PNW2K at the Zander's

[Mike Hart]

{Here is Denny's ride report from the second PNW meet of 2000}
{BI2K at Sid's being the first}
{my editing or additions all in curly brackets}
{I added photos - unless noted otherwise, photos
by Tim Rounds, copyright}

{best viewed at 1024x768 or better, 16bit color or better}
{if you are at 1024x768, slide nav bar off screen left
for max viewing pleasure}



{Here are the host and hostess,
Glenna and Denny caught at dinner}


{here begins Denny's account....}

One riders view of an outrageous weekend-

Thursday - Sept. 7

Mike Hart (XJ), Tim Rounds (VMax), and Johnny Yukon (XS-SF) rolled in mid
afternoon from the Seattle area. Jim Middlestadt (XS-LG) from Albany Oregon
and Doug Heinen (XS-LG) from Federal Way, Washington showed up late
afternoon. Randy Trouter (800 Vulcan), a local friend of mine, joined in
around the same time. Including Glenna (XS-SF) and myself (XS-F), the count
was at 8. We started in on the keg of Henry's Private Reserve, while
waiting for the Canadians.

Somewhere around 9:00pm we got a call that Sid Clarke was having headlight
problems. Through several cell phone calls, while on the ferry, we got
Sid's headlight working. Sid Clarke (XS-SG), Tom Varga (XS-SF), and Dennis
McLaughlin (XS-SF) arrived around 12:30 amidst a down pour.

With all 11 bikes safe from the weather inside the shop, the party really
start to pick up. The Canadians can always be counted on to bring their
energy and humor to a good party. We hit the keg hard until around 2:00am.
Everybody found a place to sleep and the party wound down.



{kneeling: Tom Varga, Dennis 'Skinnybiker' McLaughlin, Deano Koehler, keg of beer}
{Kirk Koehler, Randy Trouter, Jim Middlestadt, Erick Piponius,
Mike Hart, Denny Zander, Doug Heinen, Sid Clarke, Johnny
Yukon, Del Zander}

Friday - Sept 8

The previous night, we decided to change the Friday trip to give the weather
a chance to improve. We chose to reverse the route and contact the Portland
riders of our new plans.

Surprisingly, the group was up and ready to ride by 8:00am. The weather
looked better, but rain clouds lingered. 11 bikes thundered out of the shop
for the gas station. After waiting patiently for me to return home for my
wallet, we headed down I-5 for Clatskanie Oregon, on the Columbia River.

The ride down the slab was uneventful as the group adjusted to riding in a
pack. The road was wet, creating a modest amount of spray. We rolled into
Clatskanie for breakfast and waited for the other riders. Just as we got
seated in the restaurant, they showed up.

Del Zander (XS-F), Dean Koehler (XJ), and Kirk Koehler (XJ) from the
Portland area now brought us up to 14 bikes.


{Me Happy.jpg}
{Del, Dean, and Kirk joining up}



We headed into the back country for some twisties
through the mountains. The road was mixed with
wet and dry spots, so the speed was kept at a comfortable pace. We only had a minor incident when Tom got off on to the loose shoulder and went down.

Fortunately the speed was low. Bike and rider had only minor wounds. We proceed on to the the Jewel Elk reserve, where
we took a few minutes to gaze upon a bull and his harem of cows.

{We Hate Cows.jpg}
{Joe Who? Rocket? What?}

{Jim, Dennis, Tom, Gary Berg}

We stopped at Astoria Column to take in the view.

{ViagraTribute.jpg}


{RiceCookersFromHell.jpg nice day indeed}


The weather seem to be on its best behavior where
ever we went. The sun was out and the view was
fantastic. Crossing the Columbia river we got showered
on, but the rest of the day turned out warm and sunny.

{ColumbiaBridgeAstoria.jpg - Mike Hart photo)


We gassed up in Seaview for the ride back to base. A large hotrod rally was
gearing up in the near by town, which treated us to a parade of custom cars
and trucks of all types. The cops were thick as fleas, so we behaved
ourselves all the way home.

Arrived back at the ranch hungry and thirsty. We noticed that the keg was
beginning to feel empty. Oh No! The last think I need is to run out of
beer. I jumped in the car and went for another keg. As I reached the main
road, I noticed a familiar square headlight of an XS standard. I pulled
over to talk. It was Jason Raley (XS-G) from Tacoma, Washington. As I was
talking to Jason, Chuck Wildman (XS-LG) from Santa Cruz, California drove
behind me with his bike in the back of his pickup. Yahoo! now up to 16
riders, I figured I better get back with the beer and ice.

