Liquid Granite Corralled

 

Voyage of the Silverado

Liquid Granite Corralled – Days 4-6

Day four of our quest to bring home Liquid Granite, a savage beast, no less, brought us to Westside Motorsports, in Spokane where she was currently pastured. We breakfasted at Frank’s Diner, a go-to place for locals and travelers alike. Frank’s downtown diner is in a railroad car, specifically a Barney-Smith observation car purposed as a Presidential car in 1906 until it was replaced in 1931, it is Car No. 1787. Narrow and lined with booths on either side, we had to sidle down the aisle to access our seats. Breakfast was excellent and the vibe was hometown.

We left Frank’s in the rearview mirror and headed to Westside Motorsports and Jim’s appointment to take receipt and ownership of Liquid Granite. As with any vehicle purchase, the paperwork at Westside was arduous. When that was done and sealed with handshakes, we were taken out to the waiting bike for our introduction.

My attention was heightened during the process of going over the bike with my command performance to test ride the bike at hand. I was nervous; God knows I didn’t want to be the first to scratch this bike and Jim was counting on my report to put himself past any unease at his selection. I geared up but elected to go with my Sketchers rather than my riding boots which are heavy duty and inflexible. My Victory has floorboards and forward break and gear levers that give me an upright riding style. The 2015 Yamaha FJR 1300ES is a true sports touring bike with footpegs and control levers below the rider’s body or slightly back from upright. I could not imagine doing the initial ride with those clodhopper boots trying to find the pegs and getting my foot under the shifter. Even with a few practice attempts while standing still, I looked like a drunk taking off the first couple of times out.

Fortunately, I adapted all right and made the initial ride. Quicker, nimbler, and higher revved than my Victory, I easily saw this to be the bike for Jim. I took one short ride, then another longer one with a nice straightaway to let the bike jump a bit and open up. I gave Jim the two-word quintessential compliment for a bike to its rider, “Nice bike”.

Once back to the dealership, we loaded the beauty on the trailer with some worry as I rode it up the ramp and my feet left the ground at the apex and the bike grounded out due to her low center of gravity. We babied her a bit and got her onboard. We needed padding between the rear straps and the saddlebags. I was able to talk with the cashier, and she went right back to the shop and brought two excellent hand towels, no problem, no charge, and they did the trick.

Lashed into the trailer, the bike reminded me of a wild mustang in a corral. Leading into this post, I messed around with a working subtitle of “The Taming of Liquid Granite”. Taming is not the right word. If you are riding a bike that you feel like you’ve tamed, it is likely you are riding the wrong bike for you. Each bike is built for a specific purpose and style, and bikes are meant to ride with those in mind. Riders need to find the bike that fits them. Don’t try to tame the bike, it will buck you off in the end. We find symbiosis with our bikes, and when we do, it is poetry. The bike performs best at the slightest changes in the rider and loves to be one with the rider while finding the purpose of riding surface and route. Jim is working on it, and I know he will find it. He will sense it when it occurs.

Jim getting to know his new bike in the 'corral'

Jim’s itinerary for Day 5 had us at Frank’s Diner again on our way out of Spokane with an arrival later that day in Eagle, Idaho, where Shirley, Jim’s wife, and their daughter, Christen’s family reside, but Jim had the opportunity to breakfast with his former Master’s Swim Team coach. It was an opportunity well taken advantage of. Wonderful people, good food, and a view of a lazy section of the Spokane River.

Days five and six were spent in Eagle. They were a family affair through and through as we introduced Shirley and Christen’s crew to their new family member. She received mostly oohs and aahs along with a nervous look or two, loving a motorcycle rider is not for the feint of heart.

Jim and I made a quick run to Home Depot for materials to improve the strapping and adjust the ramp to get rid of the centering issue. We picked up two stainless steel quick links to help us secure the front end with the canyon dancer more securely and cleanly. We added some Velcro straps to secure the tails of the ratcheting load straps. To lengthen the trailer ramp and cure the bottoming out issue, Jim picked up a 2X6 and had it cut in three pieces. Finally, I found a pipe insulating material that we cut to length and wrapped the rear straps to cushion the saddle bags.

Having procured our improvement materials, we went straight back to Jim and Shirley’s place to unload the bike and take it out on some low to moderately trafficked streets in the neighborhood. I was first since I rode it off the trailer. And because Jim was a bit nervous. This bike is the heaviest he’s ever ridden. I came back with a couple of tips for Jim as he geared up for his maiden ride. He did it right; first using a couple of exercises he learned in the motorcycle safety course to get the feel of the bike, moving forward under foot power, easing the clutch in and out, leaning one way and the other…then he was off to the end of the street and a roundabout, a great place to practice a nice not-too-tight turn and back. I could see him more relaxed each time he came back to the house. Since our trip and the writing of this post, Jim has ridden on a route he is familiar with so that he can concentrate on improving his feel for the bike without worrying too much about where he’s going. His approach to symbiosis is excellent. I am looking forward to our first ride together.

