I'm on two wheels

Destination Durango, CO - A dream trip.

2009-06-09T06:51:00.000-07:00

This morning, Tuesday June 9,2009 I woke up and it seemed as if I had a very vivid, colorful and realistic dream that I got on the Road Star last Wednesday afternoon June 3, 2009 and rode out to NewBerry Springs to met for the first time a Pashnit Forum member named Ken with the online name of SKIBOLD. The dream was about a trip from my home to Ken's, to stay overnight and then head out to Durango, Colorado and meet with members of www.BEGINNERBIKERS.ORG to then ride a road known as the Million Dollar Highway into the mountains.

After checking my credit card balances, plus the fact I could hardly move, I realized it was no dream but a real trip that I not only imagined or dreamed but it actually happened. Here's the story. Every year for the past 3-4 years some Beginner Bikers forum members meet at the home of Jo and Gregg in Durango Colorado and it has become known as the Potato Ranch Westside Rally. Ken and I are the only Californians and I'm the only California forum member to ever make it. This year it took place with about 15 members and guests showing up for the festivities including a day long ride into the mountains and a Bar-B-Que beef brisket, potato salad and beans dinner back at the ranch. There are lots of details and some of it covered in the pictures with labels of explanation. Map shows all the stops on the way there and we took the same route back but spread the stops out a bit longer.

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A first stroke of good luck was finding my riding partner Ken, through the Pashnit Motorcycle Roads forum, where on reading my forum write up of the trip he decided to come along for the ride.
Ken turns out to be a former water skiing National Champion, excellent motorcycle rider and all around multi-talented person that really helped make the trip as successful as it was.
He even has his own nearly 1/2 mile water skiing lake in his back yard. Without Ken this trip would never have happened as I was not going to do that alone. This is Diesel, a big gentle dog.

Thursday, June 4,2009 Our first day on the road heading for Flagstaff, AZ as our over night stay of a 2 day ride. Ken is on a 2007 Suzuki C90T (1,500 cc)and is carrying all the usual stuff plus several pieces of camping gear including a good size tent, camp stove, sleeping bag, small ice chest, and a folding camp chair. He is really ready for two nights of camping at the Potato Ranch. There are 4 pounds of bungee cords holding all this together it seems. I have my sissy-bar bag stuffed with clothing and things plus bottles of water and Gatorade, but brought along a green duffel bag with my winter jacket, extra pair of jeans and room for dirty clothes on the way back. For this trip I wore my Australian Draggin Jeans with some hip inserts and the knee armor just in case.

Arriving in Kingman we are both getting low on fuel since we did not stop after filling up in Ludlow. Gas up and stop for lunch at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant I ate at on the Laughlin trip. I live for their turkey lunch special. Back on the road stop in Seligman for gas.
and then on to Flagstaff. The views along the road are of wide open stretches of desert and rolling hills and mostly uninteresting vistas. The road is good, traffic fairly light with trucks the main obstacle course to deal with. I'm in front and the pace is about 75 mph or so. Arriving in Flagstaff I had mapped out where the motel is but still never know if I will spot it and follow the correct road, but we hit it dead bang right on.
We stayed at the Econolodge in Flagstaff and Ken made dinner on his camp stove. Ken's dietary requirements are a bit limited but dinner was good. Next morning Friday and Durango lies ahead.

Friday, June 5, 2009We head out of Flagstaff and the sweeping views just open up and we stopped for a couple pictures.

Before getting to Kayenta we stopped to take a few pictures of this canyon view, it's even more spectacular further on but the wind started to pick up a bit and we press on.

Heading up route 89 to connect to Route 160 we hit some breezes but no real wind and it's somewhat cloudy keeping the heat level down. Did I say no wind? When we hit Kayenta, the gateway to Monument Valley, we both start to question our sanity.
There is a lot of dust in the air due to wind pushing across the road, not severe but up at least a notch or two. We decide to push on with no sightseeing into Monument Valley. We do stop at 4 Corners and cover Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.
The wind and dust both diminish in intensity and the trip just gets a bit warmer. Then we hit Colorado and the roads disappear. A stretch of construction with no pavement, just hard pack gravel. From here it's into Cortez and next stop Durango, CO and the Potato Ranch, (at the end of a gravel road).

On arriving we see a couple members already here with more to arrive over the next few hours. Several members show up and I notice there are only three cruisers, mine, Ken's and Bob on a 2004 Suzuki C50 the rest are various sport or sport tour models.
Suddenly the wind picks up and Ken's now set up tent is really getting whipped around.

Just as I ask him how much wind can it stand a corner comes loose and we have the answer. Derick, my roommate in town finally arrives and the whole group heads into town for dinner at Francisco's.

I ordered enchiladas for some dumb reason, like I need spicy food, am I losing my mind.
After a very nice dinner and in the dark he and I head to the Quality Inn just a few miles up the main road. Ken and the other campers came in a vehicle and are now back at the ranch with all his camping gear and tent plus the facilities in Jo and Greg's home. I never really asked him how it went but doubt he had any problems. Camping is not on my list of things to do or try so the motel was fine.

Where did I get the idea for this trip?From the very start of the ride I was questioning how in the world did I wind up doing this. It's way beyond my comfort zone, doing something I have never even thought about, going somewhere with no idea of success and not a clue if we can make it back. Will the weather hold up, will it rain, what about wind, my stamina, flat tire, crazy drivers on and on. The only thing I could relate it to was how early explorers trying to reach the North Pole heading out into the unknown must have felt. Even now I am in awe of the fact that this trip really happened. Plus there is this ride into the mountains and several 10,000-11,000 ft. high passes, what was I thinking.

Saturday June 6, 2009 We all meet for breakfast at 9 AM, gas up and get ready to head north out of Durango into the mountains.
It gets steep but not really difficult so far, and we wind up at our first pass over 10,000 feet.

Red Mountain pass pic: Clockwise from Mrs Taterhead.. (no, not Jo, look closely for plastic potato head)
El Jefe (asp), Bobthearch, Ken (from Pashnit.com), Richard66, Josh (morgydan), Charlie (expatbrit), Mike (Bull), Jo (MsPPH), Brian (beveritt), Jeff#2 (wraith), Derick, Todd (rmrr), Ruthann (wonderbunny)keeping track of all the mountain pictures is getting jumbled

We continue on toward Silverton nestled in the bottom of a valley. Along the way wecame to the stretch in the road that could only be described as a South American Road of Death with no margin for error.

Once through all that and more we came into the Town of Ouray, another town surrounded by imposing mountain on almost all sides.

I wonder who lives here and why. A lady in a store where I bought a couple pins was from Long Beach and said the came to Ouray a couple times and decided to live there.

After lunch we saddle up and continue on with just one real photo stop and supposedly a sighting of an Elk...never saw it my self. Our group of cruisers fell behind except for Ken who got caught up with the fast group and stuck with them the whole way back. We wound up getting back to the ranch before them as they stopped in Telluride but we just turned a corner and kept on going.

The evening wound down with a great BBQ Brisket, potato salad and bean dinner mentioned at the beginning, I headed back to the motel and packed up.

Sunday and the trip home Our two day trip back starts with continental breakfast at the quality Inn and then off we go. We hit the stretch of no pavement beyond Cortez and made that OK but I never saw the turn-off for 4 Corners where we stopped on the way up. I think I was having a bit of trouble with altitude adjustment as I was not the sharpest and our pace was much slower. After we passed Kingman and it warmed up a bit I started to wake up and let Ken take the lead and the pace picked up. We deciced to head for Seligman, AZ
and stayed at a cozy older courtyard motel (THAT'S NOT IT) and ate at the Road Kill Cafe (see all the pics on Picasa) Monday and we take off for Newberry Springs and for me, on to Placentia.
Our last gas stop in Arizona for cheap gas. One thing that I noticed along the way is the openness of the area. The views on the desert just seemed to go on and on, plus there were no windows or door pillars to block the view.

