Had to take the scooter this time because the Bonneville was out for service.
More after the break…
Part 1: To Ferry
We started at about 07:00 like usual, but headed down 15th Avenue NW rather than SR-99 to get to Downtown. After riding a full-size motorcycle for so long, the scooter felt very unwieldy an strange in a number of ways. Also, since I didn't have a way to fit my new Garmin Zumo onto the scooter, I was forced to use my old eTrex, which proved difficult to follow relative to the Zumo, so we ended up doing a little wayfinding once in Downtown. After all that, we barely got to the ferry terminal before it started loading.
Part 2: Kitsap and Pierce Counties
During the hour long ferry ride, we looked into places where we could find breakfast in town, of which there were few. The one we decided on was the Family Pancake House not far from Auto Center Row, which ended up being a very cozy and tasty choice. We also "fed" (fueled) the scooter before leaving the area.
I'm at Family Pancake House in Bremerton, WA https://t.co/CxeiLytQGo pic.twitter.com/he5GbtG6lQ
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) November 13, 2021
From there, we made a short trip over to The Brothers Powersports, but not after overshooting the turn off thanks to the GPS again. The shop was rather small and tightly packed with motorcycles, with customer bikes stored in an undercover area nearby. Nothing particularly interested me at the shop, so we headed off to SR-3 to our next stop.
SR-3 and SR-16 were more or less fine, but the scooter was not far from the redline when keeping pace with traffic on the freeways. That, combined with the handling I wasn't too fond of, planted the seed that, perhaps, I really had outgrown the Burgman after all.
After crossing the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, I realized that I'd gone past the end of the route segment. (The eTrex only allows so many points in a route before it truncates it, so I'd been splitting routes into segments over the past several years. It's fine for bicycles, but not fine when you're part of traffic!) We left SR-16 and I tried to wayfind to a familiar area, only to pull onto a side street, go to the next route segment, and rejoin the freeway…for all of one exit. We spent some time on city streets and old US-99 to get to the destination Harley-Davidson dealer in Fife.
I'm at Destination Harley-Davidson - @destinationh_d in Fife, WA https://t.co/hkZeuAeDVK
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) November 13, 2021
And what a dealer it was! So many bikes inside, so much apparel, and even a local diner inside! It was run solo by a very nice lady, who made my partner a delicious latte. I also bought my partner a hooded sweatshirt with a red skeletal hand giving the sign of the horns on the front. The dealer staff were also very nice and I had a good time "talking bike" with them.
Part 3: Return Home
From Fife, we took the Valley Avenue/West Valley Highway route that I was very familiar with to get to Nash Motorsports, where I'd originally bought the scooter. Along the way, we had to make a quick stop off SR-161 because the GPS's battery died. (I didn't need it for wayfinding at that point, but I wanted to keep the tracking going.)
While there, I sat on a number of bikes, from sport tourers, to racers, and even a nice Kawasaki W800. I was hoping to sit on a 2022 Ninja 1000SX that was there, but the staff said that it had already sold.
We also headed over to the adjacent Indian Motorcycles dealer, whose staff were more than happy to mention their rental program. I also saw an FTR1200 there.
I'm at Hinshaws Motorcycle Store in Auburn, WA https://t.co/iniezoEU3g
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) November 13, 2021
We quickly switched to SR-167 for the rest of the way up the valley. It provide fine for a while, but as we approached Renton, we rant into stop-and-go traffic. The scooter did not that like that with two people and I struggled to hold a line at that slow speeds, because of both the centrifugal clutch and the small wheels.
We ended up off route again around Tukwila and SeaTac, after getting on I-405, and I ended up a bit confused by the signs. I was hoping to get to the freeway section of SR-509, but we ended up on Tukwila International Boulevard instead. Thankfully, it didn't take long to get back to SR-599/SR-99, which we took the whole way to upper Fremont. (I'd previously been paranoid about the grated deck on the First Avenue Bridge, but it was fine.)
I was relieved when we finally got home, and looked forward to getting my Bonneville back for its calmer handling.
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