John Denver’s song, “Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy” was the perfect tune that kept running through my mind as we rode with friends on Sunday.
Coffee and motorcycles are synonymous with riding. So what better place to meet up for a ride, Starbucks at Sehome, be there and ready to ride at 10:00 AM. We gassed up the trike and thought we were doing well on time but when we pulled in, you guessed it, we were almost the last ones to arrive. Not quite, but almost.
Our group rode out Samish Way, around Lake Padden, and the west side of Lake Samish, across the freeway to Alger, down Parson Creek Road to Prairie Road and then highway 9. We took a short break in Sedro-Woolley before turning onto highway 20 then headed to Concrete. Overhead we could see first one and then a second jet streaking across the clear blue sky heading east over the Cascade Mountains leaving a white trail to mark their passing.
Concrete Washington: early settlers came to the Baker River in 1871 called the first settlement Minnehaha. In 1890 the town was platted and a post office was started and the name Baker was adopted. The east side of the river was named “Cement City” and sprang up around the Washington Portland Cement Company. The Superior Portland Cement Company was built in Baker and the two towns merged in 1909 and settled on the name Concrete. Most of the original wooden buildings lining Main Street built prior to 1921 were destroyed by fires. After the fires, most commercial buildings were built with concrete. The Baker Street Grill is one of three of the oldest wooden buildings still standing and is a popular place to stop for lunch among motorcycle riders. The Henry Thompson Bridge was once the longest single span cement bridge in the world and is listed on the Washington State and National Historic Register.
Eagles In Flight is a local Concrete motorcycle shop owned by Rob Tygret and although we didn’t stop today, we did wave as we rode by noting the parking lot was full of bikes and it will be a destination stop on a future ride. Riding on towards Rockport, we turned onto highway 530 for the last leg of our morning trip on the way to our lunch stop at The Glacier Peak Café in Darrington. It was a picture perfect day for photos of Whitehorse Mountain as we pulled into the café parking lot. We laughed that each time we come to Darrington we take a new picture of the mountain so we have to label them by year to tell the difference. Everyone had their cameras out snapping away and Brenda said we looked like paparazzi and then coined a new word for us “Harleyrazzi”.
The twist and turns on the road were like a waltz on two wheels, or in our case three wheels, as we zigged and zagged as we wound our way to our last stop at the Acme store. When we pulled in Angie Williamson and Rick and Joan White were out front waving to us. There were hellos, hugs, and smiles all around as we visited with old friends. We admired Angie and Rick’s new bikes and shared our riding adventures of the day.
It was one of those days when you could feel the sun on your face and soak up the warmth, willing it to stay and the rain that was forecast for the coming week to go away and stay away.
The group split up at Smith Road with one group heading back to town and the other group heading towards Ferndale. It was a great day with friends. Thanks Dave, Lorie, Dave, Brenda, Dave, Dawn, Bill, Marla, Rick, Marina, Rob, and Kaye. Thanks to Angie, Rick, and Joan for being the “lagniappe” (the little something extra or unexpected) at the end of the day.
Our grandson was not happy that papa and grandma were leathered up and leaving him behind again this morning but when we arrived home he was waiting to greet us; however, not excitedly until we removed our helmets and he could verify it really was papa and grandma, and then he could hardly wait for us to dismount and pick him up. Then he decided he needed to sit on the bike. An H-D rider in the making.
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