Our time in Eagle was highlighted by a birthday party thrown for Jim with family and friends. Jim and Shirley have made friends with the neighbors, and they joined us along with Christen’s family, Marc’s parents, and Shirley’s sister and husband. One of the highlights of the party was a viewing of the video made by Rowen, Jim’s granddaughter, just shy of nine years old. The video is a masterpiece. It was something special for Jim and me to carry on to the last leg of our journey.

As best as I can recall and faithfully submitted,

Jerry ‘Shakespeare’ White

PS – Y’all keep the iron side up.

 

PPS – I had planned for this series have three parts, but there does not appear to be thirst for “The Road Home for Liquid Granite”, the working title on the third post. If there comes a time when I need to slack someone’s thirst for it, I’ll finish and post it. 

Chasing Liquid Granite

 

Voyage of the Silverado

Chasing Liquid Granite – Days 1-3

On the road again with Jim

I set off on Monday, July 6, 2026, at 0-dark-30 so that I could arrive at Jim McClelland’s Walnut Creek location by 11:00 a.m. and accompany him on various errands, preparing for our trip ahead. The end goal of our adventure was to deliver a new-to-Jim motorcycle from Spokane, Washington to his place in Walnut Creek, California. He started his odyssey back into motorcycling after a 44-year absence, thou thoughts of doing so periodically crossed his mind over the intervening years.

True to Jim’s favored approach, he did a copious amount of research into the various bikes that fit within his overall desire to have a sport touring bike. His search narrowed to a 2015 Yamaha FJR1300, silver in color if we could find one. Jim located the bike that met nearly all his qualifications for accessories, price, miles, make and model, but not the color and instead zeroed in on a bike in Spokane, Washington that is dark grey, a color named Liquid Granite.

Jim enlisted me onto the road trip to fetch this bike, and I was only too happy to tag along. One of my duties was to test-ride the bike and assure him that it was a fit bike for him. I admit to some trepidation at the prospect of doing the initial ride of what we hoped to be a new joy for him. Nevertheless, I agree to come on to the project team. I haven’t had a road trip with him for several years and as you’ll see, we planned to cover a lot of ground both literally and figuratively. My road miles mapped out to be 2,478 miles as the crow flies, not including test rides and in-town driving.

Leaving before dawn on my Victory Cross Country was a bit nervy for me as it has been a long time since doing a long night ride. My comfort level returned as the miles wore on after navigating the Briggs Terrace twisties and hitting the 210 Freeway. Once I was heading up the Grapevine after passing Castaic Junction, I was near my normal relaxed comfort as dawn slowly brought the ability to drive further ahead back into play, allowing me spot road obstacles earlier rather than too late.

I gassed up in Buttonwillow and ate breakfast at McDonald’s where I was greeted by three Hispanic construction workers heading back to their truck with one the highest complements a biker can hear, “nice bike” accompanied by three thumbs up. A man about my age held the door for me as I entered while he exclaimed, “What a beautiful day for ride. Be safe.” A Filipino family came in and sat nearby. The dad blessed me when I sneezed, joked at me not to forget my helmet as I left it in the seat to bus my table, and then wished me safe travels when I headed out. A cross-section of people with a common asset, kindness in their hearts.

Jim met me in the underground parking lot of The Atrium, the office building where RS+M Design/Engineering have their main offices. Jim is Principal Architect for his firm which designs and builds pools on a large scale for HOAs, municipalities, schools, historic, and heritage sites for hospitality, sports therapy, competitions, and recreation. He pays a bit extra to use parking spaces for his vehicles in the lot. I parked, unloaded, and secured my bike, then tossed my gear into Jim’s truck and off we went to an HOA project site so he could show me the ongoing work and attend a construction meeting. After the meeting we picked up the rental motorcycle trailer from a U-Haul and we were set for the long road to find Liquid Granite.

Our chase was on. Jim was the master planner and a master plan he created with a breakfast at the Buttercup Diner to send us off to Bend, Oregon. We had ample windshield time as we alternated shifts behind the wheel of Jim’s diesel-powered Silverado with its eight-foot bed covered with a nifty shell. The overall length of the transport for our voyage would play a big part during stops throughout the road trip, luck was with us throughout, luck being the residue of design (thank you Branch Rickey).

