On our way up through the grapevine, someone asked for a potty break and so we stopped at a Chevron that was conveniently at the next exit. Coincidently, a group from Chapter 109 was there gassing up as well, so we had a nice visit before pressing on.
We continued up the 99 through Bakersfield and were real glad it was still early so the heat was not too bad yet. We stopped for gas in Delano and then we stopped for gas and lunch in Madera. Was funny we stopped right next door to the hotel we stayed at on our way back from our Plumas-Lassen overnighter last year. We all decided we were hungry so we stopped at Panda Express for some lunch. Not sure they were ready for a group of bikers lol. The place was full of a girl’s softball team that left as soon as we arrived. Once we were fed we were off again north, up the 59 to the 108 to the 49 and into Sonora.
We arrived at our hotel and found it to be nice but spread out into two buildings over a couple of blocks and all with parking on an incline. At the hotel we found Ron and LouAnn Lopez and some riders from the Riverside chapter (434). They were there to hookup with Bob and Tony Barbano who would be arriving late that night. We invited them to join us for dinner. Lucky for us we only had to walk a couple of blocks to locate a nice Mexican restaurant. Mi Pueblo was a nice place and honestly they didn’t really freak when we told them we had over 20 diners – so it wasn’t bad. Although the service was a little slow and our waitress seemed to be rather “mellow” all was good. The best part was the company, of course.
Some of the group returned to the hotel, but a few of us decided to walk around the town. Sonora is really quaint and has a lot of little shops and such – although just like the rest of the U.S. there were a lot of closed storefronts. We made it back to the hotel and some went to their rooms and some went and hung out at the pool for a bit.
Sunday - The next morning some had breakfast at the hotel (continental breakfast, no protein, lots of bread) and some walked over to the gas station across the street for good coffee and assorted junk food. We then grouped up and made our way out through Sonora.
This was the leg of the ride that I was really excited for. We rode up the 49 to the 4 and Ebbett’s Pass. Ebbett’s Pass is a 2-lane road with no dividing line and some blind hairpin turns. The view was amazing. It was a beautiful day, great weather, and a newly paved road. We took our time and made a couple of stops for photos.
We stopped mid way for lunch in Markleeville at the Wolf Creek Restaurant and bar. Markleeville is really a neat town with lots of character, one of the many towns built during the silver mining booms of the 1860’s. The restaurant was great (thanks Brian Hefter – one of his suggestions). Once we all got ourselves together we started off again down the 4 then up the 395 past Topaz lake. At our last gas stop it was noted that my front tire had, as one member put it, a bulge. Yes, I needed another tire (rear tire last trip). We decided that we were close enough to our destination that I could make it in and hopefully find a new tire in Sparks. So off we went past Carson City and into Reno/Sparks.
It was good that we got in on Sunday. We would learn that parking was at a premium and we were able to at least get our trailers locked together into two groups. For those of you that went with us to the High Sierra Star BQ, we stayed at the same hotel as that time. We arrived at the Nugget in Sparks, and smartly allowed the bellmen to take our stuff up to our rooms before parking the bikes. The hotel is really nice and we all settled in for the next five days.
Once everyone was checked in and settled in their rooms, we all met downstairs in front of the Starbucks to go get some dinner. Now the area in front of the Starbucks would become the place, as that was where we all settled in and took over each evening. The waitresses from the bar were not faint hearted so they were able to handle our group without issue. We all gathered up and went to Rosie’s Diner (in the hotel) for dinner. We were all seated at a large table together and had a great waitress who was willing to bend the rules and split checks for us, so all was good. We informed our waitress that it was Patty’s birthday (it would be Thursday actually) so they were nice enough to sing and give the birthday girl a huge slice of cake (we took advantage of this several times during the trip).
After dinner, some turned in, some wandered, and some gambled. We ran into all sorts of friends from our area and some that we had met in the past at StarBQs and such. Of course Alan and Ginger were around to say welcome as well.
Monday was a down day with really nothing planned but relaxing and finding me a new tire. The group wandered and calls were made with a tire ordered. A small group took off on a short ride around Lake Tahoe and a couple of riders rode off to see friends. We wandered the vendors as they were setting up and all started registering around 1. We were happy to see Richard and Wayne arrive on Monday afternoon. We continued to spend the day wandering and after a great dinner at Trader Dicks, finished off with the Officers meeting at 7pm. From what I understand the Officer’s Meeting used to be limited to Chapter Officers, but recently they started opening up the meeting to any Star member who wished to attend. About 200 people attended and listened to members of the ISC (International Star Council) discuss their charter, the goals of the event and new things we might see (like some cool new t-shirts being sold by Star).
After the meeting we all congregated in front of Starbucks and then wandered over to the “Lounge” where a small band was playing and some refugees from a cruise ship or Arthur Murray dance studio were dancing. We all had a good laugh and ended the evening on a really happy note.
Tuesday began with the official event opening ceremony. They presented flags from all countries represented at the event and played each countries national anthem (boy does Australia have a long anthem). After introductions, the Remembrance Officer presented the ringing of the bell in memory of all Star Members lost in the previous year. It was good and sad to hear John Ruhland’s name called and the bell rung. Once all names were read the event was officially started. Some members chose to ride the Vet’s Ride, which was about an 80 mile ride through the local area. Other members chose to wander the vendor booths, get their oil changed, and check out the Silent Auction items. I on the other hand, got to go get my new tire (woo hoo!) We had a member working the event as well, Patty Giambitti worked the registration booth for part of the day. We watched lots of Star members arrive and the parking lot filled up tight. A short trip was made to the local Cabelas where a little shopping was done and we ate dinner in their restaurant – bison burgers! When we returned we were really disappointed to find out that there was no entertainment on Tuesday or Wednesday in the lounge, so we all gathered outside Starbucks again. It was on this evening that we (a group of members, officers and our Director, Bob Barbano) decided that we should just go ahead and vote Howard and Linda Montgomery into the Chapter. Following our normal protocol we made them stand in the aisle way of the casino/hotel lobby and first voted Linda in to a roaring yes vote, and then made Howard stand with all our female members. They were both so excited to be part of our chapter. In fact Linda went right down the next morning and bought a vest and all the patches she could get in the Star Mall and had the guy sewing patches put them all on – by mid day she was proudly wearing her chapter vest!