{Wildman.jpg - Chuck and Denny}


We feasted on BBQ hamburgers cooked by Del and proceed to kill off the first keg.
Shortly after dinner Erick Piponius (XS-S?) arrived from Central Park,
Washington. With the second keg taped and flowing, we partied into the
night. It was quit a sight, 17 motorcycles parked in the shop. Doug's
friend Ken (Harley) popped in for a beer and said he would try to join us
tomorrow. By 12:30 things settled down and most where sacked out.

{Denny doesn't mention this, but I must: he had a huge barrel
of fresh crab on ice, crab they had gone and crabbed themselves
just before the rally began! TOP THAT, future hosts!!!!}

Saturday - Sept 10

Again, the night before we decided to alter the run due to weather. We
reduced the length by only riding to breakfast, up Mt. St. Helens and back
home. Hit the road around 8:15, swarmed the local gas station once again
and headed down the slab to Hwy 12 East. Doug and Jason stayed behind to
link up with Ken. We stopped for breakfast at the jct. of Hwy 12 East and
I-5, where Gary Berg (XJ) from Kent, Washington was waiting. Doug, Jason,
and Ken zoomed in as the rest of the group sat down to eat.

Now at 19 strong, we rumbled east to a back road that took us up to the road
up to Mt St. Helens. We stopped in a small town to top of the tanks for the
ride up and back. We completely saturated the station and attendant.

The road up was wide and smooth. The speed limit was low for the quality of
the road, but strictly enforced. We thundered by a policeman, as he
ticketed a cage. The temperature continued to drop as we got closer to the
information center. At just over 4,000 ft, the temperature was 48 degrees
when we arrived.

The weather was cloudy but dry. Like so often during this weekend, the
clouds parted and the mountain was unfolded before us. It was spectacular.
So here we are, in the middle of the 1980 Mt. St. Helens eruption zone, with
the mountain staring us in the face. We park our bike, grab out cameras and
start snapping pictures of OUR BIKES! What a crew.

{StHelensLot.jpg - Johnny Yukon photo}



{StHelens.jpg Johnny Yukon photo}



{JasonAndTim.jpg - Johnny Yukon photo}


{GunfightAtOKCorral.jpg - Johnny Yukon photo}


We spent a couple of hours going through the very informative center, before
mounting up and heading back down. Del split off and headed for home. We
stopped at a forestry center about half way down the mountain to take in
some more information on the area and pick up souvenirs. Dean and Kirk
Koehler stayed behind as the group continued down the mountain. Dean and
Kirk split for home shortly after.

Ken on his Harley broke off somewhere a long the line, bringing us down to
15 bike.

Tim the photo man dashed ahead to get some pictures of the groups. We would
come around a corner and there he was, clicking away. Only to dash past us
again, for another picture spot. We caught him one time scrambling up the
side of a ridge. He had some fantastic opportunities. We all are very
interested in how they turned out.

{bridge1.jpg}


We took a short hop on the slab, then got off to take side roads back home.
We wound our way through the Capital Forest and into my neighborhood. We
had a courteous truck driver stop and let the group make a left turn in
front of him.

As we rolled in the smell of dinner filled our helmets. Straight to the keg
we went. Doug had to cut out early for home. We wished him a safe trip and
sent him on his way. Dinner of prime rib, baked potato and salad kept
everybody quiet for a bit. Gary Berg had to get get home and cut out after
dinner. The rest of the afternoon was spent eating, laughing, drinking, hot
tubing, shop working and the experiencing of a good times. Shortly after
dark Ben Worthington (XS-E)from Yakima, Washington pulled in and joined the
festivities.

We washed bikes, modified suspensions, powder coated Sid's muffler, drank
beer, and who knows what, into the early hours. The weather closed in and
started to rain. The last few hard core partiers stayed in the hot tub to
around 3:00am.

{TubRiders.jpg}
{Sid, Doug, and Jason - 3 guys who don't know how to relax}



{next morning...}
{ThanksForTheCoffee.jpg}


Sunday - Sept 11

We awoke to more rain. We decided to bag the Sunday run and sent the
Canadians north on US 101 for the ferry around 9:00am. Erick headed out
with them to show them the way to US 101. Mike, Johnny, Tim, Jason, Jim,
and Chuck waited around for the weather to clear. By noon, things looked a
little better and they hit the slab for home. Randy left his bike at my
house and left in his motor home.

By Sunday afternoon, it was just Ben, Glenna and myself. We continued to
work on the keg and talk about all the interesting people that had just
spent the weekend with us. Ben and I stayed in the shop tinkering with our
bikes, watching TV and eating BBQ chicken until around 10:00pm.

