With a capital “T”

We met up at the Spar in Old Town Tacoma (Orin O’Neill photos)

The sun was shining brightly and traffic was light as I headed south on Ruston Way. There was a train heading north; I’d have to cross the tracks to get to the The Spar in Old Town Tacoma, which was the meetup point for the Trouble in T-town rally, hosted by the newly-organized F@#k Yeah Scooter Club.

But the end of the train passed just as I arrived at McCarver Street, so the GTS and I turned right and went up the hill without missing a beat. I must say, the FYSC folks live a charmed life.

After all, scheduling a scooter rally in the middle of November (never mind your first ever) takes… chutzpah. Or faith. Or something. “When we decided to do a rally, we said hey, we’re the F@#k Yeah Scooter Club!” said Reydawggy. Yeah, just go for it. Saturday was unseasonably warm and dry in western Washington. The thermometer in the GTS’ instrument cluster showed 60°F. I recalled some people saying they weren’t going to go because it would be too cold. Hmmm…

Seattle was well-represented, with yours truly, Ducks, Grumpy Gus, Doc and Tiny, Chewy and Ralph in attendance. Had they not been stranded on Vashon Island by anomalies in the ferry schedule, Mr. Robert and Boating Bob would’ve made the scene as well. In all, there were 19 bikes, one fellow on a GT coming all the way from Olympia.

While Ralph led the rest of the Seattle contingent through Federal Way, I couldn’t meet them at their scheduled departure time. I took Vashon Highway instead. Now that I live in West Seattle, it’s just a hop and a skip to Tacoma from the Fauntleroy ferry dock and Vashon Island. The GTS enjoyed the trip, and so did I. Going south was a fairly new experience; the vast majority of Vashon Island jaunts have been northbound.

We departed the Spar for Point Defiance Park right on schedule, though we had to stop for a few minutes when the ride leader’s Bajaj Chetak stopped running. Shades of the GTS.

Luckily, he got it fired up again and we continued on our way. Point Defiance Park is one of the largest urban parks in the U.S., and has lots of attractions besides the pleasantly twisty park roads. We stopped at Owen Beach to enjoy the view of the Narrows and take a group picture before heading to Satellite Coffee in the Stadium district.

Once again, I am reminded that Tacoma is not all that different from Seattle. There are stately old houses on tree-lined boulevards, funky business districts with indie coffee shops (many teeming with dogs and babies in $800 strollers) and stores in restored brick buildings offering offbeat merchandise. Worth exploring, especially on a scooter. Especially since the pavement tends to be in much better shape than Seattle’s.

Fully caffeinated, the group rolled out toward Steilacoom, and Jake’s Bar & Grill. We got a bit of shock waiting at the light on 6th.

A Chevy Blazer and a Toyota Matrix made hard contact in the intersection. We immediately took action, checking on the vehicle occupants, picking up debris and preparing to call for help. Luckily an Army medic was standing on the corner, and on his cell phone immediately. The vehicle occupants were shaken, but didn’t appear to be seriously injured, and the situation seemed to be under control, so we left it to the professionals.

Jake’s has beer taps running the length of the bar, and good pub grub. There’s also a great view of, among other things, McNeil Island State Penitentiary, a former Federal prison that now mostly houses sex offenders.

I’d never been to Steilacoom.

Tacoma being old stomping grounds for Ducks, we looked to her to lead us back to the Point Defiance ferry dock. I’m not sure where we went, but she pointed out that while Pearl Street might look like the most direct route, the traffic and the traffic signals make the trip much more difficult than the way we went. In the dark.

We descended on the dock and took our usual jump-the-queue spot. But the ferry that was supposed to depart at 6:25 pm didn’t even arrive until after 6:30. The crossing to Talequah only takes about 15 minutes

Vashon Island being rural, there are few street lights outside of the town of Vashon. Your lights need to work, and work well. Fortunately, the striping on  the pavement is fresh and there are lots of signs indicating curves and hills, and curvy hills.

But as we were going along, I couldn’t think of a time I’d done this road in the dark. Dusk maybe, but never full-on nighttime. One more first, in a day filled with them…

Of course I took pictures!

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