Well, what can I say. Another successful road trip, not without
it's moments of drama but lots of fun, nonetheless.
We gathered around noon time on Friday at the Western Bagel.
The first change that I noted was that the parking lot was packed
full of cagers doing whatever they do in the middle of the day. Oh
yeah, it's not early on a Saturday morning like we usually meet. We
worked this wrinkle out by stacking ourselves up in the parking lot
and it was OK, really.
On hand was Dyanne, Brent, Carol, Ron, Paul, Randy & Nancy,
two-up, Patrick on his V-Max with wife, Donna and son,
Brian, accompanying him in their van, Lucy, Phil, my wife Debra on
her Suzuki and yours truly two-up with daughter, Naia. All in all,
11 bikes with 13 riders and one van. We would have been more but
Doug had to beg off since he was not quite fit enough to ride and
Mark discovered that his daughter's Prom was Friday and night and of
course, he had to be on hand for that momentous occasion. He
promised to join us in the morning. Off we headed toward the east
and the great desert.
Another difference I immediately noted was the amount of
traffic. Oh, this was going to get very interesting at some point,
I just knew. We got underway with no hiccups or problems and
maintained a pretty good clip as we headed out toward the 210. From
there the traffic increased until we hit Pasadena and encountered
our first traffic slow-down. Oh well, we were on a road trip after
all and delays are just part of the fun...oh yeah, right!
The stretch through Pasadena and environs was brutal to say the
least. Ron suggested over the radio that maybe we should try the
HOV lane and just as I decided that he had a great idea the flow
opened up and we were up to speed again. We motored out to the 15
and headed south to the 10 eastbound. Again, major traffic
slowdown. We spent so much time on the overpass waiting to make it
down to the 10 freeway that Phil lane split ahead and took all of
our pictures as we inched by him.
Now, in our little group we had three bikes that have about a
100 mile range on their tanks. One is Dyanne, one is Debra and the
other is Patrick's. Knowing this fact, I had calculated that we
could make it to Beaumont for a gas stop with little or no problem.
Plus the El Rancho Restaurant is right next door to the gas station
so that would be our lunch stop as well. Even with my exact
calculations it turned out that Debra ran out of gas regardless.
Now, as we all know, this is not the end of the world. However,
here's the wrinkle to this one. The Suzuki Owner's Manual
specifically indicates that one need not turn one's fuel cock off
after having completed riding for the day. Many of us old school
types routinely turn the fuel cocks to the off position to prevent
sticking carburetor float valves from draining the gas tank onto the
garage floor. The Suzuki valve incorporates some kind of
new-fangled technology which no longer requires this maneuver. This
is fine, but when Debby reached down to switch over to reserve; this
after having the bike totally and completely die without warning,
just stopped running, she found that the fuel cock control handle
would not budge. This is because this valve never gets exercised.
Fortunately, the riders directly behind her were able to avoid
running into her and she did manage to get the bike off the freeway
and onto the median where the fuel cock could be manhandled into the
proper position. All this drama occurred less than 2 miles from the
off ramp to our first gas stop. Talk about Murphy's Law!
We enjoyed a leisurely lunch mostly because the kitchen seemed
to moving pretty slow that day but we were in no hurry. We had
covered well over half our mileage and would be in Indio within the
hour. Unfortunately, Lucy parked her bike on a slope and when she
tried to maneuver it into position so that she could take off
cleanly, the bike fell over. She managed to right it again and join
the group at the back with Ron, our Tail Gunner. The Beaumont
traffic lights are slower that the restaurant kitchen. The main
group of bikes sat on the side of the on ramp and waited and waited
while the signals changed and more bikes caught up to us. Finally,
Lucy and Ron were able to make the turn and join the main group. As
soon as I got the word that they were in position I accelerated the
group to get us up to speed for the freeway. Naturally, we are
dodging semi-trucks by the 100's and the group got strung out in the
ensuing traffic. What I didn't know was that as soon as Lucy began
to accelerate she found that she couldn't shift into second gear.
She pulled over quickly to the shoulder with Ron following to give
assistance. He radioed to me but I was already too far away to hear
him. Randy and Nancy heard the call and came forward to alert me
that they were stopped. Phil had noticed Lucy stopping and he
pulled one of his famous U-Turns and rode back up the shoulder
against traffic! What a hubby!