Monday - Sept 12

The day started out foggy, but turned into a beautiful 70+ degree day.
Would'nt you know it! We started to clean up, but decided to just kick back.
Having the party in the shop left the house in reasonable shape. Around
noon Ben loaded up and headed for points west. He was on a 2 week vacation
and had a friend to lookup on the coast.

It was hard for Glenna and I to watch our biker friends ride off, while we
stayed behind. We went for a 100 mile ride just to feel right. Glenna rode
Randy's bike over to him, while I followed in the Jeep. I finished off the
keg and we ended the fabulous weekend in our hot tub. We both staired at the
night sky and reflected on the event now history.

A few stats:

20 attendees
19 at one time
4 days
2 kegs
4 XJs
3 Midnight Specials
7 Specials
4 Standards
1 Kawi
1 Harley
2 father/son pairs - Del/Denny, Dean/Kirk
1 husband/wife pair - Denny/Glenna
1 crash - minor
0 duplication of first names
1 women rider (Glenna says this has to change!)
100% good time

Glenna and I thank the attendees of the Second Annual XS/XJ Northwest get
together. We were glad to share our new home with such great friends. You
are all welcome back at any time.

Until we meet again!

{Thank you, it was amazing}

[Mike Hart]

Sid's account of getting to PNW2001

It is 3:00PM, and I can't wait to get on the road to Denny's!
Tom Varga, and Dennis Mc, are supposed to meet me at my house
and we will shoot for the 5:30 ferry to Pt. Angeles. I arrive
at home, they are there, quick goodbye to the wife, and we are gone.

Traffic is light and we arrrive in Victoria, by 4:45. We check into
ferry, buy our tickets, and leave bikes and stuff and walk through
Victoria for a quick bite. We are told to be back at the terminal
for customs check by 6:30, for the 7:30 sailing. We find a nice
restaurant with many desserts int he showcase and Dennis is drooling
heavily. Tom orders liver and onions,(yeech), and we sit outside and
eat in the covered area and watch people run around in the pouring rain!
We finish and leave, and the rain has let up, but it is not warm.

We get back to the ferry dock and stand against the building out of the
constant light rain. I have checked the weather satellites for the past
two days on every weather site, and it looked to be a dog's breakfast as
far as prediction! I casually ask the guys if they have any outstanding
warrants that may show up on the DL check by customs. Dennis says no,
Tom reiterates!! We decide plan B will be that we go ahead and Tom will
head home if any trouble.

Finally the ferry arrives and we board. I notice my headlight is not on,
and after shutting bike down on the ferry deck, ask the deckhand if I
can work on the bike on the deck while the boat is sailing. He says sure,
and I begin by pulling the headlight and checking bulb. It appears to be
good on Dennis's xs, so we put it back on.

Now off comes the seat, luggage, tank, etc., and the work begins. T
here is only one hour and fifteen minutes to fix it until docking.
I pull all of the plugs to relay and reserve lighting, and check for probs,
none. I check wires, and at this time ask Tom if he will contact Denny on
cell phone and get Tech help. He does so, but Denny is in the shower, so
we dick around a bit more and phonbe back. Denny is there and we try many
fixes, to no avail. The boat is getting closer to destination, and stress
level is going up! There is no sense throwing wrenches, because hull is
steel and they would prolly bounce back and hit us! With all the "Gurus"
at denny's looking into the manual and suggesting, it is finally chosen
to go with wiring the high beam feed wire in the headlight pod to the "hot"
red power wire in the headlight pod.

Being all thumbs now, and hearing the revs of the ferry slow down, the
job tasks me to the limit. Finally I get it attached, wrapped, assembled,
and begin putting tank on with lines, seat back on, attach luggage "pile",
put leathers on, helmet and gloves, climb on and try! It fires, I put
petcocks to run, let it idle and wonder how long that "hot" headlight
can operate without air moving over it. In a vain attempt, I blow across
the lens and into the housing, until, suddenly the doors open and
we are getting off,whoooofff! The high beam is totally "ugly" in the city and
I get the others to ride ahead, and I ride back rear right quarter. Both Dennis
and Tom "adjust" their mirrors, and I can see Denni's silhouettte on every street
sign.

