I was no sooner walking in the door from work, and putting my stuff away when I saw the wife on the phone talking to someone. "I'll ask him." I heard her say, and already had a feeling I was going to get asked to drive the car somewhere. Since I had just finished a 200 mile day at work, the idea of driving again wasn't really appealing to me. All I wanted was something cold to drink, and a little something to eat.
Then she said my Brother Dave wanted to know if I wanted to meet him out in Centralia and ride back with him. That's about a 100 mile ride. But it is riding, not driving, and I said sure. It was a beautiful warm 70 degree day. I threw on my cut so I had a place to attach the camera. Strapped my jacket across the bars, and the wifes jacket to the sissy bar and we were off.
About 10 minutes into the ride, I had a corvette going the other way flash his lights at me. So I slowed down to what I figured was about 55 and kept going (I havent run a speedo on Gypsy since late 2009 early 2010. So I have elarned ways to "guesstimate" speed that are pretty accurate.) down the road.
Sure enough, there were two cops parked alongside the road. Just before I got up to them, the both pulled out. Each going their own way. About 3 minutes later, I was just passing the Mossyrock dam when the cop that had gone the other way shot around the corner and was hard on my ass with his lights and siren going. I pulled onto the shoulder and was more than a bit relieved to see him blow past. Gypsy isnt exactly the most "legally" set up bike. No front fender, no speedo, straight pipes (loud fuckers too), so I am always half expecting to get some hassle from the cops. About 5 miles further on, I see a whole shitload of cops with their lights going all pulled over alongside the east end of the birdge across Mayfield Lake. I could see the ditch on the right side tore up, and dirt and debris all the way across the road to the other side. Where an SUV was sitting on its top against the bank in the other ditch. The road was still open, they hadnt gotten organized enough to block anything off, and the ambulances and fire trucks hadn't arrived yet. We'd run into them several times along the way over the next 5 miles or so as we rode on to Centralia.
We finally made it to where Dave was at, and after a few minutes visiting, we hoped back on the bikes and headed back towards Morton taking the backroads.
At first we were going to head down through Chehalis and take Jackson Highway to Highway 508. But after topping off the tanks, Dave kind of looked over and asked if I wanted to run Alpha-Centralia Rd. It was closer to where we were, and we could avoid towns by taking it, so I said "Hell yea."
I always enjoy taking this 18 mile backroad out of Centralia instead of going through Chehalis and then turning east again. Can we say "BORING"? Alpha-Centralia climbs up onto the top of the hill, and then drops twisting back into the valley before climing up the next hill. It is a fairly scenic road compared to the other way, and it is much funner to ride than Jackson Highway to 508 anyway.
When we finally hit Highway 508, we were still a good 20 miles or so from Morton. So we headed down the highway and in a few short miles crossed the Bear Canyon Bridge and climbe up over the ridge and began dropping down into the Tilton River valley.
We shot down over the road as it snaked down into the valley. Then along the river until it was just a couple miles from Morton. We stopped for a bear and burgers at the Bucksnort Pub in "Beautiful Downtown" Morton and relaxed a bit over good conversation and cold Coors.
Conrad, the owner gave us all some bumper stickers from the Bucksnort. Before we left, Dave put one on the rear fender of his Fat Boy. Then we headed home and kicked back for the rest of the night.
Even though I had been tired of driving when I got home from work, it was just too damn nice a day not to enjoy. And having a Brother ask to go for a ride on the spur of the moment was the perfect way to unwind. Thanks Dave.
Catch ya on the road sometime...
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