Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Tame America - California
Tame America, California was originally two groups – one leaving from Sacramento riding to Tucson and one leaving from Orange riding to Tucson. Early on it was obvious that weather was not going to cooperate. A week before, the weather decided that the leg from Sacramento would have to be scrapped as there was a forecast of severe weather for pretty much most of the route, including rain, hail, lightning, and snow. A couple of days before the ride, the weather decided that we would have severe rain in Orange County most of Friday, including thunder and lightning which would hinder our efforts to get out of town. So everyone was given to opportunity to make a choice and in the end only two bikes and one truck left Orange County on its way to Tucson. On the bikes were me and Ken Indorf, in the truck was Susan Palaoro, Patty and Chuck Giambitti. Everyone was ready for rain and in the end we stayed just ahead of the storm making our way into Tucson dry as a bone. Learning from our experience of two weeks ago we opted in taking the 5 south to the 52, to the 67, to the 8, and out to the 10 into Tucson. Without the setbacks of traffic, construction, and rider issues from before, the trip was smooth with four gas stops and a quick lunch. Temps stayed at about 75 to 80 the whole way and it was beautiful.
We arrived at our hotel about 3:30 pm, checked in, cleaned up, and walked over to the Chinese Buffet (ask Ken it’s his new favorite I think) for dinner. We were joined by Frank Alvarez, Jim Holland, and Peter Casey, members of 415 who arrived a little bit after us. Alan Cease called while we were at dinner and invited us all to come up to his house and visit (he was busy filling the smoker for the BBQ). Although it was tempting, we all were pretty tired from the ride in and decided instead to go back to the hotel and relax.
When we got up on Saturday morning we found that the storm had finally caught up to us. It had rained through the night and was still sprinkling a little; that was good for Ken who needed his bike cover washed and nature helped him out. We reviewed the breakfast at the hotel and decided that bread and cereal would not cut it so we decided to walk the 100 feet over to the Cracker Barrel for some real food. I have to say that we had the best service I can ever remember at the Cracker Barrel and it made for a nice relaxing meal. Although Ken was very disappointed that they did not have bagels, as he was craving one and decided to just do coffee until we got back to the hotel and he could grab one from the continental breakfast there (although he told me cream cheese but no Lox, bummer).
After breakfast, Chuck decided that he needed to check out the local Walmart which happened to be just across the street. Apparently he likes to compare Walmarts in each city he visits to see what they have different (e.g., hunting gear). He was only gone maybe 10 minutes when Ken and I decided we needed to stalk him and see what he was doing. An hour and a few $2 camo t-shirts and we were back.
Everyone cleaned up and assembled, and then off we went to the Cease’s. If you have never been to Alan and Ginger’s house/barbeque, you have really missed something. Alan puts on one big barbeque. When we got there he was pulling turkeys off of the smoker, he had ribs ready for the fire, and they were pulling the pork. There was so much food and of course his specialty sauces. When we arrived there were already about 25 people there before us from the local chapters, and the local STAR office. Frank and the 415 guys arrived after us, and then the group from Stockton, Visalia, and a guy from Colorado. I am sure there were others but I lost track. Each participant was given a Patch and a Star Family Foundation Pin. But the best part was the food. We ate once with the first wave, and then we all ate a little more when the second wave arrived (the ribs and the mac and cheese, yum!).
During the barbeque I presented Ginger with the check from our chapter. She was very appreciative and thanked everyone from our chapter for participating and donating to the foundation. I would also like to personally thank each of you who donated to the Tame America Ride – your participation is appreciated. A thanks also goes out to Mark Pinkney’s coworkers who also provided a nice donation.
We rolled ourselves back to the hotel about 8ish and set about getting ready for the long trip home.
The next morning we loaded up the truck and the bikes and then over to the Cracker Barrel (we were the first there and alone for a long while). Once we were all filled up we said our good-byes to Ken (who was staying for the Air Show), and the Visalia group who was leaving the same time we were. We learned that Ryan Duerksen travels really light (toothbrush in one vest pocket, deodorant in the other pocket, that’s it). Short trip to the gas station, then on the freeway and off to home. During the ride we were joined by a guy who was travelling from Colorado to San Diego. Was nice to have company for a bit. Could not have asked for better weather or better traffic coming home – we left at 7am and arrived at 3:30 pm – 8 and a half hours!!!