We stop for gas and I ask the guys to be as quick as possible. We head out
through the city towards 101, and every traffic light seems to take forever
to change. Finally we are at speed, with Tom leading, then Dennis next to
the line, then me, illuminating evry oncomming cars interior,arrrgggh! We
make the Hood Canal bridge exit, and Tom is seeting a "hot" pace! With my
clear glasses, "big" headlight, darkness, "new" pavement with 6 inch shoulder
drop off and no new lines, plus heavy rain, I think I can do this. When we reach
70, the face shield will not stay up and it becomes a nuisance. I could stop to
fix it, but that is too logical!! On we go into the night, and I finnaly give up
on the High viz visor, and let it stay down. Tom passes some cars, then Dennis,
but I feel like a one armed paper hanger, and don't get an opportunity to pass until
I can't see them! I miss shift twice, because my whole vision is "out there" and
I am out of synch.

I catch them up, and experience a new sensation, a bridge with open metal decking
and a wind blowing from right to left with gusts to forty miles an hour, plus heavy
rain. Can this get worse, I think!!?? It will!!! There is so much rain, and it
is so dark, that my headlight amkes a cone thru the falling water for about four
feet out! We make it as far as Bremerton, and I am cold. Tom and Dennis swing
towards Orchard park, and I think this is the wrong way, because we should turn
right on 3, but they are gone, and in my watching of them, I am not watching what
I am doing, and a truck in the outside lane almost hits me, no horn, nothing!

The encounter scares me back to action and I tear after them!! I catch them up
and tell them, they have gone the wrong way! We make a u-turn and head back.
It is raining harder! After a short distance we gas up again, and head out, only
to be confronted by a 24 hour road work crew. complete with flag people and pilot
car. We wait, and we wait, and we wait, while the skies open up with a vengence.
I keep the bike running to be warm, and turn the headlight to the side of the road
to stop "frying" the interiors of the cars ahead. After wehat seems like an eternity,
we are moving behind the pilot car, for about 1/4 mile!!! Then pilot car and all of
us pull off, and away we go....the wrong way!! After about five miles I know, even
in the dark, we are going the wrong way. We were going West when we should have been
going South! I stop them, we wheel around, and get back to the junction where the
pilot car left us. We turn right and head South. Now there is no sign of civilization,
it is very dark, raining even harder, and Tom passes me because I am going to slow! W

e pick up the pace and I swear the trees are "moving" towards the road at every turn!
With the rain, dark, and pace; I feel that if a deer steps out, a hospital bed or
ambulance would be warmer than here.We are the Scott polar expedition on xs11s!!
We see a small place and it is dark, but thereare housesw and shops. We pull over
and pull Tom's map out. We have about ninety seconds to memorize it under the glow
of the headlight, before it dissolves into mush!! I lead, and lo and behold, the
road ends, we tuen left, onto the highway on ramp, and cars!! YAHOO!! Th next sign
says Olympia, 29 miles!! We race through the night occupying both vacant lanes, with
all light power on, and when we get to the right exit, make the turn and discuss what
is next, left or right. We go right and arrive at another stop sign. We decide to go
right again. I miss the road to Denny's, but Dennis stops, and we wheel around.

Now I know where we are because I have been here in the Spring. I ride like an elated
madman, and the others must wonder if I am posesed!! They stick with me and suddenly
we are in a big white light, and there are people patting us on the back and shaking
hands, there is even beer; maybe it is heaven?

We get off and try to unwind, but I just stand in one spot and let the ambience of
the moment take me. Soon we are warm, in the hottub, and the rain and cold are irrelevant.
The night ride is over, this for the moment really is temporary Nirvana!

[Mike Hart]

Denny's pre-report post

Wow! What great friends. I am honored to have such a diverse group visit my
home and enjoy each others company.

We rode through some awesome country side, ate and drank our selves silly,
and shared stories and laughter.

Leading 19 motorcycle is worth hosting one of these events. I have some
idea how Genghis Khan felt as he lead his hordes. We descended on gas
stations like a swarm of bees on a single patch of clover.

19 motorcycles does not seem like a lot, when said or typed. But, in the
reality, is. We took up nearly a 1/4 mile on the free-way. When changing
lanes, I watched in my mirror as one by one the head lights moved in behind.
Such a maneuver would consume over a mile of free-way.

>From the rear, one watched the group change from the staggered pair
formation to single file as we entered a corner. Retuning to the staggered
position as we exited. we gave the illusion of a well practiced riding
team.

And the beer. My god can these bikers put away some beer. We started on
the keg on noon Thursday. By late afternoon, it started to get light. I
rushed to the local tavern to pick up a second, which hung on until Monday
afternoon.

Sure was quiet today! I kind of miss the gang as they are all my special
friends.

I will post a summary of the event, but can't even come close to capturing
the whole experience. What a great group!