Big North Western USA loop

My friend with the BMW RT1200r called last week and said he would like to do a ride to the Columbia River Gorge on the Oregon/Washington border.
He had read an article about the Washington side road being a " Premiere" motorcycling road.
I have been down there once on the Vincent and it seemed a fairly boring traffic congested road with nice scenery.
There are, however, some roads nearby that are ideal for some real fun.
I was thinking about bringing the Vincent or Commando, but should either one suffer even a minor hiccup, I would never hear the end of it.
He believes all English bikes are junk.
So I insured the Thruxton R and off we went.
He thinks it's British and it sort of is, its built a British Company and designed by a team of 50 British Engineers.
For now I'm not telling him that the assembly plant for these models is in Thailand.
He's forced to admit that this British bike seems pretty decent, so that's a win!

Anyway, first day we rab down the 9 from Sumas to Seedro Wooley Wa. then out to Whidbey Island, took the Ferry to Port Townsend then rode down the 101 along the Hood Canal ( very scenic) and overnighted at Long beach Wa., very near the Oregon border.
Next day we crossed into Oregon at Astoria and got on the road to Jewell.
This is a motorcycle road, very little traffic , perfect surface and a thousand corners.
The traction control light flickered pretty regularly and probably saved me a couple of times. Great fun and nice to put some wear on the sides of the tires instead of widening the centre flat. With the assistance of the TomTom 550, we found several more roads like this in Northern Oregon and rode hard on them for hours.
Quite exhausted, we overnighted back in Washington at Yakima, which is in the central drybelt part of the State.
Third day we rode the 97 to the 20 with a few side excursions on very twisty roads located by my new TomTom 550.
This GPS has an option for " Twisty Road" which works quite well, although I'm still figuring out how to use the unit .
We rode thru the western town of Winthrop and over two high mountain passes ( Rainy Pass and Washington Pass) back to the west Coast and home to BC on the 9 again.
All in all 3 days of perfect weather and hard riding, 1800 kms, no issues.
We encountered very strong head winds and crosswinds for about an hour on the 97.
My friend was having a hell of a struggle on his RT, so we switched bikes and I got to struggle with it.
Lesson learned, a small bike with a bullet fairing is like a bullet going thru a headwind/crosswind. Riding a big bike like the Rt with its huge panniers, Top box and windshield thru same is a more like hanging onto a sheet of plywood in a hurricane!

Glen

Been almost thirty years but still recall some of those roads on my old wing. Norton would have felt better......though it was stored 2500mi away. Some riding isn't meant for garbage trucks.
I guess bmw failed to prove itself to be the superior machine....Better to risk pushing the Vincent in it's element.

I'm impressed with the RT in that it handles very well for such a large motorcycle.
I think that's because
1. It's not as heavy as it looks
2. The centre of gravity is relatively low due the boxer engine.

So it's a deceptive bike, light for a big bike and low cog for a tall bike.
It ain't no Thruxton R in the twisties tho and I'm sure my friend worked a lot harder than I did.

For a touring bike the RT does really well scratching down challenging roads.

Glen

Nice ride write up ! ... makes the west side like bike country for sure ...

You're absolutely right, Craig. The non-freeway roads in WA and OR are great motor-cycle rides. I haven't been a biker since we came here. I had a tough time adapting to driving on the opposite side of the street, even when sitting on the opposite side of the car. I decided that being on a single-track vehicle was just too hazardous. I miss the pleasure of riding, but have learned to manage without it.

We emigrated from England in mid-1968, after I landed a job with Boeing. I was beginning to see the possible failure of N-V even that early. I did get laid off from Boeing in 1971, but quickly landed another job with a contractor at NASA-Langley. I came back to Boeing three years later and finally retired in 1998. I'd ended up in a job with a very heavy travel requirement and just got fed up. When you've ridden BA from Seattle to London enough times to be on first-name terms with the flight attendants, you know it's time to quit. I was just a few days shy of my 58th birthday when I turned my badge in.

It will be 20 years this coming 01 Sept since I bagged it. I did a couple of years as a transit coach driver for our local agency, but have been fully retired since then. Not super-wealthy, but managing just fine. We live in Anacortes, a small (pop. 18000 or so) seaside town just about 50 miles south of the border with Canada and about 30 miles west of the main freeway (I-5) between the Mexican and Canadian borders. We can sit outside in the yard at this time of year, watching all the horror stories on TV news, about the storms and flooding back East.

There is some great riding country up there. My grandson and I got to do some of it last year at the INOA rally, and a bit more afterwards on a trip up to Sequim, WA. The Hood Canal route is, as you said, quite scenic. We returned down the coast route, but driving not riding. It would have been a good ride, too. I'd like a chance to ride some more of the roads in both states before I get too feeble. It would be nice if the rally returned to that area in 2021.

Ken

You definitely had the weather for it. Mountains, ferry boats, dessert, farmland, rolling hills...I love the rides in the PNW. One of my favorites is heading west over the North Cascades Highway. It gets difficult to pay attention to the road at times when you have such majestic scenery.

Paul:

You're right about the North Cascades Highway. As highway 20, it's almost all 4-lane freeway style on the west side, but wonderful scenery. The highway reaches 5200' above sea-level at the peak and there's a look-out above the parking lot at the pass for an even better view. Highway 20 also runs out to the west and then south to Whidbey Island and down to connect with 101. It's the only numbered US highway that Includes a ferry trip. A side spur (US20-Spur) comes to the San Juan Islands ferry terminal, which is about half a mile from our house.

Unfortunately, most of US 101 through Washington runs about 5 miles inland from the coast, so it's not that spectacular. In Oregon, it's right on the coast. We've travelled it a couple of times with our 32' motorhome (now been sold). With a vehicle that big, going South gets the best views, as you don't have to keep crossing the northbound lanes.