|
|
 |
|
Reply
| | From:  _Xer (Original Message) | Sent: 10/19/2008 9:00 AM |
08-10-18: Saturday_ Brooklyn, What A Trip!
Okay tonight. I spent about another hour wrestling with download times for Mapquest. But, before the sun finally sank I was out of the house with at least a line idea how to get to Brooklyn. Most of the roads didn't have names in Mapquest, but the squiggly images were pretty well fixed in my mind. Lots of twists and turns, still I figured I'd be able to make the right choices of which forks to take, if not actually from memory at least from a sense of one.
By the time I gassed up Wildfire the sun was no longer visible. That gave me about an hour's light. Maybe I couldn't make it to Brooklyn, but I might make it to Oakville by dark. I wanted at least that much. Ideally I would be able to see exactly where Oakville Road began, then turning back for home would not be a disappointment. Maybe even cut back across to I-5 and come up. That wouldn't be as much fun as the back roads, but it would be the quickest way home. I-5 was the fastest way to get as far south as possible before heading into the backcountry. Littlerock cutoff provided a sure easy way into town with a minimum of stops and turns.
Passing straight through Littlerock I made a left at the dead end just outside of town. Going right would have lead back up into the hills via Waddel Creek Road. Left went down to State Highway 12. Lots of curves, this road was built for bikes. At Hwy12 turning left would have taken me back to Rochester and I-5, so I made a right swinging into a line of traffic many of who disappeared from behind me around about the Casino. It's only, like, eight miles or so from the casino to Oakville, but the light was gone now. It was already down to almost 40˚. Never was able to get around that darn white pickup truck, and he wouldn't pass the dope in front of him. The pickup dropped below the speed limit to drive through Oakville.
There isn't any traffic light, or even a stop sign in Oakville to indicate which road goes south. Shortly after the Texaco station the highway curves right and town ends allowing a return to 55 mph, but instead I made a left. Residential, houses, one block and it t-boned. Turning right only gave me a block before that street ended. Turning around I headed back west. After a few blocks was a stop. The street sign said State Street, and it looked like a promising road. Not only was it two lanes, there was even a broken line painted down the middle! The cold was beginning to seep beneath my fleece lined jeans jacket, through the leather vest and flannel short beneath it. The single layer of cotton blue jeans was providing scant protection for my legs.
A few miles after passing a dark van the road crossed over a bridge. That meant taking a left immediately after should lead to Brooklyn. Sure enough immediately after the bridge a sign said 15 miles to the left was Brooklyn and staying right would lead to Elma. Hey! Only 15 miles to Brooklyn? How could I turn back now when this close?
To be continued�?BR> |
|
Reply
| |
Ha! Pikes, when you get to the other side of that bridge, just at the base of it, next to the river, inside a barge made into a restaurant, you, too, might run into Bryant Gumble (like I did once upon a time years ago!!!  ) THAT's the only Brooklyn I ever heard of! But, I'm loving this travelogue (sp?) by Xer!!!!  "...a sensory orgy of twisting, winding road through hills, woods, and across farmland fields..." could also describe the road in front of my house!!!  |
|
Reply
| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 10/21/2008 8:29 PM |
| Heheh. I'd certainly never before heard of Brooklyn, Washington. Last week the cardio-therapy nurse at the hospital told me about it. It was beautiful 'neath the stars, but I have to go back and see it during daylight hours. Thinking of riding part way out today with my camera at least to where the pavement ends. The sky is BLUE right now!.... |
|
Reply
| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 10/21/2008 8:31 PM |
| Sorry, not Brooklyn, I mean the ride was beautiful. |
|
Reply
| |
Okay, I didn't get out early enough to go take pictures of the road from Oakville to Brooklyn. But, I did get pictures from just off the freeway (Interstate 5), through Littlerock, WA, and through Oakville.
To see the first installment look in the Rides Album. This was the route I took last Friday to Brooklyn. Taking photos while riding slows me down. Stopping to take pictures takes even more time. This is why I never made it to Brooklyn today. However, I believe you will enjoy the ride I did take through these images. |
|
Reply
| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 10/24/2008 9:45 AM |
This is my journal entry for yesterday's ride:
10-22-08: Wednesday: Littlerock and Oakville:
It was a nice freeway speed ride down I-5 to the Rochester/Maytown exit. The exit curved back on itself and I made a left toward Littlerock at the stop sign. Pulling over to the side I took a photo of the Littlerock 3 mile sign. Took several more photos while riding but most came out too blurry. Stopped a couple times in Littlerock to take pictures of the town. Continued taking pictures from the bike out to highway 12. It's really tricky taking pictures while trying to navigate winding roads! Just before 12, I stopped and got some heavy machinery pictures for Old Coot.