Total miles from door to door for all 6 days was 1,872 miles. A record for me on several levels. Most one day miles, longest total trip, Highest altitude on a motorcycle, and most unbelieveable trip ever. CLICK THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE ALL THE PICTURES!

DURANGO 06-05

SCRC-First ride and I bail!

2009-04-29T21:45:00.000-07:00

This is ALMOST the route for the May 2 SCRC ride through Anza-Borrego and beyond. I MADE IT AS FAR AS JULIAN AND BAILED OUT!

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Turns out the ride became a twisty road festival, but not for me.
We met up at 74 and the 5 Fwy at 8 am with Gregg, Lim, Bill (Rhino) and me. We take off and I'm following Gregg on his new SV 650. He generously offered to show me what he had learned at the Road Skills school. I gain a new appreciation for Gregg and his friendship on this ride, thanks Gregg! I did fine going up to Hell's Kitchen on Ortega, but then Gregg took off at his more normal speed as we headed down to Lake Elsinore. We were joined by 5 other riders from Southern Cruisers Riding Club with 3 lady riders and 2 other guys. Well I started falling back as we headed down into Lake elsinore and while they were patient in waiting for me, it never got better.

Our route took every side road you could think of with all kinds of turns and switchbacks. Getting on the 15 fwy we raced to keep up with the leader (Rhino) who seemed to forget that there was a string of motorcycles behind him. No such thing as back fill lane changes, hand signals or staggered riding to speak of. Turning off at Rainbow Valley we hit another stretch of back country twisting roads that led us to Hwy 76 and Pala Casino where we stopped for gas. One lady rider did drop her motorcycle in the station but no damage to speak of.

Ahead of us was our first BIG part of the ride, the trip up to Mt. Palomar via the South Grade road-a real spaghetti road if ever there was one. Absolutely unbelieveable and I could not even attempt to keep up. They waited for me and the two other riders I was holding up behind me and we got to the a stop near the top. It's definitely getting colder but I left the wind breaker on so no problems.This is just a sample...decreasing radius turns, switch backs all up hill.

From our stop at about 5200+ ft elevation we head down via the East Grade road.
A little less steep but still a doozy! Once we get back to Rte. 76, do we head for Julian? Not on your life. Instead we go through Mesa Grande Indian Reservation. The Indians purposely made these roads crazy just to keep the early settlers out and here we are riding through this. I am definitely getting tired.

Back on the Road to Julian and AGAIN we find another back country road to zip around on. I am about done. At least I made it with no real incident, no near miss or anything like that so I'm happy with the result but not the trip.

Arriving at Julian, parking is tight but we all head for the Rongbranch Restaurant and lunch. I am done and decide this is not for me. Ahead the route was going down into the Anza Borrego Desert and then back up some really tight uphill grades. I give my notice after lunch and surprised to learn that another rider, Charlie from Corona decides to go with me and just bail. I know the way back and he follows. He and the other Harley cruiser riders all did quite well and I realize my skill level is below what it might be. Gregg recommend the StreetMasters School and I might consider it, but following him from one side of the road to the other to anticipate a turn made me nervous.

The ride back was going well and we stop in Warner Springs for a quick rest break. Getting back on 79 we go 50 yards and traffic is stopped. A hay truck overturned and there is no estimate of how long it will be before it opens except "20 minutes to 4 hours" so we turn around and head back on Hwy. 76 past Pala Casino. The trip back is actually enjoyable after all the twisting, and I appreciate Charlie coming along. No idea how many miles, but enough.

It has me thinking about my skills on these group rides and I can see there will be fewer groups rides with STAR or others, although it did make me more appreciative of how STAR operates on the road. I still don't like the nit picking and over emphasis to detail by some in STAR leadership. CLICK THE PICTURE TO SEE THE ALBUM...

From PALOMAR-JULIANSCRC

Trip to 2009 Laughlin River Run with STAR 230

2009-04-26T21:44:00.000-07:00

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PICTURES, YOU WANT PICTURES??? YOU WILL HAVE TO CLICK A LINK TO GO TO PICASA...YOU CAN SEE ALL OF THEM WITH NOTES ON MOST PICTURES. Something different for this edition.
when you reach the end of this article, click the picture to open the Picasa album for the slide show. Just click the slide show option....

DAY ONE: 6:00 am Thursday, it's chilly and dark out but I'm all packed up and ready to go. The Sissybar bag is loaded with clothes, there's lots of bottles of water and Cranergy drinks stuffed in the side pockets and some in the saddlebags, a pair of Nike sneakers, my STAR vest, and everything else I could think of. My riding gear for this trip include my mesh jacket with liner, the yellow and black rain/wind breaker and a sweater, plus the under armour type base layer under my jeans and knee/shin guards. Planning for cold to warm weather is difficult, but with the wind breaker, heavy winter gloves and liner I can stay fairly warm down into the 40 deg. range. My room-mate Ken and I meet up at Denny's for breakfast while the rest of the crew meets at Coco's. Coco's does not open til 6 am so they are not ready until after 6, where Denny's is open 24 hours and always ready. Who ever picks these, please take notes.

It's Kick-Stands-Up at 7 am but since their breakfast was slow we left a few minutes late. The cast of this crew includes Dan our Pres. Terry-VP, Scott, Don, Ken, Myself, a couple on an FJR-Michelle, Larry and Lela on that green and yellow shiny Harley, Keith, and off we go. Our route will take us through Yucca Valley to a tiny town called Amboy on the old route 66

and then to I-40 for the rest of the trip to Kingman, AZ and the Days Inn motel where our lavishly appointed suites await. I can't really describe the towels, but lint on sandpaper would do the same job. Coming in to Kingman I realize that I had been here before on a trip with another couple in their van and we stopped at the Cracker-Barrel restaurant and that's right where we are heading for late lunch before checking in. There are no Cracker-Barrel's in California for some reason.
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Let me explain my take on group riding as practised by STAR and Chapter 230. In a group ride everyone rides in a staggered formation with about a one second separation between you and the rider on your left or right and about 2-3 seconds separation with the rider directly in front. On this ride I thought I was observing that separation but on arriving at our first stop was told to back off a bit from the couple on the Harley off to the side of me. OK, no problem, then at the next stop I was told that I was staying too far back and to keep it tighter. What the heck was that about? Further on I then heard that I was not staying in my portion of the lane which generally is either the right or left 1/2 of the vehicle lane. I strongly disagreed with that assessment as I make a point of trying to observe lane integrity, but for some reason was getting these comments when I thought I had been doing reasonably well. There is more to this story but will leave it to another discussion. Suffice to say I later decide not to attend the STAR trip to Billings.
It occurred to me later on that some of the best rides I have been on were the ones with just 2 to maybe 5 riders where there was no hard and fast rules about lanes, separation, and making unscheduled stops along the way. Structured rides are designed to take a bigger group to it's destination safely but it's tiring to observe all the rules. It made me more aware that STAR rides are quite structured, and if you don't fit their pattern of riding can get you some static or helpful advice, but other riders back up my impression that I do reasonably to quite well in these group situations and have increased and improved my riding skills over the past year. It's my Blog so I figure I can rant any way I want to.
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Now back to the trip. Arrived at the hotel, checked in, Ken and I decided to go somewhere for dinner and wound up at Kentucky Colonel's for chicken. Friday morning we are leaving at 7 am to Laughlin for the STAR meeting and breakfast at the Aquarius Casino and Hotel (formerly the Flamingo).

FRIDAY: We start out and pick up additional STAR groups from other motels and suddenly we are in a group of maybe 70-80 motorcycles 2 abreast heading down the road. I was blown away with the spectacle and wished there could be video or pictures of this "rolling thunder" group on the road. It was thrilling and made the trip worth it right there. Breakfast was entertaining, I won a key chain but gave it to Dan for a drawing prize. This is where to meet up with old friends and new including Joe Dagley from Yamaha.

The parking lot of the Aquarius is filling up with motorcycles of all kinds and Ken and I decide to take in the sights and exhibitors. The Laughlin River Run is a BIG motorcycle event with thousands of motorcycles and riders, poker runs, contests, exhibitors, sellers of all kinds of merchandise and who knows what else. We are just observers basically. We eventually head back to the motel in Kingman but on the way out just before turning to go across the bridge a car zips out in front of me and I hit the brakes leaving a 4-5 foot skid mark and wonder why isn't this thing stopping. It does and I stay upright "whew". Glad I have the gear on. Also notice a few vehicles towing their motorcycles in rather than ride. I bet they tow it in to the hotel, dress up in all the appropriate vests, jeans and short sleeve T-shirts and go styling into town.

SATURDAY- A new day looms ahead and after getting some directions and good advice from several members, Ken and I take off north on Route 66 in front of the hotel and head for Grand Canyon Caverns. At the caverns we run into Art from Chapter 415 (L.A.) and he and I head down the elevator with another couple and the guide. After the tour of the caverns which is interesting, all three of us continue on Rte 66 toward Seligman, AZ and lunch. At Seligman, Rte 66 connects back to Interstate 40 further east from Kingman, but we decide to return via the way we came on good old 66. By the way, I came to California in 1952 with my parents and brother on this very highway and they got as far as Pasadena and said that's far enough. This marks my furthest point east on a motorcycle up to now.

After returning to the room, Ken was talking about getting a commemorative pin like the one I found in Laughlin so we geared up and headed out the 40 miles or so into Laughlin. On arriving at the Colorado River before we turn onto Casino Drive the temperature zooms up about 15 deg and it's hot. Traffic is now a moderate nightmare but we make it to the hotel and can't find the pin anywhere. I take off while Ken is busy feeding a slot machine and eventually find the pin. We stay for dinner at the Aquarius but the wait for Outback restaurant is 85 minutes so we head for the coffee shop. It's getting dark by the time we arrive back in Kingman. Ken tells me in passing a truck on I-40 I hit over 90 mph-good grief. Later that night I take his V-Star 1300 out on the highway for a 10 mile or so test ride.

IT'S SUNDAY. That's it for Laughlin and Kingman in the morning we leave bright and early for So. California and home. It is however 330 miles or so before we get there. Going back we encounter a number of other motorcycle riders returning home as well. Some are just plain nuts. Two riders on Harleys (not that it's important) zip past us doing maybe 80 mph and they are side by side in a side wind with gusts that can cause a swerve possibly leaving no margin for error. Other riders just zip in and out of our group with no respect for the fact we are in a formation. Takes all kinds. We make it back with just a breakfast stop in Needles (Need-less?) CA and a couple gas stops. Total 988 miles for the 4 days. I am beyond tired when I get home. I can't imagine there were any complaints on my riding in formation on the return trip even though I thought it was similar to how I rode going up there. Oh well that's it. Click the picture to go the the album on Picasa...

LAUGHLIN-RIVERRUN

RIVERSIDE VETERANS PARADE -SATURDAY

2009-04-19T14:00:00.001-07:00

Group Picture by Lynne Shapiro

11 Riders from STAR chapter 230 including one guest head out to Riverside as part of a Veterans Appreciation Parade in downtown Riverside. We arrive and the staging area is nearly full. Lots of motorcycles, bands, trucks, tanks, cars, dancers, military people and floats.

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Is that a gorilla sitting on my motorcycle? A gift from Jenny.
There's Lynne taking more great pictures.
Flirty and Cin two girls from Lynne's entourage. Lynne found these 2 volunteers from another group to carry our Chapter 230 banner.
Pins and rockers and patches!

A very ambitious ride-Meet BBO members in Durango Colorado

2009-04-17T00:51:00.001-07:00

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This would be THE most ambitious ride/trip I have considered so far, especially if I wind up doing it on my own. Time will tell. Scheduled departure would be June 3, 2009, not too far off actually.

From Placentia to DURANGO, COLORADO, a trip of 770 miles one way! Will I be able to do it and then what about the trip to CANCELED!***STAR days in Billings Montana? Not even sure about that trip either. At least that will be with a very seasoned group of riders, and it's 1200 miles one way.

Two days on the road up to Durango and at least two days there in Durango, and two days back unless I do some sightseeing. Stay tuned, and check back to see what happens. More later.

PIONEER TOWN TO BIG BEAR

2009-04-07T12:03:00.000-07:00

Our regular monthly Saturday ride with STAR and this time it's to Pioneer Town in Yucca Valley (in the middle of nowhere), then on to Big Bear via the back route coming in from the north on Highway 18. As usual we meet in the Best Buy parking lot and go over the route, and conduct a short meeting plus introduce new riders.
V-Star 1300 with custom brake lights-nice, owner Chuck has done a lot to his V-Star.
Nearly brand new Harley-a retirement gift to himself.

On the left is Tom who had shoulder surgery recently but is back riding-glad to see him on this trip.
Only thing missing are altimeter and flap controls and this would take off.

Our trip will take us out the 10 Freeway to Yucca Valley where we turn off the main road to an old western movie set built out in a place called Pioneer Town.
Our first stop off the 10 Fwy at Cabazon about 100 miles into the trip.
Looking toward the mountains, there's snow up there.

FLAG "B" IS PIONEER TOWN...

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The road from the 10 Fwy, is often windy, but today there is little or no breeze to be concerned with and we arrive at Pioneer Town no concern at all. Our group pretty much fills up the place, Lunch is good and I take a quick sightseeing trip through the old western town.
Not much here except the restaurant and an old western looking street. I ordered a hamburger and it was kinda pink.

Does anybody actually live here?

Lined up and almost ready to go.
This is Chuck with his V-Star 1300
Pictures of the road ahead including a closeup.

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After lunch our three groups take off toward Big Bear where it's going to be colder- probably in the mid 40 degs. via Hiway 18 with some 10 mph posted switch backs. This is on the road to Big Bear-Google Earth is amazing...
Not only that but while I thought we were going to return on Route 38 (the back way) through Redlands we are actually heading back down to San Bernardino on Route 330 a much steeper, twisty road. I was not able to keep up with our group leader in some of the curves and he has a PASSENGER! Jerry our former president on a Stratoliner is really good at handling the curves. I did reasonably well all things considered and we made it down to the 210 Freeway where it was in the high 70's and stopped to take off several layers of gear including jackets, liners and chaps. END OF THIS RIDE...About 300 miles all arrived safe.

First Gear Mesh Tex jackets

2009-04-05T22:02:00.000-07:00

I have owned 2 First Gear Mesh Tex jackets. Owned both series I and II and have crash tested both and can verify they work in slow to moderate spills. The new Mesh Tex III is out and costs about $130 or so. The mesh can and will shred on pavement, but better it than you and it is wearable in 90 deg.+ heat, although it is warmer than wearing no jacket. I feel safer wearing something vs nothing so I wear the MeshTex with no liner on hot California days.

I have given up crash testing as there is very little money in it.

It's not always the destination- it's the RIDE...Las Vegas & STAR

2009-03-29T19:05:00.000-07:00

It's not my longest ride, not a new destination, not the coldest ride, but it was THE WINDIEST RIDE EVER!

I SURVIVE THE ENTIRE EXPERIENCE! Can't begin to tell you what was going through my mind as we hit unbelievable wind after leaving Baker, CA but picturing the possibility of a crash is on the list. Nice to know I have on all the gear including knee and shin guards.

This trip to Las Vegas is for an annual STAR-B-QUE meeting. Sort of a regional convention of members from various STAR chapters in the Western U.S and a great opportunity to connect with long time friends and make new ones. Getting there means 340 miles up and about 250 back plus dealing with changing weather on the route. There was a lot of planning involving the various weather conditions possible along the way and what to wear. The biggest problem is the darn motorcycle does not have climate control like the Lexus so it means taking the right gear and clothes aboard a very storage space challenged vehicle. Not a lot of room for extras or just in case stuff.

