For the past year or so the old Monster has sort of been languishing in the garage. I don't know why, maybe I've been busy, it just seemed like there was no purpose in taking the motorcycle anywhere. the last couple of rides I went on were big loops through the woods, and i would would be out there riding along thinking, there is not real reason to do all this, no..mission, no task that is being accomplished. So I stopped going on rides. Occasionally I would go into town or something but lots of times it wasn't practical to take the bike so I wouldn't. The monster started to collect dust and i never got around to fixing the dent in the tank, dong that carb sync, or lowering the gauges.
In the mean time we started to move to Klamath Falls. Its been a slow process getting set up here and getting rid of lots of stuff. One day I was looking on craigslist and saw how a guy wanted to trade his 68 flatbed Chevy for a motorcycle. I contacted him and told him how the bike was still in a garage down in Fort Bragg but that I would be going down there in a week and in another week or so coming back with the monster and we could trade. The two weeks ended up turning into three weeks due to a couple of reasons, but finally the day came to head to Oregon with the bike. Late afternoon actually.
After doing a small land survey that morning and fixing a small leak in the cooling system of the car we came in, I was ready to go at around 5 O Clock in the afternoon. There was still plenty of time to ride for a couple of hours and find a place to camp for the night. Just before I left I gave the old bike a soapy bath. The gauges were clean again, the tank shined once more, and i could see my reflection again in the stainless mufflers. It was looking good and I thought this guy is going to get a real nice deal even if he was throwing in a one week stay at a luxury time share in Cabo. So I set off on the road, heading north on Hwy 1 hoping I could cut a few miles off the trip before dark.
My first stop was at Westport just a few miles up the road to get some gas. I'm real surprised that whoever inspects the pumps hasn't condemned the one and only pump they have at the store. The thing is rusting to pieces and the display is pretty much unreadable on the side that faces the sunset. It's all yellowed and cracked and at this time of the day with the sun shinning on it, well forget it. The other side, also yellowed and cracked, but still readable, only displays the gallons. The price calculation stopped working long ago, so you have to step into the store and tell them how many gallons you just pumped. The lady calculates it on the old I mac which serves as the stores point of sale machine for everything having to do with the store. As she charges me $12.00 and change, I think to myself that its a fine afternoon to sit here on the old Redwood deck and tip back a beer while watching the sun get closer to the ocean, but I don't have time for that today. I have to put some miles on.
It's a little on the cool side as it usually is near the coast but in a few miles I know that the road will start to turn inland, and things will warm up a little. By the time I hit 101 the temps are nice and pleasant but not so warm that I want to stop at the swimming hole. I do stop eventually because I need to get off and walk around every so often. The first place I do so is at a bridge along the Avenue of the giants just north of Miranda. The Eel river is way down below, and there appears to be two girls down there topless.
It's nice weather to be topless I suppose and also nice weather to ride along through the giant redwoods for mile after mile. I guess they don't call it "Behind the Redwood curtain" for nothing. The old highway seems to make a tunnel through the trees, and sometimes it's so dark its hard to see.
Map day 1I would love to ride the avenue of the giants the whole way, but I told the guy I would meet him around noon tomorrow, so after about 20 miles or so I get back on the freeway and into the sunlight. Even the freeway is beautiful from here you can see a little more of the picture. The mountains with the thick trees on them make me wonder what it must have been like 150 years ago when there were no roads through here. Just the forest and some trails. It would take forever to get anywhere. And all of the trees would be massive not just the ones on the old highway, but all of them. None of this 2nd and 3rd growth stuff. As I think these thoughts the sky starts to get overcast and I know that I'm getting close to Eureka and the coast again.
After 20 miles or so I am passing the Ferndale exit and the sky has gotten so cloudy it's starting to drizzle, and I'm freezing. It's also getting dark. Darker than it would otherwise be, and I figure that I'm going to have a hard time finding that camping spot in the dark. I had hoped to get a little farther today but Instead I just pulled in to the nearest cheap Motel I could find. The room was clean and there was a bed. The bonus was that this place had water that was hotter than I could stand, so I adjusted the temperature down to "as hot as I could stand" and took a nice long shower before heading out to dinner at the Aztec grill.
I can't believe they make such good prawn tacos at a Chevron gas station, but they do and I am satisfied. As I look out the window at the monster I keep thinking how good it looks. The shape of the tank, the size of thing, its just kind of sexy. Some jerks on Harleys ride into the motel parking lot just then reving the engines and making all kinds of un classy noise. Those things cant hold a candle to the monster. This thing is a classic. Even the new monsters while almost certainly being a better motorcycle in almost every way, just don't have it. Do I really want to trade this thing? I'm not so sure anymore.
(Time to go to bed for now, morning will come soon enough)
Soon enough comes at 4:30 in the morning when I hear the sound of an ambulance penetrating my dream. I remember thinking that I hope it goes past before they let the siren refresh one more time. The siren doesn't refresh, which is good because i didn't want to hear another fresh blast of siren that early in the morning. The driver lets it wind down but at the same time it keeps coming closer and closer until I'm fully awake and then i hear the sound of air brakes and a diesel engine. Behind the motel blackout curtains there are flashing lights, and as I open the curtain an eye full of intense red strobe lights are flashing out there in the parking lot. It turns out to be a fire truck rather than an ambulance. Often time the fire crews are first responders. I don't see them getting out the fire equipment and there is no sign of fire so it's probably medical. Maybe it has to do with those jerks on the Harleys. one of those blowhards might have had a heart attack or perhaps the fought amongst themselves and somebody got hurt. Maybe it it has nothing to do with them. Who knows but I'm up now. The bike is out there all covered with mist so I decide to ride up to Arcata and get some breakfast at this diner I ate at once.
I dress up warm and head out at 6:00. The mist is really bad and I can't ride in this stuff all morning, so it looks like I'm going to head inland on Hwy 299 after breakfast rather than going up the coast to crescent city. After riding for about 20 miles and reaching the summit of the mountain, the fog and drizzle just vanished and ahead of me there was not a cloud in the sky. This turned out to be a good choice. For the next several hours there was virtually no traffic. I had that feel of the open road with just me and my thoughts, the bike and the road for about 150 miles. Once I turned off at willow creek it was road that I had seldom or never been on. I had no map so after happy camp there was only the vaguest idea of where I was headed.
Somewhere along this portion of my trip I had decided not to trade the bike. The guy was gonna be mad I was sure. he waited three weeks and today is the day. So what am I gonna do? Call him? Not show up? No I decided that I would meet with him in person and give him some of the riding gear I had strapped to the bike and offer him a weekend at a time share that I have. If he had drove down with the truck to get the bike, it would have been a done deal but now? How could I trade now? I can't even explain it, but I was definitely keeping the monster.
(More later)
Map day 2
