BSA Owners Club International Rally

     The BSA Owners Club was in Petaluma for their international rally.  A good choice, I think, as between the wine country and the coast highways, there are some of the best motorcycle roads in the world. The route the BSA boys chose, for this day, was from Petaluma to the town of Occidental, then over Coleman Valley Rd. to Highway 1 and back through the town of Bodega.











     Marie, Logan and I met our friends Walt and Vanessa at Howard's Cafe for breakfast.  After we finished eating the first riders came into town, followed by probably a hundred more.  

     This is the 51st BSA Owners Club International Rally.  Next year the Rally will be held in Denmark and then in 2016 Italy, 2017 Netherlands, and in 2018 Australia.  The 2019 Rally will be a homecoming of sorts as it well be held in Great Britain.  

     The members of the BSA Owners Club were truly nice folks.  They all seemed to want people to see and enjoy their machines and share their enthusiasm.  And as usual I wish I had taken more photographs. Too soon the riders kicked over their bikes and headed off to Coleman Valley Rd.

Walt, clearly interested in the opinion of a five year old.

Well, It Might Be...

Anyway, nobody said that it wasn't.

California Poppies of the Western Mojave

     Between the City of Lancaster and the Town of Goreman lies a valley north of the San Gabriel mountains and south of the Tehachappi mountains. That valley is called the Antelope Valley and is the west end of the great Mojave Desert.

     And if you go there in early spring, and there is rain at just the right time, and if it is not too cold, and not yet too hot, you will find that the California Poppy has bloomed in all their millions.

Charlie the Nomad's Birthday Party

     Charlie invited everyone to celebrate his birthday in Star Valley, AZ. and people came from far and near.  It was also Valardi Gonzales' birthday, so there was plenty celebrate.  It was good to see old friends that I know from The Stampede. I met a lot of other nice people there too.  Together we wished the birthday boys well. We all had a great time. There was brick oven pizza, beer and good conversation, it was a great celebration.

The man in the fullness of his years.

I think Valardi liked his present.

The award for best boots goes to, Valardi Gonzales

Coyote Road Agents

     We spotted these coyotes in Death Valley just south of Bad Water.  Bad water is the lowest point in North America at 282 ft. below sea lever. It is a hard environment.  When I first saw them I thought that we had just happened upon them while they were going about their business.  But it quickly became clear that they were panhandling.

     To live in this environment you would have to exploit any and all opportunities.  Evidently these coyotes at some point were going about their business when someone saw them and said, "Hey look, coyotes," and tossed them some food.  Then there was an "AHA" moment.

100,000 miles

My bike turned over 100,000 miles.  It's still reliable and still runs well.  The inner fairing is a little faded but the bike still looks good. I'll take more photos at 200,000.

Robots Stealing Jobs

MotoPOCKETS

     At the begining of April, I got an email from Bob Allen and Emma Nicholson of MotoPOCKETS.  Their company makes a variety of small storage bags that fit conviently on motorcycles and just about anywhere you might want some extra-handy storage. They said they would like to have me try their Top Case Net for my Tourpak.

     The MotoPOCKET can be mounted in quite a few places within the Tourpak.  I considered mounting it on the lid but I often have so much stuff that I have to use the lid like a trash compactor and might squish something when closing the lid.  I decided to mount it on the rear right near the latches.  That way you can just lift the lid and reach inside to remove items from the MotoPOCKET or the whole MotoPOCKET itself, the MotoPOCKET is held in place by a velcro pad and can be easily taken with you.

     The MotoPocket was very handy.  I kept my small camera there as well as my sunglasses, phone charger and ear bud, you get the idea. Just about anything that you might want handy but don't want to carry in your pants pocket.

MotoPOCKETS can be found at 

http://adventurepockets.com/