[AncientMariner]

This summer, my sisters and I did the Pacific Northwest for a week. I took the Wee.

Rode to Hell's Canyon Dam

and tried to see Mt. St. Helen's, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Olympus but clouds prevented. Never mind, the riding was great and the visitor centers were good to elegant. Weather cooperated on visiting the Hoh Rain Forest

and Cape Flattery.

The front end started to feel a bit unsteady in left hand turns as I was riding Hurricane Ridge

to see the clouds hiding Mt. Olympus. There was more (too much) wear on the left side of the front tire than on the right. Maybe it's the way I park my butt on the bike? Got a new trail wing front tire in Port Angeles before heading home. They didn't have Anakees.

As vacation winds to a close, I decided that I had enough time to touch a wheel to a couple of states/provinces that weren't colored in on my epgsoft maps. Decided at 10 PM on Friday to go for it. Lashed the duffle to the Moto Guzzi that night. Was heading out of town by 7 AM Saturday. Spent Saturday night at a motel in Estevan, Saskatchewan.

Next morning, gassed up in Melita, Manitoba and told "Jill" to take me home. Back in my garage at 10:15 PM on Sunday.

Now I know some of you guys think this is cheating because my ultra-brief presence in those two provinces was "inconsequential." No doubt. However, my rules are simple. If I touch a motocycle wheel (while riding) in a state/province, that counts. You guys follow your own rules. I omitted Connecticut because it was so long ago that I set fire to the Connecticut Turnpike (Throughway? I forget) with my sliding/leaking/sparking 305 Super Hawk that it seems like another lifetime.

I'm pretty satisfied at taking an old-timey trip with stuff tied to an air-cooled, boppity-boppity bike with parachute cord. 1,450 miles in two days. Okay, the gps isn't so old-timey, I admit. It would have been cooler if I'd tented at a deserted farmstead instead of motelling but I chickened out. This chicken is smiling because there was a pretty good rain in Estevan on Saturday night.

The 750 Goose has less power than the 650 Wee but the character of that power is what I'd been hoping for when I got the '03 DL1000 (new) in '04. No contest on the ergonomics. The Wee remains my main travelling mount.

 

[dtalk]

The front end started to feel a bit unsteady in left hand turns as I was riding Hurricane Ridge... There was more (too much) wear on the left side of the front tire than on the right.

This is typical, but some riding styles might exaggerate it. It's because we ride in the right lane on this continent. That means that our average left turns are wider than our average right turns, and our lines of sight are much greater on left turns than on right turns. The result is that we usually take left turns much faster and with greater lean. This is as true at urban intersections as it is on mountain roads.

Glad you enjoyed it here -- this is the only month of the year during which the weather can be counted on to be dry. :mrgreen:

 

[AncientMariner]

Excellent points, dtalk. I forgot to mention that I bumped into Tall Mike in La Grande, Oregon. That was the day of our Joseph, Wallowa loop where I turned around to retrieve my brother-in-law's ignition key, which had come whipping over his shoulder (Kaw Nomad with fringed leather key fob). I stopped on a very narrow shoulder and without carefully checking to see how much foothold I'd have on the right side, I leaned right to kick down the kickstand. She just kept leaning until she was almost upsidedown in the barrow pit and I'd whacked my arm on a rock. We stopped in La Grande to get some magic potion to smear on the rapidly growing bruise. That's where Tall Mike spotted my red Wee in the parking lot and struck up a conversation. I like Vstrom people.