Also stopped at the intersection of Moon Road and Hwy 12 to take a picture of a small old building on one corner. It looked like 1930's construction to me. The sun was setting when I stopped to get a picture of the Quinault Indian Casino and gas station. As the sun went down it got colder. I quit trying to take pictures from the bike until entering Oakville. There are several old buildings in Oakville and I pulled over several times to take pictures. In fact, I didn't pull back onto the road, but just drove along the parking strip from one picture to another. At one point I noticed a sheriff's car stopped in the road watching me. Should have taken his picture.
After getting a couple pix with trucks on Hwy 12 going through town, and the Union 76 gas station/grocery, I took State Street and headed out the back side of town toward Brooklyn. The light was fading really fast by now. Lack of clouds on the horizon meant little scattering of light after sunset, so light was doing the old fade-to-black without extra color trick. I got a couple shots of the Quinault River from the bridge, but the reflective green road signs before the bridge, for Brooklyn and Elma, really threw the light meter in the camera all to hell. Those pix came out extremely underlit.
Starting out toward Brooklyn I was thinking to take pix until the pavement ended then turn around and go home, but decided a piece of pie at the Beehive restaurant in Montesano would be really nice with coffee considering how bloody cold it was. Besides, there really wasn't enough light to take pictures in the hilly country. South Bank Road seemed much more likely to produce a couple of decent photos. Whether or not the photos actually came out remains to be seen. My hands are not as steady as they used to be.
It stayed cold, low 40's. I was glad for having had the foresight to wear sweatpants beneath my jeans this time. Even with the sweats under blue jeans my legs were freaking cold. Had to wonder how I had been managing to ride without them the other days. Even with the large leather gauntlets my hands could feel that biting wind. I stopped a couple of times to get pictures I had noticed Tuesday. But, the light was low, and the beautiful rose-peach hue diffusing around everything yesterday was missing because the horizon clouds were missing today.
There are plenty of farms, farmland, and pastures out South Bank Road. The smell of wood smoke is pervasive after you leave Oakville. One place, a few horses were beside the road wearing blankets. I couldn't resist stopping for that. There is a house with a beautiful veranda around three sides and a couple of red painted out buildings. I spent a bit of time trying to get those photos in the low light with shaky hands. Right afterward I stopped again to take a picture of the neighbor's dairy building. While I sat with Wildfire idling a pack of dogs up the road started barking and growling. As their boldness increased they started to run for me. Stepping down on the gearshift into first gear I let out the clutch, twisted the throttle back and growled right back loudly, very loudly, and headed for the middle of the pack. They scattered like frightened hens before Wildfire. I laughed.
Finally, there just wasn't enough light for any decent pictures, so I stopped pulling over and just rode for Highways 8 & 12 which are joined for a while. I was looking forward to running out to Montesano for that pie and hot coffee. Passing over another river, the name temporarily escapes me, just before reaching the highway I stopped for one last picture. After turning the bike around I rode back across the bridge, turned around and came back to bridge center, where I stopped to take a picture of the last colors from the sunset now dimly reflecting off the waters. I tried a couple of times to get a steady shot in such low light.
Oncoming headlights reminded I had crossed over to the wrong side of the road on the bridge for the shot, so I dropped the camera, strap around my neck, kicked her into first and gunned the engine to get out of the wrong lane before the car arrived at the bridge. Turned out to be an SUV. Most of the vehicles out there are pickups and SUVs. A few minutes later I was at the highway. A glance at the dashboard clock showed playtime was over. The wife was going to be home from work about 7:20 PM she'd said. That gave right at 30 minutes for me to beat her home.
