether to direct wire it in somewhere or make it modular. I prefer modular connections where possible, so I decided to fabricate a coupling that would allow me to tie in to my bike’s power using a 2-conductor SAE style connector. My ZZR-1200 has a set of unswitched auxiliary power leads under the seat that are terminated with spade style connectors from the factory. Phase one of the project then, was putting together a small adapter that would plug into the bike with spade connectors and provide an SAE plug to connect the GPS wiring harness (or anything else) into.

Phase two was terminating the Garmin wiring harness with a matching SAE connector. I kept the factory inline fuse as insurance.

It was dark by the time I got done this evening, but I plugged everything into the bike just to see if the GPS would power up, and wonder of wonders it actually worked the first time!

The next step will be routing the harness from underneath the seat up to the dashboard where the GPS will mount on a stem stand, but that will have to wait until tomorrow when there is more light to work by!