Ten Miles from Home

[Bill_Anderson]

If you haven't done so already, check out this very creative video:
1,000 miles from home

What is the most interesting thing you have seen from a motorcycle less than ten miles from home? Here is mine:

A few years ago I rode my first motorcycle, a 1980 Honda CB900C, to the waterfront park next to the ferry dock here in Edmonds. I heard a large exhaling sound, which I thought came from some nearby scuba divers surfacing from the underwater dive park. I looked up to see the back of a whale going back down into the water. I few minutes later I again saw him spout off about 1/4 of the way across the Sound. It is not unusual to see whales in Puget Sound, but this is the only one I have seen in the 15 years I have lived here.

[jbcaddy]

some how the fall salmon run in the Feather river just doesn't match your whale tale, but my new commute takes me over the river next to the diversion dam for the hatchery on my way to work. sometimes you can see the fish trying to jump the diversion dam.

[sfarson]

Originally Posted by Bill_Anderson

If you haven't done so already, check out this very creative video:
1,000 miles from home

What is the most interesting thing you have seen from a motorcycle less than ten miles from home? Here is mine:

A few years ago I rode my first motorcycle, a 1980 Honda CB900C, to the waterfront park next to the ferry dock here in Edmonds. I heard a large exhaling sound, which I thought came from some nearby scuba divers surfacing from the underwater dive park. I looked up to see the back of a whale going back down into the water. I few minutes later I again saw him spout off about 1/4 of the way across the Sound. It is not unusual to see whales in Puget Sound, but this is the only one I have seen in the 15 years I have lived here.

Bill, I've never seen a whale and your experience would be quite the memory for me!

I have to give the question above some thought, but off the top of my head and sticking with the wildlife theme, once returned from a ride and going down the driveway I surprised a redtailed hawk with a freshly killed rabbit. It was a good sized rabbit. He tried to fly away with it in front of me then edged to the side a bit as I came close to coming alongside. He got nervous as he labored to lift off with the rabbit and dropped it just in front of me to the side. That was something I don't see everyday!

[John]

Originally Posted by jbcaddy

some how the fall salmon run in the Feather river just doesn't match your whale tale, but my new commute takes me over the river next to the diversion dam for the hatchery on my way to work. sometimes you can see the fish trying to jump the diversion dam.

JB, You know that ugly red scupture off of I/80 in Roseville? Its supposed to be a rose. Anyway, below it is a stream, I think its called Dry Creek. One day last year I took a walk down there on a walk/bike trail and was surprised to see a couple Salmon in the creek. The whole area is full of small creeks and many of them I hear are attracting spawning Salmon again. That is good.

I used to work in Santa Clara, 20 years ago. In the area is Guadalupe Creek, it runs through San Jose. It used to support a pretty good Salmon run until development killed them all off. In fact I remember another creek in Santa Clara called Calabazas Creek and a Fireman I knew back then used to see Salmon going up that creek all the time when he was a kid. Last I heard San Jose was trying to bring back the Salmon run, that was some years ago. I wonder if they were successful. I don't think it could happen because as soon as the fish got a foothold they would be poached. Theres a very large immigrant population there with a big appitite for fish. I lived in E. Jose and about 25 years ago the city started stenciling the words to the effect "no dumping" on the storm drains. I couldn't read it because it was written in Vietnamese. The city was trying to prevent pollution of the worst kind: dumping used oil in the storm drains that flowed eventually to you know where, Guadalupe Creek.

[RobertVP]

Back when I was living in Moraga (East Bay Area).

It was a cool afternoon in February, and I decided to go for a spin on my VTR in the local hills. I was surprised to see a father and son standing in the middle of the road looking at something on the side of the road (the son was poking it with a stick). I slowed to go around them and to my shock I saw that it was a Boa Constrictor on the side of the road. It was in the mid 30s for temperature, so the snake wasn't moving anything but its head. I stopped and asked the father if he had called the authorities about the snake (he had a cell phone). He said that the police had told him it wasn't their responsibility - call the animal shelter. Having seen enough of the snake and thinking that the authorities were going to come and pick it up I left.

I continued on my ride and about 90 minutes later on my way home the snake was still in the same spot! When I got home I did some calling around and the animal shelter agreed to now send someone out. To make sure that they actually picked the snake up I offered to meet them on the road to show them exactly where the snake was.

An hour later a police officer shows up. I was surprised to see that he didn't have any type of cage - something to transport the snake in. He just stood there looking at me and looking at the snake. I got the impression that he was expecting me to leave, so I did.

Just down the road I heard what surely was a gunshot...

[Bill_Anderson]

We finally had some sunshine today, so I cleaned my Duc's chain and gave it a bath. After lunch, I rode to the gym to work out and fling the water off the bike. From the gym I rode down to my favorite train watching spot on aptly named Sunset Drive (where I take all those sunset photos with the Olympic Mts. in the background).

No trains in sight, so decided to do a little urban riding. I had not gone three blocks when I saw this really neat silver old style Supersport. It looked so nice that I parked beside it and took some photos. It goes without saying that I hear a train going by while I am taking the photos.

The SS was an SS 900FE according the the decal on its rear fairing and the last of its breed according to a plate on the steering head. It had an Edmonds downtown parking permit on it, so it belongs to a local.

[John]

Originally Posted by RobertVP

Back when I was living in Moraga (East Bay Area).

It was a cool afternoon in February, and I decided to go for a spin on my VTR in the local hills. I was surprised to see a father and son standing in the middle of the road looking at something on the side of the road (the son was poking it with a stick). I slowed to go around them and to my shock I saw that it was a Boa Constrictor on the side of the road. It was in the mid 30s for temperature, so the snake wasn't moving anything but its head. I stopped and asked the father if he had called the authorities about the snake (he had a cell phone). He said that the police had told him it wasn't their responsibility - call the animal shelter. Having seen enough of the snake and thinking that the authorities were going to come and pick it up I left.

I continued on my ride and about 90 minutes later on my way home the snake was still in the same spot! When I got home I did some calling around and the animal shelter agreed to now send someone out. To make sure that they actually picked the snake up I offered to meet them on the road to show them exactly where the snake was.

An hour later a police officer shows up. I was surprised to see that he didn't have any type of cage - something to transport the snake in. He just stood there looking at me and looking at the snake. I got the impression that he was expecting me to leave, so I did.

Just down the road I heard what surely was a gunshot...

What an asshole. Its always the critter was about to attack excuse. Instead of trying to save what was obviously an escaped pet, ignorant people shoot first then ask questions later. This has happened several times with treed mountain lions. The moral of the story is don't allow the police to handle animal calls, at least don't give them discretionary authority. Local communities should have protocols in order to handle errant wildlife, let the police handle people problems, not animal problems.

[redpato]

I live in the High Desert of SoCal. The San Bernardino mountains are just south of me. One spring Saturday I was out for a ride around town when I came upon a mountain man and his donkey. They were walking to what they call a roundevous, where guys dressed in deer skins living in tents for the weekend do black powder shooting and such. I stopped to chat with him a little, a sight you don't see too often in our urban area. Said he walks with his donkey everywhere.

[Bill_Anderson]

I have some new tires to scuff up; but last night's rain, today's cloud cover, and a forecast of showers had me thinking that I had better stay close to home. Overcast, rainy days in the PNW are usually cold, but today was relatively warm and humid for this area.

I decided to take a local ride and see if I could get some good waterfront photos to enter in the local DOC's calendar contest. I thought my red bike contrasted with the blues and grays of the water, mountains, and clouds might make some good photos.

An old lady saw me taking a few shots in the Marina Beach parking lot and asked if I would like for her to take one of me and the bike. She was concerned that the shaking of her hand caused by Parkinson's disease would make the photo blurry. She got off a clean shot, which I have posted below.

I took a few more photos at another local spot, then rode south through Woodway and Richmond Beach before returning to Edmonds and riding through the Meadowdale Beach area. The ride was less than two hours and I doubt I got over 40mph, but it was pleasant and better than no ride at all.

[Bill_Anderson]

I don't know what the temperature was in Edmonds today, but it was warm. I got up too late for a long ride, so rode down to the off leash dog park on the south end of the Edmonds waterfront to watch my friend Bob, who owns a fastest color 748, take his two Great Danes for a romp. One of Bob's friends arrived later with two Great Danes of his own. That is a lot of canine on the move.

After Bob left, I rode the Duc to my favorite train watching spot on Sunset Ave. above the tracks. I was stopped at a street crossing for the arriving Empire Builder. While waiting for it to pass, a white haired guy on the sidewalk was looking at the Duc and gave me the thumbs up. I think he continued to stand there just to hear the Duc as I pulled away once the crossing gates came up.

I got to my spot on Sunset Ave. as the Empire Builder left town. A southbound freight was parked at the end of the double track mainline waiting for the northbound afternoon passenger fleet to clear the single track through Edmonds.

After the Empire Builder and a second commuter train rolled through, the
engineer of the waiting freight got out of the cab to watch a northbound freight roll by. After the freight passed, he climbed up the bank, walked over to me, and said, "Aren't you Bill Anderson?"

Needless to say, that took me by surprise. I assumed he knew me from one of the online railfan groups that I belong to. He introduced himself and said that he knew me through a local Ducati online group. He rides a 999 and his brother, who is also a train engineer, rides an ST4s. As we talked, I realized that had I met him and his brother on a ride two years ago.

Posted below is a photo of his train and the one he was inspecting before he came up to talk to me. Because of the low light, you can just see him trackside when you enlarge the photo. Our meeting was a very unusual coalescing of my two favorite hobbies.