LINES the movie

A small group of us headed out from Sherwood Saturday morning for a ~300 mile rip into Washington and an overnight stay at the Bethel Ridge Retreat. Now before anyone gets their nose out of joint ( Laughing

), this ride's been taking place for 3-4 years now and there's limited space...so the same people keep going (at least we haven't completely offended anyone yet, so they keep showing up laughing1

). In previous years, we've stayed at the Whistlin' Jack Lodge, but this year we decided to do things a little different, including the route up there.

Here's the merry group at ~0800 Saturday morning.

We made it all of 50 miles before little Willy had to take a break lol

Instead of heading east toward Stevenson and Carson, we took a westerly loop that included Apiary...what an awesome road 1st thing in the morning.

Headed down Hwy 30 to take the bridge over to Longview, then slabbed a few miles to the Woodland exit and into St. Helen's nirvana.

After enjoying the twisties on the way up, we stopped at the first overlook on FR90 and took a break.

Randy requested a table for 1 for lunch laughing1

Then we took off down Hwy 12 to hook up with Hwy 123 and eventually Hwy 410

Say hello

The scenery up on Hwy 410 is incredible.

There was some traffic and most of the people were ok...except for this effing moron that didn't like being passed and swerved into the left hand lane when we tried.

We all arrived safe and sound and relaxed on the deck of this awesome cabin.

Aired some laundry

Enjoyed some good stuff off the grill

And some good stuff out of the fridge biggrin

Chow time

For some reason, the bottle keeps getting lower Laughing

And then the morning after

View of the bikes and cabin

The group Sunday morning before departure

We continued down Hwy 410 to the Hwy 12 intersection and took that back toward Randle for the return trip. This is a shot heading down Hwy 410.

Heading up Hwy 12

Rimrock Lake along Hwy 12

Awesome views along this route as well

Mt. Rainier in the distance

We stopped for Packwood for fuel...and an appropriate picture of Ze Baron's bike parked Laughing

The trip back along FR25 was outstanding...the pace was nice and relaxed and I personally had an amazing time going through the corners. We came upon an unfortunate accident a few miles after the FR90 turn-off...a 'busa impaled on the rocks with the rider down in the ditch. We didn't stop as there were plenty of people there, but I hope the rider wasn't too badly damaged. No cel coverage up there...it probably took ~45 minutes for an ambulance to pass us on the way up.

Another shot of St. Helen's and the group.

DrSard continued on toward Cougar and the rest of us hit Curly Creek Rd and then went onto Carson via Wind River Rd.

Over the Bridge of the Gods and onto Hwy 84. Sas slabbed back to get our boy, so the rest of us took the twisty way home biggrin

The last stop before heading home - we logged close to 600 miles (probably a little more) and had an excellent time...pretty much the perfect overnight bike trip biggrin

_________________
"Riding a motorcycle is like playing chess. Anyone can learn the moves, but it takes a lifetime to master the game."
I roll with Max Biaggi...LOL...nice one superbee

Racer Joined: 11 Aug 2004 Posts: 576

What a fantastic weekend trip! Saturday night, my stomach hurt from laughing, as I rolled (literally) out of the hot tub and into bed. That was sum gud eatin' right there. Mr. Green

Let's do it again! geek

Liv, I forgot how to post pics. Post the one where Marc wants to assssssssk you something...

_________________
"Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing."
~Optimus Prime

Grill master Liv did an outstanding job with the main course notworthy

, I'm ready for an encore at Fossil. The appetizers/dessert from Doc Moon and Elaina were top notch as well.

This was my first road trip on the little red devil and while lighter and quicker than jolly green, I did miss the relaxed riding posture on a few occasions (I still have a numb spot in the palm of my left hand). It was also hard to overcome 15 years of muscle memory for cornering reflexes. I had a lot of overbraking errors and I frequently multi-apexed corners from turning in too early. First group ride I've ever had to be concerned about fuel stop too (fuel light came on 7 miles outside Packwood on the return trip). Overall though it was a blast.

As always, great roads and friends made for a perfect weekend. Everyone rode responsibly (with the minor exeption on the high speed hairpin at the toll booth exit

)

New terms for the weekend:
Randyganda - Randy's version of the facts
Bat Iguana - South African flying lizard.

Note to self: Review international sign language for rider needing a relief stop.

Already looking forward to next year.

Squid Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 173

A great time.....

Thanks for the awesome weekend.

Cheers

Needless to say that when my carefully crafted plans go to sh*t I get a little FING pissed. When said plans go to sh*t AND I miss these killer trips, I literally seethe. Evil or Very Mad

I ground down a few molars over the weekend, but was happy to see Riley's soccer team win another local tournament to prep for their Cali roadie to the Bay Area in 2 weeks.

I'll have to check the map as I couldn't figure out why you'd run into Riley up in WTF Chehalis? Candi figured Brad was road boss again and pulled a Wrong Way Feldman up some overgrown dirt track. Laughing

Sigh ...... missing that really, really sucked.