Saturday Apr 20, 04:30: Milwaukie, OR
The alarm went off, and I jumped out of bed, rarin' to go. Well, as rarin' as I ever get these days. Grab a Mug root beer to start the day, and hop in the shower. Wrestle with jeans vs. sweatpants, and finally decide comfort is most important today, so settle on sweatpants with nylon warm up pants over them. That settled, I toss the last of my gear into my duffle, think "damn I'm taking a lot of stuff" and head out the door. Throw everything into the pick up, and I'm off to the Greyhound station.
I park in the lot across the street from the station, and go to pay at the self serve machine. Parking is $3 and all I have in my wallet is 2 ones and a 20. No problem, I have some more one dollar bills in the truck. Go back, grab them, back to the machine and Doh! it only takes change and credit cards. Naturally, it does not like my Visa, so back to the truck again, and this time move to a parking spot closer to the machine. I have a little nylon bag in my center console I keep change in, so I grab it and I dump the change out onto the top of the parking ticket machine. There is only $2.75 in quarters in it..but wait! I always keep a quarter in the sleeve pocket on my jacket for air machines. Finally got the parking ticket, and put it in the truck. I hustle into the bus station, it's 5:38, my bus leaves at 5:45, and there is a line at the ticket booth! The attendant is moving about like a Vespa in a strong headwind, and I do my normal panic thing. Fortunately the lady in front of me is catching a later bus and offers to let me go first. I make it onto the bus in time, and find a seat. Yippie!, I'm on my way.
In Salem I have to transfer to the �little bus� that will take me to Sisters. It's a Ford Diesel van conversion, and from the sounds of it, it's made this run way too many times! The nice thing about taking the bus over is that I get a first hand look at road conditions. Santiam pass is clear, but there is still a lot of snow off the road, and patches of sand and gravel on it. The sunny skies promised by the weatherman don't look like they are going to make it until late afternoon, if at all. Once we are on the east side, the sun breaks through, and the sky is blue. I decide to take US97 north to US197, and then I-84 back west to Portland, keeping in the sun as much as possible.
The previous owner, Lila, agreed to meet me at the bus "station" in sisters, but is not there when I arrive. I call her significant other, John, and he tells me she is on her way. A couple minutes later, I see her truck about the same time I realize I'm on the wrong side of the road. I cross the street, and we head off to their place east of Sisters. It's about this time she mentions that they live about 1/2 mile in on a gravel road. I've never actually ridden a bike on a gravel road, but what the heck, gotta start sometime! At least I got to preview the road on the way in. She forgot to mention the washboards and potholes! We get to their place and there it is, a shiny 1982 Honda Gl-500 "SilverWing". OK, so it's not everyone's dream bike, but for now it represents a big step up for ME. 7500 original miles, and it has the travel trunk that goes on in place of the rear seat. A quick spin, and I am ready to hand over the cash. John and Lila both have BMW airhead boxers, and John is restoring a R90S for a 74-year old gentleman from Utah, so of course we have to talk bikes for a bit. They are both really nice people, which makes me feel extra good about getting a bike from them. Lila is somewhat apologetic that the baby Wing does not have more miles on it, but I'm pretty happy about it, and assure her that I plan on doubling the odometer reading by the end of summer. We do the paperwork, stick the back seat into my duffle, and bungee it to the top of the travel box. I get Lila to take a picture of me and the bike, she tells me to call them if I have any problems, and finally I'm off! About halfway down the gravel I remember to reset the trip-odometer. I make it all the way to pavement with no problems, so maybe I was paying attention in those MSF classes.
This bike is about twice as smooth as my old CX, and is a joy to ride. I had planned on taking most of the day to get home, so I am in no rush, and keep it to about 50 all the way to Bend. I forgot to put my earplugs in, and the wind noise is pretty bad. Naturally I miss the exit for 97 north, so I just take the next one and loop around. A few miles up the road, I stop at the Big R store to check the bungee cords, use their rest room (too much Mug on the way over) and put the earplugs in. Much better, the wind noise goes from obnoxious to just annoying. I stop again with about 35 miles on the trip-odometer, to take a picture of the bike with one of the Sister mountains in the background. The sky is a beautiful blue, deep blue overhead, fading to light sky-blue at the horizon, and I congratulate myself on choosing this route. The sky stays this way until I get to the Multnomah county border on I-84, where it turns into the west-side gray we know and love <sic>.
