One of the big drivers for me to do the Range of Light this year is to honor the memory of my intense but fleeting friend, Nick. We met at a bar about ten years ago as he was on an extended business trip from England to the United States. He had an infectious laugh. He loved motorcycles. He injected insulin. On this very ride, he rode with me in the back of the V-Strom all over Northern California. It was one of my first super public moments shortly after coming out.

The universe took him too quickly from us, and he will be someone I remember until we can ride bikes together out across the heavenly frontier. You are with me on this ride, Nick. Thank you 🤗.

Last year on the trip to the Olympic Peninsula, I lost the plastic window in my tent’s rain fly. I love the tent and didn’t want to give it up as it packs super well on motorcycle trips. However, I could feel the cold, damp air enter the tent. This morning was a carbon copy of yesterday morning, however, it was even colder due to Laytonville’s inland locale away from the ocean’s insulating effect.

I’m still trying to get my head around California’s wild temperature swings. We are barely into September, and temperatures are dropping into the 40s at night. Though just a few short weeks later, we will be solidly into the triple digits.

It’s not often I start early on rides. However, the BMW Club of Northern California always starts early. When you have a few hundred bikes around you it doesn’t take the crack of many throttles to wake camp up. I was moving in the 6 o’clock hour and on the bike by 7:15. Yes, Marcia, miracles do happen!

Laytonville was entrenched in fog. We were over 17 miles and a solid mountain range away from the ocean. I was surprised how much fog was in the area. It was going to be a mellow ride out to the coast as so much of the area’s natural beauty was entrenched in fog. I didn’t want to out ride my sight line. Visibility was low.

Sometimes, my bike’s German nature shows its head. No functional limitation? What does that really mean? Can’t there just be a battery icon that pipes up next to the remaining miles part of the TFT screen? Not convinced? When poking around in the settings menu and starting to move the bike, the TFT screen displays: “Settings menu not operable until halted.” Clearly, translation needs to be a bit more friendly, LOL

So I met a guy… at a gas station on the way out of town. This weekend was an epic for me. I’d ridden a thousand miles on everything from twisty pavement to dirt roads to high-speed super slab. This older gentleman was sitting on a Honda Monkey—a 125 cc (about a tenth of my bike’s engine). He’d been doing the exact same ride. I was floored!

He let me throw my leg over the seat, and I was tickled at how small, simple, and light this bike was. It was everything that my current bike wasn’t. Could it go 55 on the freeway? Apparently, it does, barely. As the Australians would say, “Good on ya, mate!”

Branscomb Road climbs out of the valley and up over a small pass before plunging down towards the coast below. It’s a great piece of pavement that snakes up and down through the foothills before climbing the pass. I was in and out of the fog several times which was truly awesome. As the road makes its way west, it gets narrower and narrower before turning into a one lane squiggle through the mountains.

What was ironic was that by the time I got to Fort Bragg, the coast was totally sunny. I expected the fog to be socked in by the coast completely. However, that wasn’t the case at all. It couldn’t have been a more picture-perfect today, albeit a touch cold!

As “winter” comes earlier to these parts and travel starts ramping up for the fall, this is likely going to be my last run of 128 of the season. Let’s make it a good one!

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