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Ride Around Mount Rainier - Take Two

On Saturday September 21st I put Teri on the back of the bike and we went for some two-up riding around Mount Rainier. This would be by far the furthest Teri had gone on the back of the ZZR, so I was a little leery heading out. Now that my Autocom Pro M1 is setup and fully functional, if she complained at all, I'd have to hear it. I could no longer ignore it saying "I can't hear you, sorry". But she was a real trooper! She did awesome, and I'm looking forward to doing more trips like this with her on the back in the future. I'm trying to convince her to ride around the peninsula with me, but that's 400 miles, and I think she'd probably leave me.

We left the house around 9:30 and grabbed a quick bite to eat at a local Jack in the Box. We were finally on our way by 10 AM. The day was shaping up to be gorgeous, and now that my camera was no longer on the blink, I was hoping to get some good photos that I missed when the guys and I did this ride on August 24th. We headed east on highway 512 to highway 410. At a stoplight in Bonney Lake, Teri zipped up the vents on her jacket as the air was still a little cool. My Joe Rocket Phoenix is one big vent, so I just had to deal with it. But I like it a little cool anyway, so I was fine. Teri really seemed to be enjoying herself as she kept encouraging me to pass this person and that . . . She even enjoyed a couple passes at 100 MPH +. You gotta love a girl who doesn't yell at you to slow down as you shift into 3rd a just over 100 . . . :-)

About 50 miles into the ride Teri mentioned that her butt was getting a little sore, so we pulled over at the little store in Greenwater. I still love all the attention my bike gets at stops. One guy pulled up in a big Dodge truck and the conversation went something like: "Nice bike" "Thanks!" "How many CC's?" "1200" "How many horsepower?" "145" "What's top end?" "186" "Shiiiiiiiiiiit!" Loved every second of it . . . After chatting with the lady that was chatting mostly with herself, we were off again. (Con't)

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RAMOD Route North Up. Click for PDF of route.

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THIS would make a nice postcard!

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Mount Rainier reflected in Reflection Lake.

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Little Tahoma from the East.

Little Tahoma, Disappointment Cleaver and Mount Rainier

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John and Teri pose for a rare photo.

We arrived at the entrace to the Sunrise side of Mount Rainier a little later and after a quick relief break, we were headed up the twisty road leading to Sunrise. Again Teri was encouraging me to pass this person and that . . . mind you it's mostly a no-passing zone, but hey . . . who am I to argue? At sunrise, I parked in the Kawasaki zone. (There was a couple riding a Concourse and a Nija 500) I think Teri finally started thinking about a bike for her at this point. The scenery at Sunrise was absolutely incredible. I love looking at the mountain from this side! It seems so new to me. We took a quick hike to mostly stretch our legs, and noted that we need to put in some time here next year exploring and playing around. (Note to Annette, this will be our hike next year!) The lodge at Sunrise was closed, so we (con't)

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Lodge at Sunrise

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Road to Sunrise

ZZR with Rainier in the background

Teri poses for the camera

headed back down. A brief stop at an overlook for some more pictures and we were off again. We exited the park and continued our trip around on highway 123. We entered the park again on the east side and continued on up the road. We stopped a short while later at box canyon for another leg stretch and some more photo opportunities. There was a pretty cool stream running under the road here and Teri took the opportunity to take some pictures of it and the surrounding flora. There were too many people here, so we decided to keep on going up the road. Our tummies were starting to growl, so the pace quickened a bit. We stopped again near Louise lake for some more photos, and again a short while later at reflection lakes. I pointed out a new Nissan 350Z to Teri. I think she has a new vehicle of choice. We decided against going to Paradise since we had both been there numerous times during the Climb for Clean Air this year. I guess Paradise had become a little passe . . . :-) We took a left heading towards Longmire and down the twisty twisty road . . . Of course being the gorgeous day that it was, we ended up behind traffic so the twisties weren't all that fun . . .cars did pull over for us, so that was nice. We stopped at the National Park Inn in Longmire for a great lunch. We met two girls that are here from the Czech Republic. Petra and Petra come over for the summer on a Student Visa. They were both very nice girls, and we wished them luck and hoped to see them again next year. We were off again . . (con't)

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OK, maybe it's not so rare.

John poses by the ZZR

Again, ZZR with Mount Rainier in the background

The rest of the ride home was through familiar country . . . Ashford, Elbe, etc. It was pretty funny though to watch this little piece of S*** Nissan station wagon try and keep up with us after I passed him at 110+ . . . some people will never learn . . . that includes me . . . Great trip! And photos this time are a definite bonus! Click on my More Photos link below to see the other pictures that didn't make it onto this page. - John

More Photos! -->

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Louise Lake near Mt. Rainier