Tiny Tidbits

.

I realized I hadn't posted since June 10th and figured I'd better hop to it. As I sit here wondering where the time has gone, I try to think of what we've been up to for the past three weeks. I know allergy season has been in full force so I haven't been feeling as good as I'd like and some days being outside is difficult. I usually load my pockets with Kleenex and persevere.

I am sure I don't remember all of what we have done. I don't think it has been too exciting. I did have two "firsts" come up and they happened on the same day. As most of you know Monday June 21st was International Ride to Work Day. My first first was that I rode my TU to work that day. This was also my second first, which was riding solo with no supervision. I had not been out on the bike by myself prior to that. Troubadour felt comfortable that I could handle it. Heck it was only 3 miles. I made it there and back and had a big smile on my face. I did it and know that I can and will do it again. I hate to suit up for only 3 miles so I don't see myself riding to work too often but I know I can if I want to.

The ride there and back was uneventful. My parking space behind the building is on a slight incline and I backed the bike in. When leaving I started it up while I was putting on my helmet, etc. As I was just about to put my sunglasses on I noticed it was started to slide slightly downhill due to the vibration. I realized it was trying to flip up the kickstand. Quick action had me grabbing the bars and flipping the kickstand back down. After that I sat on the beast while putting on my glasses and gloves. I was taking no chances on it going over. It is still unscratched and I hope to keep it that was for years to come, fingers crossed.

This last Saturday June 26th Troubadour, Rick and I took a day trip to Portland. We stopped and had dim sum downtown for lunch. Tasty but not as good as what we had in Seattle with Bobskoot and Mrs. Bobskoot in December. Sorry, no pictures of the food. As we were making our way across town Rick Rick (our handy interactive navigation system - more fun than Tom Tom and comes with a sarcastic mode) took us the back way and showed us the Pittock Mansion. We had no clue it was even there. It is up in the west hills of Portland and is a sight to behold. There were too many trees in the front to get a picture, but we did get this shot of the back of the mansion. I've always been sucker for pictures of architecture.

This was the home of entrepreneur Henry Lewis Pittock and his wife Georgiana Martin Burton Pittock.

We were too frugal to pay the $8 each entry fee to tour the mansion so we had to satisfy ourselves by walking around the grounds and also looking at the groundskeepers four-story cottage. It was a beautiful sunny day. Perfect weather for touring the gardens. The grounds were lovely with all kinds of shrubbery, roses and a breathtaking view of Portland and the mountains in the distance.

I believe Mt. St. Helens is in the background of this shot....

And Mt. Hood in this one....

I must give photo credit to Troubadour. He who holds the camera, takes the pictures. He did a great job. As we were heading around the side garden I asked him to take the following shot. I thought it would be interesting looking up at the mansion with a bit of maple tree in the foreground.

Our curiosity was satisfied and our legs were properly stretched after such a big lunch so we got back in the car and headed to the Columbia Employee Store in Beaverton. Rick had a voucher to get in and was nice and invited us to go with him. We'd never been to the employee store but had bought Columbia Sportswear from other retail establishments. It was pretty busy on a Saturday afternoon but we didn't mind braving the crowds for such good prices. Everything was at least 50% off retail. Some items were even 60% off. We each managed to find a few things and probably spent more than we should.

All that shopping and trying on clothes is thirsty business so we found a Starbucks. The guys had some Java Chip Frappuccinos and I had an iced Caramel Macchiato. Mmmm. Sufficiently cooled down we went to a local motorcycle dealer and wandered around trying on different gloves and gear and looking at all the bikes. They have Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawasaki so there was a variety.

We decided to head for home but managed one more stop to wander through Crate and Barrel. We saw a Crocs store but it was too late in the day to stop. Next time though, as we know where it is now. But what color to get. Red? Black? No, that might match the bike too much. I might just have to go for a nice shade of lavender for contrast. We'll see. Any suggestions?

As we headed home we started to get hungry for dinner and stopped at Red Robin in Salem. We ate way to much. Finally made it home about 9 pm. Was a long but good day.

Yesterday we decided to stay home and do some yard work. Speaking of yard work... a few weeks ago we did manage to get 5 yards of bark mulch and 2 yards of planting soil delivered so technically we've been doing something the last few weeks. Just takes a bit to jog my memory. All the bark mulch went in the backyard so one of these days we'll need to get another 5 yards for the front. One day.

