Shari Wendt, the Eastern LOS Coordinator and her husband
Dave (they are both from Chapter 193 in Woodstock Illinois) were visiting this
last weekend and I don’t think they could have asked for better weather. We had a great ride planned and it seems
everyone within LA, Orange, and Riverside Counties wanted to join in on showing
them a great ride. All in all we
had visitors from 5 Chapters (422, 415, 500, 435, and 109), 71 STAR members in
attendance, and 62 bikes on the ride!
I am happy to say also that we had a phenomenal showing from
our own chapter – 51 members at the meeting and 41 bikes made the ride! So glad you all came out.
Our day started with everyone gathering at the Starbucks
parking lot, we were prepared with lots of ride waivers and a pretty good
plan. Everyone seems excited –
there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it was warming up nice. We started the meeting welcoming all
the visiting officers – of course Shari and Dave from 193, Marge Cunningham
(the West Coast LOS Coordinator) and her husband Colin from 422, Frank Alvarez,
president of 415 and his VP Jim Holland, Rac Cossart the president of 500, Tony
Barbano, President of 345, Terry Bishop our Southern California (North) State
Ambassador, Ron Lopez our Southern California (South) State Ambassador, and Bob
Barbano our Western Regional Director.
Whew!
We also welcomed a new rider to our group, Mike Fry!
We wished Happy Birthdays to Minita Vasquez and John Ruland.
Amazing how loud that many people singing happy birthday can get! That was followed by a
brief overview of the upcoming rides and adventures we have planned.
I presented rockers to Susan Palaoro for Chapter Webmaster,
Richard “Taz” Green for Safety Officer and Chuck Giambitti his rocker for STAR
Vet Rep, and a Past Officer rocker to Stacy Limbach. Terry presented Dan Dobler with his IBMATE (I Brought my A**
to Everything) rocker.
After Taz Green's safety briefing, Dan Dobler did a presentation of Hand
Signals for the group. This seemed
to be well received and I think we will have him do this at everyride – maybe
some hand puppets next time.
Lol.
We ended our meeting with the Raffle and 50/50 drawing. The lucky raffle winners were Dan
Sauerwald, Brian Hefter, Mark Pinkney, Gabby Peres, and Marie de Putron. The 50/50 drawing was won by none other
than Taz Green who went home $115 richer!
So we broke off into our 6
groups – 6 groups! I still can’t believe it. A lot of people tried
to get photos of the whole thing but you couldn’t stand back far enough to get
every bike in the picture. Once we were all saddled up, off we went down
the 5. A great view of the pacific and San Onofre, clear enough to see
Catalina.
As we made our way down
the 5 we found ourselves right next to a white tour bus – yeah, we know where
they are going, and all we can do is laugh. We stopped at the rest stop
south of Camp Pendelton and of course, met up with one of those white buses and
as usual we found ourselves surrounded by Japanese/Chinese tourists. We
tried to warn some of our guests about this – but I think you have to see it to
believe it. About 30 piled off of the bus, cameras in hand, rushing to see our
bikes. A suggestion was made that we should charge for each
picture. After a short photo-op with our “fans” we headed down the 5 to the 76
and then inland to Fallbrook.
There was no way this day
could not have been more perfect, 68 degrees and clear skies. I asked our
visitors from Illinois if they were enjoying our weather – they tell me they
don’t start chapter rides until after April because of the weather – so I think
they appreciated our climate. The ride through Fallbrook, Bonsall,
and DeLuz was incredible – winding, tree covered roads. We were able to
keep a nice even pace as we rode and it was great. The scenery (lots of
avocados and grapefruit) was awesome with lots of amazing houses and views –
well except for the bit with the cows and chickens; that was a little
stinky.
At the gas stop we all
stood in the sun and just smiled from the great ride. It was a quick stop
and then on the rest of the way past Lake Perris and Lake Matthews. Of
course we had to pass the gigantic arrow in the hillside – I think Chuck is
still looking for the big Indian that goes with it…
We reached the top of the
hill and were able to pick out Chili’s in the distance – lunch! I really
can’t explain to you the sight of 60 plus bikes all parked together –
glistening in the sun – really amazing! And what a surprise to arrive and
find Vinnie Grieva (ISC) waiting for us at the restaurant. I
have to thank the staff at Chili’s big time. We started out three weeks
ago telling them we were bringing about 35, and then we called last week and
said we thought it would be about 50, and then we told them Friday about 70 –
they were great, brought in extra staff and set the whole side of the
restaurant up for us. A few decided to try the other places in the mall –
but most of us stayed in Chili’s and chatted, and reviewed the ride so
far.
We said our goodbyes to
our visitors after lunch. A lot of the folks from the other chapters
headed home from there as well, while those of us from 230 continued on to our
usual place at El Torito. Lots of hugs and congrats for a ride well
done. We promised to look Shari and Dave up at STAR Days in July.
We left there and made our
way up the 15 to the 60 to the 57 and back down to El Torito where we thanked
our new rider Mike Fry, and thanked everyone for a job well done. After
some reminders on the upcoming rides and events the ride was called.
