2012 Road trip - Prologue and Day 1

Prologue - Preparation and (sort of) planning

It’s my second year of owning a motorcycle, and though it took me a long time to actually get one, I’m pretty sure it’s a life long change for me.  Having always been a fan of road trips, it was an unspoken assumption that I should go on at least one big motorcycle trip every year.  

Last year, 2011, I wanted to do a long trip with my good friend and motorcycling mentor, Chuck, but unfortunately circumstances made it so that Chuck couldn't do more than an extended weekend trip at most.  In dire need of a vacation, I had to make the uncomfortable decision to strike out on my first big motorcycle road trip solo.  As it turned out, it was a successful trip all around, and a good learning experience.  But I wanted to do a bigger trip, and preferably one with Chuck.

So this year, Chuck and I were able to coordinate better and both requested time off at the end of August.  We didn't plan out a route, or even agree on a destination until a week or so before we were supposed to leave.  We had ten days to work with and one night we had a summit to try to figure out where our route would take us.  We had all sorts of ambitious ideas to begin with, including going to Yellowstone or the Bay Area, but when we looked at the logistics of motorcycle travel (and keeping things pleasurable), we agreed that Glacier National Park would be a good destination.  For both Chuck and I, the farthest east we’d been in this part of the country was Spokane--Idaho and Montana were uncharted territory for us, which made it all the more appealing.  We plotted out a very basic route, essentially looking to avoid major highways wherever possible, and looking for twisty roads that would provide enjoyable riding as well as good scenery.  Most of our navigation would take place on day by day basis, if not stop by stop.

In preparation for the trip, I acquired several new pieces of gear in the preceding months which I would put to a trial by fire, as it were:

• A new tent - I had a Sierra Designs tent that my mother gave to me over 10 years ago that has been a fantastic trooper through many camping trips, but, it was wearing out as equipment tends to do.  So one day I saw a good deal for a tent on Steep and Cheap, a Mountain Hardware Hammerhead 3.  It’s bulkier and heavier than my Sierra Designs tent, but has more features.
• A parang - Figuring that I’d be doing camping in more rugged environments, I wanted something that I’d be able to chop firewood with.  I’d been keeping my eye out for a hatchet, but I saw this parang (a variation of a machete) on sale at REI.  Besides being endorsed by Bear Grylls, it seemed like a solid piece of equipment.  I quickly dubbed it “The Choppah.”
• A new sleeping pad - For years I'd been using an old backpacking model of a Thermarest (rolls up to be about half the size of a standard one, and consequently, offers about half the padding.) It's served well for all the years, but strolling through REI, I'd seen how much sleeping pad technology had progressed in the last few years. During the same sale where I got the parang, I splurged and got myself an Exped Synmat 7, which folded up smaller than my Thermarest and was 3-4x thicker when inflated.
• A Bags Connection tank bag - Whereas most tank bags stay on the tank via magnets or straps, Bags Connection bags stay on with a latching mechanism on your gas cap.  The advantage of this is that the bag is more secure, attaches and detaches easily, and won’t scratch your paint.  I got the bag for everyday use, but would put it to the test on the trip.  It is in all ways nicer than my previous bag, the Icon Urban tank bag, but it is smaller, so I’d have to be smarter about packing.
• Collapsible water bottles - Basically, these are smaller versions of hydration bladders.  Before, I’d brought two Nalgene size bottles on my trip, which work great, but they always take up a significant amount of space, even when empty.  I like the idea of having a malleable container, so got two Platypus soft bottles, one with the “Hyper Flow” bite valve, and one with a normal cap.
• Buell foot pegs - After getting my Sargent seat, my biggest weakness in terms of riding time is that my legs cramp from being crunched up.  The Buell pegs are an easy way to lower your feet by an inch or so, which doesn't sound like much, but small changes can make big differences in motorcycling.
• Helmet cam - Like the tank bag, I got this for everyday use, mostly for safety purposes in case anything bad happens on my commutes.  But I figure it would also be great for road tripping.  I also had to get a bunch of Micro SD cards to go along with it so that I could be sure to be able to record all trip long.
• Android tablet - This was pretty much an impulse buy.  I happened to see one go on sale for a relatively good price, and jumped on it.  I didn't have a need for it, but I did want to have some sort of mobile computing solution, and this is way more compact and cheaper than a laptop.  I also had a bluetooth keyboard to use with it, so I could do journaling along the way.
• Sena intercom units - Chuck and I split the cost on a dual pack of these.  With these we’d be able to listen to music, take phone calls, and most importantly, communicate with each other. No longer would we have to flail about and gesture like mute cavemen when we want to head in a direction or ask a question.

Day 1 - 24 Aug. 2012 Seattle to Conconully

After a bit of a delay, I made my way to Chuck's around 8:30 AM, to see him rocking out on Guitar Hero.  I got to watch him finish the level, and we had a cup of coffee and a frittatta before striking out.  