The long weekend is coming up but we have no big plans. There is a motorcycle show in Independence on Saturday July 3rd that we'll go to. Our friend Brandon kind of spearheads it so we go and help him set up and take down the tents, etc. We had a great turn out last year and we're hoping this year the second annual will be even better. I had the nighthawk this time last year and sold it right before the show so I didn't have my own ride entered. This year I'll be riding the TU to it, so I will have another first. First time riding to and entering a show. I am sure this will trigger more photos and another blog post.

Until then, happy riding and enjoy that sunshine. Summer is finally here.

- Au Revoir

"A true friend is one who thinks you are a good egg even if you are half-cracked." ~ Author Unknown

.

Snail Tale

.

While searching the internet for a picture of a cool cartoon snail I could use as an avatar on our local motorcycle form (to represent my riding speed) I found this picture:

It intrigued me so I had to do a little more net research. When I did, I found the following pictures that, unless someone is mass producing them somewhere, appears as though it is the same vehicle:

My curiosity was piqued so I proceeded to do a little more googling. I managed to find an actual article on the fabrication, which I've linked HERE. It explains all that went into building it with multiple pictures. I did not want to pilfer the photos from the article so I'll let you click on the link. Seems it was designed for Burning Man and that in itself is way cool.

I even managed to find a picture of it at Burning Man while breathing fire:

And while looking for a fire breathing picture of it, I found this.....

I thought the little critter was quite creative.

I honestly think it would be an amazing experience to go to Burning Man at least once in my lifetime, but at the same time I don't think I could 'loosen the bone' enough to actually attend. I know people here in town who have gone but I don't know if Troubadour and I are ready for it. Things that make you go hmmmmm?

-Au Revoir

"Be moderate in order to taste the joys of life in abundance." ~ Epicurus

.

This and That

.

It has been several weeks since my last blog post mostly because there just hasn't been much to write about. Of course I could have blogged about the weather, but cloudy skies and rain is not a great motivator.

Let's start with Memorial Day weekend. On the Saturday we rode to coffee but it was quite chilly with dark skies so we didn't go for a ride after. We did take the car to Eugene just to find out both the Triumph Dealer and Discount Motorcycle Parts were closed. Had Mio Sushi for lunch and then drove home. The sun was finally out so we managed to get in a few hours of yard work before dark.

Sunday we went two-up on an all day ride planned by a friend on the forum. Was a nice ride South then East through the valley and back home again. Stopped in Creswell at Los Cabos for lunch but we didn't take any gratuitous pictures of the food. It started out as quite an adventure. We met everyone at the appointed meeting place and just as we were gearing up to go Troubadour noticed a flaw in his front tire. He decided it wasn't safe for the ride, but had a new one waiting at home ready to be mounted. We decided to see how fast we could change it and catch up.

We raced home and in a flurry of activity managed to take our gear off, completely change the tire, gear back up and head out in under an hour. We phoned Rick and left him a message to have the group wait for us in Noti where they were joining the Eugene group of riders. Turns out we were only about 10-15 minutes behind. Not too bad. Kudos to Troubadour for his quick tire change and even quicker riding to catch up. They gave us a quick 5-minute break to catch our breath and back on the road we went.

Here is a few pictures of the group taken just after catching up to them at Noti.

We had pretty good weather for the ride. A mixture of sunshine, light rain/misting, and high clouds. Here are a few more pics taken by Troubadour at one of the stops to let everyone catch up to the sport bikes that were leading.

And one of our fearless leader and sweep. Sweep on the left and Fearless Leader and ride organizer/instigator on the right.

It was a long day but we had a good time. I think we were tuckered out by the time we got home and maybe even napped a little.

On the holiday Monday we were bored and it was raining so we thought we'd drive to Salem to see what stores were open. Just as we were heading out Rick stopped by so we invited him to join us. We wandered around a few stores and had sushi for lunch. This time at our favorite place Sushi Kyo. Yum. They are the best we've found out of any we've tried locally.

Normally we'd have gone back to work Tuesday, but took the rest of the week off. We originally planned to go somewhere or do something fun on our days off, but as the week approached the weather was still looking too crappy and rainy so we decided to stay home instead. Tuesday we had a few errands to run and ended up having sushi for lunch again this time at Momiji's in North Albany.

