This ride was pretty much spur of the moment. I'm a member of a couple ride groups and have failed to participate primarily because I have been collecting road information for this site. In doing so I make allot of stops and I don't want folks to have to wait for me. I  thought I would kill two birds with one stone and document a group ride. I joined up with our Bike to Eat ride group at the McDonalds off of 512 in South Tacoma Way.  The time was 8 AM on an overcast day with temperature of about 45 degrees. On the way out there was a light sprinkle of rain but it didn't last long. The weather guy promised we would have partly sunny sky's. The ride destination was the Coral Drive-in in Long Beach on the coast. At this point we were still deciding the return route.

After 20 minutes of chat, we started up the bikes and departed the lot. Riders were Tim (Leader ST1300), Dale (Vstrom), Terry (VTX 1800) and  Lloyd (Wing). We had a great bunch of guys and allot of great road ahead of us. We made our way up the boring I-5 section from Tacoma to Olympia. The highway 101 ramp never looked so good. After a quick ride up 101 we turned off on to highway 8. The roads in this area are mostly straight but there are some turns from time to time. What it lacks in turns it makes up for in scenery. This is a great place to give out your autograph so watch your speed. As highway 8 turns to 12 we turned off to make a stop at the gas station in Montesano. A couple of the riders required fuel and we all needed to use the facilities. After the brief stop we headed down Main Street. This road becomes Highway 107. This is a great stretch of road. The first thing we encountered was an old lumber mill still in action. 107 parallels the Chehalis river for a bit and has some nice sweeping turns. It's only 8 miles of road but It's very scenic.

The 8 miles came up quickly and we turned on to Highway 101 heading towards Raymond. We rode through the little towns of Artic,  Elkhorn and soon came up on Raymond. 101 took us on the South side of the Willipa River in Raymond then followed by 22 miles of pure twistie bliss! Not only were the roads twisting they were paralleling the waters of Willipa Bay. The scenery along this road was spectacular. As 101 turned inland away from the bay we soon came across a large herd of Elk in a clearing a couple hundred yards off the east side of the road. This was an opportunity to get some really cool pictures. To bad it was overcast.  After enjoying the wildlife I had to hit the throttle hard and catch up to the group. This was not an easy task as they covered allot of ground while I was messing around with my camera gear. As I approached the 101 highway 4 junction they were on road side waiting for me. I hate making people wait.  Now the fun began as the next 8 miles of 101 were all about twisting around the South end of Willipa bay. We had a blast navigating turn after turn as they swept from left to right and back again. I wanted to turn around and ride them again! Willipa bay quickly left the view of our rear view mirrors as we finished the remaining 9.3 miles that took us into Long Beach to the Coral Drive-in. Home of the Tsunami Burger. If you want to order one of these 5 lbs. monstrosities, you will have to call ahead one day in advance. It will fee several people so make a fun ride day out of it. The parking is limited here and the seating is outside. They have erected a tent to cover a few tables so it wasn't bad. I liked the place. the burgers were not top ten material but they were definitely worth mentioning. I really enjoyed the stop as well as riding with the group. Soon it was time to hit the road.

The group decided to hit some back roads near Terry's land past Toledo. This was a great thing as I have not ridden them. We made our way back up highway 101 the way we came and the twisties were even better as the sun was poking through the clouds in areas. We turned on to highway 6 and followed it 28 miles through straights and some more sweeping turns. It was in this area we encountered another large herd of Elk. We departed highway 6 as we turned on to Pel Ell MacDonald road. Now I finally got to some new roads.  This road winds through the back country and soon becomes Wildwood Rd as it passes through Vader. Along in this area there were many bad sections of road caused by the recent flooding. There were streams where streams never were and houses with giant stacks of logs from trees that were washed  up on land. I included some of the photos of the Cowlitz river in the photo show. We mad a quick ride up 506 and then went under I-5 and on down Jackson Rd. The next 19 miles took us along the Cowlitz where we were reminded many times of the intensity of the forces of nature. We could see that entire sections of road were at one time under mud. We soon turned off the main road on to a gravel road leading to terry's property. What a gorgeous piece of land. Great place to retire as I thought. We did a bit of off roading as we approached the end of the drive. My wing was sinking into the soft dirt as the back end wagged from side to side. I had to give it a bit of throttle to keep forward momentum and finally reached the grass. we stopped and chatted for a while. Terry's wife and RV were waiting for us with coffee and cookies.  At one point in time Tim realized he had left his ignition on. The battery was dead! Fortunately there was a battery charger in the RV and Lloyd had his special tool to get the side covers off the Honda. 15 minutes of charge time provided enough charge to get the ST1300 started. We were soon back on the road making our way to highway 12.

 Soon we intersected with Highway 12 and rode that for 1.8 miles to our next new set of roads. I was really digging these back roads. We turned on to Silver creek Rd which soon turned into Highway 122.  The length of this section of road was only 8 miles but it took us along the edge of Mayfield lake. The scenery was great.

It wasn't long and we joined Highway 12 again and we rode 19 miles,  passing Riffe Lake and the Mossy Rock Dam and on to the town of Morton. The ride through Morton took us about 3 minutes at a blazing 25 mph. We were now headed North on highway 7. As the daylight was fading the temperature was dropping. The altitude in places between Morton and Elbe was high enough that there was still snow on the road sides and in some shaded areas entire fields were covered. This is not a good area to be caught in a snow storm on a motorcycle so watch the weather when riding this way during the winter months.

We soon crossed the bridge and headed through Elbe. Another one of my favorites stretches of road. We made our way through the twisties and really had some fun until we were stuck behind a truck pulling snowmobiles. The rest of the trip home wasn't anything to write about parted ways as the other riders headed for Covington, Black Diamond and Maple Valley. 

This was a long day ride but the scenery and back roads were well worth it. I highly recommend riding this compete route.

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