The rest of us parked up on the shoulder not knowing what the
problem was. Brent volunteered to go back and see what was up. I
gave him the final directions on how to get to the Fantasy Springs
Casino and Resort. That way he could lead the stragglers in without
getting lost. This was a great plan but doomed to failure. By the
time that Brent made it back west on the freeway and crossed over to
the eastbound side the folks that he was looking for were nowhere to
be found. What had happened is that Lucy's mishap with her bike had
bent the shift lever preventing her from selecting any higher
gears. She had first and neutral and that's it. Ron tried to pull
it out by bending it by virtue of his brute strength but was
unsuccessful. When Phil arrived back on scene he quickly surveyed
the selection of various tools available in the flotsam of the
freeway shoulder debris and found not just a stout stick but a stout
metric stick with which to pry the lever straight. Voila! Lucy was
on the road again. Alright, let's recap the scene here. The main
group has sent Brent back to bring them in, they have fixed the
problem and restarted, the main group thinking that they had saved
everybody, fired up their machines and continued speeding down the
road. Brent missed them and they missed us and we didn't know that
the entire plan had failed. We weren't but at the hotel parking lot
five minutes when Lucy, Phil and Ron pulled up with Brent bringing
up the rear almost immediately. I, of course, immediately surmised
that my brilliant plan and solution had worked to a tee. Only after
receiving one of Phil's famous dark scowls did I realize that
something was amiss. Only after 1,000 mea culpa's and numerous
apologies, too numerous to count and a promise to give him the first
half of my lottery winnings did he decide to forgive me for
"abandoning" them out there in the wilderness. The bottom-line here
is that we all made it safe and sound.
I know that some of you are wondering about the desert heat.
Some of you are probably wondering whether or not it was hot. These
questions and others like them can be answered in one word:
YES!!! It was 105 degrees when we arrived. Most of us
unpacked our bikes, checked in the hotel, registered for the
Star-B-Que, then changed into swim suits and hit the pool. It was
wonderful. Ron and I attended the Presidents/Vice-President's
Meeting which was held at 7 PM and then we went to the Meet & Greet
Party which was held adjacent the pool in an open courtyard. We met
a bunch of old friends from previous events and saw our buddies from
the Ventura Chapter 258. Soon, a sizable bunch of Chapter 237
members had gathered and we decided to make for dinner. We found a
buffet-style restaurant in the hotel and settled right in. After
dinner, some of the "party animals" rushed right back to the Meet &
Greet Party to dance. I won't mention any names but Nancy really
loves to dance and she's pretty good at it, as well. Even Phil
danced with Lucy after swearing that he wouldn't. Well, the Fantasy
Springs Resort sort of does that to you, you know? Some of the
older, wiser folks chose to go to bed early. Pretty boring, I know,
but restful.
Ron woke up at 2 AM and decided to go on night patrol to check
and see if there were any VC in the vicinity. When he went out to
the parking lot to check on his bike he nearly had the aaah...you
know what scared out of him when the hotel security staff asked what
he was doing... Ron then found himself going to sleep over a
Starbucks cup of coffee at 4 AM and figured that it was time to go
to bed.
Saturday we awoke to an absolutely gorgeous morning. Yes, it
was warm but still,a bright and glorious day. Some of us barely
managed to make it to the buffet breakfast which closed promptly at
9:30 AM and Mark was there joining us as promised. Some of us took
off to make the Poker/Trivia Run while others jumped in the pool, or
checked out the vendors in the main auditorium. Some of us managed
to convince Dyanne to enter her "Porter" bike into the Show & Shine
competition and some of us helped her get the bike ready for the
show. The afternoon was spent lolling by the pool by most members.
It was nothing short of heaven. Aaaah, the life of the idle
rich...rich? Did I say that? OK, so not the idle rich just idle.
All afternoon...doing
nothing...snoozing...swimming...snoozing...swimming...did I mention
the snoozing part?
Finally, it was about 4:30 PM and we gathered for the Star-B-Que
itself. The awards for the Show & Shine were announced and Dyanne
didn't win! This after attempting to stuff the ballot box full of
votes for her...oh well, next time. Then the winners of the silent
auction were announced and again none of us won. They announced the
winners of the Poker Run and none of us won. Then we had our meal.
This was the best food that we have enjoyed yet at one of these
functions. Plus, this time it was all you could eat. This made
very many people very happy. Dessert was provided as well; apple
cobbler and peach cobbler. Yum. At this point they had the drawing
for the 50/50 and again no one in our group won. Rats! Then the
highpoint of the evening was the auction to raise money for the Star
Charity which is the Feed The Children Foundation. Numerous vendors
donated motorcycle related items which were then auctioned off to
the highest bidder with all of the money going to Feed The
Children. The auctioneer/host is called "Shark" and he is one of
the best at running one of these events. He is extremely funny and
quick-witted and keeps everything moving right along. Even so, this
part of the evening stretched into the wee hours or so I'm told
since I packed it in early.
