Saturday...visiting with JT and a Harley ride

Friday night the weather forecast for Saturday was for showers off and on. So sad!


Well Saturday morning proved the weathermen wrong. The sun was shining and it was going to be a Harley kind of day. Coffee…the breakfast of everyone who lives in the northwest and I was ready to ride.

A block before we arrived at Mt. Baker Harley-Davidson, I told Larry another red trike was turning the corner and would be right behind us. We pulled in, parked, and waited for the other couple to get parked on their new bikes. Larry and I introduced ourselves to Pam and Pat and admired their new bikes and I took a picture of Pam and her week old trike. Looks like Mt. Baker HD is going to have a large trike group, and this should make for a wonderful picture later this summer or early fall. Jeannie was there on her trike and so there were three red trikes parked out front.

It’s always fun to pull up to the shop and see who is there to greet you. Today it was JT Hasley, our regional manager for the Harley Owners Group. Usually JT gets a few hours to visit with the HOG members and customers at a dealership before he is off and running to the next dealer, event, rally, or meeting. This weekend he rode into town Friday afternoon and won’t head south until Sunday afternoon.

JT always has a smile on his face, has great stories to tell, is a walking encyclopedia of HOG/H-D information, and he always has a hug for me. JT wanted to check out our trike, see what chrome we had added, and find out how we like riding it. JT has a sidecar that he is still getting acquainted with and shared a story of one of his first big outings on it. I said he should write a book of his adventures and stories of riding 500,000 miles and the people he has met, and Jeannie agreed.

We talked Facebook, blogs, and the fast changing pace of the internet, web communications, what that means to HD, and how they are handling it corporately. We talked rides, bikes, chrome, and weather…typical topics for Harley riders. Arriving after the early crush of riders, allowed us to visit with JT for almost a hour and a half.

Larry and I said good-bye to JT until we meet again and headed out for a Saturday afternoon ride. We took Marine Drive out of town and passed hundreds of bicyclist who fortunately for us were headed into town and not going in the same direction we were.

We rode through the Lummi Nation and found they were hosting their annual Stommish Festival. We headed up Haxton and turned off on Red River Road where we saw four eagles circling and landing in the fields to feast on mice or other small rodents. The farm machinery was cutting and baling hay and that must have uncovered hiding places for the mice and a smorgasbord for the eagles.

We continued out to Pt. Whitethorn Marine Reserve where I convinced Larry that walking ¾ of a mile in Harley boots and leather was a good idea to see the view. At least it was level and smooth and it was a great view when we arrived at the end of the trail. We walked back to the parking lot enjoying the sights and sounds of the birds and we were ready for cold drinks.

Birch Bay was jumping, as it always is on a weekend, although there were not that many motorcycles taking advantage of the great riding weather. We continued out to Semiahmoo before heading home.