Tuesday, July 15, 2008

"I knew it!"

I have to go back and tell you a little story from July 4th.

You probably read several blogs and are familiar with Lucky's blog, The Great Motorcycle Pizza Tour. Lucky and his bride, Lady Luck, came to Oregon. You can go back and catch his post here. Look for the post from July 7. Not being one to miss an opportunity to meet up with a fellow rider and blogger, I made arrangements to meet them for lunch. There's kind of a unique place just up the gorge out of Portland. Lucky's blog post has a link to McMenamin's Edgefield. Once upon a time this acreage housed a poor farm with about 600 inhabitants. Now it's a place to stay, contemplate, and eat. I kind of like the eating part, myself.

I invited Clinton to ride up with me. He and the VFR are getting along fabulously. Elvira was my mount. Here's a photo of the two bikes down the hill from the main lodge.

When Clinton and I arrived Lucky wasn't there yet. I showed Clinton around the place, it being his first time there, and we talked about the ride up. Clinton said he saw me looking back at him in my mirrors fairly often. I told him I was just in the habit of checking on riders behind me to make sure they were doing okay.

"No you're not, you're evaluating me. That's what you do all the time!", he replied. Clinton had a smile on his face so I'm pretty sure he wasn't really upset. You know sons, they have to harrass you all the time.

I swear I wasn't but what can I say? Ok, maybe a little. The trainer reputation follows me everywhere I go.

Lucky and Lady Luck arrived soon thereafter and we had a great lunch. The only down side is that McMenamin's makes some great microbrewery beers. Being on the bike, I had to console myself with iced tea with lunch.


After a long visit, I tried to get both Lucky and Lady Luck to pose for a photo near the bikes. Lady Luck was a little camera shy, however. All of us exchanged goodbyes and headed out. It seems they followed us for a while, as Lucky has a picture in his post of our backsides! Of course, it would have to be from that angle!

Clinton and I took the old highway 99 route. When we reached Canby, I took a left into the Fred Meyer parking lot. Clinton didn't say anything, he just followed me. He probably thought I needed to lose some ice tea, or something! I actually had something quite different in mind.

Once Clinton pulled up beside me, I asked him if he wanted to ride the FJR. He was sort of puzzled at first.

"You mean, like ride on the back with you?"

"No," I said. "I mean actually ride the bike."

Clinton was reluctant. I could see he was enthused about getting his hands on the new bike but was worried about whether he could handle it. His words were more like,

"I would, but I don't want to mess it up".

I reassured him by saying I'd been watching him ride and was pretty sure he'd be able to handle it just fine.

"I knew it!" he exclaimed. "You were evaluating me!"

It's weird watching someone else ride your bike, isn't it? For the record, Clinton did just fine. I cautioned him to leave extra room since he was on a bike strange to him. We rode the rest of the way home, about 70 miles, on each other's bikes. Also for the record, I enjoyed being back on a VFR. What sweet bikes!

You know you're crazy when you take a 180 mile round trip for lunch! It was great to meet Lucky and Lady Luck. They're good people. I'd always regret missing the chance to meet them in person if we hadn't made the trip.

Miles and smiles,

Dan





11 comments:

redlegsrides said...

Hi Dan,

I once rode from SE Denver Metro to Cheyenne, Wyoming for lunch....so it makes sense to me for you to ride 180 miles for this lunch!

Conchscooter said...

You're a lucky man to have in your life someone, a son say, you'd let ride a brand new (any!) bike. I guess you really are a smart evaluator.

Lady R (Di) said...

Cool! Anytime I hear of fellow bloggers meeting with each other, I think that's totally awesome! I wish we could plan a blogger rally. I just wonder how many we could get to show up! Great story, it makes it seem like a small world after all. A 180 mile round trip lunch would be fine by me, I just need to convince the Boss!

Anonymous said...

For anyone in the Eugene area, I know of a good 250 mile round trip for a good chicken dinner at Manleys!

R.G. said...

