Well, it was an incredibly nice day today, except for the heat of course. I ended up heading to Windy Ridge near Mt. St. Helens for a ride with some old and new friends! :thumbsup:

So, my friend Bryan and I took off this morning from my place and we headed of north to meet up with Loni (magellen) and his wife, Sarah. We ended up blasting north on I-205 to Highway-12 where we headed to Morton, which was about 110 miles. Morton was where we were supposed to meet up with Keith (keithbob) and his brother, John. Well, we got there a little late and Keith and John had already left, so after we filled up the bikes and took off. Once we got to Randle, we turned south and started towards Windy Ridge.

It was really nice to head back down that road with all the experience and knowledge I know now. You see, it was on this road (hwy 131) that I wreaked my bike about a year ago or so. I was coming down this 20 mph hairpin at about 50 mph, which I had been doing all day, when the bank of the road changed. I got freaked out and grabbed a handful of brake like any newbie would do. My trek into the forest was cut short when my bike low-side in the dirt and then abuptly stopped when it ran into a tree stump. Luckily, the tree stump uprooted, so there wasn't any damage to the forks. But the sudden stop did send me flying face-first into the ground. I remember thinking to myself, "Thank goodness I'm wearing a full-face helmet." right before I face planted.

Anyway, to get back on subject, I ended up passing Loni, who was leading, because I had just caught this huge bug on my visor and I couldn't see the road anymore. I didn't want to open my face shield because I might end up catching a rock from Loni's bike, so I decided to pass Loni and ride up ahead with my face shield open.

Once we got to Windy Ridge, we meet up with Keith and John. John had just bought himself a brand new FJR1300. Very pretty bike.

Here a pic of my friend, Bryan, with his FZ6.

While we were at Windy Ridge, I snapped a picture of Mt. Adams.

After we left Windy Ridge, I stopped at a view point and took a picture of the not-so-sleeping giant.

Back onto the road, we headed south to Cougar. Keith spied a great spot for a photo-op, so we all stopped. Some nice guy was there to take our picture for us. From left to right, we have Keith, Loni, Sarah, Bryan, John, and myself.

And, here are some action shot I took of everybody after we left the view point.

Keith with his brother, John, close behind.

Loni and Sarah

And Bryan.

We got lunch in Cougar and then we went our different ways. Keith and John were going to head to the interstate and split up from there. Keith lives in Newport, OR and John's in Tacoma, WA. Bryan and I followed Loni and Sarah back down to Vancouver where we eventually split up.

All in all, it was an awesome ride. About 300 miles total for Bryan and me. The heat was a pain, but the company well made up for it. :beer: