The Odd, The Unusual, The Different, I Love 'em

Here's the bike that Harley would probably have built if the economy hadn't tanked, a touring VRod.

The ratiest of he rats and a three wheel scooter thingy, and also a really nice Honda dream, they all brighten the day.

The pointy tail lights of the '59 Caddy are as American as it gets and somehow look right at home on a Harley.

Leaving For Laughlin 2010

We left for Laughlin with blue sky overhead but rain clouds all around. We managed to ride under the blue sky until we reached Stockton. The rain clouds closed and it rained. In fact it poured, and it poured on and off all day.

It was raining so hard that we were having trouble seeing so we stopped at Kettleman City on Hwy 5 and took a room.

The next day there were still rain clouds all around but we managed to ride between them and stay dry. We left Hwy 5 and went East through Bakersfield and over the Tehachappi Mountains to Barstow.

There are two ways to go to Laughlin from Barstow, we took Hwy 40 and cut off on an old section of Route 66 to Hwy 95, then cut off to Laughlin.

Our friends Rocky and Patty arrived a day later. They took the other route from Barstow, Hwy 15 to Nipton Rd., and through Searchlight Nevada to Hwy 95. Around Nipton they got snow and some stories to tell.

Don't Buy Cheap Tools

Cheap tools are really much more expensive than quality tools. They break right in the middle of the job. You have to travel to buy a replacement. Then you buy the tool you should have bought in the first place.

Sportster Hardbags

...I put a set of hardbags on Marie's Sportster. I think they look pretty good. Although they are a little small, they will give her a place to put her jacket, gloves, purse, etc..

Life and Death in the Old West

Calistoga sure doesn't look like the old west anymore. There are wineries, vineyards and restaurants. Mercedes-Benz and BMW's seem to be the primary mode of travel, but there was a time when Calistoga was part of the old west.

...One of my favorite rides is the Silverado Trail from Napa to Calistoga. After a great spring ride, Marie and I stopped at Buster's Barbeque for lunch. After lunch we stopped at the Pioneer Cemetery, just west of Calistoga on Hwy 28. We located the grave marker of Bud Philpott. Here is the Tombstone Epitaph newspaper article from March 16, 1881.

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At about 11 o'clock last night, Marshal Williams received a telegram from Benson stating that the Kinnear & Company's coach, carrying Wells Fargo & Co.'s treasure, had been stopped near Contention and "Budd Philpott, the driver, killed and one passenger mortally wounded. Almost immediately afterward A.C. Cowan, Wells Fargo & Co.'s agent at Contention City, rode into this city, bringing a portion of the details of the affair. In a few minutes after his arrival, Williams, the Earp brothers, and several other brave, determined men were in the saddle, well armed, en route to the scene of the murderous affray.

...From telegrams received from Benson at the Epitaph office, the following particulars were gathered.As the stage was going up a small incline about 200 yards this side of Drew's Station and about a mile the other side of Contention City, a man stepped into the road from the east side and called out "Hold!" At the same moment a number of men--believed to have been eight--made their appearance, and a shot was fired from the same side of the road, instantly followed by another. One of these shots struck "Bud" Philpott, the driver, who fell heavily forward between the wheelers, carrying the reins with him. The horses immediately sprang into a dead run. Meanwhile, Bob Paul, Wells Fargo & Co.'s messenger, one of the bravest and coolest men who ever sat on a box seat, was ready with his gun and answered back shot for shot before the frightened horses had whirled the coach out of range.

...It was fully a mile before the team could be brought to a stand, when it was discovered that one of the shots had mortally wounded a passenger on the coach named Peter Roerig. As soon as the coach could be stopped, Paul secured the reins and drove rapidly to Benson, and immediately started back for the scene of the murder. At Benson a telegraph was sent to the Epitaph office, stating that Roering could not possibly live. There were eight passengers on the coach, and they all united in praise of Mr. Paul's bravery and presence of mind.

...At Drews Station the firing and rapid whirling by of the coach sent the men at the station to the scene of the tragedy, when they found poor "Bud" lying in the road, and by the bright moonlight saw the murderers fleeing rapidly from the place. A messenger was at once dispatched to inform agent Cowan of the circumstances, and within twenty minutes after the news arrived Mr. Cowan had dispatched nearly thirty well-armed volunteers after the scoundrels. He then rode rapidly into Tombstone, when the party above mentioned started out to aid in the pursuit. This, with Mr. Paul's party, makes three bodies of determined men who are in hot chase, and Mr. Cowan stated to an Epitaph reporter that it is almost impossible for the murderous gang to escape, as the pursuers are close at their heels and have moonlight in their favor. Should the road-agents be caught they will meet with the short shift which they deserve.