Wednesday we decided to drive to Portland for the day, but needed to be back for bike night. We ate too much at Olive Garden for lunch and wandered around R.E.I. We then headed to Ikea and raced back home. I opted to stay home for the evening and Troubadour went to bike night solo.

Thursday morning came and we went grocery shopping. Supplies were getting low. After we went out for lunch at Big River. A place we wouldn't normally go, but I had a gift certificate that we needed to use up so that was nice. That done we puttered the rest of the day away.

Friday we got some tomato plants planted in Topsy Turvy hanging containers. We found them on sale at Home Depot. We'll see how they work. We are hoping for lots of tasty tomatoes this year... if we get enough sun. The sun came out early afternoon on Friday so we decided to take the bikes out for a putt. Thus far I'd only had the TU out to Saturday morning coffee and back a few times.

Troubadour decided I could tackle the road to Alsea Falls and off we went. Here is a picture of the falls and also one of me as we were just getting ready to head back home.

Yesterday dawned with brilliant sunshine and it was time once again for Saturday morning coffee. We geared up and took the bikes. After visiting for a while we decided we needed to fill the bikes with petrol and maybe ride to Eugene. Fueling up was an adventure as I don't think I've touched a gas nozzle since we moved to Oregon in 2001. That done we headed out. Rick came along and did a nice job of sweep. Hopefully I didn't hold him up too bad.

We meandered down the back roads and stopped at the Triumph Dealership where Troubadour test drove the new Tiger. I'll let him tell you how he liked it.

After that we went to Mio Sushi for a late lunch then headed home. This time with Rick leading and Troubadour running sweep. Part way through the ride home Troubadour pulled out the camera one handed and took a few shots of me on the bike. He was shooting blind though due to the reflection on the viewing screen and trying to ride at the same time. Pretty talented.

I managed to put 50 miles on the TU on Friday and 100 miles yesterday so I am slowing getting more experience. I need a little work on my turns onto side streets but that will come in time. And of course I don't lean as much as I should in the corners but that too will come with time and experience as I gain confidence.

All in all not a bad vacation. Or should I say 'staycation'. We would have liked to get more yard work done and get more riding time in but we did fine handling the weather we were given. One of these days summer weather is bound to arrive and we can do all of the things we would have liked to have done last week and more.

In retrospect we didn't do a whole lot on our week off. Instead of travelling to places far and wide we opted to stay close to home and eat lunch out most days. Cheaper than going on vacation but still a treat.

-Au Revoir

"A good vacation is over when you begin to yearn for your work." ~ Morris Fishbein

.

May 15th Newbie Ride

.

As stated in Troubadour's last post, Saturday May 15th was the Second Annual Mid-Valley Newbie Ride spearheaded by our very own Bolty, aka tbolt.

A few of us met for coffee and a tasty fresh made French pastries at Le Patissier here in Corvallis before venturing to the designated meeting spot of the old Creekside Coffee location (now closed due to landlord/leasing issues). While at a quick petrol stop at Safeway we tried to see if there were any bikes waiting. We didn't realize until we ventured closer that there was a huge group compared to last year. I think the first thing I said to Troubadour when seeing the parking lot was "holy crap!" Three different areas in the parking lot were being utilized.

Turns out we had approximately 30 bikes show up. Some newbie riders, some who were experienced but hadn't done much, if any group riding, and some experienced riders who just wanted to ride the route. We saw old friends and met new ones. We even met Bluekat and her husband who came along for the ride. (Welcome! It was a pleasure to finally meet you.) Here is a picture of Bluekat and her hubby Ron with Bolty in the foreground.

Soon Bolty had us gathered around for some last minute instructions. You know.... dos, don'ts, what different hand signals meant, a bit on the planned route and also information on how she would like to see everyone broken into smaller groups depending on comfort level of their riding skills.

When taking the photos, I tried to get pictures of the people we were riding with and not just the bikes.

We had 4 groups total. One experienced group and three newbie groups that were categorized into fast, medium and slow. Bolty led the slow speed newbies and Troubadour led the medium speed newbies. Our friend Darren lead the fast newbies and I am not sure who started out leading the experienced riders. Here is a photo of Bolty and Troubadour before the ride.

We were hoping that Troubadour would be riding sweep so that I, riding pillion, could take some action shots of the newbies and even some video, but alas it was not to be. I think Troubadour enjoyed being our fearless leader that day, so it's all good. Soon enough we were on our way. First the experienced riders left, then about 10 minutes later the fast group of newbies left and so on.