ALL THE PREPARATION PAYS OFF! I decided to take a summer mesh jacket (First Gear-MeshTex II) with liner, a sweater and a rain jacket as an outer wind breaker, instead of a heavy winter jacket in case it gets warm in Las Vegas. The combo works and I stay warm the entire cold and windy trip up plus on the tour and return trip as well. Turns out I probably could have taken the Tourmaster winter jacket and it would have worked as well.
Wearing the Yellow and black rain jacket, STAR vest on top of that, my mesh jacket underneath and everything else except the chaps.

Wore a pair of chaps (on the way up only), Draggin' Jeans AND a base liner of long underwear like underarmour gear. I was not going to get cold or overheated and everything worked. My Tourmaster winter gloves were perfect on the ride up to Shoshone where I had frozen on the Death Valley return ride a few months ago. Not going to repeat that disaster.

THE RIDE BEGINS!
Thursday morning 6 am we head for Coco's in Brea, at least I meet Ken and then a few others show up including Jerry our former president stopping by for breakfast. There is Terry our ride leader on a Harley, Ken on his V-Star 1300, Me on the Road Star, Scott on a Gold Wing and Jerry-Scott's friend on a 1990 Goldwing and off we go. What is it about motorcycle people being so friendly, helpful and accepting of others, it just amazes me, and this group including ALL of STAR fits that description.
Our first stop on the 15 Freeeway at 138. Gas up ready to head up to Baker.

MAP OF THE TRIP TO PAHRUMP, SCROLL THROUGH THE MAP TO SEE BAKER AND PAHRUMP:

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We arrive in Baker,

it's warmed up a few degrees and everything is good so far. Taking off from Baker we head north on Route 127 to Shosone and then on to Pahrump. That's the junction just up ahead where we turn left into the desert.

At Shosone some 55 miles north we turn right and WHAM we get hit with the fiercest side wind you can imagine. Estimates of 50-60 mph would not surprise me. Nearly tore my helmet off or so it felt, and suddenly had to lean to the left to keep from being blown over or off the road. Words really cannot describe what the next 40 miles to Pahrump and then on to Las Vegas felt like. I now know the reaction a soldier in combat feels after a fierce firefight. If you weren't there you can't understand it.

We arrive in Pahrump for lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then get back on the road. The wind continues with no let up. On the left is Ken with a big burrito.

Riding into wind from the left side like that, you lean into it by pulling up on the right handlebar and pushing down on the left handlebar grip, only it's not consistent or steady and we get buffeted from all sides including a few head-on gusts that actually slow the motorcycle down. finally we come to the turn off for Red Rock Canyon a scenic canyon of red rock formations worth taking a side trip just west of Las Vegas, but the wind, still blowing, forces us to press on. Suddenly at the end of the side road we hit condo's and we are in Las Vegas, next stop the Eastside Cannery Hotel. We are the first group from Chapter 230 with Dan bringing another contingent up on Friday with Stan, Ed, Greg, Jim, Rick, Taz, Bob and Tony and others.

Friday morning Ken and I take a tour with members from several other chapters. This is a sightseeing tour led by one of the Las Vegas Chapter members Chris, taking us through the Lake Mead Recreational area to the Valley of Fire and more picturesque scenery of the desert. Our first stop on the tour.

It's a bit breezy but not anything like Thursday. Little do we know what's in store for the 12 of us.
Circle tour around Lake Mead, about 135 miles...

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The road in the park leads through some curves and sweepers with lots of scenery and we stop a couple times for pictures.
Our Second stop and first sight of the red rock formations.

I am very happy with my road skill and handling of the Road Star and keep up with the leader with no problem. Hey, I'm actually getting good at this.

We turn off on to a side road leading to Echo Bay and lunch. All is good...so far.
You have to walk a mile or more to get to the water, lake Mead is down over 100 feet.

After lunch we turn back on the main road and suddently see signs indicating construction. The words "Pavement Ends" is on at least one sign. This is not good, but it is hard pack dirt and gravel and not too terrible. At slow speed we traverse with no major concern. On ahead another "Pavement Ends" and again dirt but going down and up hill into some turns...NOT GOOD AT ALL but we travel slowly. The third patch looms after a few more miles and what's this-MUD. They are watering the road and we ride into slick MUD. Forget hard pack gravel and dirt it's wet and slippery. We push on and you can feel the back tire squirm and you can see it happening on the wheel in front of you. This is scary at least to me it was. We even have to stop on a grade behind some RV's waiting for traffic to clear. The tire grabs as I slowly let out the clutch and we proceed to move up the hill.

Yea, hurrah, we make it through, but pick up wads of mud under the fenders and on the radiators of water cooled engines that we will spot later on.

Arriving at the scenic road leading to the canyons and Valley of Fire we get to see the rocks and bright colors up close.

Look closely, that's the road we came up on.

The end of the road and more rocks

After going to the end of the scenic route we turn back to the main park road and head onto the "Arch" a somewhat overstated bit of geology.
We get there and the leader parks us on a gravel strip off the road with an uphill lie on large rocks and loose gravel.
There's the ARCH, it's small enough to put in your back yard and I think you can buy them at the gift shop.

Good Grief. I have some trouble exiting from the stop and get a bit flustered but we push on. It throws off my sense of timing and my road handling rapidly deteriorates to less than ideal, not terrible until I discover that the darn throttle rest has shifted and blocking my control of the throttle. It's not until we reach the gas station at the 15 freeway can I rectify the problem. Remember, never try and solve a gear problem while underway, it can get you killed. We head back south on the 15 Freeway and return to the hotel, another successful trip.
Some scenes down in the parking lot. I get a chance to demo ride a V-Star 1300 and it could work as a replacement if I get tired of the heavier Road Star. Been looking on Craigslist just in case, but waiting for a real deal.
This colorful motorcycle belongs to Charlene from Chapter 415.
Training wheels on a Honda, are those safe?
Motorcycle show with a couple entries.
Views from the room.

There is a buffet Dinner Saturday night for all the attendees, and would you believe there is actual Bar-B-Que in the form of pulled pork (I think), along with some very good food prepared by the hotel.
Rich sitting on my right and on the right in the picture, then Jerry, Scott, Jim and Kim.

Looking around at all the tables in the banquet room I wonder where all these people came from, it's a big group. My table with Ken on the left, then Stan, Greg, Dan and Kim.

Bob and Tony on the right at this table,
Tony's Raider took second place in the motorcycle show.
Terry, on the right, Keith and his wife, then Ed and Joseph on the far left.

One lady, Christine from Chapter 422 took a spill in the parking lot when she rode over a spot with too much gravity centered in one place, and broke a collar bone but showed up with an ice-pack and sling to make it through the dinner-a real trooper. Also at the table from Chapter 422 is Leonard, Marge (rides a V-Star 1100 and president) and husband Colin on the far left.

The night before (Friday) Ken and I ate in the Carvery a steak type restaurant in the hotel and we both had prime rib. While the overall experience was nicely done and we enjoyed(?), the $25 dinner (incl tip, drink and a salad) the prime rib was OK at best and tonight's dinner was far better in a lot of ways. What the heck happened to All the Prime Rib you can eat for $5.99?

At this point my picture taking ends and we get ready to wrap up our attendance at my second STAR-B-Que and return home via the 15 Fwy, where we encounter nearly the same winds as when we came up. All loaded and ready for the ride home.
Only this time we hit a lot of head wind and it really sucked up the gas plus making it very tiring to be 100% alert for shifting wind patterns that could easily throw you off the road if not careful. The stretch from Baker to Hwy 138 Silverwood exit at the bottom of the Cajon pass is 116 miles and I took on 3.66 gal of gas for an average 31 MPG instead of the normal 40 mpg, due to the heavy headwind slowing us down. Total trip including sightseeing and a ride to visit a client in Summerlin, was 803 miles. Arriving home I hosed off the underside of the fenders and lots of red mud and dirt came loose.
END OF THIS RIDE!