..."Bud", the murdered driver, whose real name is Eli P. Philpott, was one of the most widely known stage-drivers on the Coast. For years he has borne a high reputation as a skilful handler of the "ribbons," won on the principal stage lines in California, and during a year's residence in Arizona, most of the latter time in the employ of Kinnears (formerly Walker & Co.'s) line. He will be sincerely mourned, not only by hosts of personal friends, but by thousands of passengers who have ridden on the box seat with him and been captivated by his simple manners and frank, manly ways. It was a rare treat to "make the trip" with him, for his memory was rich in reminiscences of the "old stage days" in California, and when he so willed he could keep a companion's attention riveted by his quaint, droll conversation. He has a wife and young family at Calistoga, California, who had the tenderest place in his big heart. And now there is another little home in the world which has been desolated and despoiled by the ruthless bullet. There is something inexpressibly sad in the sudden death of such outwardly rough, but inwardly brave, true hearted men, and no better representation of this class could be found than the man whom the murderers last night sent unwarned to his last home. He was proud and fond of his team and the big new coach on which he met his death as if they were human, and the horses aways seemed to know when "Bud" was at the other end of the lines.

...Posses headed by U.S. Deputy Marshal Virgil Earp and Sheriff Johnny Behan failed to find the perpetrators. Bud Philpott had a further brush with fame, as Tombstone's Dr. George Goodfellow inspected his remains, made a report at the inquest and billed the county $100.00.

Mr. Desmo Cuts a Long Deal

...My friend Greg, who owns a Ducati Monster and has been thoroughly desmodromic, had developed a need for pushrods, probably something having to do with approaching old age. Maybe he is one of those rare motorcyclists that can recognize the beauty of both the Ducati and the Harley Davidson, but it's probably just old age.

.....Greg had been looking for a Road Glide, but when he found a really good deal on a Street Glide, he bought the bike. It was a beautiful 2007 Street Glide with only 8,000 miles on the clock, but he still really wanted a Road Glide.

.....It's a big world, somewhere out there is a guy, a mirror image of Greg, who has a Road Glide but really wanted a Street Glide. Call it fate, call it predestination, call it Craig's List, sure enough there's a guy in Salinas with a 2007 Road Glide with 4000 miles that wanted to trade for Street Glide.

.....They met at the San Jose Harley dealers parking lot, traded bikes and went home happy.

An Odd Corner of My Back Yard

...I live in the California Wine Country and I keep searching for new rides and places the I haven't been. I found myself at the south eastern corner of the Carneros Viticultural Region. The Carneros wine growing area is cooler because of fog and wind coming off the San Francisco Bay and is known for some great Pinots and Chardonnays. I have a favorite Carneros Zin. Anyway here are a couple of photos of the south east corner of Los Carneros, which is officially the west bank of the Napa River and the Southern Pacific Rail Road tracks. Sure doesn't look like one of the greatest wine growing regions of the world, but it is.

1000 Miles in 24 Hours

.....I had been thinking about riding a thousand miles in under twenty-four hours since winter started. I tried to plan my route to avoid ice and stay out of big cities during rush hours. I figured that it would be good to have a full moon for traveling at night, unfortunately there was only a sliver of moon and it came up just before dawn.
.....My route was east to Sacramento, South to Bakersfield, East over the Tehachapi Mountains to Barstow, then South to San Barnardio, West to Ventura and North on Hwy 101 to home. According to Map Quest a distance of just under 1100 miles.

I got my first receipt at 0152 hours and left for Scaramento. There was heavy fog but it didn't last. There was very little traffic on Hwy 80, that was part of the plan. I made good time and made the turn south on Hwy 5, then stopped for gas at Florin Rd., time 0331.

.....The next gas stop was at Santa Nella at 0505. California's Central Valley can be really cold during the winter and by the time I reached Kettleman City 0645 for my next gas stop I was chilled. I was also getting really sleepy, so I got a cup of hot coffee and that helped both the chill and the drowsiness.
.....I stopped in East Bakersfield for breakfast at 0831 hrs., and while I ate, I repaired the plug on my Widder Electric Chaps. When I left I felt refreshed and a lot warmer. It was a good thing that I repaired the electric chaps, because the Tehachapi Mountains were covered with snow and it was even colder as I went up the mountains.

.....I was glad I had planned to be the mountains during the day as there was no ice on the road. I pulled into the Town of Tehachapi at 0923 for gas. It must have snowed recently as there was snow on many of the roofs and on cars that were driving around.

.....It was cold, damn cold! It's hard to take photos when you are trying to make time and even harder in cold weather gear. I did take a couple of photos in Tehachapi.