Wednesday the group decided to take a ride out to Pyramid Lake. It was a short ride by our normal standards (less than 200 miles) but very scenic. As we approached the lake we dubbed it a Big Azz Lake! This was the largest lake I have ever seen. Not a soul on it. As we made our way around it, we decided we needed a short break and stopped at the marina restaurant. In the bar we got to see some of the Big Azz Fish that they catch there, including the world record fresh water fish caught, a record setting 41 pound cut-throat trout.
We returned and had lunch and then went back out to the vendor booths hoping to see something new had appeared. We did find Rick Sherrill trying to sell some slightly used motorcycle accessories and proudly displaying a new cover on his new Victory Vision (the covers were what was really being sold in that booth). Everyone seemed drawn to the Purple Slice booth and we watched the demo several times – a few members purchased the product so it must be pretty good.
In the afternoon several of us participated in Vince Greva’s skills class. This was an abbreviated version of the class that he held here a few weeks ago. We sat through an hour of lecture then went down to the parking lot to try our skills using our own bikes. Scott, Jim, Dan, Susan, Tom, Ken, and Larry participated (as did about 5 others from other chapters). We did three different exercises in slow riding, a straight shot down a narrow lane, a swerve around a line of cones 15 feet apart, and a 24 foot U-turn. Once we practiced a few runs on each exercise the best 6 were asked to compete. Scott, Dan, Ed, and Jim were chosen along with two other riders from other chapters (top 4 from 230!!!). In the end, Scott won by a narrow margin – I was robbed I hit a cone. (During the banquet Scott was presented with a 10th anniversary belt buckle and given a round of applause!)
After the skills test we wandered down to the parking lot and found Keith and Terry had arrived. We all went to get ready for the banquet. This time they did it a little different. We all gathered around 4:15 in the lobby of the banquet hall. The doors opened at 4:30 and we were told to go directly to the buffet lines and then find seats – like we ever follow rules. Half the group ran to tables and half the group went to get food. In the end we filled up two full tables. It was your normal chicken, ribs, and potatoes. Once all were served, they started the festivities with the normal introductions. They asked all chapter presidents to stand and then they were asked to announce their chapter and location. When they got to us, we of course cheered so loud that Alan said “no need to go any further” lol. I am pretty sure we had the largest group there. There were several awards handed out, the most important was the Order of the Star awarded to Anna Barbano. Once the awards were completed there was the Shark Auction. We had provided one of our chapter challenge coins for auction for the Star Family Foundation. The coin had been bundled with a bottle of wine and a t-shirt. It was auctioned off to Shark himself for $350. Shark then told the crowd that he just wanted the coin – so he donated the other items back and they were auctioned for an additional $200. Pretty cool. They also auctioned off the Custom Strat with all Star accessories and specialty paint that was displayed in Laughlin this year. The bike was won with a winning bid of $18,500. Wow.
Thursday was the SwampAzz ride. Up until that morning we had no idea where the ride was to go or how many miles it would be. It started at 8 am. We all picked up our maps and instructions. The route was pretty straight forward – so we thought. Rick Sherrill rode with us and he was familiar with the area, so he volunteered to lead us. There were about four areas of road construction, one were we sat for 20 minutes waiting for the road to open back up and of course we got rained on a little. I have to say though it is beautiful country up there and we saw some scenery that was amazing. Granted we might have gotten a little frustrated at points, who can complain when you are riding somewhere with those views.
We got back to the hotel just in time as it was getting really blowy. We all took another pass at the vendors and then went up to get ready for dinner. We decided to go to Orozko – the basque restaurant downstairs to celebrate Patty’s actual birthday. It was a really great dinner capped off with a seven layer chocolate cake and a few candles. Of course we forced her to blow them out and sang happy birthday one more time. After dinner we went out to the “lounge” again. This time the band was two guys in rather festive dress singing Motown and seventies hits. We all got into the spirit singing and a few of us actually hit the dance floor. So much fun.
Friday morning we loaded up and headed out to June Lake via Virginia city. Dan led us on a route around the back of the city through some really old mining towns. We arrived and spent a few hours walking the city looking at the stores, and had lunch. After lunch we all gathered back at the bikes and then made our way down to June Lake. It was nice to see the waterfalls were still running on the mountain. We all got checked in and planned dinner at the restaurant right across the street. Great meal. We had learned earlier in the day that it was Scott and Marie’s wedding anniversary, so another cake was in order!
After dinner we all returned to the hotel to get packed up for the ride home.
Saturday morning we got up early and pulled out around 7am. It was 32 degrees when we left June Lake. We made our way down the 395 to Bishop for breakfast at Whiskey Creek. By the time we left breakfast it was already 75 degrees. We left Bishop and headed south with temps rising faster than we could keep up. By the time we hit Kramer Junction we all needed lots and lots of water and some lunch at Subway. The temps when we left Kramer Junction were at about 104 degrees. We rewet all the cool vests and the ride was called. The group continued down the 395 to the 15 and from that point riders peeled off to home.
All in all, a really great trip with some great friends.