All in all great trip. Was unfortunate that the weather kept many from making the ride, but I think the STAR Family Foundation still did pretty well. Thanks again to all who contributed. Next ride – Laughlin!
April Chapter Ride - Palomar
I realize that we are really lucky here in Southern California, to be blessed with some amazing weather. Here we plan a trip up a mountain to around 5,000 feet, in early April – where they just got a few inches of snow – and instead of it being freezing cold with ice and wind, all we got was sunny skies and 80 degree temperatures! It’s great being here!
We started our morning out at the usual Starbucks with a lot of coffee and chatting. We met Mel McZiel (a friend of Floyd Turner’s), we welcomed back Michele Russell, and Rac and Rose Cossart who we hadn’t seen since Rose’s unfortunate bike accident; a great group of about 33 riders on about 30 bikes. We had our meeting with the usual introductions (Bob Barbano, Terry Bishop) and some presentations (Lead Shepherd rocker for Glenn Sandstrom, Shepherd Rocker for Brian Hefter – both well deserved) then announcements and the raffle and 50/50 drawings.
Once the business was over we split into three groups of about 10 bikes each with me, Jim Rawlinson, and Richard “Taz” Green leading. Off we went down the 5 to the usual rest stop outside of Camp Pendleton, and as usual we were mobbed by Asian tourists. I am starting to believe Richard Von Luft when he said that he thinks they actually live there – especially since I did not see a bus this time. Once we peeled the picture takers off of the bikes we continued on down the coast to the 76 and inland we went. One gas stop in Oceanside and then off to Palomar.
With such beautiful weather it was an amazing ride through the twisties and up to the Observatory. A few little remnants of snow along the road gave an indication that maybe it was cold there earlier in the week, but not now. We were treated to some really great views from all sides as we went up the mountain. Once at the Observatory we took a little time to tour the site, visit the education center, and visit their tiny gift shop. In the end we all just sat down on the benches in front and soaked in the sunshine.
After a nice visit we all saddled up and started back down the mountain. A nice drive around Lake Henshaw – what’s up with that, the lake seems really low – and off to the Santa Ysabel Casino for lunch.
Lunch was incredible and we could not have asked for anything nicer. The casino restaurant was nice enough to provide us the entire back patio with a full view of the valley and it was amazing. They set us up with a really nice menu that had been personalized for our visit and several good choices – in the end it was lunch with a drink, tax and tip for $10 each. We had a great waitress who was quick with our orders and willing to take lots of pictures for everyone. We really can’t thank them enough – I guess we will have to go there again! Maybe next time we can take some time to play a little - or play a little more, I hear someone may have won a few bucks playing black jack on the way out.
After lunch we continued our ride up the 79 all the way to Temecula where we had our last gas stop. Apparently the second gas stop (Chevron) was identical to the one where we had our first gas stop (another Chevron) causing one rider some confusion, thinking we had returned to the same place. Oh well. From there we were off up the 15 to the 60 and back to El Torito – well except that group three became group two when group three decided to take the 15 to the 91 and cheated – or so says group two.
At El Torito we were thrilled to be met by Steve Homewood, the original Chapter 230 President, who just happened to be in town on vacation. Was great to meet him, especially since it’s our chapter’s 10-year anniversary. An overview of upcoming rides and events, and the ride was called.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
SW Star BQ
Well I have to say it was a great trip to Tucson for the SW STAR BQ. I am pretty certain that Chapter 230 had the most members in attendance of any of the chapters and I think it was noticed. In fact several sources were quoted as saying that this is 230’s year. Great going! The weather couldn’t have been better and for the most part the ride was flawless.
We met up 6am on Thursday morning at Starbucks. Once everyone had gotten coffee and made their last pit stop we were off. As we made our way down the 91 we were joined by Scott, Carol, and Charlie making us twenty-one riders in two groups with 10 trailers amongst us. Pretty impressive rolling down the freeway!
Our first stop was breakfast at the Farmhouse in Banning. As usual, breakfast was good and service was great. They are always so good to accommodate all of us. We quickly ordered and once everyone finished we were ready to head on out.