From Tehachapi, Hwy 58 continues through the mountains, past Mojave and Boron, to my next stop at Barstow. It was good to be on the desert even thought it was still cold. The desert in winter is beautiful. There was a misty rain, just enough to wet the windshield. I saw another motorcycle, a two up Harley, headed to where I just been. This was the first other bike I had seen so far. I arrived in Barstow for gas at 1053.
.....From Barstow I headed to San Bernardino, then west on the 210. I stopped for gas in La Verne at 1215 hrs. L.A. was warmer, I saw a sign that said 61 degrees. I also saw a lot of people riding in t-shirts, but I kept my heavy gear on and just kept going. I started to get drowsy again around Santa Barbara, so I stopped for gas (1417 hrs.) at Goleta and had a Coke. That seemed to wake me up and I had no more problems with fatigue.
.....The 400 or so miles left seemed like a long way, it turned out to be fairly easy. I stopped for gas at 1630 hrs in San Miguel and again in Gilroy at 1824 hrs. My final gas stop was in my home town at 2104 hrs. I asked a local Police Officer to sign my end form for the Iron Butt Association, then rode home and fell asleep in front of the television.
.....The total trip took just over 18 hrs and was just under 1100 miles. I submitted the documentation to the IBA. Believe me I do not have an iron butt or an iron back, but both held up better than I expected.

Arachnoid

...I saw this CanAm Spyder on Hwy 1 between Monterey and Morro Bay. Hwy 1 is plagued by rock slides and we were both stopped by a flagman. I spoke briefly to the rider, who gave me his card. He is Robert Naquin and he has written about his travels on the Spyder for the CanAm website.

http://spyder.brp.com/en-US/Share/Community/Road-Trips/RoadTrips

Hot Rod Nightster

...The Nightster is a hot rod right from the factory, but some people think that is not good enough. My friend Ryan is one of those who thinks that when a bike leaves the factory, it's just raw material wishing to be something better. Witness his sweet little Nightster, he took off that cheap looking plastic and hid the wires underneath the tank where they belong.

Drag bars and short pipes change the whole character of the bike. Is it a cafe race, is it a drag bike, who knows, who cares? It's a hot rod.

And what's the best place to photograph a black hot rod sportster, in its natural habitat, of course, under the neon lights.

A New Link

I'm adding a new link for "Ride the Machine."

I'm still working my way through the hundreds of moto images that run from the ridiculous to the sublime.

Images are from "Ride the Machine"

Hatt's San Quentin Toy Run 2009

...Attendance was down at this years San Quentin Toy Run. It seemed to me that there was only about half as many people as last year. I can understand why, the weather was very cold and threatening rain. Maybe that's why Santa is not looking too happy.

...The ride starts at Pete's 881 Club in San Rafael . You will have to admit that Pete's has some pretty impressive art on their walls.

...From Pete's art gallery, ah, bar, the ride goes to San Quentin Village just outside of San Quentin Prison, where we dropped off our toys for the children of those behind the wall. The route was slightly changed from last year, so the next stop was The Silver Peso in Larkspur. It started to rain while I was enjoying a beer at The Peso, most of the people jumped on their bikes and split at the first raindrop. By the time I finished and got ready to go, the rain had stopped.

...It was a dry but cool ride to the Pepper Mill Creek Saloon in Forrest Knolls. This year the ride skipped The Western Saloon in Pt. Reyes, no loss, maybe it was cleaning day at the Western, naw. The ride to The Viking Tavern in Novato was cold, very cold. The hot food and propane heaters by the picnic tables felt good.

...When I left for home it was starting to rain and rained hard on Hwy 101 by the Novato Dumps. Luckily it stopped and I was able to make it home mostly dry.

...There were some really nice bikes at this years event. I really liked this old Enfield with a sidecar filled with toys.

The beauty and style of this Ariel Square Four was a knockout.

And a Hatt's motorcycle run would not be complete without a knuckle head.

My New Helmet

.....I'm sure that there are a lot of motorcyclists that don't remember the older helmets. At anything above 65 miles an hour they had so much lift that the chin strap just about choked you out.

.....The last full coverage helmet I owned was a Shoei Z-100. It had a little chin spoiler that helped to hold the helmet down at higher speeds. I wore it a while ago and my friends laughed at me, I guess they would really yuck it up if I pulled out my old Bell Star. Anyway it is amazing how far helmets have come, they are cooler in summer, lighter and they don't lift at speed.

.....It's winter or just about and I need a little extra protection so I got a ZOX Genessis SVS. I liked the price and the internal visor that flips down eliminating the need to wear sunglasses. I intend to use this helmet mostly when it is really cold.

.....So how does this helmet work? Well I would say that most of the criticisms of the helmet are true. The chin bar is close, it doesn't bother me but it is close. The helmet is noisy on my Electra Glide. I will have to wear earplugs, something I should be doing anyway. It doesn't seem to be so loud on a sport bike. I was riding my friend Greg's Ducati and it was no louder than an Arai, but on the Harley it was loud.

.....So what' the good side? The helmet is inexpensive, it fits very comfortably and the visor systems works very well.