Ride with a new group-SCRC

2009-03-22T17:39:00.000-07:00

This is my first ride with SCRC-Southern Cruisers Ride Club Orange county Chapter. I have been receiving e-mails from "Buzz" Greg Savage first officer for the Orange chapter and the ride to Tom's Farm off the 15 Freeway and Temescal Canyon sounded like a simple way to get acquainted. I rode over to the 91 Fwy and Green River Exit and met several members including Cruzer and Concho and others. All had a cruiser of one sort or another and Concho was riding a Honda VTX converted to a side-car rig. One was on a M109 Suzuki. I did not bring a camera but was able to lift some pictures from a couple of the members that posted online.

We arrive at the Farm and meet up with more Orange County members that came over Ortega Hwy.
Members from chapters in Antelope Valley, San Diego, and Ventura also were in attendance.

The meeting at Tom's Farm was to recognize a member, Michael "Slacker" Spear, badly hurt in an accident some time ago and he was able to make it after a long recovery. He did not ride but came by car.
Lot's of vests, patches, beards, leather and cruisers of all kinds.

Sitting at the table center is "Slacker"
I'm in the back center with the blue sweater.
I'm in the group picture!
Checking out Concho's side-car rig, Concho is in the center

Tehachapi 03-07 Plus other pics

2009-03-10T19:05:00.000-07:00

Here we are meeting for Chapter 230's Saturday morning pre-ride briefing and general meeting. Today is also my birthday, how about that? About 28 or so riders. I'm wearing Tourmaster overpants, jacket and a rain jacket over that in anticipation of the 40 deg. weather in the mountains...
Here's our new chapter 230 banner.
This is Ken, he rides a V-Star 1300. I test rode his V-Star and was impressed.

Some sort of religious service I think. This is our first stop at the Shell Station on Angeles Crest Hwy. There are three groups, I'm in group 3.
Taking a break for a few minutes before heading into the mountains. This would be a piece of cake compared to the return route.
This custom Harley was actually in another group but a beauty nevertheless. We had a Beautiful Custom Green and white Harley Road King in the group but I missed taking a picture.

The ride to Tehachapi will take us up the 57 fwy to the 210 and then Angeles Crest Highway over to the 14 Antelope Valley freeway. From there we head up to Highway 58 and then on to the town of Tehachapi, north of Lancaster. The ride through Angeles crest is a bit demanding but I did quite well I think, keeping up with Terry, our ride captain. I fell behind on a couple turns but overall was very impressed with that part of the ride.

About 145 miles later we arrive in Tehachapi and head for a diner for lunch.

Gregg and Ken on the left, Jim on the right.
Good food and fun bunch of people. Our route home is the same road we took a year ago on the same ride.
Through Little Tujunga Canyon road I definitely take it easy and slow the group down a bit. While I hate to be the guy holding everything up, I also had no major problem on the way back, but was wrung out on arriving back at the Block of Orange about 5:45 pm. Total miles 317, and everyone made it back safe with only Dave suffering a dead battery. When he turned off the stereo radio, along with the light and sound show and the high intensity heater then he had enough electricity to charge the battery.
=================================================================
THURSDAY BIKE NIGHT 03/05 WITH YAMAHA GROUP AND JOE DAGLEY

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The week before the Tehachapi ride, Ken and I took a trip up to California City and Mojave following the same route BACK through Angeles Crest as the group did going up, if that makes sense. That's Ken at our gas stop in California City, a real hub of activity.
Over 15,500 miles on the odometer, and I put on all of it except for the first 1,800 miles. No new chrome added.

Back to the Ortega Highway!

2009-02-18T21:23:00.000-08:00

This is Lake Elsinore from our one stop on the road.

Ortega Highway, route 74 from San Juan Capistrano to Lake Elsinore. I had been on this road with my original Yamaha 650 V-Star both ways and survived but not very confident about my skill at that time. This time on the Road Star did much better was was able to keep up for the most part. Still in some of the turns I slowed down more than the others due to riding into shadows from the sunlight, I have a hard time adjusting for the change in brightness.
This was a group including Stan from Chapter 230 and his wife, our leader on the Honda Goldwing with his wife on a V-Star 1300 and one other rider. I have got to do better on names and taking more pictures.

That's me in the yellow jacket, it's a rain jacket but wearing it over my mesh jacket kept me nice and warm in the chilly hills.
From our turnout stop looking down the road past a place called the Lookout
That's the leader and looking back to where we came from.

We went on to Temescal Road and Tom's Farms via the back roads instead of going on the 15 Freeway.

Photo in Motorcycle Cruiser magazine!

2009-02-13T21:29:00.000-08:00

I made it into print in the Motorcycle Cruiser magazine for April 2009 issue. Last page Readers' Rides section. My 2 seconds of fame as a hard core biker!Picture in lower left corner taken in Death Valley at Bad-Water 282 feet below sea level by Wayne Moye.

States I have visited (so far)

2009-01-26T20:46:00.000-08:00

Should be adding Arizona and hopefully Utah in the near future, depending on schedules on the next two out-of-state rides.

RIDE TO CRESTLINE AND BACK-FOR TOM

2009-01-17T19:16:00.000-08:00

Here is the route with map stolen from Lynne's blog. She routed the trip, led the group very ably and we all had a great time. I just followed the motorcycle in front of me and it all worked out very well.
Tom a member of 230 is going in for some shoulder surgery next month and wanted to get in a couple rides before he is out of service due to the extensive surgery coming up.

Bright and early at 8:15 am, me, Johney, Lynne and Barry show up at Denny's in Brea and off we go to Chino to meet with Tom and Eric. These are all very good riders and members of STAR Chapter 230, as well. We arrived at Tom's and then all 6 of us headed for the 15 freeway and Highway 138 with Lynne leading the way. This is the turn-off for Silverwood Lake and Wrightwood.
We turned off at 138 and stopped at the gas station to review the road ahead. While gassing up a rider on a new 2008 Road Star stopped and chatted with me for a couple minutes. I am always amazed that another rider, often younger, would stop and talk to me and I actually have something to say that is of interest to them. Gave him one of my cards. Off we went and after negotiating the curvy parts came to Silverwood Lake and took a picture break.

We are heading up into the forest and the town of Crestline About 10 miles ahead. Looks like snow up there.

From here we start heading up into the San Bernardino National Forest towards Crestline and more really curvy parts. These roads have more curvy parts than a belly dancer. Suddenly on the side of the road is white stuff...could that be SNOW. Yep sure is.

With gravel and snow melt water on the road it made for some interesting curves for sure. I felt the back tire squiggle and slide a few times but no real threat to my vertical orientation. Going through Crestline for the first time in maybe 50 years, it was interesting but we just barreled through the center of town. Riding in a group really helps in traffic situations as motorists will often give way when they see a group riding in formation rather than dealing with just one motorcycle and basically ignoring them.

Up in those trees is the road.

Down below is Hwy 138 heading into San Bernardino

We stopped for a few pictures just below Crestline at a turn-out over looking the San Bernardino Valley area and from there headed to a restaurant known only to Lynne.

Well, after arriving at the very end of the stretch of old Route 66 in Devore, we found a hole-in-the-wall bar and a restaurant of dubious quality with a "B" health rating. Does the B stand for Botulism? It's on to Rancho Cucamonga just down the 15 Fwy and "The Hat" for sandwiches. While there someone said, "anyone want to go to Chaparral" and I piped in "sure I'll go". So it's off to Chaparral, a huge motorcycle super store back to the east in San Bernardino. This was just exciting for me to think that the group would take off and head in a new direction at the spur of the moment like that.
As we left the Hat stopped and took this picture, now that is a nice custom bike and paint job.

Chaparral is always interesting and I found a couple items to buy, and motorcycles to sit on. We then saddled up and took to the freeway heading south on the 215 to the 60 fwy. where Tom and Eric dropped off in Chino.

