I was at the Ridge Motorsports Park last month for the races and made the unfortunate mistake of leaving my iPad locked in the safe when I checked out. I figured it would be gone and would have to replace it, I called Little Creek Casino and they actually had it in their safe lost and found, kudos to their staff. Seeing I was going be back again soon, I asked them to keep it and I would pick it up when I swung through next…which happened to be this last Sunday – Monday. It was late when I checked in and the person with the key had gone home but would return the next day around 8am. I informed them I was going to be at the track and was checking out around 6:30…they said they would have it at front desk for pickup later that evening. Yeah, you know where this is going…long day at track, tired, driving in a daze on way home knowing traffic is going to suck at 5:30 through base and Tacoma…totally spaced and got home before realizing I forgot to stop and pick it up. I called them and told them to hold it and I would be in the next few days. Good reason to ride and it would be a clearing my head type of trip. It’s been a busy month and seeing our industry is seasonal, it seemed the only way I was going to be able to get my iPad back would be to go really early or later after traffic died down. Spur of the moment decision so as not to disrupt the next day I geared up and set out at 7pm on Tuesday night figuring it would be light out late.

What I thought would be an easy drive ended up in me sitting in traffic in the carpool lane through Newcastle and Renton, finally clearing up by the time I hit I-5 South. However, the rest of the way was a breeze and it made up the time spent in traffic. Got to Casino and as promised they had it ready for me to pickup. Fueled, hydrated and ate a protein bar then got back on bike. The drive home was gorgeous, it was clear the weather was going to change in the next few days as clouds littered the sky. I had my smoke visor on and it was OK until about 9pm when things were very dark and sketchy, I rode with great caution knowing cars would have a harder time seeing me and I was lane changing to avoid clusters and stay clear of idiots. Portions of the freeway are lighted and others are not, where it wasn’t was much harder to see through the visor and required a lot more focus. I concentrated more on the bold reflective line of the carpool lane to use as my guide, but never traveling without my clear visor again for night riding. Also, deer was in the back of my mind and at the speeds we were all traveling it occurred to me that I needed to be extra focused. The kicker is that it is also hypnotic to focus on that reflective line and that you need to kind of snap yourself out of it and continue checking your surroundings, lane positioning, etc. It was about 3.25 hours of straight riding and I was pretty beat as I pulled in around 10:15, if you don’t need to do night riding, don’t I did see a lot of crazy out there and used my speed to stay clear of them. However, night riding when you aren’t on some mission is beautiful, just be cautious, that is when animals like to come out and people tend to be driving under a bit of influence. Ride safely Vixens, but just Ride!