Fall Fling 2003

September 19-21, 2003

Wow! What a weekend! It was really great! Once again, Ron and Doe out did themselves!

Chris and I were late starting out because work interfered with fun, again! )-: Once home, I was able to load the bike on the trailer (I lowered the trailer and bought a new ramp. Helped loading the bike a bunch) and got everything else loaded in the car and off we went. We arrived in Bakersfield around 1am. Got our room and hit the sack. We woke up, got ready, but before taking off on the freeway; we had to stop at WallyWorld to pick up some tunes since we left our CDs at home! )-: and YES, that's all we picked up there! ;-)

The drive up was uneventful (the way we like it) and were able to get up to the Pioneer Lodge around 3:30pm. We rested a little after we got all checked in and all (thanks to Shaun for helping me take the bike off the trailer :-), and then I called Dave and Gloria and found that they were just getting ready to leave their home. So a little after 6pm Chris and I went down to the Friday Night gathering.

It was great seeing everyone again and although a few familiar faces were missing (Kate, Dennis and LTL, to name a few...the rest know who you are..;-) Chris and I were pleased to see old faces and meet those of you we hadn't met before. Chris and Diane (Shaun's wife) seemed to hit it off just great. After leaving the group at the campground and heading back to Pioneer Lodge, Chris and I met up with Dave and Gloria in the Spa and relaxed a bunch.

Saturday morning, we were getting ready to leave the motel parking lot to go to breakfast and Gloria had a very hard time dealing with her new full-faced helmet. The helmet came off and that was the end of Gloria's riding for the day! )-:

So the three of us went to breakfast without Gloria. I think we ran into half the maggots at the restaurant. (-: It is great food and they were pretty fast at getting it to us! Once we were done eating, Chris and I went to the Riders meeting and Dave went back to see if Gloria could handle the helmet without the face shield. No luck, so Dave had to solo it. But Doe came up with a great idea about Gloria meeting us for lunch and that way Chris could go shopping with Gloria after lunch. What a plan and we thanked Doe for such a great idea! (-: (-: (-:

Chris was a little afraid to get on the back of a bike after so many years away from it, but she did really well and never leaned the wrong way once, even when the center stand hit the road so hard the bike jumped. The ride was fun as always, but having Chris on the back made it much better! Our little V45 had to strain a number of times to keep up with the pace, but that problem should be rectified when the spring fling comes around next May. I should have my V65 Sabre by then and that should give us a little more room and power. But she really enjoyed the ride anyway and can't wait until spring when everything is green!

The ride: Off we went, Dave, Chris and I, back to the motel to give Gloria the instructions on how to get to the lunch spot in Angels Camp. Once Gloria was all set, we took off for HWY26. Chris wasn't real thrilled with the fact that this road was not straight...;-), but was a trooper and just let me know when a curve made her a little nervous. Like the first time I hit the center stand. But that was nothing compared to the second time when the bike jumped in the lean. I don't want to scare her too much the first time out......;-)

As we made it to the first stop, some maggots were already to take on the second leg of the ride. We enjoyed a little chatter and then off we all were again. We (Dave, Chris and I) were far enough behind everyone that we didn't see anyone again until the second stop, which was lunch. HWY 26 sure does have some full grin curves. Of course, Chris wasn't grinning most of it. Every now and then I would hear her telling me that I didn't need to lean so far over. What she didn't know was, yes I did, because I was going to fast not too...;-)

She told me several times she preferred the second leg to the first. The road wasn't as twisty. She had fun on her two legs of the trip, and after lunch, her and Gloria did their thing, while Dave and I finished the fling ride with Ron and Doe to Columbia. Dave and I walked down the main drag, sat and chatted with a few of the maggots and then jumped on the bikes for home...okay so we took the long way around...;-)

Instead of turning left on 4, we went right. We thought we would ride up almost all the way to Ebitt's Pass, and once we got there decided we wanted to finish the loop, instead of heading back down 4. That little decision got us into trouble with Gloria. We didn't realize the pass would take us as long as it did. And we didn't get back to Pine Grove until just before 7pm. I was surprised that Chris wasn't worried at all, but because she was with Dave and I earlier, she over heard us talking about going for a longer ride. I guess we forgot to let Gloria know...;-)

The last time I did Ebitt's Pass, back in 2001, it made me very nervous, this time I was fine. Don't know why, but Dave and I really enjoyed the roads when we didn't have any cars to deal with. Both 89 and 88 were just great and coming down 88, we were flying, except when the sun would blind us! Once it was so bad that by the time I regained my sight, I was heading for the double yellow and of course a car was coming the other direction! I found I had to place my hand in front of my face when I would see the sun sneaking up on us. It was pretty bad, but it didn't ruin the ride any. Every now and then, Dave would let me know that we were not riding equal bikes any longer (just wait, I'll have my V65 soon!) by leaving me in the dust. There is just something about those roads when you don't have to follow cars all of the time...;-) We finally made it back to the campground, but like I said, Gloria wasn’t too happy with us…;-)

The gathering back at the campground was spiced up a bit with Ron's turkey chili. I had to pass on it because Chris told me it was a little to spicy for her and I don't do spices well at all, so I went for the potato salad and a half of sausage.

Once things wound down there, the four of us headed back to the lodge. Gloria and Chris went back in Gloria's TBird (or should I say GLOBIRD) and I asked Dave if I could ride his bike back to the lodge. This was only the second time I have ridden a V65 and I only tried a little of the power..;-) It will be nice when I get my V65.

The evening was topped off with a dip in the spa...with Dave & Gloria, Shaun & Diane, Eduardo (someone needs to buy him some proper swimming trunks) and Christina (who was dress appropriately, for us guys anyway...;-) and Chris and I of course.

Sunday morning after packing, Chris and I went down to the campground to what was left of the morning gathering. Most had either already took off or went to the restaurant for breakfast. So Chris and I and headed on down to Ma Hampton's. We visited for a while and then headed south. 9 hours later we were home...at 10:30pm )-:

It was such a great weekend! I wished we could have more of them. Chris is already talking about next May and the Spring Fling. I'll hopefully have the V65 ready to roll and maybe Dave and I can take the wives up the 4, 89 & 88 and maybe up to Tahoe and show them the sights when they are green!

Thanks again Ron and Doe!

To See all the pictures: Fall Fling Pictures