On Memorial Day Weekend 2008, I took a trip on my trusty ST1100 to my home town of Aberdeen, WA.  I had planned to visit a month prior, but the weather report convinced me that better weather would be more likely found in the weeks ahead.  As Memorial Day weekend approached the forecasters predicted only a slight chance of showers.  They could not have been any more wrong.  I left Roseburg, Thursday evening after work in a light rain and rode in the rain all the way to Albany, where I made a stop at Costco to gas up and warm up a bit.  Note to self...turn on grip heaters sooner and avoid numb fingers!  After a nice warm mocha that served both to warm my innards and as a hand warmer, I rode on to Wilsonville and my in-laws house.  After a good night's sleep I got up early on Friday and loaded my bike and ventured out into Portland rush-hour traffic to visit a fellow chiropractor in Beaverton to get an adjustment.  Wow!  I knew I needed to be adjusted, but I didn't realize how badly until after I felt better.  Thanks Zane!  I left Walker Road Chiropractic in a steady rain and rode up I-5 in a hard, cold, steady rain until just south of Chehalis, WA.  It was raining hard enough that I abandoned my plan to take a more scenic (read curvy) route west of I-5.  Once out of the rain, I stopped in Centralia at the glove company that makes the Elkskin Roper for Aerostich.  They don't have a retail outlet, but they have a "seconds" rack, which is good news to my frugal-self.  I bought a pair of motorcycle gloves for me and a pair of work gloves for my son Danny who has huge hands. 

Saturday Ride Map

On Saturday the weather finally cooperated.  Dale and I took a ride around Grays Harbor and Pacific counties (see map above).  We rode out East Hoquiam Road, one of our favorites.  I hadn't been out there in a while, it's unfortunate the speed limit is now a difficult to maintain 40 mph.  While the scenery is still great, the fun factor is down a bit.  We returned to Aberdeen via Wishkah Road and visited the house where I grew up.  I wanted to check that the renters are taking good care of it.  It looks pretty good, but I am going to have to re-roof and slop some paint on it pretty soon.  After that we headed to Grays Harbor College, from where I graduated and Dale is a professor.  They have done some major improvements since I left in 1987.  It's looking more like a university than a community college these days.  After a quick tour of campus we rode to The Fog Cutter, which is right across the street from the Westport Lighthouse, for a nice lunch.  We left with full stomachs and rode out of Westport on Hwy 105, stopping to snap a couple of beach pictures at Grayland State Park before riding south through North Cove before heading toward Raymond.  The weather was perfect and the next few miles spent riding next to Willapa Bay were stunning.  The road was great with sweeping corners, and little traffic.  We almost too soon found ourselves in Raymond and headed up US101 toward Aberdeen.  We split off before Aberdeen and took 107 in to Montesano.  We decided a twisty road was in order to complete our day so Dale lead us up Wynoochee Valley Road to Wynoochee-Wishkah Road.  Wynoochee-Wishkah Road does have a stretch of gravel that is just under a mile and not too difficult, even with a 700 pound motorcycle. 

We then retraced our earlier route out East Hoquiam Road and ended our ride back in Hoquiam at Dale's place by late afternoon.  Once back, we decided to synch my carbs and change my spark plugs.  I had been troubleshooting a bit of a light-throttle miss my engine was having (more on that later).  After Dale and I got my bike back in one piece Dale's wife Ingrid served us "Million Dollar Chicken."  It was very good, as was everything Ingrid prepared.  The rest of the evening was spent visiting and planning future rides.

I left Hoquiam on Sunday morning in a gentle coastal drizzle.  The most nerve-wracking part of my Sunday ride was crossing two wet metal-grate bridges on the way out of town.  I got over them both without incident and headed east on Hwy 12 toward Elma, WA.  At Elma the rain stopped and I rode with wet pavement but no rain all the way to I-5.  Once on I-5 the road surface was dry and I could stretch the ST's legs a bit with a speed limit of 70.  I stopped in Chehalis to gas up and decided to add a bottle of Chevron Techron additive since I was still experiencing a light-throttle miss.  I had figured it was either the low-speed jets in the carbs or a vacuum leak.  To my surprise and delight the bike began running better within just a few miles and is now running perfect.  It's my theory that Oregon mandating 10% ethanol in all the gasoline gummed up my carbs, but who knows.

I arrived at my in-laws house in Wilsonville at around 12:45 Sunday afternoon.  I checked my bike-mounted GPS  and noticed something strange  It said my "Max speed" for the trip was 139 mph.  I will admit to "mildly surpassing" the posted limit in the process of making a pass or two….but nowhere near 139.  I come to find out that this is as a result of a quirk with some GPS units.  They store the last location before the unit is shut off.  I forgot to turn it on until about a mile into my ride on Sunday and it thinks I went from the point where I turned it off to the point where I turned it on instantaneously….or in this case, 139 mph.