Steve,
Oh man. Love that ride. Love that Chicken.

Lucky said...

It was great meeting you guys. The next time you're down this way, we'll get together somewhere you can have a beer too.

I forgot to ask while we were there, what's with the full-service gas stations? We got in trouble with attendants a couple times. No self-serve in the whole state? You have to let someone else gas up your bike??

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Lucky,

as a motorcyclist, you are allowed to pump your own gas in Oregon.

Here's the wording of the statute.

REGULATION OF GASOLINE DISPENSING
Statute: ORS 480.349
Title: Use of gasoline dispensing device by motorcycle operator
(1) As used in this section, "motorcycle" has the meaning given that term in ORS 801.365.
(2) Notwithstanding ORS 480.330 and 480.340:
(a) Upon the request of an operator of a motorcycle, the owner, operator or employee of a filling station, service station, garage or other dispensary where Class 1 flammable liquids are dispensed at retail shall set the fuel dispensing device and hand the discharge nozzle to the operator of the motorcycle.
(b) An operator of a motorcycle who is handed a discharge nozzle under paragraph (a) of this subsection:
(A) May dispense Class 1 flammable liquids into the operator's motorcycle.
(B) Shall, after dispensing the liquids, return the discharge nozzle to the owner, operator or employee.
(3) The owner, operator or employee who is handed the discharge nozzle shall return the nozzle to the pump or take any other actions necessary to ensure safe completion of the fueling operation.

The reality is that while most gas station attendants hand the nozzle to you, they nearly always allow you to put the nozzle back in the pump yourself.

irondad said...

Charlie6,
I can see this becoming a "who will ride farther for lunch?" contest! Maybe we should explore that. Pretty soon we'll be leaving after supper to get somehwere for lunch. Fun, huh?

Conchscooter,
Clinton felt honored, as well. He knows how picky I am about letting others ride my bikes. He's a good man.

LadyR,
Well, there's Americade, Sturgis, etc. How about a "Bloggercade"?

Steve,
I may have to take you up on that! I love good chicken dinners.

R.G.
Oh great. You've done it, too? Now I'm hungrier than ever!

Lucky,
Yeah, us and another state. I think it's Rhode Island. The only two without self-serve. It comes up for a vote once in a while but it's been shot down several times. Advocates say it's going to mean cheaper gas. When I compare Washington prices that doesn't ring true. I think Oregonians are also reluctant to put kids out of jobs.

Steve put a comment up about motorcyclists. The bummer is that we still need to wait for the attendant even if paying with a credit card.

Steve,
Thanks for the information.

Take care,

Dan

Bryce said...

I tried two days past to post and the system refused the comments.

Personally there should have been
a photograpy of you and Clinton standing beside your motorcycles.

For all we know Dan you could be a 98 pound weakling wearing a kilt and playing bagpipes.

It is however gratifying to see Dad and youngest son riding together.
I would assume certain love vibes do happen; he is one of yours after all.
Which reminds me, are your other offspring motorcycle mad?

And as to Sophie, does Katie have her own machine? Maybe Sophie could be kept for those times when
you need to do two-up riding.

As for distances to travel for
food, when Buffalo Wings were just coming into vogue it was not unusual for a horde of us to get dressed in leathers, saddle the machines and drive from Toronto to Buffalo for a huge platter of HOT
wings. The drive home again after midnight. Oh to be young and foolish agin; in those heady days I could do that, and be up bright and early next morning and in to the office for 7:30 am, Them days and those I rode with are long gone.
Sheesh, that's over tirty years ago, am I that old!

Dean W said...

"For all we know Dan you could be a 98 pound weakling wearing a kilt and playing bagpipes."

You know, I could see 2 out of 3... Which 2 I leave as an exercise for the reader.

ORS 480.315 discusses why the state shouldn't allow self-serve gasoline. While some points are valid, most read like a bad joke ("Oregon's uniquely adverse weather"), and other states manage to deal with the valid points (handicap access) and still allow self-serve.