Nosing over at the head of the onramp I dismounted and pulling the top part of my sweat-suit out of the trunk put it on, replaced the leather jacket over it, strapped on the helmet, slid my hands into the gloves, swung my left leg over the seat, settled down and started her up again. Wildfire roared she was rearing to go, so kicking her into down first I followed two cars onto the highway at the Elma onramp. The ride back from Elma isn't so old yet it's lost it's flavor, besides it's all country and the pass through the hills southwest of Olytown. Yeah, it was cold, almost below 40 F, but the ride was sweet. At home her car was in the driveway, forcing me to navigate between car and my pickup without knocking off any mirrors. Turning her nose back toward the street, I backed my steed into the garage for the night.
|
|
Reply
| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 10/24/2008 10:02 AM |
BTW y'all might want to review picture #7 in the Littlerock sequence of the Rides Album. I've added a little more text, for the curious.
Soon as Coot tells me he has seen the pictures, I will be swapping them out for some new ones from that trip.
G'night y'all.
Blurry Xer |
|
Reply
| |
The fall colors there seem to be nicer there in your area, Xer, than here..... Leaves seem to be falling too quickly to provide much color this year.....  |
|
Reply
| |
Great pics friend. I'll wager that you would guess that my favorite is the one of the curve. I love curves in the blue roads since most often a surprise is around the bend.
oc... |
|
Reply
| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 10/25/2008 2:00 AM |
| I've always loved curves.. in the road, on my wife, etc. |
|
Reply
| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 10/25/2008 2:01 AM |
| Gee, Gryphon. Sorry to hear that! I'll post more for you. |
|
Reply
| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 11/12/2008 9:03 AM |
| Okay the post-Littlerock photos are finished. The next sequence following Littlerock is Oakville. The first ones are up. |
|
Reply
| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 11/14/2008 7:32 PM |
Yesterday was a beauty, today not to much. Yesterday, there were things requiring my time and energy, so was unable to ride.  Hope to get out before it rains today. Going to the hospital right now for a workout, then a late lunch with ma'honey. Wish me luck on the weather holding for a ride?... |
|
Reply
| |
I wish you luck, Xer, but you'd not be riding here in Arkansas today..... Cold, windy, and now cold rain.... |
|
Reply
| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 11/15/2008 8:36 AM |
Well, I did get a ride, but it was way too short.
Had a great workout today at therapy. Wednesday, I actually walked (on the treadmill) for 65 minutes. Reached a grade of 4% and held it at 3.3 mph for 5 minutes. That was top slope and top speed. It's also the longest I have walked since the heart attack. Today I only walked 53 minutes, but held the 4% grade at 3.3 mph for ten minutes.
I also increased the remainder of my weights from 20 lbs to 30 lbs. for today. The reason I didn't try and walk as far today is because we have a conference to attend tomorrow for arts organizations, and I didn't want to totally exhaust myself today. After walking 65 minutes, Wednesday night I was completely wiped out!
After coming home and grabbing a shower me and the missis went for Bar-B-Q at the Steakhouse in downtown Olytown. We came back home and I after watching 20 minutes of discussion on Larry King about Hillary Clinton possibly becoming President Obama's Sec. of State, I took Wildfire out for a spin.
Rats! She was out of gas. By the time I got gas there was barely time to run up to the pass, on Highway 8 towards Aberdeen, and back home. Then we returned to the Steakhouse so I could have a piece of blackberry pie for desert. Yum!!!
Finally we went to see Sita Sings The Blues at the Olympia Film Festival. It was... how should I put it? ...Interesting, I really did love the Annette Hanshaw tracks from the late 1920's. And, I will grant this: The film stayed pretty close to the original story, and it was, well, innovative if nothing else. We both got a kick out of it.
But, with a conference tomorrow, a performance tomorrow night, and work all day Sunday? I'm afraid it will be raining again before I get another chance to ride Wildfire. Glad to have at least had a half hour on her today. |
|
Reply
| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 11/18/2008 2:48 AM |
No ride today, unfortunately, but had a good workout at cardio-therapy, and a lovely lunch down at the Oyster Bar with my mom, wife, and a young lady friend of ours. Lovely day, today. It will be cloudy tomorrow, but not supposed to rain again 'till day after. Gonna ride tomorrow for sure!~
By the way, did anyone besides me e-mail Belle a birthday greeting? Her birthday was Sunday. It's still on our calendar. Bet she'd love to hear from y'all, even late. |
|
|
|
Free Forum Hosting
Important Announcement
First
Return to General