On Sunday evening my wife and I were given tickets to a play in Lake Oswego.  I haven't been to many plays, and wasn't sure what to expect.  We saw a musical called The Mystery of Edwin Drood.  I have to admit, it was surprisingly enjoyable. 

I found myself riding in the rain once again as I left Wilsonville on Monday afternoon.  Fortunately, I came out of the rain about a half hour into my ride just north of Salem.  The rest of the way home I had cloudy skies but no rain.  Traffic was moderately heavy but was moving at a brisk pace, which suited me just fine.

Thanks again to Dale and Ingrid for being such gracious hosts!!   

Total miles: 858 miles.  Mileage: 47.6 mpg 

Time to plan my next adventure!

I then continued on to Montesano, and then Hoquiam.  I arrived at my friend Dale's house in the early afternoon.  Dale and his wife Ingrid were kind enough to put me up for the weekend (Thanks again!).  Once unpacked, we set about tinkering on our ST1100's.  We had arranged to share in some maintenance duties of our beloved ST's.  Dale invited a friend from Raymond to bring his ST1100 over and they synchronized their carburetors while I had a quite a bit larger task to accomplish. 

I had ordered a European "E4" headlight assembly straight from The Netherlands and had been waiting to install it.  While changing a headlight on some bikes is a 15 minute process, not so on the ST1100.  The body panels on the entire front half of the motorcycle must be removed.  While Dale and Fred got their carbs synched, I set about disassembling my ST1100.  It takes quite a while to take all the plastic, often referred to as "Tupperware," off a ST1100.  The most difficult part of the whole operation is to keep all the fasteners organized so reassembly goes smoothly.  It took a while, but we got my ST back together with its new headlight just before dark, which was perfect because I was dying to see how the new Euro headlight lit up the night.  The stock headlight will only accept the stock Honda bulb, which is a 45w/45w H4.  The European E4 headlight accepts standard H4's in various wattages.  I opted to install the German Osram 55/60w SilverStars.  All I can say is wow!  The light pattern of the low beam is bright, broad and uniform.  The high-beams are like a white laser beam.  I haven't ridden at night with them yet, but I am almost looking forward to it.

On Memorial Day Weekend 2008, I took a trip on my trusty ST1100 to my home town of Aberdeen, WA.  I had planned to visit a month prior, but the weather report convinced me that better weather would be more likely found in the weeks ahead.  As Memorial Day weekend approached the forecasters predicted only a slight chance of showers.  They could not have been any more wrong.  I left Roseburg, Thursday evening after work in a light rain and rode in the rain all the way to Albany, where I made a stop at Costco to gas up and warm up a bit.  Note to self...turn on grip heaters sooner and avoid numb fingers!  After a nice warm mocha that served both to warm my innards and as a hand warmer, I rode on to Wilsonville and my in-laws house.  After a good night's sleep I got up early on Friday and loaded my bike and ventured out into Portland rush-hour traffic to visit a fellow chiropractor in Beaverton to get an adjustment.  Wow!  I knew I needed to be adjusted, but I didn't realize how badly until after I felt better.  Thanks Zane!  I left Walker Road Chiropractic in a steady rain and rode up I-5 in a hard, cold, steady rain until just south of Chehalis, WA.  It was raining hard enough that I abandoned my plan to take a more scenic (read curvy) route west of I-5.  Once out of the rain, I stopped in Centralia at the glove company that makes the Elkskin Roper for Aerostich.  They don't have a retail outlet, but they have a "seconds" rack, which is good news to my frugal-self.  I bought a pair of motorcycle gloves for me and a pair of work gloves for my son Danny who has huge hands. 

Saturday Ride Map

On Saturday the weather finally cooperated.  Dale and I took a ride around Grays Harbor and Pacific counties (see map above).  We rode out East Hoquiam Road, one of our favorites.  I hadn't been out there in a while, it's unfortunate the speed limit is now a difficult to maintain 40 mph.  While the scenery is still great, the fun factor is down a bit.  We returned to Aberdeen via Wishkah Road and visited the house where I grew up.  I wanted to check that the renters are taking good care of it.  It looks pretty good, but I am going to have to re-roof and slop some paint on it pretty soon.  After that we headed to Grays Harbor College, from where I graduated and Dale is a professor.  They have done some major improvements since I left in 1987.  It's looking more like a university than a community college these days.  After a quick tour of campus we rode to The Fog Cutter, which is right across the street from the Westport Lighthouse, for a nice lunch.  We left with full stomachs and rode out of Westport on Hwy 105, stopping to snap a couple of beach pictures at Grayland State Park before riding south through North Cove before heading toward Raymond.  The weather was perfect and the next few miles spent riding next to Willapa Bay were stunning.  The road was great with sweeping corners, and little traffic.  We almost too soon found ourselves in Raymond and headed up US101 toward Aberdeen.  We split off before Aberdeen and took 107 in to Montesano.  We decided a twisty road was in order to complete our day so Dale lead us up Wynoochee Valley Road to Wynoochee-Wishkah Road.  Wynoochee-Wishkah Road does have a stretch of gravel that is just under a mile and not too difficult, even with a 700 pound motorcycle. 