Phil and Paul and I'm not sure who else made a Phil's Midnight
Border Brigade Run to Arizona and back. They were still up bright
and early this morning when we got under way to return home. For
those who don't enjoy riding at breakneck speeds in the dark, in a
strange land, well, those folks spent the evening in the Sunset
Vista Room on the roof of the hotel and they had a ball too.
The group decided that they would love to leave early for
various reasons. One of which was to escape the heat, the other was
there was nothing more to do there, and another was that there was
talk of rain on our home ground and I certainly thought that it
would be a great idea to get home before the rains came down. So,
we decided that a 7 AM departure time would be just great. Just
before we got underway Phil suggested that we should line up in
front of the Casino and get our picture taken so we all motored over
there and then I suggested that everyone should get fueled up before
we got on the Interstate, so we had to drive over the gas station
and take care of that portion of business. But, finally we were
underway. Mark opted to stay behind and take in a Music Festival
that was being held up in Joshua Tree.
Thankfully, this time there was almost no wind. Now, don't get me
wrong, there was some wind. I felt it hardly at all but I knew that
there was some blowing since almost all of the windmills were
working their little props off. But, what wind there was, was
coming straight at us and unlike last year's 60 mile-an-hour blasts
from the side we were able to stay not only in our lanes but also on
the freeway itself! Those who were on our Tucson trip last year
will remember these events most fondly...NOT!
Once we were west of the Banning Pass the temperature suddenly
dropped. Those who had been riding blissfully along without their
jackets on suddenly found themselves immersed in wind chill. We
pulled over to let them put on more clothes. Proceeding along it
was clear that leaving Indio at that early a time clearly was a real
boon to over-coming the traffic problem. Oh, there were cars and
trucks but no slowdowns anywhere. No miles of backed up cars which
are so common along this route.
The return trip scenario in terms of gas stops was to be a
mirror image of our route out to Indio. That is to say, 90 to 100
miles and stop for gas and because of the early hour we would stop
for breakfast as well. Somehow, in my mind, I calculated that to be
somewhere around Azusa or thereabouts. Of course, this is way wrong
and once we reached the 15 heading north I saw that we needed to
pull off for gas and sustenance before we reached the 210. At
Foothill Blvd. Dyanne pulled off with Lucy and Phil following her.
I had already figured to stop at Baseline Road to fuel and eat at
the Denny's Restaurant there. We had no sooner refueled and seated
ourselves at our table when who should appear but Dyanne, Lucy and
Phil. It seems the Dyanne had started nodding out and needed to
pull over right away in order to get herself awake. We enjoyed a
hearty breakfast and extremely witty conversation and we were soon
on the road again.
OK, no more stops, planned that is. As we are approaching
Pasadena, still in Arcadia, I hear a plaintive voice in my headset.
It is my wife who is apologizing but still really, really needs a
"split break". This is a term from our Cross Country skiing days
and hikers use it too whenever they need to relieve themselves. So,
off the freeway we go again. Luckily, we find a Chevron station
almost immediately and pretty soon we were up on the freeway,
rolling along again. OK, no more stops, we're almost home. Through
Pasadena and approaching Glendale, Brent informs me that he thinks
that Debra is losing her luggage which we have magically bungee
corded onto the back of her bike. Once more we pull over but even
though the load looks a little weird it isn't falling off. Back
onto the freeway once more. By this time, Dyanne, Lucy and Phil
have split off continuing onto the 134 and heading home that way.
When we reach the 118 west exit, Patrick and family along with Ron
continue north to the 5. That leaves Carol, Debby, Brent, Randy and
Nancy, Naia and myself motoring on into the San Fernando Valley.
Carol bails out at Balboa, Debby, Naia and I bail at DeSoto,
leaving Brent, Randy and Nancy to continue on home. I logged 331
miles driveway to driveway. I know that my family and I had a great
time and from all accounts so did everyone else. I can't wait to do
this again next year.
CHAPTER MEETING REMINDER:
Our next meeting is this Wednesday, May 24 at 6:30
PM at the El Torito Restaurant in Northridge
adjacent the corner of Balboa Blvd. and Devonshire St. Please join
us as we rehash and review our latest road trek. Also, we'll be
discussing ideas for our June Chapter ride.
-Zoud Danko-
President
Star Touring & Riding Association
San Fernando Valley, Chapter 237
"A little bit of heaven, the 237"
