The Pacific Northwest, and Pacific Standard Time

Call it a combination of eating too much questionable food on the road, and tonight eating way too much fabulous food…I've given myself a serious case of heartburn. Zantac has it's work cut out this morning.

I departed from my Lone Star friends after the night in Burley ID, and started the hike towards my good friend, and former guitar player/lead singers pad in the greater Seattle area - Mr. Erik Loeding (and his lovely wife Elyse) invited me to stay with them for the weekend in Snoquaimie WA. From where I was in Idaho, I decided to make a stop off in Yakima to skip arriving at Erik's house to late on Friday and waking up their 2 children.

Erik is very unique, in that even though he might be a Pacific Northwest transplant of only 2 years, his Detroit shines through in how he already has Washington wired. A true Detroiter will prevail in damn near any situation. Though he wasn't able to join me in Yakima, he let me know a couple of friends of his were playing a gig that night. 2 Pacific Northwest cover bands - Jar of Flies (an Alice in Chains cover band) and Outshined (a Soundgarden cover band). For those of you that aren't familiar with the 90's grunge scene, Alice and Chains and Soundgarden are 2 of the big 4 bands to come out of Seattle (in my humble opinion). The other 2 big boys are Pearl Jam and Nirvana. My standing offer to Pearl Jam still holds….If Eddie and the boys ever need a backup bass player, call me. I'll be waiting.

Yakima seemed very much like Orlando Florida. One used car dealer after another, pawn shops, hot, and traffic lights that were timed terrible.

After checking into a modest hotel, I cleaned up and headed out for some food. While I was right in downtown Yakima, it took me 30 minutes walking to find anything more then a Jimmy Johns or Subway. After locating a respectable bar grill, I struck up a conversation with the bartender who let me know the bands which I was going to see were playing at a biker rally call the Great Smokeout. This rally was within a 5 minute walk. After dinner I headed over to see what this was all about.

Living out of a bag the size of a small backpack, I don't have much to choose from in the way of clothes. This night, by total chance (and likely they were all I had clean) I was wearing my orange shorts, and my sliver and black Darkhorse brewery shirt. For those of you that don't know, orange and black are Harley Davidson trademark colors. This ended up working out in my favor.

I wandered into this outdoor even which was in the heart of downtown, and it didn't take me long to realize I was in a 'color' event. Color = Motorcycle gang friendly. The club running the show was the 1% club, the Diablos (Diablos). From my rough count, there was over 50 patch wearing members and plenty of their friends. There were a few other clubs there too, but nowhere near the numbers. The band Outshined was setting up, and while I was trying to blend in, I found out why it was called the Great Smokeout (pictures below). The Diablos had their bikes parked within the event, and people were checking them out. I too went over to check the bikes out, and saw a Harley very much like the one I own, a V-Rod. This one had a custom paint job. I liked it's looks and took a picture of it - Mistake. Seems the Diablos didn't like this, and 3 of them came up to me to inquire what I was up too. My Detroit Rat skills kicked in, and within 30 seconds I had a picture of my V-Rod out to show these big boys that I'm a fan of the V-Rod, and own one. The really big guy knew about my bike (only 1400 of my particular bike were made in 2007), and we started chatting about them. Now I'm not really sure if it was what I was wearing or my Harley, but I was now ok to the Diablos, and they were ok to me.

The bands were stunning, and a good time was had by all. I wrapped it up a little later than I would have liked, but being my body isn't use to Pacific Standard Time, I was back on the road to the Loeding's by 6:30am the next day.

Whatever road my GPS took me down, was stunning. It's tough to explain what I saw, but Erik was right when he said "you've never seen anything like it".

Catching up and hanging with Erik and the family was great. Erik and I are older now, but again time had stood still. We laughed, shot the shit about glory days, and made some new memories. Erik took me to catch some sights, and then took me to the very spot, where after he had his job offer, he made the decision to leave all he knew behind and start fresh in the Pacific Northwest (PNW as he calls it). Bravo Erik, bravo. It takes a very brave soul to throw caution to the wind and try something new in life…and you're killing it brother!

Just a few short days ago, I thought I had lost my edge. I thought my mojo had left me. I was wrong. What in fact really happened is I have spent time with wonderful people, and I didn't want to leave. In leaving, I felt drained. When in fact, those good people are what is keeping my personal fuel tank full. I'm very much blessed to reconnect and spend time with the good people in my life, and am lucky enough to meet some great new folks on the road.

One day very soon, I'll be back home playing with my dogs which I miss dearly, and getting ready to again throw caution to the wind myself...every chance I get.

A few pics: