Spring Fling 2004

May 21-23, 2004

I thought I’d be smart and take an extra day off (Thursday) so that Chris and I would be able to leave not long after she got home from work. After spending the morning washing and then applying a paint sealing on her Highlander, I was pretty much wiped out for the rest of the day. Getting old is the pits! Once I finished that, I started working on getting tools together and checking things on the bike to make sure it was ready to go. When I was ready to load the bike into the trailer, I noticed that the rear end was oily. I looked a little closer and realized that the plug was leaking. So I dumped out what was left in as gear oil (it was down quite a bit) I fished the drain plug off the ’85 and then refilled the rear end.

With the bike loaded on the trailer, I was ready to go pack. Chris got home around 6pm or so, found out later she had stopped for avocados at her parents, so she could make that gooey stuff that people seem to like to eat! Needless to say, it was 8:30pm before we got away from home and then we stopped at Carl’s Jr. for finger food so we could drive and eat. Well, the finger food was called fish, but it was more like grease bars. Ick! We ate them in the parking lot and didn’t leave until 9pm! So at 9pm Thursday night we were finally on our way! So much for taking the day off so we could leave early! )-:

We made it into Bakersfield and since our off ramp was closed, we had to take a detour (way out of our way) to find the motel! We got into our room around 12:45.

The next morning, of course, before we could leave we had to stop at WallyWorld. Chris needed a bathing suite and a few other items. We were on our way around 9:30am ( I think). Coming up the 99 and while passing us, a Hardley rider turned around, looked at me and shrugged his shoulders, like asking why the bike was in the trailer and not being ridden! Like it’s my fault or something? It’s either the bike is in the trailer, or I would be riding solo. I yelled and pointed to Chris, "it’s all her fault!"

The rest of the trip was uneventful and after a brief stop to pick up some camp chairs at the WallyWorld near Jackson, we were soon in Pioneer. As we were pulling up to the Pioneer Lodge, Dave was out front trying to get a signal on his cell phone so he could call me. No need, we were there! Hey!!

We were met by Dave, Gloria, Yvonne (Dave’s and my little sister) and Ed (Yvonne’s Ex). After hellos, Dave and Ed helped me get the Sabre of the trailer. Once we all checked in, we got together a drove down to the camp ground to meet up with the rest of the Sabmag group. At first, not too many people were there. Once Doe and Ron brought the Pizza, they started coming out of the woodwork. Dennis, Roger and company came strolling in covered from head to toe with mud. They had braved going over 395, 89 & 88, the back way into pine Grove. Whilst doing so, they encountered snow. After pizza and lies, the Hampton clan headed back to the lodge for a dip in the spa. Nice way to end a long day of driving!

The next morning, we all got up and went down to the café for breakfast. They sure know how to take care of a mob! They showed us to the back (where any biker scum would expect) and then feed us a great breakfast, really fast. While we were sitting waiting for the food, Pete Springer showed up and informed us that he decided at the last minute to come, but also went the back way through the snow. I thought Dennis and co. were nuts for going through that during the day, but ole Pete said he wanted to try his new homemade electrics. Guess they worked, he made it in without being a popsicle! On the other hand, Shawn and Diane came in and Diane was complaining about her boots being too light duty for the ride. Light in COOL! Poor gal, but after a few cups of hot coffee, she warmed right up..;-)

After breakfast, we loaded up and went back to gather with the rest of the maggots at the camp. As we pulled in, we formed one big line of bikes. I’m not really sure how many we had, but it was a good group. We bs’ed for a little while, then Ron called the group to order, okay, as much of an order there could be…;-) he said since our numbers were small enough, that we would just go in one group. That was fine with me, because we had Yvonne and Ed on Ed’s $18,000+ Hardley, Dave and I knew we wouldn’t be at the front of the pack! On top of which, Chris kept having problems with her radio and that kept us as one of the last couples in the group.

