Day 8: Dressed to kill and ready to fly

We had no idea the ’08 Club’s final day would be so full. Carl and Laura had fabulous plans to attend Bill and Darla’s wedding in Salem, so, Flip donned his best tie with help from tailor Sharon. The Stanoviches were heading home after our trip to the Evergreen Air and Space Museum.

Our bittersweet last hotel breakfast was really subpar, and only rates in the category of “don’t do it,” which is worthy of note by the Red Lion chain.

Our packing skills almost perfected (finally), we loaded up and headed to the museum. Now, Jim and Sharon are placard readers. Carl and Laura are hit and miss, so  on the aviation side, C&L were done earlier than the history buffs. All very cool, but our biggest tip is, if you want photos in the cockpit of the Spruce Goose, reserve before your arrival or, at least, when you check in. We saved the Spruce Goose for last and discovered, too late, that the cockpit is an additional cost and the schedule fills up quickly. Now, we have to go  back.

Then, Carl and Laura had to skeddadle to Salem for the previously mentioned nuptials. Guess we were overly ambitious, because Carl’s bike crapped out as we were leaving McMinnville.

He called Salem Harley (they could look at it that day, but couldn’t send a trailer to pick it up) and Paradise Harley’s trailer was already out and heading in the opposite direction, but they hook us up with Thunder Mountain Rescue. Fortunately, after about 20 minutes, Carl tried his bike again and all was copasetic.

We rode straight through to Salem Harley, which has a policy of fitting “travelers” in right away. How cool! We spent quite a bit of time there, and didn’t get out until 4,. Even though a problem was not found, at least we got it checked.

Unfortunately, we also missed Bill and Darla’s wedding and the ensuing fun madness.

The final stretch for C&L was fraught with slowdowns and an impatience to get home. But we completed the jaunt, at about the same time as the Stanoviches, who stayed for an aviation movie and the space museum. Crazy!

Then, we went to the very busy Wet Dog Cafe to celebrate the entire trip.

Coming soon, our best-worst lists and a “trip by the numbers” posts. Thanks for riding along with us. We were all ready to head out again today, and if at all possible, probably would have.

Flip, is a little sad that he will not be the star of the show, on a daily basis. We had the greatest of rides because of our good friends, Jim and Sharon, and our propensity to laugh off any and every event on the trip. Our evenings were raucous and too much fun, because we could laugh at ourselves and all the misadventures, as well as the adventures, we encountered.

Please let us know what is missing from this journal or comment on this trip, as we are already planning 2015.

Let’s go! Varooom!