Now I am not one for believing in signs but, we should have known things were going to be weird. When we transitioned from the 91 to the 60, right as Group 1 merged onto the off ramp a large white bird decided to spread its wings and make a connection between two power lines – a bright flash and a boom was all she wrote. Group 2 says they saw it happen and it was pretty amazing.
Our route took us down the 10 to the 111 via Box Canyon, to the 8 and out the 10 to Tucson. I have to tell you Box Canyon was amazing; we have to do this as a Chapter ride one day. A nice set of smooth twisties and some great scenery made this the highlight of our trip out to Tucson. Unfortunately, that was then followed by a painful ride down the 111 past the backside of Salton Sea where we were met with a lot of road construction and delays. It was a great example of your tax dollars at work – lots of supervisors, but not a lot of actual work happening. The road delays set us back significantly.
Now while on the road I received a phone call from Alan Cease. Alan invited the entire group to a barbeque at his house that night, once we got to Tucson. We were all pretty excited and quickly accepted his offer and told him we would call him when we were at the hotel. Now this was at about 3 in the afternoon – little did we know when we would actually arrive at his house.
During the ride – a little past Yuma, it was brought to our attention that it had taken us 8 hours to actually go about 250 miles – but everyone was a trooper and we rolled with the punches well. A quick stop at Subway for lunch and we were back on the road. All along the ride Alan called every couple of hours to see how we are doing – it was getting later and later. Each time he insisted we come. He said no matter what time we got there he would barbeque for us - even when we told him it would be about 8pm.
During the ride there were a couple of setbacks; an item dropped, a sunscreen issue and an issue involving bike operation. All of these together added more time to our ride and in the end we arrived at the hotel in Tucson at 7:30 pm. Yes, you read that right - that was 13 hours after we left Orange County. Tired and beaten we checked in, unloaded, and regrouped to go to Alan and Ginger’s house.
Now if you haven’t been to Alan’s house before, you have got to see his barbeque setup. It’s pretty amazing. First understand that he is starting to do competitive barbeque competitions. Picture a patio with a cook top, grill, and a really big smoker – all industrial quality. We were treated to bacon/sirloin burgers topped with more bacon and cheddar cheese. They also had a great spread of potatoes, corn, etc. We can’t thank them enough for inviting us and feeding us so well.
The next morning (Friday) we all met for breakfast and made our plans for the day. I took a group to Tombstone and Bisbee, Jim took a group down to Karcher caverns and to Tombstone, and another group went to the Pima Air Museum and bone yard. Each group had a great day – I know that my group really had a great ride (we were joined by Gary and Anna Powell and Scott Giles from Chapter 109) with great friends. The ride down to Tombstone was beautiful. The weather was in the eighties and there was a little breeze – and then there was the view. Shopping in Tombstone wasn’t bad either - Ask Carolyn about her new jacket!!! The group that went to Karcher Canyons had a great time too. Also, there was a rumor going around (I think an early April Fools joke?) that John Ruhland and Glenn Sandstrom got a ride in an F14 at the air museum. You can ask them and believe what you will. lol
We arrived back in time to register for the event and go down for dinner. Now the nice thing about this StarBQ was that the breakfast was included with the hotel, and the dinner for both Friday and Saturday nights was included in the event! Dinner on Friday night was barbeque hot dogs and hamburgers with all the fixings along with beans and cole slaw. Not bad! We all sat together at several tables outside. After dinner was the usual karaoke night with special appearances from our own Carolyn Walker and Chuck Giambitti. Carolyn brought her own CDs – I guess she does this often? They tell us that they won the night – I think they closed the place.
Saturday we were on our own again, as they didn’t have a poker run. So again we split up into groups with one group (Me) going to the Pima Air Museum, one group going to Mt. Lemmon, and one group went up the Phoenix for the Arizona Bike week. The trip to the Air Museum was really great – although our tram ran out of gas and in the end we all disembarked and walked the remainder of the tour. The group to Mt. Lemmon had a great time – except for a bee sting that sent Brian Hefter searching for a stinger - you can ask him where. And the group that went up the Phoenix had a great time as well.
