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.