The Tribe MC of Seattle

It’s 7AM. Body clock says its time to get up. We have a ride today. I look at the little weather station on the closet door, barometer has slightly dropped in the last 12 hours. Not a good sign. Yesterday was sunny, in the low 70s warm, daffodils gently swaying in the warm breeze. A perfect spring day…for mowing the grass at two houses, cleaning both cars, and finish moving mounds of little used, overvalued stuff in the basement getting ready for the remodel starting next week. That was yesterday.

Today, morning temperatures in the 40s, overcast, typical. Wife-unit stirs and says, “…is it raining? Maybe you should call someone to see if they still want to ride.”

Get dressed, breakfast. Cell phone, check, wallet, check, email, check, and, oh yes, the list. Today, I am the Road Rabbi. My esteemed eastside riding companions are to follow me on a Mystery Tour of Seattle. The list has about a dozen off the beaten track places to visit, some touristy, some not.

I check the oil, check tires, pull on the road helmet and start up the trusty PC 800. Wind over the floating bridge is nil but I still feel a chill on my back.

Twenty minutes later I pull into the Starbucks parking lot, the start of a perfect day. Doug and his daughter are there. Tables are pushed together, coffees ordered. One by one, riders arrive with smiles. Jeff distributes newly minted club logo’d black tee shirts. (They look great. I still think blue is a better Jewish color.) The plan for the day is to go on tour, have lunch, then arrive at the Cinerama as volunteers at the Jewish Film Festival by 2 PM. Where are we going? Can’t tell. It’s a mystery. OK. Let’s ride.

Over the 520, up 10th Ave East to Volunteer Park. We park at the base of the water tower. Neil says his hip hurts. Someone else volunteers to watch the bikes. I say, come on girls, its only 105 steps to the top. After catching our wind and seeing the 360 degree view, we descend.

Next is the cemetery. It’s a final destination to Seattle luminaries, fallen heroes, Italian POWs and father/son graves of Bruce and Brandon Lee. After 20 minutes riding around, we stop. Where the heck did that grave site go? Were they moved? Better ask someone. Finally, after a short walk, we gather and pay homage to the kung fu film masters. Next, down a few hills, pass by Clive’s daughter’s apartment, we cross over the University Bridge on to Gas Works Park.

Thousands of walkers truck along the Burke-Gillman trail. It’s a fund raiser for MS awareness that began at the Park. We pull into the parking area. Some are relieved to see a relief station, especially me. We trudge up to the top of kite hill. Glenn points out the famed, Sleepless in Seattle, floating home. If it were sunny, we could actually use the sun dial/calendar upon which we are standing. Mort is taking more pictures. Next, on to the bakery.

This is not a tourist stop. It’s a statement of sorts to our way of life. People are hungry and here are hundreds of loaves of boutique breads awaiting transport to the compost pile. In the parking lot are three large white steel storage bins, overflowing with Challah, orange-pecan, French, Italian, flat breads. Imagine the fuel and labor to grow and gather the ingredients, the fuel and labor to make it, deliver it, then return it to the day-old bins. Help yourself, gentlemen. Help me understand this. It will only go to waste. Next, on to the Troll.

A few blocks away, tucked under the Aurora Bridge is a sculpture most unusual. It is the famed Fremont Troll grasping a VW bug. More pictures. Within minutes of our arrival, two bus loads of visitors arrive. We ride off and park across from the Lenin statue in front of Taco Time. Yes, its still for sale. Asking price is $150,000. Then, we amble around the corner to see, Waiting for the Interurban. Observe the dog’s face. (What a delicious way to get even with the lone arts committee-man who didn’t approve of the concept.)

It’s getting to be lunch time. The next stop is about 25 minutes south. We ride on the Alaska Way viaduct to just south of the Museum of Flight. (Thank goodness the viaduct didn’t collapse and thank goodness we have Mort at the end of the procession on his bright red scoot. Its easy to spot and keep track of our group.) We park in front of famed, Randy’s Restaurant.

Our booth for 10 is ready. Airplanes all over, models suspended from the ceiling, pictures on the walls, aviation décor gone wild. And so has the waitress. Clive isn’t sure to laugh to not. She is a 26 year veteran of the eatery and is the famed stereotype of the old-broad school of table waiting. Ron meets us there after a late arrival back from Mexico. Steve can’t stop grinning at the outpouring of love from our waitress. This is fun, really. Plenty of coffee, good food, separate checks, big tip and back onto our bikes for the return ride to downtown Seattle.

Over the viaduct, huge container ships on the left, stadiums on the right. Wriggle around the city streets, up 4th Avenue to the theater. We circle the block perhaps three times attempting to find space to park. We settle on the parking lot behind the theater and cram eight bikes onto two spaces, Clive takes up a collection and feeds the toll box. We are welcomed into the theater and the rain begins. Perfect timing. It is fun to see so many familiar faces from the Jewish community. Phyllis and Sharon are there, too. We don our new tee-shirts, greet people at the door, sell tickets, dispense will-calls, usher people up the stairs, point out rest rooms and elevators, distribute voting ballots, shake hands, watch and laugh with stage performer, Judy Gold. The film thereafter is about Jewish women comedians. Some of us stay for the 7 PM film about two transgender, gay Israeli men and their reorientation into Israeli society.

Glenn and I are the last of the bikes to leave the parking lot. It is dark and lightly raining. I get home a few minutes before Phyllis. She asks how the day went, who was there, where did we go. How come you didn’t go to…(shhh, we might want to use these places some time in the future.) Maybe I’ll go, too with my new helmet. Do you think she’s beginning to get it?

Well, the weather wasn’t cooperative on Sunday morning, so we postponed Ned’s Magical Mystery Tour to April 13th, before our SJFF volunteer activity.  Here’s the plan –

We’ll meet at the usual spot — Starbucks at Factoria – at 9 AM.  Our Road Rabbi Ned will lead us on an excursion through the Seattle area, highlighting little known sights and facts.  We’ll stop for lunch and finish up our ride by arriving at the Cinerama in style – on our bikes, where we will be volunteering from 2 PM to 7 PM.  Those of you with significant others who may not be joining us on the ride should make appropriate arrangements for them to meet up at the Cinerama. 

T-Shirts for this event have been ordered.  Please bring $20 per t-shirt – I’d like for us to wear them while we volunteer.

This is a great opportunity for us to be in front of the Jewish community, so I hope you are looking forward to this as much as I am.  I plan on bringing cards or a flyer about us to see if we can get a few new members.   If you have friends that would like to join us as volunteers, let me know in advance and have them bring $20 for a t-shirt.

Remember that we will also get a private screening of Harley Son of David at a future time – I’ve proposed that we do that on the 27th in conjunction with our usual April ride, but I’m open to other suggested times.