We then retraced our earlier route out East Hoquiam Road and ended our ride back in Hoquiam at Dale's place by late afternoon.  Once back, we decided to synch my carbs and change my spark plugs.  I had been troubleshooting a bit of a light-throttle miss my engine was having (more on that later).  After Dale and I got my bike back in one piece Dale's wife Ingrid served us "Million Dollar Chicken."  It was very good, as was everything Ingrid prepared.  The rest of the evening was spent visiting and planning future rides.

I left Hoquiam on Sunday morning in a gentle coastal drizzle.  The most nerve-wracking part of my Sunday ride was crossing two wet metal-grate bridges on the way out of town.  I got over them both without incident and headed east on Hwy 12 toward Elma, WA.  At Elma the rain stopped and I rode with wet pavement but no rain all the way to I-5.  Once on I-5 the road surface was dry and I could stretch the ST's legs a bit with a speed limit of 70.  I stopped in Chehalis to gas up and decided to add a bottle of Chevron Techron additive since I was still experiencing a light-throttle miss.  I had figured it was either the low-speed jets in the carbs or a vacuum leak.  To my surprise and delight the bike began running better within just a few miles and is now running perfect.  It's my theory that Oregon mandating 10% ethanol in all the gasoline gummed up my carbs, but who knows.

I arrived at my in-laws house in Wilsonville at around 12:45 Sunday afternoon.  I checked my bike-mounted GPS  and noticed something strange  It said my "Max speed" for the trip was 139 mph.  I will admit to "mildly surpassing" the posted limit in the process of making a pass or two….but nowhere near 139.  I come to find out that this is as a result of a quirk with some GPS units.  They store the last location before the unit is shut off.  I forgot to turn it on until about a mile into my ride on Sunday and it thinks I went from the point where I turned it off to the point where I turned it on instantaneously….or in this case, 139 mph.

On Sunday evening my wife and I were given tickets to a play in Lake Oswego.  I haven't been to many plays, and wasn't sure what to expect.  We saw a musical called The Mystery of Edwin Drood.  I have to admit, it was surprisingly enjoyable. 

I found myself riding in the rain once again as I left Wilsonville on Monday afternoon.  Fortunately, I came out of the rain about a half hour into my ride just north of Salem.  The rest of the way home I had cloudy skies but no rain.  Traffic was moderately heavy but was moving at a brisk pace, which suited me just fine.

Thanks again to Dale and Ingrid for being such gracious hosts!!   

Total miles: 858 miles.  Mileage: 47.6 mpg 

Time to plan my next adventure!

I then continued on to Montesano, and then Hoquiam.  I arrived at my friend Dale's house in the early afternoon.  Dale and his wife Ingrid were kind enough to put me up for the weekend (Thanks again!).  Once unpacked, we set about tinkering on our ST1100's.  We had arranged to share in some maintenance duties of our beloved ST's.  Dale invited a friend from Raymond to bring his ST1100 over and they synchronized their carburetors while I had a quite a bit larger task to accomplish. 

I had ordered a European "E4" headlight assembly straight from The Netherlands and had been waiting to install it.  While changing a headlight on some bikes is a 15 minute process, not so on the ST1100.  The body panels on the entire front half of the motorcycle must be removed.  While Dale and Fred got their carbs synched, I set about disassembling my ST1100.  It takes quite a while to take all the plastic, often referred to as "Tupperware," off a ST1100.  The most difficult part of the whole operation is to keep all the fasteners organized so reassembly goes smoothly.  It took a while, but we got my ST back together with its new headlight just before dark, which was perfect because I was dying to see how the new Euro headlight lit up the night.  The stock headlight will only accept the stock Honda bulb, which is a 45w/45w H4.  The European E4 headlight accepts standard H4's in various wattages.  I opted to install the German Osram 55/60w SilverStars.  All I can say is wow!  The light pattern of the low beam is bright, broad and uniform.  The high-beams are like a white laser beam.  I haven't ridden at night with them yet, but I am almost looking forward to it.