Lunch Date
I have lunch plans with a friend today and the ride did not seem ambitious. However, perhaps more of a distance than most people would consider for such a quick turnaround. I only packed my rain suit gear and I departed around 0900 PT with an estimated time of arrival around 1230 PT. Now remember the gas station attendants I mentioned? I decided to give it a go this time. My thought process is hand them my card, specify premium, and have them fill it up. The attendant did it all until it was time to pump and they handed me the pump. Probably because motorcycle. It is still a weird to me, but I am an outsider. Onward to Seattle.
I really need to invest in heated grips. While the sun was sort of out it was still cold for me. Every single time I think about getting heated grips is on a trip away from home. I make it home and think what do I need it for here because the weather is fine! It is for the long road trips away from home, dumb dumb. I used this opportunity to call a friend I have not talked with for a few days so we could talk about everything and nothing. They listened to me complain about cold weather and I listened to their current life things. We caught up for a couple hours before they decided they should be productive with their day, whatever, back to music and staring at all the green. So many trees. I stopped for fuel in Federal Way because I got lost trying to navigate to another gas station.
I finally made it my friends (3.5) three and half hours later. We could now go to lunch at Chick-fil-A! Yes, I rode 500 (200) two-hundred miles because routine, creatures of habit, nostalgia, basic, or whatever you want to call it. I arrived and we got in their vehicle. Did I mention a lot of green?
I commented on road signs that said "MOTORCYCLES USE EXTREME CAUTION". While I viewed it as a threat he sarcastically said well excuse us for caring about motorcyclists! Why is it extreme caution only for motorcycles?! Everyone else just use normal caution, but not extreme. We caught up, reminisced, and then went back to hang out at their place for a bit. Some other friends mentioned a place called Dick's known in the area, but this friend said it is over-hyped. Since I did not have enough heads up notice it will be for another trip so I can find out. I also need to try out Frisko Freeze in Tacoma.
While we chatted I was occasionally checked maps for traffic conditions. Travel time was not improving so it was time for me to depart. I mentioned clear skies and my friend said rain all the time is a lie. Perhaps they want to convince me to relocate even if it means false information? My friend also conveniently forgot about the key lime pie they saved for me.
I departed at 1501 PT with an anticipated arrive time around 1900 PT. My return trip would be longer?! I did use my GPS route suggestions to reroute accordingly this time and not being able to lane share on these highways is so inefficient. All this because of some bureaucratic nonsense and a populace driving around their multi-ton cube on wheels? At least California allows it. Other states have started to pass restricted variations on allowing lane sharing/filtering, but it is still progress. Clearly I have feelings about this topic. Being stuck in traffic is the worst, particularly when there is enough room to safely flow between traffic.
I am always so thankful for GPS because as I ride around there is no way I would make it anywhere without it. It even reroutes me when I get distracted missing a turn or exit. I finally made it out of traffic area and now onto different fun.
A couple hours into the ride I receive a text:
I hope you're not riding right now and finding some cover this storm!!
That cannot be good. What storm?! It was still clear ish skies for me. I pulled over in Olympia to fill up and I thanked them. I also hastily checked the weather radar and received a follow up message:
It's thunder and lightning here!!
Fan effing tastic. I CANNOT CATCH A BREAK. I snapped a photo of doom and gloom ahead, but I did not put on my rain gear just yet. I was back on the highway for about (20) twenty minutes until I pulled off the highway again when the clouds looked more threatening. As I was on the side of a road finally getting ready to suit up a passerby asked if I was good. So many friendly people on this ride. I nodded and continued the struggle of getting into my onesie. Time to ride straight into the storm.
The radar had the storm directly over my destination so there is no avoiding it. I will ride until I decide it is unsafe to do so and at which point it will probably mean no shelter or worse. Remember the overboots I mentioned a post ago? Well I chose poorly because my boots and gloves were quickly soaked again. I toggled the hazards on occasion for visibility and continued on my merry way. Who needs all wheel drive? My motorcycle is basically an all terrain vehicle. you just need to believe. I kept checking the radar on my Garmin to avoid any serious stormy conditions according to the weather radar color scale. I did my best not to press my feet down to feel the squish of water in my boots. I also felt some water in the suit now which is a problem. I am not sure if I put a hole in it or angled something just right. Fortunately for me I did not encounter thunder or lightning just a lot of water.
I finally made it back at 1935 PT and just before sunset with approximately (8) eight hours of ride time today. I watched steam come off the motorcycle from the slight condensation on it now. Some of you might think I make poor choices and you are probably right. I think I just have too much time on my hands. This whole trip has been me thinking no whammy with weather. However, it has been whammy after whammy after whammy. What have I done to deserve this?
I set my boots and gloves in front of a fan from storage to hopefully dry out water before I leave.
p.s. camera footage upside down because of auto-rotate, oops.