We headed towards Volcano and up Ram’s Horn through Fiddletown to Pine River, where we had ridden to a number of times. It’s a nice road with a number of twists and turns that can cause serious metal grinding. Since we had the radios, we were able to communicate, well, Gloria and I could talk just fine, Dave could only hear our conversation and Chris couldn’t hear anything! But with Gloria and I communicating, she would tell me how far we would have to go to the next turn and where it was at, it was great, she was navigating and I was leading! Anyway, by the time we got to River pine, Ed was upset because he had made contact with his kickstand and the road at one point. Something’ about some of the turns of the roads were too tight for him to get the Hardley through without scraping. In other words, Hardleys are only good for going straight or very gradual, sweeping turns, not hairpins! LOL

Yvonne and Ed only wanted to ride the first leg with us and then they took off site seeing on their own. Which meant Dave and I could turn up the wick a little…;-) We were soon on our way to El Dorado Hills for lunch. The road was pretty straight, Ed and his Hardley would have loved it…;-) There again, Gloria was navigating and I was leading. When we stopped in El Dorado Hills, it was only 11:30 and after that big breakfast we had, none of us were ready for lunch. So Chris, Dave, Gloria & I just had some ice cream. Once everyone was done, with whatever they were having, we loaded back on the bikes and headed round a bunch of back roads towards Placerville. I’m not sure if we actually went into Placerville or not, but we were pretty close to it.

This part of the leg for us was pretty good, except every time we would get around a slowpoke, another showed up, like they were on cue or something. Then Chris told us that she was paying people to purposely to jump in front of us to slow Dave and I down. Well it worked, at least most of the time, except the one time we did about 98.3 (according to Dave’s bicycle speedo that stores your highest speed..;-) When Chris saw that she was about to have a farm of cows! ;-)

Our last stop was a Chevron on the south side of the 50 fwy. While we were still on the north side, we saw a Chevron (Gloria was going by the written instructions and I was looking at the map) Once we were able to determine we needed the Chevron on the south side of the freeway, we got back on the road and found it a few more miles down the road.

Once there, we found the other half of the group (we picked up the other half of the group at an unscheduled stop. And then they started following us.) We spent some time there and then everyone decided to go their own way back to Pine Grove. We followed the main group, going down 49 to Jackson and once in Jackson, I had to gas up and Gloria wanted to pick up a cake for Yvonne, who was in the process of getting a new job after 6 ˝ months of unemployment. We then headed back up 88 to the Pioneer Lodge, we all were pretty tired by the time we got back.

Before the ride, Chris found out that she and Gloria would not be able to stop half way and jump in a car and go shopping, instead, they would have to ride the whole time. At first Chris wasn’t too sure of that, since the only other time she has been on a bike was at the Fall Fling when the two did just that. So it was a real experience for Chris, but she really did great and never complained at all! I was so proud of her! (-:

After the ride, we all took a little break and then met up back at the camp for the BBQ. As always, Ron & Doe, with the help of Dave & Gloria, had a great meal planned. BBQ Chicken and HotDogs. Chris made her Avocado goop and everyone seemed to like it. I wouldn’t know, since I don’t eat the stuff….;-)

After the BBQ, Chris, Yvonne and I headed back to the Lodge only to find Dave & Gloria were already in the spa! Surprise surprise!…;-) Something like that sure feels good after a ride. Someday when I find a new job, I’m going to have to buy me one!

Sunday morning we all got up with the idea we would be meeting at the camp at 9am for donuts and coffee, okay, Chris and I don’t do coffee, but we were going to stop by and tell everyone good-bye. We were about 10 minutes from leaving when Dennis rides up to inform us that everyone got tired of waiting for coffee and decided to head to the café for breakfast. Dave and Gloria headed on down to the Café while Chris, Yvonne and I finished loading up our car. We told Dave to tell everyone bye for, since we wouldn’t be stopping by on the way out.

Since Ed didn’t want to spend the whole weekend up in the mountains, he had headed home after dropping Yvonne off back at the Lodge on Saturday. So we were giving Yvonne a ride home. After dropping her off, she got her car and we followed her to our other sister’s house for breakfast. Dave came over after him and Gloria got home and my Mom showed up, so we had a late brunch and visited for a while. We then left, stopped by my Moms for a short time and then headed to the freeway for home.

I had planned to go over to I5, but for some reason I forgot and started down 99. We got as far as Lodi and turned west to the 5. As we were heading south, they had an accident that tied up 13 miles of the 5 south, so we went around it and saved about 30 minutes and the frustration of sitting in 13 miles of stop-n-go traffic. We stopped at Kettlemen City for the night and then headed out the next morning for home. We took the 58 to 395 and came out on the 15 and then pulled in at home around 3pm. Long trip.

Trip up and back was pretty uneventful, thank goodness. It’s the first time we had Chris’s car (SUV) out on the road like that and I wasn’t sure how well it would do on the trip pulling a trailer. It actually did a lot better than I thought it would. I was really pleased with it.

It’s really nice to see Chris enjoying herself at these Flings.

To See all the pictures: 2004 Spring Fling Pictures