My first real ride on the motorcycle!
A couple weeks back, I wanted to ride all the way to the Carbon River entrance of Mount Rainier National Park, but I hit my usual anxiety wall when I got to Kent. This time, I knew to take a break before it got to that point, and also decided to take limited-access highways as far as possible to eliminate all of the stoplights.
More after the break…
Outbound
I started at around 07:00 or 08:00 so I wouldn't be riding in the dark and headed straight to SR-99 along NW Market Street. There was some construction closing one of the lanes on the way up.
Once on SR-99, I stuck to it all the way to the First Avenue South Bridge. That meant that this was my first time using a Good to Go pass, which I was supposed to receive before my earlier ride, but mailbox troubles delayed it.
I was worried about the First Avenue South Bridge since the drawbridges around here are known for their grated bridge decks. Thankfully, the southbound bridge has pavement instead, so I was able to take a straight shot across the Duwamish River. Once across the bridge, however, I had to follow a confusing path along a long loop to continue along SR-99. It suddenly went from a surface street to a limited access freeway out of nowhere! Once on the highway, I had a good time following the flow.
Since I didn't want to end up on I-5, I left the highway at S 133rd Street, which involved an unexpected exit with a stop sign. Once on surface streets, I stuck to the usual Interurban Avenue/SR-181/West Valley Highway route all the way to Auburn. It definitely was a lot more fun once it narrowed down to two lanes.
At Auburn, I knew it was time to take a break, so I looked around and ended up at the parking lot of a Lowe's.
I also needed to use the restroom, but had to wait for the cleaning to finish before I could find relief.
Once done at the Lowe's, I headed back to the West Valley Highway and hung a left to head south.
When I hit Sumner, I hung a left and went through town to get to Valley Avenue/SR-162, which I stuck to all the way until past South Prairie. This was where the motorcycle started to become exhilarating, with 50 MPH speeds, few stops, and sweeping curves. It really hammered home what my father says about motorcycles: they're a lot better away from busy areas!
Just past the climb up SR-152 after South Prairie, there was a new traffic light followed by a Bailey bridge with a 35 MPH speed limit. The old bridge that I'd gone across so many times was in need of replacement, but there were no funds allocated to the project, hence the temporary bridge.
After that, I kept straight as the highway changed into SR-165. Not long after the intersection, as I passed the gas station in Burnett, my low fuel light turned on, so I made a mental note to pick up gas in Wilkeson. That didn't pan out, however, as the ancient gas pumps there were wrapped in garbage bags.
Wilkeson
When I finally pulled off in the public parking lot in Wilkeson, I was so excited to see the little town after so long! The parking lot looked completely different from last time, too.
I headed over to the town park to look around and scout out a restroom, since I hadn't really gotten a good look at the town during my past visits.
The public restroom was unfortunately locked, which I told to a lady who hopped out of the passenger seat of a car asking if someone was in the restroom. She got back in the car and they drove off.
Not long after that, a couple of guys rolled up in a crossover with two bikes on the back. I asked "That way (towards the national park) or that way (back down to Orting)?" and they said that they were riding through Wilkeson Tree Farm. They also told me of a gravel back road to the national park entrance, which involved going down Railroad Avenue, then taking the first right after the Coke Oven Handcar Park. Based on looking at maps after getting home, it looks like it dumps you out on Kolisch Road E in Upper Fairfax.
After they'd left, I went around taking more photos. While I did that, I noticed that three children walked into the Wilkeson Grocery unsupervised, which is definitely something that I wouldn't see back home. Small town life sure is quaint!
Inbound
While heading back down, my first order of business was getting gas at the gas station in Burnett. When I did stop, the pump rejected my card, so I had to go in and prepay. The clerk asked if I wanted to pay $10 when I told him, but I said $15 to be safe. It ended up being only $10.40, so he was right.
While filling up, a guy on a miniature dirt bike and no helmet rolled up, got gas, and headed out. Pretty sure that bike didn't have any lights on it, either, so it wasn't street legal.
After heading back the way I came all the way to Sumner, I stuck to the East Valley Highway instead, which ended up being a mistake. There was so much traffic!
My next rest stop was at the KFC in Auburn. I had to call the number on the building because the dining area was closed due to the pandemic, and they told me to walk up to the drive-thru window. I ordered a chicken sandwich, biscuits, and a Sierra Mist, which I ate in the parking space next to my motorcycle. It was reasonably satisfying, but left me feeling sick the rest of the day.
Since the restroom was closed and I really had to go, I had to backtrack to the Fred Meyer I'd passed earlier and use the restroom there.
While riding north through Auburn, a car suddenly moved into my lane, so I swerved around it. There was a clattering noise immediately after, which I'd investigate later.
After all the excitement, I realized that I was no longer on my route, so I hung a left on S 212th Street to get back to it. I ended up zipping right past my turn and heading up along Orillia Road to the mess around SeaTac. Really not wanting to deal with traffic, I was relieved when I saw a road fork off to the right that would take me back down the hill. Once down again, I found my route and hung the required left to continue heading back north.
Once back in north Tukwila, I had to make a left to get onto the entrance ramp to SR-599. I accelerated and shifted as quickly as I could, but missed the last shift and ended up revving high while barely making the speed limit. It almost felt like I was in neutral between gears, but I didn't take too much time to process it before kicking up a gear again to get to where I wanted. It was pretty easy going from there, but I did have to get off the highway again to avoid the grated bridge deck on the northbound First Street South Bridge.
After crossing the South Park Bridge, then making the left onto E Marginal Way S, my top case opened and my water bottle flew out, tumbling along the road. I pulled into the shoulder, then walked back along the sidewalk to grab it. The water bottle was badly scuffed up and dented in a couple of spots, and the excitement left me pretty shook up. Because of the noise from earlier, I panicked because I thought more stuff had fallen out earlier. Thankfully, everything else was accounted for since I had it all wrapped up in a bag.
I only spent a little while on arterial streets before I made my way back to SR-99 to get to the highway portion. While on this leg, I was surrounded by a platoon of Amazon delivery trucks heading north from the distribution center.
While heading north on SR-99, I was stuck behind someone who was only doing 45 MPH, but after such a long day, I was fine with that speed, unlike most of the other drivers around me.
After my mistake on my previous trip northbound along SR-99, I knew to skip the first exit northbound after the Aurora Bridge, but I got into the bus lane and stayed it in for a number of blocks before I found where the next exit was. I ended up feeling bad about being in the bus lane, but nothing happened and I learned where that second exit actually is.
After getting home, I looked at the rear view camera footage at the time of the noise, and it was simply the rickety trailer being towed by the truck to my right hitting a manhole cover. The car at the time was also simply making a U-turn, so everything ended up being fine.
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