Somewhere with about 60 miles on the trip-odometer, I realize that I have finally found a comfortable position on the bike. I also think that the seat cover needs to be not quite so slippery, and that I need a throttle lock. This portion of US 97 is arrow straight and flat, and it would be nice to rest my right hand now and then. The bike is equipped with a hoop type case protector, and there are highway pegs mounted about halfway up the hoop. I find them useless, as they split my legs so far I feel like a chicken wishbone! On the other hand, the top of the loop makes a very nice set of highway pegs, and the backrest on the trunk is nice, although it could be a little taller.
At 80 some miles there is a rest area, and I pull off for a stretch and a pit stop. After I come out of the bathroom, a gentleman asks me if my bike is a 500 or a 650. I tell him it�s a 500, a GL model SilverWing. Turns out he had just bought a CX-500 Turbo and was hauling it home to Spokane. Him and his buddy come over and look at the bike, and we talk about the Honda transverse V-twins for a bit. They are both suitably impressed by my new purchase, although we all 3 admit that �Wineberry� was not the best color Honda ever had. Eventually, I get the impression they would stay and talk forever, and I do want to get home sometime today, so I end the conversation by getting my gear all back on. Hop on the bike, hit the starter, and drop it into gear, which kills it. Maybe I should have used the clutch. At least I don�t compound it, and manage the second time to pull away smoothly. Why do these brain fades always happen with witnesses?
I take US-197 at the junction, and the road immediately gets more interesting, with actual curves! A lady in a Camry makes my day when she gives me a big thumbs up as she passes by. There has been a thread lately on the WetLeather mail list about waves. I always wave to other bikers, the 45 degree palm wave. Today everyone I see waves back. With weather like this, on a 2-lane highway, we are all brothers and sisters on 2 wheels, regardless of what we ride.
US-197 going into Maupin has some nice curves, and I start to push myself to take them a little faster. I�m no where close to dragging pegs, but I�m starting to get a feel of the bike and corners better. Maupin is about mile 140 on the trip odometer, it�s 1:00 PM and the Rice Crispy Treat I had for breakfast is long gone, so I stop at the Old Deschutes River Inn for lunch. A combination caf�, bar and gift shop, this is my kind of small town eatery. Trying to keep it somewhat light, I order a grilled cheese sandwich, clam chowder and potato salad. You would think I�d know better than to order chowder on the east side of the mountains, but the potato salad made up for it. As I leave Maupin, a couple kids are playing in the street, and the older girl flashes me a peace sign. I grin and wave, and accelerate up the hill out of town with a smile in my heart.
The closer I get to the Gorge, the more the wind picks up. Coming down the hill into The Dalles, it feels like it�s going to blow me and the bike to Oz. I was a little apprehensive about riding I-84 through the Gorge because of the wind, but by now I�m pretty comfortable with the bike, and while it�s annoying, I find I can handle the wind pretty well. Oh, I slow down, there are times I�m down to 50, 45, 40 when a particularly nasty gust hits, but I never feel out of control or scared. I gas up in the Dalles, at 1.69/ gallon it�s still less than $4.00 for a fill up. A far cry from my F-150 that costs $30 at $1.35/ gallon, and I�m having more fun to boot.
I-84 is windy, the semi�s are mucho fun to pass, and I find the bike accelerates to 70 quite nicely getting by them. I play tag with one for awhile as we alternately speed and slow depending on how much the wind is bothering me. Past Bonneville it gets better, and I�m able to cruise at 65. I stop at Multnomah Falls for a quick picture and a break, and repeat the no clutch into gear scenario. Damn, twice in one day, but at least there are no witnesses this time. The rest of the trip is uneventful, I 84 to I 205. I 205 to OR 224 to Milwaukie. Just after 4:00 PM I pull into the apartment complex, having put just over 235 miles on the trip-odometer. My longest ride by far, and no major malfunctions. A couple more quick pictures, and I get everything unpacked, and call Lila to let her know that the bike and I made it home OK.
I�m really glad I took the bus over and rode the bike back. It was a great day, and a great ride. I�m also glad that I did it alone, if for no other reason than I got to set my own pace. The first 50 miles or so were done at about 50 MPH. As I got more comfortable, I upped my average speed. I took breaks whenever I felt like it, and as I�d planned, took lots of them. By giving myself lots of time to get home, I never felt pressured to ride faster or further than I felt comfortable with.
Saturday evening, I sold my old bike (a CX-500), so on this day I went from one bike, to two, and back to one. My new SilverWing is a good bike for me, and I look forward to putting many many miles on it this summer. In October, I plan on riding in the Land Of Enchantment Rally out of Albuquerque, New Mexico, a 1000-plus mile day. I have a lot of things I want to do between now and then, both in increasing my skill and in preparing the bike for long rides. It�s going to be a great summer!
Ride safe,