My Summer Vacation

The weather begins a subtle but perceptible change that tells me fall is almost here. Afternoon temperatures are still in the mid-80s, but nights are cooling off faster. With nighttime lows in the 40s, the house is slightly cold as I write this. Sometime in the next few weeks, I’ll start turning on our geothermal heat overnight to take the edge off the morning chill.

Around the neighborhood, leaves show the first signs of turning, and the pear tree in our backyard is already dropping fruit and leaves.

Summer went by so fast that it’s hard for me to believe it’s almost over. It seems like only a few weeks ago that I turned in grades for the three classes I taught spring term and immediately left on a five-day motorcycle trip. Travel throughout the Northwest occupied most of my time this summer, and I’ve been gone more than I’ve been home.

My first trip was to a BMW motorcycle rally in John Day. I’ve belonged to the Oregon BMW riders for over twenty years and have many friends in the club. Although I haven’t owned a Beemer for some time now, they still let me tag along and only slightly give me a bad time because I ride a Honda.

Shortly after getting back from the rally, I left again for Laguna Seca and the world motorcycle grand prix races in Monterey. These are the best riders on the fastest bikes in the world, and Laguna Seca draws tens of thousands of enthusiastic riders every year for the races and the festival atmosphere that goes with them. I was out for two weeks, making my way down through the redwoods and the Oregon and California coast. Usually I camped alone, but I also stayed with friends in Santa Cruz and met another friend and his sister in Big Sur, where we camped during race weekend. It was a great trip and I was out for two weeks.

As soon as I got back, I started setting up our little travel trailer and Mary and I left for another two-week vacation on Orcas Island in Washington state’s San Juans. We took four days getting up there, staying on the northern Oregon Coast. On Orcas we did the usual tourist things. We rented a kayak and took some lessons and an evening tour around the island. It was good fun, but I was a little surprised that I didn’t fall in love with it. I thought I was going to have to buy one.

I was more excited to rent a sailboat and take it out solo for a great afternoon in a brisk wind on East Sound. I sailed quite a lot on Klamath Lake when we first moved here twenty-three years ago but reached a point at which the limits of lake sailing dimmed my enthusiasm. I don’t doubt, though, that if I lived on the coast I’d soon be back into it.

For the most part, we spent our vacation enjoying the spectacular scenery and the good fun we always have together.

We got back from the San Juans a few days earlier than I expected, which made me realize I could still make it up to Portland for a meeting of Honda VFR riders. I hang around an internet discussion site devoted to this bike, and the Pacific Northwest subgroup was hosting its third annual get-together. After only two days at home, I expressed an interest in going up and got an invitation from the organizer to stay with him, so I hooked up with two other riders from Southern Oregon and made the trip.

There were about fifty guys, and my host Tim and his wife put on a magnificent barbecue, and all of us had a great evening of food and motorcycle talk. The VFR goes back to the mid-80s Honda superbike race machine, and the street version is now in its 6th generation. It’s widely celebrated in the motorcycle press as the best all-around sport touring bike ever made, and although there is plenty of competition now from other manufacturers, it’s still regarded as a superb and spirited sport tourer. It exaggerates but not too much to say it has a cult following.

The next day we made a group ride up to Windy Ridge to view the Mount Saint Helens spectacle. Mary and I were there a year or two after the eruption, and although there are visible signs of recovery, the immense power and devastation of the blast are still quite apparent.

Still, our stop was brief. Being motorcyclists, we were more interested in the power we were sitting on, and during the day we put in about 300 miles of scenic and spirited riding. I was rather proud to be able to stay with all but the fastest riders. (I believe in the Goldilocks principle of motorcycle pacing: people who ride faster than I do are riding too fast; people who ride slower than me are riding too slow. I like all my rides to be just right.)

Now it’s time to settle in at home and start to slowly catch up on all the deferred maintenance of my life. Mary is back at school and students return tomorrow. By choice, I’m not teaching this fall. I am taking a couple of classes: Spanish and Tai Chi. I look forward to being a student for a few weeks again.

It remains to be seen whether the community college will have any classes for me winter or spring, or if I’ll feel like taking them on. For now, I’m content to settle into fall, the cool and colorful season that invites us to wander aimlessly through our external and internal landscapes.