Our bikes, fully loaded and ready. My silver SV and Chuck's blue FZ6-R

After leaving Chuck's place, we headed on I-5 for a little while, up to Marysville, until we got sick of the interstate lifestyle and ventured east to find Hwy 9.  Before too long, we found our route and set off towards Darrington.  It was a pretty typical ride, some nice stretches of road with clusters of cars piling up and us passing them on opportune moments.  At one point we got stuck behind a long line of cars, maybe 7 or so long, held up by a codger in a Buick.  

Chuck and I made our way forward in the procession until I was behind the Buick, and Chuck was two cars back from me.  Finally, out of other priorities, or courtesy, the codger pulled off to the side of the road, and happy to have free road in front of me, I accelerated.  

Unfortunately, that also happened to be a 30 mph zone.  Even more unfortunately, there was a corner, behind which were two deputies by the side of the road. With a radar gun.  To make a long story short, they waved me to the side of the road, and I "got off" with a ticket for 5 over the speed limit, which meant it was $113 instead of $195.  It wasn't the best news of the day.  Chuck got away fine, there were only two deputies so they were only two tickets to issue and Chuck was #3 in line.  

I caught up with him farther up the road, where I learned that my new snazzy Platypus soft bottle with the fancy bite valve had been leaking all over my tank bag.  Chuck stopped at a really scenic spot, that was at the bottom of a steep, loose shale embankment (with a sign saying not to go down the hill.)

Chuck had parked himself on top of a rock and was lounging in the sun with his iPad.  I hadn't know that he was as far down on the rocks as he was when I walked to find him, and as such, still had all my gear on, including my helmet.  He took delight in filming me trying to make my way down the trail.  I wasn't nearly as amused as I was freshly $113 poorer, holding a dripping bag containing expensive electronics, and one slight misstep away from serious injury if I were to lose my footing.

I was in somewhat sour spirits, but after a few deep breaths,  and taking in the surroundings, I was back in the mood for travelling.  (Though Chuck had picked a spot with questionable accessibility, it was a gorgeous locale.) We got back on the the bikes and followed a black Subaru speed junkie for a while, trying to stay in sight of him and using him as the sacrificial lamb.  Fortunately no other encounters with the law occurred, and we stopped in Winthrop for lunch. 

Chuck's rest stop

Chuck and his perch...this was close enough for me, in my mood.

Winthrop turned out to be a pretty cool little touristy town, set in an Old West manner with boardwalks and all.  We ate at the Old Schoolhouse Brewery, at a table down by the river.  It was good beer and good food, and there was a crowd of British bicyclist chicks outside.  I'd been hoping that they'd come in and dine with us, but apparently they weren't in the mood for beer and burgers.

Winthrop, WA

Winthrop, WA

Our table at the Old Schoolhouse Brewery.  Great food and beer --I recommend the Hooligan Stout

We figured we were good for another couple hours and wanted to find a place to camp.  In Okanagan, we wanted to find a grocery store to get some supplies for the evening, but it seemed that all we could find were empty husks of stores that had gone out of business.  Eventually on the outskirts of town, we found Caso's, a Mexican grocery store, and went about procuring some snacks and libations for the evening.  We found their "ethnic food" aisle and snagged some Triscuits and Gardettos, and 2 bottles of wine.  I also picked up a bottle of Coke, probably the first I've bought in 2-3 years, to see if the cap from that might fit on my Platypus bottle (spoiler: it didn't.)

Caso's!

We looked at the map and concluded that our best bet for camping would be to ride down a dirt road connecting Conconully and Riverside and that we'd find some sort of guerrilla worthy spot.  After about half an hour of dirt and "primitive" roads, we found one leading down to a lake, with a couple pre-ordained camp sites, complete with flat spots and arranged fire rings.  

We knew that we'd found our place for the night right away, the site we came to was below the road, with a steep little slope leading down.  It was obvious that the intended method of camping here was to park on the road and carry your gear down into the camp, but Chuck being adventurous and cavalier, charged right down one of the walking paths on his bike, with a slight bit of excitement, but all in all well executed.

I wasn't nearly as confident in my off road capabilities, but machismo and Chuck's demonstration convinced me I should try it myself.  With some moral support and some alignment assistance from Chuck, I trepidatiously guided the SV down the slope.  I don't even want to think about the consequences of if things went horribly wrong.  Likely it would have been broken pieces and/or bones, and a motorcycle in a very irretrievable position...possibly even wet.  Couldn't let any of that enter my mind though.

I made it through the dangerous sections without much trouble, but as I made the last bend into the campsite, I went over a bump a little too quickly and suddenly the hum of the SV turned into snarl of  "BLAP BLAP BLAP BLAP."  I cut the engine immediately, knowing I'd crunched my exposed exhaust pipe.  Chuck took a look and told me it wasn't bad, but I was scared to look myself.  When I did get off and look, I saw that Chuck was right, the pipe had just come apart at the midway joint, whatever that might be called.  Should be an easy enough fix in the morning, but way too hot to deal with at the time.

We set up camp and had a really pleasant night next to the lake.  There was a family camped on the other side of the lake, but they were quiet and besides a couple random cars passing through the roads, we were the only people out there.  It was a gorgeous night and we slept soundly, though the lingering question of fixing my exhaust, and also making it back out of the site without incident, were heavy in my mind.  

Our campsite