04-02-11 Impromptu 422 Ride to the Rock Store

This was thought of on Thursday or so by Stephen and Dan, and since it'd been, oh, about 36 YEARS since I was there on my 125 Honda, I thought this'd be a nice little trip, kinda like a pre-pre ride to August.

The  Rock Store is one of the most famous motorcyclist and biker hangouts in the world. Frequented by moto lovers as well as celebrities and nice people of all types, the Rock Store is an amazing place to get away from the city without going too far. Located along famous Mulholland Highway halfway between Malibu and Calabasas, it's the perfect place to come by bike or by car for breakfast or lunch.

SOMEBODY decided to make a smartass comment about 'did they even HAVE motorcycles or engines or gas back in those days?!' (better watch your back, Mr. 214, better WATCH YOUR BACK) Jackie decided to go with us. SMART move!

EVERYBODY'S admiring Stephen and Sissy's fairing!

5 N/405 N/Lincoln=Hwy 90 to our 1st gas stop Marina  Del Rey. Interestingly, half the gas station was 'Full Serve' and the other half 'Self Serve'. Haven't seen THAT since the late '70's. We parked in the DSW Shoe Store/Marriot pkg lot after getting gas ($4.07/gal) and had to go across the street to the Sport Chalet just to go potty. The Tea Leaf didn't have 'public toilets'. Sheesh. Well, they just missed OUR business!

The pic below shows Colin and Dan having some sort of disagreement - looks like pale(r) face speak with forks, er, I mean forked tongue; "Hey nah - hey nah - hey nah - hey nah"

Now THIS has GOT to be a Christmas Card shot!

Colin having a briefing with everyone and warning about the pedestrians and the bicyclists who think they OWN the city. Ok, so maybe they do...

Jax doin' her Facebook and nic thing.

After going down 500 little itty-bitty streets to PCH, we start on Topanga Canyon Hwy. Dan and Colin are in front of me. (one note-we passed Pacific Ocean Parkway, and I reminded Barry about P.O.P. aka Pacific Ocean Park, back in the 50's and 60's)

We were on Mulholland Hwy between 10:30 and 11 AM-the pics I took had the time stamp on them.

Above, Barry is behind me with Jax on the bax.

Above, Colin right in front, Dan in front of him.

We arrive at the Rock Store! Here's a link http://www.rock-store.com/about.htm

Not the greatest park job in the world, but "that'll do pig, that'll do".

Believe it or not, I think that's actually Ed & Vern (the proprietors) at the table below.

You want fries with that?

Are you sure you can see it, Lynne? HERE, let me MAKE SURE YOU CAN SEE IT!

Rock Store menus. Prices aren't bad at all.

View from the outside patio looking towards the street.

Kinda looks almost exactly like Cook's Corners, huh? They have inside 'dining' and a counter service area as well. It's not as noisy and boisterous as Cook's for sure. Today, anyway.

We HAD to get a GROUP SHOT!!!

We leave full and happy. Food wasn't too bad, not bad at all. I had the patty melt with onion rings. Jackie and her Dadu had the fish and chips. One thing, though-the iced tea and water were refilled, but the sodas were in cans, so no refills. Just FYI. $2 each.
We're on the road and the weather actually looks worse than it was. No rain, just clouds.

We're on Las Virgenes Rd. going towards the 101. Oh, JOY, the 101.

Below is Barry and Jackie, Mike V, Red, then her hubs, then Marge, then Stephen and Sissy.

Also below is Barry and Jax. They were behind me.

You can kinda see that it's Barry, and Jax's head was poking up over his helmet.

Colin going by some of the trees in the hills there.

This tree shot was cool-shows how long these trees have been in these hills and growing.

The last stop-gas up on the other side of the freeway from the Getty off the 405. Jackie's butt is SORE.

Dan is di*king around with his GPS thingy.

Jax the tiny, TINY baby girl is SO tired.

It was a neat, NEAT ride. VERY cool.

PARADE OF FLIGHT NAVAL CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION FEB. 12 2010

It's been requested that post some of the bloomin' pictures I've been taking all along! So here's my first official EVENT/ACTIVITY BLOG POST of 2011-the Naval Flight Centennial on Saturday Feb. 12th at the Naval Air Station Coronado. It's going to take a few days to get the pictures in here because it's been a long time since I fiddled around with this sucker.

If I had KNOWN what a BITCH it would've been to get into that place, I seriously might've reconsidered.
It could've competed as being San Diego's SECOND ZOO.
I did end up TOTALLY HONING my lane splitting skills. It was a question of survival, i.e. would I have survived being in bumper to bumper traffic for 2 hours going into to Coronado Island and 3 hours of bumper to bumper traffic LEAVING Coronado Island?

I'll let the pictures come onto to this first, then give a longer blow-by-blow after the pics; that way, the reader can choose to check out the before, during and after planning, any caveats, stuff like that  AFTER they view the photos.

Ok, here's the GOOD video.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_RQ-4_Global_Hawk (GLOBAL HAWK)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_X-47B (UCAS)

I resolve that 2011 will be better, brighter and more beautiful than 2010.

I will cherish my family and hold them close,
I will cherish my friends and those I love the most,
I will try to see the good in all and ignore the bad
So I can say 2011 was the BEST year I'd ever had.

To those who love me and appreciate me, I say
"Thank you. I love you more than you will ever ever know."

To those who don't, I say
Nothing.

To those I have wronged this past year, either on purpose or unwittingly, I say
"I'm sorry. I will truly try to make it up to you, because you don't deserve such treatment and I need to show you that I'm truly sorry for hurting you".

Family Follies!

I think the pics speak for themselves.