Tag Archives: Vulcan

760 Miles in Three Days

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Or “What I Did On My Summer Vacation”

As is tradition, I took a week off for my birthday again this year, and this time managed to get to places I haven’t been in many years, if ever. I’m still a big fan of the Pacific Coast Highway, so I thought it appropriate to hit that again, but this time go all the way South to the California border and then cut inland to the Old Hometown and see my brother for a minute on the way back. Being a wimp and all, I broke the ride down into sections, because as much as I dig the Vulcan, she ain’t the best long-distance tour bike and I definitely need to stop and stretch every couple of hours.

Day 1: Morning – East Portland to Depoe Bay

I threw the last few things into a backpack, kissed my lovely wife, and rolled out at a nice leisurely 10:30am because I’m lazy and on vacation. The goal was to get out to Depoe Bay Oregon by around lunchtime and stop and do touristy things there.

I started off the day with sunshine, but about 10 minutes before I hit the left turn onto the 101 the Coastal weather pattern took over, and it became horizon-to-horizon grey and dropped down to about 60F. Being a smart dog, I had checked the weather before leaving so I had better gear choices than that first camping trip where I shivered by ass off.

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The Joys of being a Rain God

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I have survived yet another year (your assassins suck, by the way) and this past week I followed my latest tradition and took the week off. Mostly to decompress from the stress of Life in The Apocalypse, but also just ‘cuz it’s my birthday.

And also to get myself a gift. After nearly 20 years of telling myself it would be silly to buy a motorcycle again when due to work and such I would probably only be able to ride it one or two days a week, and that mainly in the summer considering how much rain we get up here (and how badly most drivers deal with it in the ‘Burbs).

This year though, several things came together in a rather nice conglomeration: the car is paid for, my student loans are finished, the Daughter-Unit aged out of support, and we aren’t moving or anything, so the tax returns were in savings rather than having been spent. We’re actually in pretty good shape financially.

(I feel kinda guilty saying that considering how many other people are having problems as I write this, but we’ve worked hard to get where we are and I’ll take whatever luck that brings me.)

Combine that with all the bullshit of 2020, plus work and, well, to paraphrase the Recruiter in Deadpool, “I finally hit fuck it.”

This is the result:

A 2007 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Custom in a rather lovely blue.

This being 2020 and all, however, means that things just won’t go smoothly. The Vulcan was not my first choice – that honor went to a Suzuki Boulevard S50 in silver paint that mysteriously disappeared from the dealership the day before I went to look at it. I almost bought a Honda Shadow 800 while I was there (signed the paperwork and everything), but my Credit Union didn’t like their numbers enough to push back on it, and I realized that while it was a good bike, it really wasn’t the one I wanted so I backed out.

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