First sidecar - R1150GSA with M72DX!

Did you get the electric trim option?
Well worth the $$ IMHO.

Cheers.

Made it to Enumclaw this afternoon but had a pretty crappy day. All part of the adventure!!

Day 1 had me leaving my aunt's house in Rancho Murrietta (near Sacramento) heading north on I-5. The plan was to take 20 over to 101 and ride the coast, but overshot that turnoff so jogged over from Red Bluff headed toward Fortuna. What a fantastic road!! Once I hit the redwoods about 2/3 of the way to the coast I was in heaven. Absolutely gorgeous - I love NorCal!!

Spent the night in Eireka, but due to trying to coordinate a Mother's Day Skype session (which never happened), I got a late start. I'd miscalculated my average speed on 101, got caught in rainy weather the last half of the day, and only made it to Yachats. MadeOuttaGlass, I wanted to do Cape Perpetua but by the time I got there it was 7pm, spitting rain on the twisties, and I was pretty miserable. I promise I'll hit it next trip!! Got a room at the Yachats Inn, managed to impress the little girl in the office (she said I was cool, probably for being silly enough to ride in the rain ), and snuggled in bed trying to get warm again.

Today started out overcast and misty but decent enough. Got an early start and decided, sadly, that the coastal route wasn't going to work. I'd meant to be in Enumclaw this morning but that definitely wouldn't do the trick. So I jogged back over to the I-5 and was making good time north.

Until I left my cellphone at a gas station. :eek1 Had to backtrack 90 miles back through Portland to fetch it, then BACK the way I came.

Of course, the beautiful weather I'd enjoyed on the interstate devolved into rain. Lots and lots and LOTS of rain.

Hit Seattle rush hour traffic. Tried to power through. Got thoroughly drenched around my Frogg Toggs. Almost ran out of gas when ALL the gas stations on 410 had power outages that reset the pumps. Pulled up to DMC - closed. Pulled into hotel, dumped off my soaked gear, and hit the Mexican restaurant for margueritas and taco salad.

Yup. That was an adventure.

I feel bad about arriving so late, especially with the Chelan rally this weekend - I think everyone wanted to be done early. Hopefully we can get this puppy together in record time, there's a ton of stuff to wire and bolt and remove and I need some practice and and and...

Oy. I'm taking a long hot shower and hitting the hay. There are pics, but I dunno if you guys care about non-hack ride report-ishmess.

Sorry about the grief, but you're there!

Yes, we will always enjoy pics. It does sound like an ADVenture to me. Tomorrow should be a great day for you.

I'm here!!!

This morning I showed up around 7:30am at DMC to meet Jay. We chatted and took a tour of the much-larger-than-expected operation while others filtered in, then he took my bike in to start on the work!



Bye-bye two wheeler, get ready for a new adventure!!




I got the steering mod to help push the wheel out a bit.


Tow hook!! (Two of them actually )


The craftsmanship of this rig is incredible!! Absolutely gorgeous!!!

While I was waiting around playing with the shop cat and pups, I found out that the local college was offering a sidecar class today. Perfect right? Except I'd been trying to contact them for weeks with no response, so hadn't signed up. (Also tried Adventure Sidecar, which is apparently defunct - wish people would take down websites if they're no longer offering a service!) Well, Jay's wife Tara bundles me into the car and drives me to Renton in time to, if not actively participate, at least watch some sidecars in action.





According to Jay, my rig should be completed by about noon tomorrow and I can't wait!!! They've been absolutely wonderful so far, especially after one hell of a day yesterday. Of COURSE, everyone loves telling me the weather has been gorgeous here except for yesterday - even today was perfect riding weather!!

Travel Karma, you TOTALLY owe me for this one! (Or maybe it's payback for missing out on Hurricane Sandy last year on our cross country roadtrip)

Now to wait patiently until tomorrow. Or maybe just impatiently. EXCITED!!!!!

Redheads and sun do not mix, even in Washington!! :eek1

For redheads I guess ATGATT means broad-rimmed hats and long sleeved shirts from sunup to sundown.

It's even sunnier at Lake Chelan!

Looking great! I'm always impressed with the level of craftsmanship I see on those rigs from DMC. Keep the pics coming please,
Tom

Ouch !!!!!!

Is my Nemesis Drone being helpful ? He's handier than a Vedesttien Snow + in the mud when it comes to information and photo's ! Have a safe trip.DB

He's been working on a landscaping project the last few days but we're meeting up tomorrow to head to Chelan. It'll be my first real ride on the sidecar so he's going to take it slow - apparently he's used to helping out the newbs.

Today my rig should be done!! I'm catching breakfast then will head over to DMC to see the progress so far. I'm torn on whether to watch the finishing touches added to the rig or head to Renton to take more classroom learning. I definitely won't be attending the afternoon's ride portion, my skin can't take another beating from the sun.

I'm so excited!!

It's the little things that make me love this rig, like how perfectly the trunk and rear rack work! Wish I could show you this better, I'll probably do a full video when it's done. Phenomenal work!!


I think Shop Cat likes me.

Almost done, only a few more hours!! Alignment, brakes, then bolting on the car and taking it for a test drive.

This. Is. AWESOME.

But SO FRICKIN' WEIRD!!!!!!!!

Weird in a good way!

Yours is a perfect set up, congratulations!

Okay, so the first time I drove it around I was like WTF. :huh

Took a lunch break, came back. Had more fun this time as I started remembering my (meager) quad skills, and finally managed to get it to drift in the corner on a left turn.

Third time I packed everything up including tying the old rear wheel to the trunk, then headed to my hotel. Tomorrow I meet up with Drone and officially begin my first real trip via sidecar to Chelan!!

Right now I'm kicking myself for not bringing the GoPro!!! Arg!

And of course it wouldn't be complete without the appropriate "bling":

The alignment jig says heaps.

All right!

Way cool!!

You will love the electric tilt. A flick of the switch and the rig tracks straight an true.

Beautiful rig!

So I'm meeting up with GypsyWriter in the A.M. and we are off to the Chelan Sidecar Rally (after we practice a few right turns.) I've been trying to figure out the best route to get us there and this is what I came up with--



What do you think? Looks good, right?

Truthfully, it will be a long day on the road for a newcomer, about 200 miles, then we gotta set up camp. But we will reward ourselves with a some decent local brew and burgers God willing.