Sunday ride home

We decided to pass on the early morning ride to the beach...since we are from Arizona, the thought of driving in the mist and 62 degree temperatures seemed too much like work ;).  We also realized that heading home to Arizona on Sunday meant we would miss Monday am Los Angeles rush hour traffic.  So home we came.  

Added a few more photos from our weekend along with a closing note.

We made it home by 6 pm, and picked our dog up from the doggie penitentiary this morning (Monday).   Great weekend, and a wonderful event organized by Jack Stein, Bob Leonard and their VJMC folks.

Saturday VJMC update

Today was a busy day, bike show in the morning,tour of the Solvang Motorcycle Museum, Danish pastry for lunch, bike ride through the Santa Barbara county countryside in the afternoon and finally dinner at the bike Museum. Due to editing difficulties, photos will be sequential but not titled ;). It should be apparent when we get to the bakery. For the record, there is a reason that God made apple turnovers. Never understood until today when I ordered one at a real Danish bakery. Oh my, it was a religious experience;)

Thursday-Friday update from California

As Stu and I were thinking of vacations, we discussed the coast of Texas, the coast of Florida and this trip to Solvang.  So first Texas was crossed off the list, then the coast of Florida...narrowing it down to Solvang.  When we got here, I googled earthquake zones in California and am happy to see we are in the middle of one.  ;(.  But so far, the ground is quiet.  Last earthquake was months ago, whew.  Locals are talking about the recent microburst that hit the beaches of Santa Barbara, some so strong they picked up a 125 pound person and tossed him/her in the air.   If I ignore the increased chance of death by being here...the place is lovely and beautiful.

Thursday was an all day drive (8am to 6:15 pm) to Buellton, Ca.  To say the traffic in the Los Angeles area is dreadful is an understatement of "epic proportions".   

Friday, the start of the VJMC weekend, started in Solvang (4 miles away) and was filled with registration (50 plus bikes), a ride (22 bikes) to Cold Spring Tavern and then dinner at Mendenhall's museum of Gasolina.   

September 2017 trip to Solvang for another VJMC motorcycle weekend

Wednesday afternoon preps are underway for a Thursday am departure.  Lucy has been delivered to the dog penitentiary, the 1971 Honda CB500 has been readied for the trip.   Since the round trip is over 1100 miles, and the CB500 has a seat that isn't fabulous for that type of long distance (at least for me, the hapless passenger), we are loading it into the truck.

Should be in Solvang tomorrow evening.   I will post photos tomorrow night of things we see along the way tomorrow, unless the scenery is more Mohave Desert and endless Los Angeles basin traffic...otherwise, the action starts Friday.

Sunday and we are home

We left super early on Sunday so we were home by 1!  Including picking Lucy up from prison.   Will review all the photos and add a few more in the next day or two.  I have a new blogging app that I need to learn...editing this blog sounds easier than starting anew.  Next trip is scheduled for the end of April.

Saturday's Tiddler ride

Greetings from a place we cannot recommend you stay overnight, the Avi Casino and Hotel in Ft Mohave.  A one star place if there ever was one ;).  Tonight's excitement is mixed martial arts wrestling at the hotel, so a huge number of excited people, and you can imagine they are generally pretty unusual looking, have been streaming in all afternoon.  Alas I could not take photos.  Stu and I decided on a brilliant new product idea:   A new type of tattoo ink that fades after 10 years or the first 100 pounds gained.  Pretty great idea yes?

Back to the topic...the ride was excellent. I am estimating 15 old and interesting vintage bikes.  We went up the hill toward Oatman then down the hill into Kingman for lunch.  The term tiddler means small bike and the goal today was for the bikes to be under 30 hp.  Our bike was bigger so that I could come along too.   We stopped at a tourist trap restaurant in Kingman for lunch.  Stu and I decided to come back the fast way so parted company with the group.  We were back by 3:30 and finished up the day putting the bike back in the truck.

On a separate side track, I went to buy bottled water and the only spring water available was from Iceland.  Photo attached so that my niece Adelaide, currently living in Iceland, can see the bottle.  How it makes financial sense to bottle water in Iceland and ship it to Fort Mohave, Nevada is one of the world's great mysteries.

Oatman was full of tourists and only three burros, so the ratio wasn't great and we didn't stop ;)

Overall the people on the ride were friendly, the weather was excellent and the ride beautiful.  All we could ask.  Plus we have seen hundreds of super weird looking wrestling fans. ;)

Arrived in the scenic hamlet of Fort Mohave, Az

Ah, yet another lovely five hour drive through the Mohave Desert.  It is not in bloom, excluding brittle bush, and we have zillions of those in our back yard.  We ate lunch at the crossroads restaurant in Parker, az.   Got to the hotel in time to check in with hundreds of girls, ages 6-18, who are here for a regional soccer tournament.   Wish I had autographed posters of my niece Adelaide with me ;). I could have made her some money selling her poster.

We are, as of 5 pm, the only vintage Japanese bike in the parking lot.

We should have lots of photos tomorrow at this time, once we get back and I can connect.  It appears our route will be through Oatman, Az up and over the hills to Kingman, lunch and then home.   (To my brother and his family, Oatman is famous for very few things, mostly famous for Clark Gable and Carol Lombard spending their honeymoon night there.   There are also wild donkeys that roam the streets now, fed carrots by tourists, the burros are descendants of burros abandoned by prospectors when they quit mining.)

Warm out right now, at least 85, with the traditional gentle Mohave 30 mph breezes.

Yet another photo of the wonders of the Mohave ;)