As usual there was a silent auction, which this time benefitted the Star Family Foundation. A couple of our members won items, Dan an Invicta Watch (donated by Alan Cease) and John Ruhland a nice bottle of wine from Chapter 109. Congrats to them. In case you were interested, our chapter donated three Star Jackets (thanks Joe Dagley), and a Hawaiian Star shirt (thanks Gary Felkel) for the auction.
The evening brought the banquet where everyone was treated to mac and cheese, baked beans, pulled pork and barbeque chicken. It was all pretty good. We were so happy to see Rick and Tammy Sherrill who ventured down from their house north of Phoenix to join us! We really miss you guys! We all sat outside under a huge canopy. We ate and chatted until 8pm when the group moved inside for the announcements, introductions, and Auction. As usual the auction was called by Shark (a Star member from Iowa). This time the auction benefitted the local charity Casa de los Ninos.
Sunday morning we had two groups leaving to go home. Group one, led by Dan, left early at 6am and group two, led by me (Ed) left at 7:30 after breakfast. Now Sunday mornings breakfast is funny in that a large group of Asian tourists were there eating before the boarded their bus. Now there is speculation that they came from our favorite rest stop in northern San Diego – probably not, but it is weird.
We had a rather uneventful ride home, except for the high headwinds which impeded both groups progress and gas mileage. Group 2 was joined for a short time by two members of Chapter 237 from Northridge, and rode for a short while with Chapter 415 led by Frank Alvarez. I understand that the part of our group who took the 5 into Orange County passed Frank’s group towards the end of the trip – now this is funny, as Frank’s group pulled out at 5am, before everyone else. Not sure how that happened. Lol
Aside from some slow riding through the border checkpoint in Campo, and the normal slowness in San Clemente the trip was smooth. Thank god the ride home was only about 11 hours. From start to finish my odometer tracked 1,315 miles. Of course everyone will vary based on the side trips during the weekend and route home.
We met up 6am on Thursday morning at Starbucks. Once everyone had gotten coffee and made their last pit stop we were off. As we made our way down the 91 we were joined by Scott, Carol, and Charlie making us twenty-one riders in two groups with 10 trailers amongst us. Pretty impressive rolling down the freeway!
Our first stop was breakfast at the Farmhouse in Banning. As usual, breakfast was good and service was great. They are always so good to accommodate all of us. We quickly ordered and once everyone finished we were ready to head on out.
Now I am not one for believing in signs but, we should have known things were going to be weird. When we transitioned from the 91 to the 60, right as Group 1 merged onto the off ramp a large white bird decided to spread its wings and make a connection between two power lines – a bright flash and a boom was all she wrote. Group 2 says they saw it happen and it was pretty amazing.
Our route took us down the 10 to the 111 via Box Canyon, to the 8 and out the 10 to Tucson. I have to tell you Box Canyon was amazing; we have to do this as a Chapter ride one day. A nice set of smooth twisties and some great scenery made this the highlight of our trip out to Tucson. Unfortunately, that was then followed by a painful ride down the 111 past the backside of Salton Sea where we were met with a lot of road construction and delays. It was a great example of your tax dollars at work – lots of supervisors, but not a lot of actual work happening. The road delays set us back significantly.
Now while on the road I received a phone call from Alan Cease. Alan invited the entire group to a barbeque at his house that night, once we got to Tucson. We were all pretty excited and quickly accepted his offer and told him we would call him when we were at the hotel. Now this was at about 3 in the afternoon – little did we know when we would actually arrive at his house.
During the ride – a little past Yuma, it was brought to our attention that it had taken us 8 hours to actually go about 250 miles – but everyone was a trooper and we rolled with the punches well. A quick stop at Subway for lunch and we were back on the road. All along the ride Alan called every couple of hours to see how we are doing – it was getting later and later. Each time he insisted we come. He said no matter what time we got there he would barbeque for us - even when we told him it would be about 8pm.
During the ride there were a couple of setbacks; an item dropped, a sunscreen issue and an issue involving bike operation. All of these together added more time to our ride and in the end we arrived at the hotel in Tucson at 7:30 pm. Yes, you read that right - that was 13 hours after we left Orange County. Tired and beaten we checked in, unloaded, and regrouped to go to Alan and Ginger’s house.
Now if you haven’t been to Alan’s house before, you have got to see his barbeque setup. It’s pretty amazing. First understand that he is starting to do competitive barbeque competitions. Picture a patio with a cook top, grill, and a really big smoker – all industrial quality. We were treated to bacon/sirloin burgers topped with more bacon and cheddar cheese. They also had a great spread of potatoes, corn, etc. We can’t thank them enough for inviting us and feeding us so well.
The next morning (Friday) we all met for breakfast and made our plans for the day. I took a group to Tombstone and Bisbee, Jim took a group down to Karcher caverns and to Tombstone, and another group went to the Pima Air Museum and bone yard. Each group had a great day – I know that my group really had a great ride (we were joined by Gary and Anna Powell and Scott Giles from Chapter 109) with great friends. The ride down to Tombstone was beautiful. The weather was in the eighties and there was a little breeze – and then there was the view. Shopping in Tombstone wasn’t bad either - Ask Carolyn about her new jacket!!! The group that went to Karcher Canyons had a great time too. Also, there was a rumor going around (I think an early April Fools joke?) that John Ruhland and Glenn Sandstrom got a ride in an F14 at the air museum. You can ask them and believe what you will. lol
We arrived back in time to register for the event and go down for dinner. Now the nice thing about this StarBQ was that the breakfast was included with the hotel, and the dinner for both Friday and Saturday nights was included in the event! Dinner on Friday night was barbeque hot dogs and hamburgers with all the fixings along with beans and cole slaw. Not bad! We all sat together at several tables outside. After dinner was the usual karaoke night with special appearances from our own Carolyn Walker and Chuck Giambitti. Carolyn brought her own CDs – I guess she does this often? They tell us that they won the night – I think they closed the place.
Saturday we were on our own again, as they didn’t have a poker run. So again we split up into groups with one group (Me) going to the Pima Air Museum, one group going to Mt. Lemmon, and one group went up the Phoenix for the Arizona Bike week. The trip to the Air Museum was really great – although our tram ran out of gas and in the end we all disembarked and walked the remainder of the tour. The group to Mt. Lemmon had a great time – except for a bee sting that sent Brian Hefter searching for a stinger - you can ask him where. And the group that went up the Phoenix had a great time as well.
As usual there was a silent auction, which this time benefitted the Star Family Foundation. A couple of our members won items, Dan an Invicta Watch (donated by Alan Cease) and John Ruhland a nice bottle of wine from Chapter 109. Congrats to them. In case you were interested, our chapter donated three Star Jackets (thanks Joe Dagley), and a Hawaiian Star shirt (thanks Gary Felkel) for the auction.
The evening brought the banquet where everyone was treated to mac and cheese, baked beans, pulled pork and barbeque chicken. It was all pretty good. We were so happy to see Rick and Tammy Sherrill who ventured down from their house north of Phoenix to join us! We really miss you guys! We all sat outside under a huge canopy. We ate and chatted until 8pm when the group moved inside for the announcements, introductions, and Auction. As usual the auction was called by Shark (a Star member from Iowa). This time the auction benefitted the local charity Casa de los Ninos.
Sunday morning we had two groups leaving to go home. Group one, led by Dan, left early at 6am and group two, led by me (Ed) left at 7:30 after breakfast. Now Sunday mornings breakfast is funny in that a large group of Asian tourists were there eating before the boarded their bus. Now there is speculation that they came from our favorite rest stop in northern San Diego – probably not, but it is weird.
We had a rather uneventful ride home, except for the high headwinds which impeded both groups progress and gas mileage. Group 2 was joined for a short time by two members of Chapter 237 from Northridge, and rode for a short while with Chapter 415 led by Frank Alvarez. I understand that the part of our group who took the 5 into Orange County passed Frank’s group towards the end of the trip – now this is funny, as Frank’s group pulled out at 5am, before everyone else. Not sure how that happened. Lol
Aside from some slow riding through the border checkpoint in Campo, and the normal slowness in San Clemente the trip was smooth. Thank god the ride home was only about 11 hours. From start to finish my odometer tracked 1,315 miles. Of course everyone will vary based on the side trips during the weekend and route home.
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