We had plenty of time for talk, and talk we did; about the last time we went to Spokane when we grabbed my parents in Merlin, Oregon and delivered them to the Walter Estelle memorial service, about our epic Summer of ’72 motorcycle trip and how we could do it in style with my Victory and Jim’s Yamaha, both nicely equipped for such a ride, and things of importance with family, business, and friends and the hopes and dreams we have for all of them. We punctuated our talk with fruitful quiet. There isn’t really such a thing as awkward silence between the best of friends unless there is something weighty that needs to be said that neither friend wants to broach, and even then, the subject won’t be contained for long. During my shift behind the wheel, Jim kept moving things along at RS+M and I gave thought and prayer to things that required it, mostly the invitation to serve LCPC on Session for the coming three years. While Jim drove, I kept up communications with family, the broker searching for a new car for me, and Andrew, our Director of Student Ministries.

That first leg was highlighted with spectacular scenery throughout the drive. We lunched at the Black Bear Diner in Mount Shasta, the original restaurant in the chain and a place we’ve stopped on several of our excursions together. Black Bear is a great go-to place with consistently good menus, service, and facilities. We could have eaten nearly every meal of our trip at Black Bears. But we didn’t.

The second leg, from Bend, Oregon to Spokane, Washinton overlaid much of the Voyage of the Suburban Valdez when we took my parents up to attend the memorial service for a fine and long-time family friend. We relived quite a few moments from that trip during our drive this time around including lunch at C&D Drive-in, home of the Bozo Burger, at Boardman, Oregon, the scene of a riotously funny dinner during our trip back in 2015 which received its own write-up in this blog space.

One of the overall highlights of our trip was the dinner we were able to have with John and Lisa Estelle and John’s wife, Michelle. John found us a table at Anthony’s at Spokane Falls with a spectacular view of the falls. The dinner was full of love, camaraderie, and fun. We caught up, underlined how great it was to have my parents at Walt’s service for Whites, Estelles, and McClellands. I’ll hold on to that evening we had together for a long time.

Our chase for Liquid Granite would conclude the next day and the Voyage of the Silverado would take on a new series of highlights and importance.

Keep the iron side up.

Respectfully submitted,

Jerry ‘Shakespeare’ White

Post one of three parts of the Voyage of the Silverado

Prelude to a 3Rs Ride

 

My 3Rs Ride has taken shape and is now on the home calendar. It looks something like this: Dorthy Street -> W.C. -> P.G. -> L.P. -> P. NV. -> Dorothy Street. The middle section of the multiday ride needs to remain obscure; I wouldn’t want to ruin the suspense for the posts to follow during or about the ride itself and a couple of them should be accompanied by question marks as there are details yet to be ironed out.

I have decided to make efforts to address several issues that have been bugging me. One is that I haven’t taken a multi-day ride of any type in nearly two years. The others I will incorporate into the ride and activities therein.

The 3Rs? Remembrance. Renewal. Resurgence.

Remembrance: I’ve grown tired of whining about not having taken the time to grieve for my parents. Handling their estate did not allow for it, neither did planning their celebration of life. Then I took on weighty responsibilities at church, and added tasks around my father-in-law’s estate, and the adding this and that and blah blah blah… I’m bored with using those things as an excuse for not taking a focused approach to my grief and I will take care of that during this ride.

Don’t get me wrong. I have grieved, and effectively so, while doing all those things that encompass life. I’ve written about my grief and the grief of others for their losses and that helps me process my grief. I have simply not taken stock of what I am grieving, who and what I’ve lost, and what it means to have been their little boy, their growing boy, the father of their grandchildren, and the grandfather of their great-grands.

Renewal: I have let those things that I carped about here topple me from my perch on happiness and joy. I get it here and there, mostly from being with my kids and grandkids. Call me a pessimist, but I’m not one to think I can skip through life sitting on Cloud 9 and joyous all day long, but I need to find that kernel of joy that sparks from time to time. Some other things that can ignite my joy are getting a project done on or around the house, hearing my wife laugh, hanging with teens I’m teaching, riding my motorcycle, seeing a red-tailed hawk soaring (or nearly any other bird), being on or in the water, and writing.

To be sure, some of these things are re-awakening and I am hoping by working through some stuff on this ride, they can become consistent. Especially the writing. This prelude is me getting the match out to light the fire for writing.

Resurgence: Resurgence and renewal are closely related to each other, but I love my friend Webster’s definition of resurgence and so it is the third R: a rising again into life, activity, or prominence.

Here’s to putting a few miles in the saddle and remembering, getting renewed, and finding resurgence.

In His grip and keeping the iron side up,

Jerry ‘Shakespeare’ White