It was the perfect day for a ride.  Only the 5th nice Memorial Day in 20 years here, and the first in full Memorial Day weekend of good weather since….   yes, this is true..  1969!     Can’t squander such opportunity.

5 of us met in Silverdale to nail down the specifics of the ride.

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After a short discussion, and admission by myself that I’d neglected to check the fuel load on the Duc before arriving.. I was elected ‘leader’ to Belfair where we’d fuel up at the Shell Station.

Waiting until 11:30, and seeing no others appear, I lift off the beast and directed the crew out to SR3.  It’s sometimes tough to gauge what level of hooliganism one can expect to have supported, when riding with a group of people, 75% of you’ve never met before.   So, that in mind, and the fact the Police were out *everwhere* I kept it pretty sedate.

Reaching the wonderul town of Gorst, Washington:

View Larger Map From Gorst I directed the group Southwest along the Old Belfair Highway.   Original intent was to follow this bypass around the ‘freeway’ (clogged by weekend RV’s) directly to Belfair.   Along the way I decided a quick detour up the hill and back down was in order, so we made a hard right, just outsite Belfair past the Gas Station / Espresso Stand and General Store near Bear Creek.

Up the hill was looking very good, until.. we encountered some weekend borrior hauling a massive trailer up the hill.   I made short work of it, but a couple of people could not make it around.   Once up the hill, we headed back down onto NE North Shore Road, through the ORV park (the paved part of the park) and into…   TRAFFIC!   Oh not, all that is unholy was before us.  An endless stream of people clogging up our return to the original route.   After what seemed like a loooong time in stop/go traffic, we reached Belfair, only to find that the Shell Gas station had closed down (for good by the look of it).  Not all was lost, since the Safeway there also serves a healthy hearty helping of fuel:

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At this point I turned the reins over to DatCat for the rest of the day. She directed us south along 106 to Highway 101, finally arriving to the headwaters of the ‘Good Stuff’. Which, ironically starts just past the Washington State Patrol Academy and a state prison. Not far past that, there is a little district (it’s not really a town) of Dayton. Those that know the area, know the roads we used. Those that don’t, can come ride with me next time.

NC05600CBR and I stretched the legs on our bikes and really worked out some of the day-to-day stresses of a workaday life. Arriving some time ahead of the remainder of the group, we pulled off the road just a tad northeast of Elma, had a few laughs and waited.

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Once regrouped and refueled, we headed back out towards home. After getting back out of town (I didn’t remember where we went) the lead was again turned over to myself and we headed out. Some miles down the road, I had a major wardrobe malfunction. Sadly nothing as interesting as the famous Super Bowl event, but luckily it did not cost me as much either. A few minutes later the other bikes started to come into view, zipping past me and trying to figure out WTF I was doing! I really don’t want to get into the details of what happened, but I will say it was… less than ideal. After some humor at my expense, I was able to re-assemble my gear, get everything stowed and back on the road.

Perhaps it as a good thing, as it slowed me a down a bit, and not too far up the road I encountered one of the largest deer I’ve every seen. It was massive! And it appeared without warning from the forest on the left edge of the road, narrowly avoiding destruction of an SUV (it might have caused some serious injuries had they collided), and giving me great pause. One of the biggest dangers to those of us whom ride in this area, deer can end a day, or even a life, without warning. After that encounter I ratcheted it back a couple of notches and the rest of the group gathered behind me.

It was a great day of riding, with a fun group of people. Nobody pushed it beyond their abilities, nobody did anything stupid and most important, everyone arrived home unharmed.

Thanks again to the PNWR riders I spent the day with. GOOD TIMES!!!