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Taking Turns

Date:
By Wom Battle

It's Saturday, and the weather looks OK but before I go for a ride I need to wash off the grime that settled on the Road King riding home from Sydney in the wet on Monday afternoon.  My daughter was keen to help in order to secure a seat on the ride for her second official outing.  An hour and a half later the Harley-Davidson was sparkling.... and it rained.

A slight reshuffle of plans, because the rain looked transient, saw us thinking about heading out after lunch for a family outing, me and one of the kide on the Harley and the rest of the family in the soon to be traded in BMW, it's final hoorah.  Now that two of the three kids are jockeying for the pillion seat my wife suggested that they just take turns.  One to the destination, the other back.  Good sense and agreed to by the kids without any problems at all (thank heavens)!

Next decision, the destination. 

  • It needed to be far enough to ensure the kids considered they had had sufficient time.
  • There needed to be something at the other end to do, preferably involving coffee and some food
  • It needed to be interesting enough to engage our youngest for a while
  • There needed to be some corners to ride around!

I suggested Pie in the Sky at Cowan, about 113 k's or so each way, a nice view, decent coffee and plenty of interesting people traffic.  The destination was approved by all, my wife was keen to see the place my son had described a few times.  So off we went, first stop for fuel (13.69litres @ $18.96)

My daughter took the first shift and we hit the 80k's of relaxing but relatively boring freeway from home that leads to the Old Pacific Highway at Mount White.  My daughter took lots of opportunities to wave at people in cars and enjoy the scenery.  We struck a sun shower near Wyong that freshened things up a little (it just had to rain given the bike was just cleaned!) but it wasn't enough to dampen our spirits.

Onto the Old Pacific Hwy and my daughter had her first taste of proper cornering, naturally at the speed limit, and my wife, who's a bit of a keen driver, followed us through it in the BMW, tyres a screeching on occasion, while my so tried to take some happy snaps through the windscreen.

There was a newish, rather large chink missing from the road on one of the corners that caused an unsettling moment, but other than that it was great fun, scraped my left boot on the road at one stage and parts of the bike on two others but that's just sweetner.  Some of the skills honed at Oran Park last Monday were definitely put into practice.

We were passed by a screaming jap bike at one point, and my initial reaction was not to let that go on, but I remembered that I was on my Harley, with my daughter, being followed by my wife and other two kids and decided to let it go!  But I knew if I wanted to keep up I could have, the guy wasn't that good :-).  Well at least that thought kept me at peace.

The entrance to Pie in the Sky heading south comes up pretty quickly and my wife hadn't been there before, so when I indicated and darted left she got very close to the rear of my bike and I'd suggest that the ABS was nearly engaged, oops.

There were probably 30 bikes there when we arrived, but room enough to find a table, order some food and sit for 45 minutes or so to enjoy the ambience.  A steady stream of bikes came and went and a few photo opportunities later and it was time to head back.  A quick helmet sway and my son was geared up for the trip home, kicking off with the fun corners  back to the freeway.

The trip back was equally relaxing, we needed to stop for fuel again, my wife underestimated the amount she'd need to get there and back but still leave the BMW emptyish when we hand it over on Monday (I had plenty). My son was interested in a Gypsy Joker and his Harley stopped at the service station.  I wasn't.

Fuelled up, home we went, fairly uneventful except my wife mentioned she heard the foot boards scaping on the road while getting around the roundabouts leading back into town.

All up, a great success and a good family outing.  It doesn't get better than to travel with the kids and not hear "When are we going to get there?".

Kilometres travelled: 226.



















 

Disclaimer: This non commercial website and its content is not affiliated with or associated in any way with the Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Harley-Davidson Australia, the Harley-Davidson Owners Group® or any Harley-Davidson® Dealers in Australia.  The use of the terms Harley-Davidson, and Road King® are unavoidable because that's what I own and ride.  This website,  called "My Harley Davidson" , and any opinions or comments expressed herein are purely about my Harley-Davidson Road King ownership experience, a truly great experience at that. I have no intention whatsoever to infringe on any trademarks or copyright ownership of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company or anyone else.


March 2024
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