Besides being extremely amateur cachers, we’re serious motorcycle enthusiasts. Almost any reason to get away from home is a good reason to ride when the weather’s even half decent. So, on the day after Thanksgiving the ST13PILOT and I thought that instead of joining the crush of fools at “Black Friday” events everywhere, we’d go for a short ride, maybe even combine riding and caching.
It just happened that a couple days before (2 to be exact) I had grabbed the Motogirl Memorial Geocoin #2 from a cache.
Other than there was a motorcycle involved in her life we knew little about the motogirl. That had to be changed. A Google of her name gave us some information, enough to satisfy us that she was indeed a motorcycle enthusiast that had lost her life while doing something she loved. That gave us an idea of what we had to do.
It was colder than heck all over the PNW and here on the rugged Oregon Coast it’s a wet cold. You know, the kind of cold that makes you want to cuddle up on the couch in a blanket with your S.O, a couple glasses of Muscato, and just watch the cats roll around on the floor. But, we’re lifelong Oregonians, so we bundled up in our electrically heated riding gear, loaded the GPSs, the Geocoin, a camera, and ourselves on the bikes for a short ride.
The ride down along the Coquille River (kokeel) turned out to be somewhat other than we’d expected. Within five miles of Coquille we found that the road was very slick. Several times I watched the rear wheel of the ST13PILOTs bike break loose only nano seconds before I felt the rear of my own bike break loose. Several of the places where the shade had kept the pavement from drying for days before our recent freeze were very slick. We slowed enough to reduce the risk to a minimum and pressed on. This was now a mission that HAD to be completed!
Near the mouth of the Coquille, we found a place where the sun and tide was right for a photo op. We shot a couple pics of the coin hanging from the GPS mounted on my bike for a memento of the '07 holiday season here on the Oregon Coast. Hopefully there will be more before I send the coin along on its journey in a week or so.
As soon as we got the pics taken we headed back toward home. The shadows were getting long and the mercury was beginning its plunge toward the magical number 30 where the sea mist starts clinging to the rocks and trees in crystal clear icicles. We took a different route home and even though we found several places where the frost hadn't cleared from the sides of the road, the road surface itself was clear and easier for the bikes to hang onto.
When we got home it was dark but still early, the moon was bright, and the air was darn cold. We whipped up a bite of supper and started working on a story to go along with a couple of the photos we’d taken.
Now you’ve read the story, simple as it is, I can tell you that the day after Thanksgiving ’07 was a great day to be somewhere other than a mall.
[This entry was edited by norway sprint on Saturday, November 24, 2007 at 7:25:45 PM.]