A Little Ride to San Jose Redux

As I said in my last post, Marie wanted a warm weather jacket, so we headed to the Road Rider Store in San Jose. We followed almost the same route that I followed the previous week, with a few exceptions.

She bought a Firstgear Mesh Jacket for warm weather. I am happy she got it because it has CE rated elbow and shoulder protection. She wore it home and she felt cool when the temperature was in the 90's.

We cut over to Skyline Blvd from Hwy 280 and had a bite to eat and a cold drink at Alice's Restaurant. Skyline is a winding road that follows the crest of the hills along the ocean. It is really hot one the east side and quite cold on the west. The road is very popular with motorcyclists, hot roders and sports car enthusiasts. Alice's is a good place cool down, take a break, have something to eat, watch people and look at cool motorcycles.

We stopped to put on warmer clothes where Skyline meets Hwy 92, then headed west on 92 to Half Moon Bay. From Half Moon Bay we went north on Hwy 1 to Devil's Slide. I said that I would get some photos of the tunnel being dug at Devil's Slide and I'm coming through on that promise.








I'm not really too sure why they think that building a tunnel in the Devil's Slide area is such a good idea. The land is very unstable in this area. In the last photo the building (or building wreckage) can be seen from the south end of the tunnel.

Tunnel builders must be optimmists.

Attack of the Baby Moons

It all started about three years ago. I began to notice baby moon hubcaps in the center divider of Highway 101 in Marin County. At first it was just a few, then more. On one hill near San Rafael, I saw at least ten. Then I began to see baby moon hubcaps everywhere. They began to multiply and spread to other highways.

At first I didn't think too much about it because cars loose hubcaps all the time, but then I realized that, now, very few cars have baby moon hubcaps. What are the chances of seeing ten baby moon hubcaps along the highway in less than five miles. The odds must be... astronomical.

I knew that my friend Greg rides on Highway 101 frequently so I asked him if he had seen an abnormal number of baby moons along the road. He looked at me with a strange disconnected blank look and said, "what's a baby moon.?" That's when I knew, he was different, he was not of my age, possibly not even human....

I've seen what's happening. They're here you've got to listen...

Warning, Llama Alert

This is a motorcycle blog yet I feel obligated to warn of a new invasive species that has begun populating the California countryside. This foreign invader is displacing cows, sheep and horses on American soil. As I ride the back roads of our country, I see this foreign invader in increasing numbers. The animal is known as a Llama.

The Llama looks at first as though it might be a benign creature, maybe even another form of farm animal. Even though they may seem peaceful enough, these animals have a very dark side. If you approach one of these deceptively placid looking animals, you risk a face load of llama spit. Yes, these animals will spit right in your face.

Name one American farm animal that would do that. Would a cow or chicken or any other domestic animal spit? I should say not.

That's as close as I dare go.

She's Smiling

In California there are two kinds of people "C" and "C,M" people. "C" people drive cars and "M" ride motorcycles. The "C" is the California Drivers License code that designates the driver as an operator of a motor vehicle not a motorcycle. To be able to drive a motorcycle in California you need an "M."

Marie is now a motorcyclist in California. Yep, she got her "M." She signed up for a beginner motorcycle instruction course, studied for the motorcycle test and the rest is history. She did it all on her own without any encouragement from me.

I borrowed a Honda Rebel which is a 250 cc motorcycle and Marie has been riding around the neighborhood. We have been to the Harley Dealer and she likes the new Nightster. But she also thinks scooters are cute. I'm hoping she settles on the Sportster. I suppose it won't be too long before I come home and she'll be off riding my bike and smiling her face off.
The photos are of our ride on Sonoma mountain.

Chrome or no chrome

It's the smallest choice, it's time to change the oil and either I use a chrome oil filter or a black one. No problem. Just pick one and put it on. Then why do I suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous torment over the choice? It's driving me nuts. I have been thinking this over since the last oil change.

Is there a way to figure this out rationally? Ok lets reason this out. I've use a black one for the last two oil changes. The black one is cool. The chrome one is cool too. It looks like a jewel and Harleys come stock with chrome.

I'm normally a very decisive guy. What's the big deal? Just pick one and put it on. With everything else on the bike it was no problem, I know what is best. I can see it in my mind before it is installed. But these damn oil filters.... Maybe it's because they're changed every time the bike is serviced, so I don't make a decision once and live with it, but have to make the decision over and over again. Maybe it's because there's too much symbolism in the two choices.

So, Ok, I'll just take the black one, no the chrome one. Ok, enie minie miney, no. I'll flip a coin, heads chrome, no heads black, oh kay. Maybe I'll just...put off the oil change for a few days.


