Reno-Seattle

Dante's Delivery Service

Dave's garage with the VFR getting ready to go

Dave filling up one of his bikes on our way out of town.

The VFR, ready for the road

It continued to rain or drizzle until we got to Susanville, where a hint of blue sky taunted me. It never fully cleared up, but at least from here on out the roads would be dry and the air warmed up slightly. Dan requested that we ride through Lassen Volcanic National Park, some place that I'd also been hoping to see. Unfortunately, neither of us saw much because of the clouds. I didn't stop for pictures much on this trip primarily because the set up on the bike was all wrong for it. There was no tank bag, so if I wanted a photo, I'd have to park the bike, take out the key, open the top case, remove camera, take picture and then close everything back up. It was too much hassle for what didn't appear to be great pictures anyway.

Poison Lake in Lassen National Park

The road through Lassen

The Subway Cave - no lunch here!

Looking back at the parking lot

Looks more like a digestive system

Heading down into the cave

Whoa! That's a big cave!

Dan reflects in his motorcycle gear

Other visitors and their flashlights

Rocks on the floor (it really wasn't that smooth)

Coming out the other end

After our detour in the cave we didn't have much else to distract us with. Or, more importantly, we weren't making good time at all and really needed to get into Bend at a decent time so as to have dinner with some friends of ours. I poured on the throttle and Dan's bike tried to keep up.

Train trestle in northern California

Riding through northern California

Homestead Restaurant in Paisley, OR

Home

Dante's Delivery Service
For the third time in my life I was asked if I was interested in delivering a motorcycle for someone else. In this case the bike in question was newly purchased and located in Reno, NV. The new owner wanted it in Kirkland, WA (east of Seattle). I was all too happy to oblige.

June 6-7, 2009 Total Miles: ~1,057 Reno, NV to Kirkland, WA	View Larger Map
Bob had bought the bike from Dave, but didn't have time to ride it home himself. He could have shipped it, but he knew that I had done this in the past and enjoyed it and so he offered the opportunity to me. I accepted. Bob split his time between his home in Calfornia and a place in Kirkland, so getting the bike there wasn't a big priority. In fact, it was a slow process, as the timing needed to work out for all three parties involved. Two months later we had a plan. With movie-script precision, this is what was devised: I would rent a car and drive to Reno Friday night. Dave would pick me from the car rental return lot and take me to the bike in his garage. From there, I'd ride north to Bend, OR, stay with friends and then complete the trip on Sunday. This is the tricky part: Bob would send me directions to his place, a garage door opener and a key. When I arrived in Kirkland I'd open the door, use the key to move the car out of the garage, replace the car with the motorcycle and close the garage.The car would be mine to use for the rest of day until my flight that evening. At that point, I'd park it at SeaTac's Short Term Parking, lock the garage door opener and key inside and then leave a message on Bob's cell phone with the space number. His plane would land shortly after mine took off, he'd retrieve his message and with his spare key, get in his car and drive home. Perfect. A slight change in plans occured when Dan decided to ride with me, but in reality, nothing changed. I still drove the car to Reno while Dan followed me on his motorcycle, and we still rode to Bend on Satuday. But when I turned north on Sunday, he went south towards home. Someone had to be at the airport to pick me up that night! Donner Pass to Reno was cold and wet. I felt bad for Dan as I watched him hunker down in the damp. I had heated seats, windshield wipers and music. We reached our hotel after midnight and got a short but good night's sleep in before the next morning. I was surprised and dismayed to find the rain beating against the window when I woke up. Its not supposed to rain in Reno! We met up with Dave, went and picked up the bike and took off north in the rain and clouds.

Dave's garage with the VFR getting ready to go	Dave filling up one of his bikes on our way out of town.

The VFR, ready for the road
It continued to rain or drizzle until we got to Susanville, where a hint of blue sky taunted me. It never fully cleared up, but at least from here on out the roads would be dry and the air warmed up slightly. Dan requested that we ride through Lassen Volcanic National Park, some place that I'd also been hoping to see. Unfortunately, neither of us saw much because of the clouds. I didn't stop for pictures much on this trip primarily because the set up on the bike was all wrong for it. There was no tank bag, so if I wanted a photo, I'd have to park the bike, take out the key, open the top case, remove camera, take picture and then close everything back up. It was too much hassle for what didn't appear to be great pictures anyway.

Poison Lake in Lassen National Park	The road through Lassen
As we were leaving the boundaries of the park, Dan took a rather random turn down a side road. It turned out that he led us to a parking lot for something called "Subway Cave" - a massive lava tube open on both ends. We parked the bikes, grabbed our cameras and went in. I should have brought my own flashlight, as it was hard to follow Dan's, but I managed not to trip on the uneven floor. The cave was a lot shorter than I had anticipated and it wasn't long before we were in the sunshine - or at least daylight - again. This was the kind of quick detour that I wish we could do more often.

The Subway Cave - no lunch here!	Looking back at the parking lot

Looks more like a digestive system	Heading down into the cave

Whoa! That's a big cave!	Drippy ceiling

Dan reflects in his motorcycle gear	Other visitors and their flashlights

Rocks on the floor (it really wasn't that smooth)	Coming out the other end
After our detour in the cave we didn't have much else to distract us with. Or, more importantly, we weren't making good time at all and really needed to get into Bend at a decent time so as to have dinner with some friends of ours. I poured on the throttle and Dan's bike tried to keep up.

Train trestle in northern California	View

Riding through northern California	Homestead Restaurant in Paisley, OR
I could go into a lot of detail from here, but since there are no pictures, here's the Condensed Version of what happened: I ran out of gas just outside of Paisley. Dan was also on reserve, much sooner than he'd normally would have expected, so we poured only one of the spare liters of fuel into my bike. It was agreed that if I ran out again, Dan would go on ahead, fill up and bring back both liter bottles of gas. This way, he still had some spare gas in case he needed it before reaching La Pine (the next town on our map). He made it, came back and we reached Bend. We had a great dinner with Peter and Kurt and their wives, and then we stayed at Kurt's house. As planned, in the morning I went north while Dan went south. My trip north wasn't that great, as I was concerned about getting into Seattle at decent time, as I wanted to meet up with friends while I was there. The directions to Bob's place were superb, the garage door opener worked as one would expect and the car was ready and waiting for me. I left the VFR tucked away in the back of the garage and completed my day in Seattle, right up to leaving Bob a voicemail as I walked through the parking garage of SeaTac. Dan met me in San Jose a few hours later and that was it: Road Trip completed successfully. Bob reported a coating of dead bugs on his new motorcycle, but other than that, he was very pleased with the whole transaction. Anyone else need a motorcycle transported?