As we rode back doing about 70-75 mph, it occurs to me that none of any friends I have Before-Motorcycle would ever even think about doing what I am doing, have the nerve to try it or think I'm nuts for riding a motorcycle. My new circle of fellow riders and STAR members are becoming real friends and it is a life changing experience.
It's becoming obvious even to me, I am becoming a HARD CORE BIKER!
Total miles: 190, arrived back about 3:30.

Cold-Foggy ride 01/01/2009

2009-01-02T18:17:00.000-08:00

The first ride of the new year- 2009! and It was cold and foggy. A group of us from STAR 230 were invited by Stan, also a member of the chapter and the church group that organized the ride. I met Lynne at Johney's home in Orange at 7:30 am, but discovered Johney could not make it due to flu conditions.

So off we rode to Stan's home in Garden grove. On arriving at Stan's we were getting ready to go and I noticed Stan putting on these thin summer type glove, and I told him you better get thicker gloves or you're going to freeze a few fingers. I have learned that when it get cold out, it gets REALLY cold when riding at 60-70 MPH. With temperature at 48-50deg., I had on a pair of Tourmaster insulated over-pants, my Tourmaster Sabre jacket with the liner, a pair of Tourmaster winter insulated gloves with a pair of ski type glove liners underneath and a neoprene face mask-it really works. I did not want to freeze!
Mist accumulates on windshield.

Lynne had a similar amount of cold weather gear as we learned what works best on a ride to Fallbrook and DeLuz canyon about a week or two ago, it was cold then as well.

We arrived at the church in Garden Grove and met up with a number of riders from Stan's church group as they showed up. Just as we were getting ready to ride off, Joe from Ch. 230 rolled in and joined the group ride. There were 11 motorcycles and one chase vehicle with 3 people in it.
The leader was on a bright red 2008 Honda Goldwing with navigation and radio-quite a nice package.
Here's the 230 group, me on the left with my neoprene face mask, Lynne, standing in a hole in the pavement, Joe and Stan. Joe cheats he has electric gear.

After a short stop in Palos Verdes along the coast even though we still could not see the ocean due to fog, we get ready to head back to Long Beach and a restaurant called Roscoes chicken and waffles, just off Ocean Blvd. in downtown Long Beach. I had never heard of it but both my kids know the place well. I had a chicken salad sandwich and potato salad...very good. Lynne had the waffle and chicken combo...very good she reports. Food was good but not inexpensive for some of the chicken combos.
Wearing all that gear made a big difference in keeping me much warmer than on previous cold weather rides. Lynne, Joe and I rode on up to Fullerton and Cyclegear to check out New Year specials, but I didn't need anything. Lynne bought Barry a couple pair of gloves.

THE CHROME REPORT

2008-12-20T18:20:00.000-08:00

Too much chrome is never enough. Yes it's true I am becoming a chromaholic and the cure is relatively simple but slightly expensive. It's all about adding chrome accessories and parts also known as "farkle" to the motorcycle. Here are the latest additions to the Road Star. All are Yamaha parts so far.
New luggage rack. bought it on E-Bay but should have used South Seattle Yamaha our regular supplier. This helps hold the Sissy bar luggage up and keeps it from scrapping the fender.

Rear brake fluid reservoir, now chrome.
Decompression lever cover. Replaced the painted cover with a chrome cover. It's the little cover to the left of the word Yamaha.

Ignition key chrome ring, at the right on top of the speedometer. No more black rubber ring around the ignition key area, now it's chrome.

Chrome Mufflers. They have always been chrome, but these are new. Due to one of the header pipe heat shields coming loose/broken I bought a whole new set of pipes and mufflers-attached by Johney member STAR Chapter 230.

Front brake fluid reservoir cover in chrome.
Chrome engine guards. These are not new, but have been a major factor in keeping the Road Star from sustaining any major damage.

STAR trip to IMS motorcycle show

2008-12-06T19:46:00.000-08:00

Today Saturday, 12/06 our regular chapter/group ride was to the IMS motorcycle show in Long Beach. This is my third year visiting the show but the first on a motorcycle, and my first group ride with Chapter 230 in 3-4 months. Between taking a spill and a kidneystone, my riding has been limited for the past 4 months or so, until the Death Valley trip detailed below. The show is mostly a showcase for the major motorcycle manufacturers along with various vendors for all kinds of products.
The ride started out with a meeting and vote for next years president which happens to be Dan our current president who is running unopposed and for good reason. He's doing a good job along with Terry for VP.

Our usual gathering place in Orange.

We arrived at the L.B. Convention Center and head for the Yamaha booth. That's Bob Barbano trying to sell a Yamaha.

There's Lynne trying on the new V-Star 950.
Here's the new Kawasaki Voyager 1700 with Ken trying to figure out how to pay for it.

New 2008 Road Star with Vance and Hines pipes.
Kids as little as 5 years old.

This is a Harley Davidson Motorcycle, it is a token picture just to show I am not biased.
There was a Road Star Midnight on display with over $9,800 worth of extra chrome/billet custom add-ons and it still had room for more, total cost was around $23,000
Taking a walk over to Islands for lunch.

Lots of collector and antique motorcycles.

Now we saved the best for last...I bought a pair of leather chaps to wear over my pants on those cold/wet rides in the coming winter. Got a pretty good deal I thought, paid $60 for them at a booth as Johney and I wandered around. guess who had to try them on? That's Jenny trying the much too tall chaps on. Now we all promised not to laugh, but....

Trip to DEATH VALLEY 10/31 TO 11/03

2008-11-04T22:43:00.000-08:00

View Larger Map
This was my come-back trip after a crash a couple months ago, and what a trip. A lot of people were telling me not to go...the list is long, but with STAR Chapter members Joe, Ken, Wayne, John, Johney, his cousin Cody, Tom and me going, it seemed to be an opportunity I could not pass up. I had never been to Death Valley and weighing all the pluses and minuses, there was no choice, so Off we went. Ken, Wayne and I met up at 7:00 Am Friday morning and we left a day earlier than the rest of the crew and were to meet up with them in Beatty, NV about 20 miles beyond Death Valley.
We were invited by Joe Pilon to join him and a larger group of motorcycle riders that get together for this ride every year at this time. It's a loose association of riders from all over including Utah and who knows where else.

The trip started out on the 57 Fwy in a slight rain but stopped quickly. On our way up the Cajon Pass to the Summit restaurant we hit rain again, and further on a truck driver passing on the wrong side of the road over a solid yellow line heading right for me plus other assorted adventures including more and heavier rain made it a very adventurous ride. The guy pulled back into the line of traffic before any serious close encounter. Looking at the map you can follow our route through the town of Trona (gas stop) and on toward Panamint Springs Road in Death Valley

Our first stop in Death Valley was a photo opportunity at route 178 and the cut-off to Panamint Spring Road to snap a few pictures and then head on to Stovepipe Wells for gas and refreshment.Ken sitting on his V-Star.
Wayne in the red jacket. Ooops, left my ignition on.
Our first real look at the desert on a grey morning.
Long straight roads as far as you can see.
Baked at 120 deg. for 500,000 years and it's almost done.
No idea why I look so grim, Wayne just snapped it.
Civilization at last...Stove Pipe Wells

Up through those mountains is our destination Beatty, NV at about 3,300 foot level.
Hard to tell but that is a dirty motorcycle, Oh the poor Chrome!
We arrive at the Death Valley Inn and our Deluxe executive suite. Oh wait, no closet to hang clothes, towels were basically made out of pressed lint, but the shower and bed were OK and the TV but not the remote worked.

Friday afternoon and we had time for a short sight-seeing trip to the ghost town of Rhyolite, just a few miles outside of Beatty, NV. Way back in the very early 1900's about 10,000 people lived around this now abandonded and empty area.

