"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