40 miles of sunny, twisty back roads later we rolled into Monmouth to Burgerville for the lunch stop. Troubadour and I decided we weren't hungry so opted for a short walk to Dutch Brothers Coffee for a blended iced coffee. Hit the spot on a 70˚+ day. We then mingled and took a few more pictures.

Here is a little video of the faster group of newbies heading out after the lunch stop.....

The long meandering ride back to the coffee shop was uneventful for our group. A nice pace was set and a good time was had by all. After arriving at our destination we waited for about 15 minutes for the slower group to arrive and 30-45 minutes for the faster group. One of riders in the faster group had mechanical trouble and some improvising had to be done to get him back on the road. Kudos to our impromptu mechanics.

We couldn't have asked for better weather or a better group of riders. A big thank you to all those who led, rode sweep, organized and participated. I am sure there will be a Third Annual Newbie Ride next year.

I hope to participate as a rider and not just as a passenger next year. I didn't have enough miles under my belt this time. As a general rule they like all newbies on the ride to have at least 1,000 miles and I am not there yet. This summer, if the rain ever lets up, will be a good time to rack up some miles and gain experience and confidence. I am looking forward to watching the miles increase on the TU.

Au Revoir

"Teamwork divides the task and multiplies the success." ~ Author Unknown
.

Rhodies & Potheads

.

Now, by that title you might have thought I was writing about a concert series or some such activity, but no, I am writing in regards to a trip to the Oregon Gardens that Troubadour, Rick and I took several weekends ago.

It started out a normal Saturday, get up and get ready for coffee with the group. A look outside showed us we had a visitor....

Squirrels are not a normal occurance for our yard. Basil is too scared to keep them at bay but I think they remember that Baxter would have chewed their furry butts when he was alive and hung their tails as a trophy... so they stay away. This is only the second time we've seen a squirrel in the yard in the 4 years we've lived here. We did see a chipmunk once but Baxter was chasing it and we made him drop it when he caught it. Run little chipmunk run. The chipmunk lived to tell the tale and we've not seen another since.

We finished watching the squirrel raid the sunflower seeds from the feeder and rode to coffee. Coffee was the same as it usually is on Saturday morning.... we solved the world's problems and wondered what to do for the rest of the day. Troubadour mentioned we were thinking of going to the Oregon Gardens in Silverton since they were having a day with free admission to kick off Earth Week. Rick inquired about joining us and we were off .... decision made.

We rode home and got in the car then picked Rick up and decided to stop at our favorite sushi place in Salem for lunch. Rick had never been to Sushi Kyo before so we had to introduce him to the Salem Roll they serve. Yummy! It is a sushi track or 'Kaiten Sushi' type of place and you can also order off the menu. I highly recommend it if you are in Salem. Bellies full we piled back in the Versa. With Troubadour at the controls and Rick navigating we found our way to the Gardens.

Rick has good parking karma and we managed to find some free parking by the entry gate. A short walk and we were in. Even after living in and around Corvallis for over 9 years we'd not been to the gardens before so we were intrigued. The weather was typical Spring weather for Oregon, cloudy... then windy... no wait... sunny... no.... maybe a little sprinkle here and there. "Wow, do you see those black clouds to the west?"

Due to our unusually chilly Spring there weren't as many things blooming as we'd hoped but I did manage to get a few pictures of Rhodies (Rhododendrons).

You can tell the changing weather just by looking at those two pictures. It went from overcast to brilliant sunshine within minutes.

In our meanderings we also found blooming Fothergilla:

and Choisya (aka Mexican Orange):

and even a Davidia (aka Dove Tail or Hankerchief Tree):

Troubadour took a nice photo of a water tower in the distance:

While I was taking pictures a crazy little bird came up and was interested in the shiny lense. You may have seen him before.....

As you can see, this was not a timid bird and he was not detered by the camera. Troubadour really was as close as he seems and the zoom was out a bit too. I honestly didn't think the camera would focus but was pleasantly surprised when we downloaded it.

As well as having a plethora of plants the Oregon Gardens also has fountains:

and monuments/objects d'art:

and as promised in my title.....potheads:

Of course, these weren't the only potheads at the gardens that Saturday but they were the only ones that didn't smell like patchouli bush.

-Au Revoir

"If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom." ~ Terri Guillemets
.