So I rode the bike up to a buddy's place in Mount Vernon yesterday. Pretty ride, nice weather, been wanting to do it for a while. I went straight up Hwy 9 to Arlington - it's got a nice 4-6ft shoulder the whole way - then cut over to the Old 99 which mostly parallels the I-5 for the last 20 miles, which was also nice and absolutely free of traffic. Which was nice because I was a hurting dude by then, so I needed my space, and wanted to keep...