Leavenworth Lunch Run 4-23-11

At the last minute I hooked up with a ride announced on the Seattle Motorcycle Riders Meetup group.  I managed to get a day off and the weather forecast looked halfway good for a change.  The ride was called the Leavenworth Lunch Run and the host was Rico from the Pleasure Barons MC.  They were going to take the Chumstick Highway route into Leavenworth which is always a fun diversion.  The rally point was Couzin’s Cafe in Kirkland.

I arrived early as usual and staked out a table in the cafe.  I ordered a cup of coffee and settled in to wait for the other riders.  I hadn’t seen a lot of commitments to participate in the ride so I wasn’t sure how many were actually going to show up.  As it turns out there was just two other motorcycles an one passenger, Rico’s daughter.  Rico’s wife was caging it with their baby son.  The food at Couzin’s Cafe is very good with farm sized portions.  A good way to get the day started.

It was 38 degrees when I left home and it wasn’t a lot warmer when we left the cafe.  Climbing Hwy 2 to Stevens pass cost us whatever temperature increase we realized from the steadily rising sun.  Rico was in the lead and he decided to pull over at one of the parking lots at the pass.  They didn’t have the niceties I did, like a heated jacket liner and heated gloves.  As it turned out I was the only one that had actually ridden the Chumstick Hwy so I told them they needed to on Hwy 207 heading towards Lake Wenatchee Park then just follow the Leavenworth signs.

We all snapped a few pictures and then got back on the road.  Rico Made all the right turns and we had a fun little ride on the Chumstick Hwy.  We got into Leavenworth right about noon and found some parking in fairly short order.  This was a little lucky because the good weather had Leavenworth pretty well filled up.

We ended up eating at the Munchen Haus and we all ordered our brat and beer of choice.  We had a nice lunch sitting in the sun and conversing.  They were all heading to Spokane so I was on my own after we finished lunch.  I decided to run the Chumstick Hwy again and head back over Hwy 2.  I found a few places to pull off and take more pictures of the beautiful snow covered mountains.  When I got to Monroe I turned South on Hwy 203 and ran it to I-90 and from there on home.

All in all a nice lunch run.  It’s too bad there wasn’t more riders but that was their loss.  All the pictures I took during the ride can be seen in This Gallery.