Trip days: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8-9 | 10-12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20
I had noticed yesterday afternoon that a) my rear tire was completely toast, and b) that I had also picked up a nail somewhere on the road. Luckily the nail wasn't leaking at anything more than a pound of air a day so I wasn't to worried about riding on it. I needed to buy some tune up items for my bike as well as get a new rear tire so I decided to ride over to Ride West BMW in Seattle. I rode east on highway 101 from Port Angeles and then east on highway 104 to Kingston to catch the ferry to Edmonds and then went south on I-5 to 80th St. and Ride West BMW on 80th and Lake City Way. The tire would take nearly an hour to get taken care of so I took advantage of the time and test rode a couple different BMWs that I hadn't ridden before. I first test rode the BMW K1200RS which is the super autobahn burner 130-hp BMW sport tourer. What a jetliner. It was actually pretty nimble and handled pretty well, plus it had some guts, but it was so smooth and the way it whooshed down the road it was almost spooky. Next I took a ride on a BMW F650GS Dakar which is the BMW no frills 650 single cylinder street oriented dirt bike. It was amazingly light feeling and flicked back and forth faster than anything else I've been on before, even though I could barely get my tippy toes on the ground because the suspension on it is so tall. It was a lot of fun and I can seriously see one in my garage sometime soon for those weekend trips up logging roads and trails. I got my bike back and rode north on I-5 to Bellingham and got home at about 3:00pm. At last my trip is now officially over. I'm home! I didn't quite know what to do with myself at first and it felt weird not having to get everything I needed out of my saddle bags. I'm not really sure what to say about my trip. I know I'm probably expected to have some sort of brilliant higher meaning formulated that I can divulge about my trip, but I don't. All in all I met many new and wonderful friends, ate lots of good food and not really any bad food, heard accents and experienced a little chunk of life that was completely foreign to me, and experienced countless wonderful places around north america. I feel somewhat empowered by it all and it has most definitely opened my eyes and made me aware of who americans really are, for good or for bad. The pacific northwest is clearly it's own little capsule of ideology and life that is completely different than the rest of the country and I recommend that anyone and everyone should make time to travel, even if it's only a days drive away, to widen their perception and understanding of the world. Of course, by motorcycle would be the preferred method -- away from all the trappings of cell phones, climate control, conversations with fellow passengers, music piping through the stereo. Motorcycles allow the greatest immersion into an environment while travelling and promote reflection and thought about everything that a person sees, hears, or experiences. It seems as though the trip has ended too soon, but at the same time I feel glad that it is over. I can't wait until the next time though, preferrably sooner rather than later. Fin.
Total Mileage for Day: 202
13,874 miles travelled through 29 states, 6 provinces, and 1 district |
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©2003 John Meloy <jam@nas.com>