View Larger Map
This is the old railroad station for Rhyolite. There used to be tracks behind the building and train delivered people and goods and hauled away gold ore. The only building still standing mostly in one piece. It's cold out here.
Ken's last sight seeing trip and picture. While turning his motorcycle around he slipped and it fell over. Wayne and I rode off and I looked back and no Ken. We went back and picked up the V-Star with very little damage, but he had hit his foot somewhere and it would be a problem later.
Hardly any sign of 10,000 people that used to live here.

This is Ken getting ready to ride back home at 3 AM if you can believe that. His foot started to really hurt along with some swelling. As an expert in motorcycle bruises, I had him ice it down and eventually it did improve.
That's Wayne getting ready to ride out with Ken at least to the first intersection about 26 miles away. Ken would arrive at Baker, CA 140 miles away at about 6 AM. I woke up at 6 when he called to let me know he made it, and Wayne was still out riding but stumbled in the door a few minutes later. He decided to do some sight seeing through Furnace Creek at 4 AM in the dark. I was sleeping.
Why this ornate clock is standing here by the road is a mystery but it does work. Across the street behind me is a Mexican Cafe we soon established as our official food location.
Highway US 95 in front of the motel, it's Saturday morning and it's just Wayne and me waiting for the rest of the guys.
We head for Death Valley and our first stop to take pics as we head for Furnace Creek and Bad Water. This is a short cut and the vistas just go on as far as you can see, but it's still cloudy and some light mist.
It's Saturday morning and still rather cool even as we head further into Death Valley...next stop Bad Water.
Bad Water at 282 feet below sea level. Mountain behind us goes up to 5,400 feet.If you look really close you can see a white sign about 2/3rds up the wall to the right, it says SEA LEVEL.
Up there is Dante's View at 5,400 it is an overlook vista point looking down on where we now are standing.
The white stuff is brine and salt that people are walking on.
Picture of the SEA LEVEL sign again, different angle. Lots of canyon walls and rocky hills. There is nothing growing and all the soil has been baked away leaving just the rocks and sand and gravel, very little vegetation except on the valley floor and then it's all small, short growth.
Hard core biker.
View Larger MapYou have to zoom out to see the route we took, and hopefully it will be clear. My version looks a little weird, but it's probably the lap top screen
We take a side trip on the way back through Artists Palette drive. Turns out to be a crazy road and I nearly drive right off the road while sight seeing. Freaked me OUT. A couple dips that looked like they went into a negative curve going down hill but we made it.

.Next stop Dante's View, overlooking bad Water from 5,400 feet up directly behind where we were standing a little bit ago. It's hard to tell, but the last 1/4 mile is posted 15% GRADE, and it's wet. I must be nuts. But up we go to the top.At the top and it's cold, windy and wet with some mist, but the view is amazing.

We rode back down that hill and on to Furnace Creek where we had lunch. Good hamburger and it only cost $15 with tax and tip and drink. I was feeling a bit under the weather (so to speak) and we decided to head back to Beatty where the main group should be showing up about now. Off we went and right into a rain storm. It was raining in Death Valley and we had to get through it, which we did. When we arrived everyone was ther and for some reason I did not take one picture. Behind the motel in a city park there was a motorcycle/chili-cook-off going on so we wandered over and found a few interesting sights.Motorcycle judging and some kind of obstacle course.
Is this the best firetruck the town owns?
One of the characters at the fair. Look close at his ears, had to zoom in as I did not want to get too close.
The group except for Joe at breakfast the next morning Sunday, in the cafe across the street, our food supplier. That's Wayne on the left, John next to him, Cody visiting from Texas, Johney (He fixed the Road Star), and Tom on the right. Breakfast over it's time to head for the valley and Scotty's Castle.The intersection of the road from Beatty and the North Highway heading to Scotty's Castle.
Johney is heading to the road-side restroom, the smell is horrendous and he did not survive the trip. Imagine what it would be like at 120 deg.

Scotty's Castle a really unique place in the middle of nowhere, built by a millionaire in the 20's for a con man and land promoter named Scott, cost about $2,000,000 and was fairly hi-tech for it's time.
There is an above ground tour of the home and a tour of rooms and tunnels built below ground. We opted to just visit and then go. Scotty is buried on a hill above the castle.
A huge swimming pool, no idea if it ever was full of water. There are windows below grade that would have looked into the water if it was full.
Central courtyard
The power and pump room.
We ride right up to the top of the Ubehebe Crater. A result of steam and hot magma creating a huge explosion.

A Parking lot right at the top of the crater.
The road just drops off down there and you hope you can land upright. Actually it is a very narrow rough road. The seams in the asphalt have pushed up and create ridges in the road making it difficult to go into a turn.

They wanted me to take a couple steps back to get a better picture...no thanks.
Back at Furnace Creek and heading in to get some lunch.
The rider on the Roadliner with the wings is the famous Joe. We finally run into him here at Furnace Creek. This is about his 15th year coming here.
I took a side trip to Gold Canyon while the rest of the gang went to Artists Palette Drive, where I had my encounter with the edge of the road. This was a hiking trip back in to see these gold colored cliffs.

Scenery along the road.

From here it was back to Furnace Creek to meet up and then head back to Beatty to get ready for a Monday morning departure. Wayne and I decided to go back early and that turned out to be a bad idea as it turned very cold overnight and we froze. Our route back was down US 95 to the turn off for Baker via route 127, about 140 miles before we hit baker, CA and then home. We had to slow it down due to the wind chill factor making it so cold.
Wayne trying to warm up his hands on the muffler.
Waiting for the sun to come up on our ride back, maybe it will warm up a bit, Brrr.
THE END!

REALLY BIG BIKE NIGHT 10-23 PORTILLO'S

2008-10-23T21:43:00.000-07:00

This was a BIG Bike Night meeting at Portillo's Hot Dogs in Buena Park for Chapter 230 since we were meeting with Yamaha corporate people and a few attending from Chapter 345 in Riverside. We had a couple new members attending and a whole lot of the regular members including Friends of Stan group and some that rarely show up for weekly meetings. There were 60+ total people/riders and a lot of motorcycles and it was a fun evening with prizes for answering trivia questions hosted by Joe Cagley from Yamaha. I even won a shirt for knowing about the Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. Big bunch of pictures so enjoy. Too many members to remember all the names.
This is a new V-Max from Yamaha and it's loaded with 200 hp and lots of gadgets.
This is supposed to be a Yamaha group, but there are two Harleys, a Honda and just one other Yamaha in this bunch.
And more motorcycles
Stan's new saddlebags on his new Roadliner...NICE.

And another Harley, a blue Glide of some sort, apparently the economy is doing better than we thought.
Here's Ken and Jon visiting for the first time.
Waiting for the Trivia contest to begin and some free prizes courtesy Joe Cagley and Yamaha.

Back up on two wheels and riding

2008-10-23T21:26:00.000-07:00

This is me on the Road Star heading for another bike night a week ago from today's date.
Due to a very unfortunate event on the way to Bike Night about 6 weeks ago I have curtailed most of my riding until now. Details are just too unpleasant to get into but I can report that we (me and the Road Star) are back and out riding around. Since we know motorcycles can be a very tricky and demanding sport it is vital to stay alert and on top of our riding skills at all times on the road. I was tested and did not do so well and the recovery has been slow.

TRIP TO MT. PINOS CHAPTER 230

2008-09-08T19:34:00.000-07:00

This was our longest trip as a regular chapter Saturday ride and probably the highest at 8,300 ft. on top of Mt. Pinos near Frazier Park, CA. We left the parking lot at Best Buy in Orange as per usual with our cast of characters including some members from the San Juan Capistrano STAR Chapter 422 including Marge and Colin, Leonard and Joyce, and Connie, we also welcomed Ed Palaoro Jr. on his brand new red Raider. We also had back on a ride Mike and Sue Guzman and Brian and Rebecca Beach .
That's Dave in the brown shirt.
There's Barry and Lynne, with Ed (Raider) to the left

I tried putting the whole batch of pictures on the web using Picasa, but the response seemed to be less than enthusiastic but will try again, plus putting a number of them on here as well.

