| NWBIKERS.com motorcycle runs, motorcycle events, motorcycle touring, motorcycle roads, poker runs, motorcycle rides, bikers, motorcycle campouts, motorcycles, biker events, Honda motorcycles, Yamaha motorcycles, kawasaki motorcycles, ducati motorcycles, suzuki motorcycles, motorcycle clothing, motorcycle gear, motorcycle hotel, insurance, loans |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| Centralia South Sound Loop 10/04/09 The south sound lowlands areas south west of Centralia contain many very nice roads. The terrain is much different then the local north sound forest areas. It features open rural areas and low rolling hills thru some trees but opening up to large vistas. The roads are somewhat like back road Oregon. Great twisty roads with little or no traffic. I have been wanting to do this loop for some time |
| Donations help support the site. buy me a cup of coffee or a gallon of gas |
| With our NW weather continuing to give us a great summer and fall I thought it time to try and setup a group ride. Having some members in Oregon I thought a mid point start point would be good. Meet for breakfast and run the loop with a late lunch then everyone could head there own way. Sounded good to me and there is a good restaurant just about midway that has a good buffet. The breakfast spot was 110 miles from my area north. It was around 80 miles from the Portland Oregon (south) area. For ride route is was about perfect. The ride itself was to be around 175 miles as mapped. In reality it was around 190. So this is were the problem started. For me the ride was the loop and began at the intersection of I5 and Hwy 12. That is 110 miles from where I live. So I planned to simply take the (brace yourself) FREEWAY to the start point. OMG what a sinner? How could I possible suggest the soul sucking freeway? As is normal for me I told every one that they could take any route they wanted but it is 110 miles and took me 2 hours on the freeway with no stops. So to make it to the restaurant for the 10 am meet and take a winding back road ride there would take to long. So to make a long story short I rode solo and meet David who lives in the are there. I have this problem a lot as I see the freeway as the quickest way from point A to point B. A lot of the time the actual ride starts at point B. David and I had a great chat session and brunch at Spiffys. We then headed out on what I call the Great Centralia Loop. There were a couple of road closures and detours at the start but each lead to a nice alternate. The temps had started out low that day and I had my Gerbings turned on. The sky's were clear and the temps were warming up so the Gerbings came off midway thru the ride. The ride was great. We made a few quick stops along the way but decided to skip the late lunch. At the Johnson Creek and 507 intersections we headed our separate ways home. Since I was solo I did not have to take the longer rural/residential back roads back I could simply jump on the freeway for the 90 mile ride home. So it was a total of almost 400 miles. A fall day in the sun. |