Procrastination is easy when you are good at it.

Scooter Rosa 2008

It's not quite as large as the Laughlin River Run, but it may be someday. It's a three day event sponsored by Revolution Moto in Santa Rosa, a local scooter dealer that sells Piagio, Vespa and Aprilia. The Big Three of the scooter world.
On the first day, which I attended, they block off the street, there is a bike show, barbecue and an outdoor scooter movie. The next two days are scooter tours, first through the wine country on Saturday and to the coast on Sunday.
As I have said I like scooters, but scooter people sure do dress funny. I didn't see any black leather jackets or chaps, no fringe, silver conchos or do-rags. There were hardly any beards in the crowd. I did see shark skin suits, narrow black ties, mohawks and cloth jackets with enough patches to satify any boy scout.













The scooters were very cool, one looked so much like a target that I think I would be a little worried riding it. Seems like some scooter riders are really worried about where they've been. Others either ride a lot at night or are afraid of the dark. I wonder if the charging system on a scooter can handle all those lights.




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There was also a Piagio MP3, the odd scooter with two wheels at the front. I have written about this oddity, but I had never actually seen one move about before. The owner rode it about and did a series of "S" turns and figure 8's. I guess if you had one of these, you would be doing turns and figure 8's just to prove the thing would actually do those things.






In the motorycyle world there is a type of bike called naked bike or a hooligan bike, these are bikes that have the fairing stripped off and are "naked." I believe there is a similar type of performance oriented scooter that makes up a subset of the scooter crowd. There was one bike at Scooter Rosa that fit that moniker. When the guy rode it in he put his jacket over the scooter, I though that was a trick like the dirt track boys do to hide some exotic engine mod. So when the guy took the jacket of his scooter, I was there to photograph those exotic modifications. I was surprised to see that there was a seat under the jacket and the engine, in typical scooter fashion, was nowhere to be seen.






All and all I had a great time at Scooter Rosa 2008. I saw the future, I'm sure scooters sales are going to explode. The scooter culture is alive and well. I've poked a little fun at them but believe me it was from a glass house. After all I didn't see dozens of police officers, no traffic stops, no one was wrestled to the ground and no one went to jail.





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No one went to jail?...
OK, scooter people it's time to pep it up a little!

Laughlin, The Dark Side

Laughlin, Winding Down

On Saturday we were back at Laughlin and slept in late. Around noon we headed into town and hit a few vendors we hadn't seen yet. I think next year I'll start at the south end of the strip and work my way north to the Riverside Casino. We again, imagine that, found our way to the Casa Serrano for Mexican food and Margaritas.


Marie won some money playing video poker and she wisely decided to walk away with the winnings. We did a few laps of the strip and watched people who were watching us. About 10pm we decided to gamble some more and Marie won a few more bucks and surprise, surprise, I won a few. Gary and Sherrie reported, no joy, and we called it a night.

Sunday morning said goodbye to friends and rode away.

Grand Canyon Side Trip

Friday we had breakfast at Katherine's Landing Coffee Shop and headed for the Grand Canyon. The weather was warm and it felt like it might be a warm ride. There is no helmet law in Arizona and Sherrie and Gary didn't wear helmets. Marie and I got new helmets with visors and we wore them to keep from getting too sunburned.

It's about 145 miles to Williams on Hwy 40, then another 60 miles on Hwy 64 to the Grand Canyon. Even though the ride was over 400 miles round trip, what the heck, we're tough, right? We got into Williams around noon and had lunch at the Pine Country Restaurant. The food was really good, and they make good pie. After lunch we headed on to the Grand Canyon.




What can I say about the Grand Canyon that hasn't been said. It's beautiful on a scale that can't be completely comprehended. Just looking down off the cliffs is so disorienting that you sometimes can't tell if you are actually looking down or off into another canyon. There were other bikers at the overlook, Asian tourists were posing with some good natured bikers for snapshots.

We left at sunset and started to notice how cold it was, Williams is about 6500 ft. and the ride was freezing. Sherrie and Gary had their sweat shirt hoods tied tightly around their heads, but I knew they were suffering. Marie and I had left our chaps but were fairly warmly dressed, but I was still cold. When we got to Williams we went back to the Pine Country Restaurant and had hot soup and coffee and warmed up. No one was looking forward to the ride from Williams to Laughlin, but when we got on the road it was not as cold as the ride from the Grand Canyon to Williams. There was no moon and the night was really black. We got back to Laughlin about midnight.











Did I mention that it was grand?