HERE IS THE ROUTE MAP...GREAT ROADS INCLUDING HWY 33 AND LOCKWOOD VALLEY ROAD WHERE WE MET UP WITH THE ROAD TO MT. PINOS NEAR FRAZIER PARK.

View Larger MapThe route takes us up the 101 to Hwy 33 outside Ventura heading towards Ojai. After a slight course correction just before Ojai, where we almost turned up the wrong street we got back on track and stopped for gas.

Leaving Ojai we start heading up into the mountains looming in the not too far distance. This is the road trip I wrote about in an earlier topic about a great mountain road that is a real challenge due to it's length and turns.
A couple Hwy 33 photos taken off the internet.
I don't really remember these turns but I know we did them. I should not look at Google Earth BEFORE I go on the trip.

We arrived at the top of the mountain after a slight delay due to one of the riders taking a bit of spill going into a downhill turn. It happened right in front of me and I basically saw the whole incident. Suffice to say I did not want to take any pictures as it was a bit traumatic, but luckily the rider came out in great shape all things considered. After some roadside quickie repair we were back up and riding off with everyone in good condition and no major damage at all.
Everybody from groups 1 & 2 were waiting for us.
After a few minutes I started getting a bit light headed and dizzy at the top and had to sit down. Between the heat and high altitude it caught up with me for a while, plus we had not stopped for food since early that morning and it was heading toward 3:00 pm
A quick trip down the mountain and we headed for lunch with a choice of BBQ or Mexican, I went for BBQ.Parking lot was all dirt, but we all headed out toward the 5 fwy and gas. Leaving the gas station and heading up the 5 Fwy we passed a Tractor-trailer on fire. The tractor/cab was fully engulfed and basically melted to the pavement with flames and heat shooting across the road right toward us. After passing that we ran into a brush fire with helicopters flying overhead dropping water, we were nearly right under it as it flew over dropping it's load of water.

Pictures around Frazier park. Time to head back to Orange county and home. Total 350 miles, arrived back about 6:15pm. All the pics are back and we are in business.

BIG BIKE NITE AT PORTILLO'S

2008-08-30T11:02:00.001-07:00

Chapter 230's regular Thursday night Bike Night was moved to Portillo's Hot Dogs and sandwiches in Buena Park to meet with employees from Yamaha headquarters. Joe Dagley from Yamaha Dealer Development promised to bring some T-shirts so naturally everyone showed up. It was one of the best attended meeting in a while and we look forward to meeting with them on the 4th Thursday of every month at Portillos. There were a number of riders from Yamaha as well. I am hoping we can switch the meeting to Portillo's every Thursday, but will wait and see.

Instead of posting the pictures here I put all of them on a Picasa web album and each picture has a caption. Easier to do it this way and I'm still learning what works best so I hope this will be convenient. Any corrections needed can be made.
Click the PICTURE to go to the album...

PORTILLOS-08-28

Traffic spacing-a lesson from ERC

2008-08-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

One of the sections of classroom discussion in the ERC covered spacing and interval between the motorcycle and other traffic especially vehicles in front. Three categories were mentioned, a 2 second interval, a 4 second interval and a 12 second interval. The 12 second interval requires looking ahead past the vehicle directly in front of you and up to 5 to 7 vehicles ahead. It is part of SEE. Search Evaluate and Execute.

The 4 second interval relates to keeping a minimum 2 second to 4 second space between the vehicle directly in front of you for safety and allowing enough reaction time to be able to move out of the way or stop as needed to avoid a crash or encounter. There was also mention about older riders and how reaction time can slow down along with eyesight and visual clarity. Taking all that into consideration, from now on I am leaving a 1 day interval between me and the traffic in front of me.

ERC-experienced Rider Course 08/24

2008-08-24T16:48:00.000-07:00

Sunday August 24, 2008 5:45am finally arrived. After taking the MSF safety course in November 2004 I am about to attend my first motorcycle riding class for experienced riders. Learning should never really stop and this is part of trying to maintain and improve my motorcycle riding skills. Three other members of Chapter 230 including Lynne, Barry and Johney all took the class the week before. Because of the effort of Lynn and reading her Blog it was a lot less stressful to get ready for this class.

I met up with John R., Tom from Chino, and myself and we rode over to a Denny's near the class. After breakfast we headed over to the Cerritos College parking lot and the "grinder". Other members of Star included, Don, Gregg, Tony (on a new Raider), along with John, Tom and myselfwere ready to go. There were other classmembers but I failed to get their names.

After registering and documentaion we had a safety briefing and run through of our first exercize. There were exercizes in weaving, turning, riding through a series of cones, stopping in a turn, stopping and weaving and going through a series of curved patterns. All very similalr to the first beginner class I took and with a lot of the same comments by the instructors as well. "Keep your head and eyes up, turn your head into the turn, look where you want to go and keep your speed up and even".
A new 1850cc Raider with lots of modifications. This is Tony's new Raider and he just loves it. He blacked out all the chrome so he wouldn't see his own reflection, why I don't know.

The group including the instructors Jim and Stephen on the right. (picture taken by Lynne Shapiro who graciously stopped by with cold water)
It's getting hot out here but it's nearly over.

Part of the safety course is a no- riding and drinking segment using a pair of "Alcohol/drunk Goggles" Here's Tom and his attempt to walk while wearing them.

Trip to Solvang

2008-08-09T23:20:00.000-07:00

The trip up to Solvang included me, Ken and Wayne, both friends from STAR chapter 230. We started out after meeting up at Denny's off the 91 Fwy. I had mapped out the route as best I could and off we went with the idea of going up to Solvang along the coast and meet up with Chapter 415 from Harbor City.

View Larger Map
The map is a bit messed up as it does not show the route leaving Santa Barbara past Lake Cachuma, we went up 101 along the coast through Malibu and on to Oxnard as indicated on the map. Going through Malibu it became misty and very cool so we stopped and put on an extra jacket liner which really helped. I had planned a stop in Oxnard to refuel but when we got back on the 101 I could not find the stop and at the last minute took the Main St. exit where we really lucked out as a Mobil station was right there just across from the exit, it was like I actually knew what I was doing. In Santa Barbara we cut off of Hwy 101 and took Route 154 going past Lake Cachuma and on to Solvang. Wayne knew about a vista point to stop and take a look at the lake so we did. The nice thing about going in a small group is the ability to make changes in routes and stops as we go.
Richard, Ken and wayne.
This is Ken with his V-Star 1300

Here's Wayne to the left, and the Suzuki C90.
And me on the right with the 2006 Road Star.

Back on the motorcycles and heading toward Solvang we passed a Cachuma Indian Casino on the way into town, it would have been interesting to stop. But we headed into town on the main street and came to the heart of the tourist trap, no that's the village, with lots of small stores, shops, bakeries and assorted gift stores. I believe the windmill is a symbol of their desire to suck as much money from the tourists as possible. Actually it's a very nice town and we really had a great time just sightseeing and taking in a 4 block area before heading to our next destination...

next stop the Motorcycle Museum in Solvang. We rode further into town and spotted a large group of motorcycles parked along the street and figured this must be it

It's rather small and cost $10 to enter but Ken and I went in anyway. When we came out all the other motorcycles had left and we mounted up to head for Big Bopper Hamburgers on the road leading out of town toward Hwy 101 where Chapter 415 was expected to stop for lunch.

It was about here that I gave up on taking pictures for some reason. I think it was due to having too much fun on a very pleasant ride plus it was getting quite warm and my brain was getting fried, so the pictures end. We met up with Chapter 415 and Chapter president Bill along with about 12 riders that we have gotten to know. The hamburgers were not the reason for the trip but they were OK anyway.

Heading back we went toward Hwy 101 and 415 headed for rte. 154 and Lake Cachuma. The trip home was long but uneventful and not too hot until we headed inland from Oxnard instead of taking the coast route. Total 385 miles and a great day to add to the list of other fun trips.