As soon as I left Forks, the rain started. Or maybe it was heavy mist. I don't know, but it did not stop until I got to Pacific Beach, about 95 miles. The road looked slick and I was very cautious on the many curves on the road down the coast. I made a short rest stop at Kalaloch.
I found a camping spot at Pacific Beach. Again, there were lots of vacancies. The sun finally came out giving me a chance to dry my leathers. I played tourist. Wandered uptown and to the Navy camp to see if I would like it better(not). The beach was right at park so I went onto the sand and flew my stunt kite for a while.
In the morning, I packed up early and road the 20 miles or so to Ocean Shores for breakfast. I rode to the end of the beach and then started home. It was overcast, but at least there was no rain.
On the way home, I took a side trip at Satsop to ride up to the unfinished Nuclear Powerplants. The area is now an industrial park and the road goes right by the cooling towers and unfinished containment buildings. I understood that all the steam plant equipment was sold to a company in Japan. The equipment building is now a facility where tanks(you know, oil, water, etc.) are fabricated.
The rest of the ride home went well and I was home by 1210. I had plenty of time to rest up and get to Port Orchard for the Thursday night sailboat race. I crewed on "Tantrum II". We won. Unfortunatly while I was gone, my DSL modem died and I just got it replaced tonight.
Total mileage for the trip: 495.1 miles
Beach and lagoon at Kalaloch.
Mini sand dunes at Pacific Beach.
The North Jetty of Grays Harbor at Ocean Shores. Pacific Ocean on the right, Grays Harbor bar on the left. 
5 comments:
Description sounds as if you had an enjoyable trip. Lake Ozette is always a good place to spend a day or two. You may want to try the Sand Point to Ericsons Bay trail and spend a day or so at the campground there.
Good photos and description of your trip.
After riding the new motorcycle for almost 500 miles around the peninsula what are your views on it. Is it what you had expected?
Assuming you are asking strictly about the motorcycle.
It is pretty much everything I was hoping for. The light weight makes it fun to ride. Can cruise smoothly at freeway speeds. It has an abundance of power. The side and top case set made it a lot more useful and even loaded, they did not effect the handling. The fully adjustable long travel supension allows me to modify the ride for the added weight. The cornering and handling capability is way beyond my casual style. The longer travel suspension seems to help on the rougher backroads. The additional ground clearance does make the ride height tall for some people. Shorter riders can buy a differant saddle that lowers the saddle height by about an inch. I don't have too much trouble.
The only thing I am disappointed in is the mileage. I only got 43-44 mpg. The sales brocure indicated I should get closer to 60 mpg on the road. After reviewing forums of Uly riders, I found out 43 is fairly normal. That only allows me about 150 miles between fill ups.
Another thing that is strange is the cooling air outlet. It blows on the inside of my right leg and gets hot even through my leather pants. Not a big problem, just need to rotate my leg away from the frame sometimes to cool off.
This is the largest bike I have ever owned. I have owned a number of small and mid ranged bikes during the last 35 years. And several of those were enduro style bikes. This bike has taken a little time to get used to it. Maybe I am more cautious now!
You have to remember, I am not a real motorcyclist!
From your description of your ride you are a better rider than you claim. Laying on your back and looking up at the sky right after entering a corner is no fun.
There are very few 'real motorcycle riders' and many attempting to be or believing they are.
For mileage does Buell provide different sprockets? Maybe one for the rear that is just a bit larger, allowing for lower engine speeds for same road speed.
The final drive is a belt and I have not seen any alternate drive pullys. The gearing is already quite high and at speed the RPM's are quite low. I believe the truth is that the tuning is set up more for performance than economy.
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