Well, I just got back from a wonderful 800 mile journey, just me and My BMW (My Bike My Way). Left here after work Monday, got on the road about 1:30pm. Headed west on 2 and hit a gnarly thunderstorm, complete with rain and wind. Glad I had that $25 rainsuit, with that on the rain didn’t bother me a bit. Bike does well in the wind, too, much to my surprise. All was smooth sailing to Twisp, from that point, spent the night there and headed on to Bellingham in the morning. Beautiful but cold through the mountains. Spent the night in Bellingham, then headed south to Seattle, via Whidbey Island. Took the ferry from Clinton to Mukilteo, much to my surprise bikes get on first and get off first :) Sweet! Hit I-5 rush hour, wasn’t as bad as I expected and I discovered I’d rather do rush hour on a bike than in a car. Go figure. I HATE the road surface though… every lane has this groove running down the center just about the width of a bike tire. The other grooves in the pavement felt a little oogey but I got used to those pretty quickly. I also discovered that grated bridges feel really oogey, but again the bike will go where it’s told to go. Spent the night in Seattle, slept in, left about 1pm on I-90 ‘til I could head north on 97. That was my least favorite part of the trip, the time I spent on I-90. Road surfaces sucked, and I just didn’t enjoy. Give me those nice 2 lane roads, please :) Got in about 8pm after a nice leisurely meander, tired but happy. Bike ran well, my total fuel expenditure was $49.54, 12 gallons. So the math works out to an overall average of 65 mpg. No complaints about that!
There’s some pics up on my PhotoBucket account, here. For some reason, though, they uploaded in reverse order of how they were taken. So the slideshow will be the trip backwards, LOL! http://s1110.photobucket.com/albums/h453/AuntieMayhem/Bike%20Trip%20July%20%202011/
Lots of lessons learned, a few technical errors along the way, but no dropped bike so no harm, no foul ;) Had no issues with any cars, and most every bike that went by, they waved. Ate great food… baked salmon, calamari, French onion soup, trout amandine, yakisoba… of course not all at the same meal! Didn’t quite earn an iron butt, but getting there… 7 hours on the bike today with a couple fuel stops and a couple photo stops… not so shabby :)
I'm pretty excited about this, been a long time since I've done anything "just for myself" by way of travel. It'll be interesting to learn about my own stamina and abilities along the way, and yes, I'm packing light... not one to feel the need for everything but the kitchen sink 
Camera, 2 changes of clothes, toothbrush, 9mm, pint of R&R, basically... the rest I always carry in the saddlebags anyway. Yup, taking the bike... she's purring and eager to get on the road for a good long ride. My average MPG has been about 64 when riding 60 mph and below, and about 55 when riding above 70 mph. Sure beats what I'm getting in my Tracker, 25 no matter how I drive whether fast or slow, in 4wd or 2wd. I know the routes, and if I play it right I'll be able to get some nice mellow time here and there to take advantage of awesome photo ops. I'll post 'em up after I get back, of course :)
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