A great ride, a wonderful ride, an amazing ride! The ride used a few of the roads we had gone on for the March ride, but the scenery was so much more greener and fresher! And talk about HOT. (the temperature, of course!) We went from cool to hot to hotter to boiling to hot to cooler (bordering on really coolish) to hot again. I'll be surprised if I don't get sick.On the right the first gas stop, at which we noticed that the weather was getting hot. That's Ken Indorf in the front. Group 3, for the most part with one exception, that exception being what I'd call the most intelligent rider in Group 1, ended up under the shade. What you see are Groups 1 and 2 under the sweltering sun. Smart...real smart.
The usual gang of miscreants / rapscallions / scoundrels / scamps/ knaves/knavesses and just generally rotten and perverse degenerates and I refer, of course, to Groups 1 and 2 of today's ride-Group 3 consisted of ANGELS and practially perfect persons, thank you very much, took to the highways and byways of this fair state to sample the asphalt and food of various locations. Sampling the asphalt meaning RIDING on it, not ENDING UP on it with the shiny side down.
Group 3 consisted of Tom (last name I'll insert later-is it Schleer?), Glenn Sandstorm (spelling INTENTIONAL, Glenn!) , Pete Black doing Tailgunner, Chapter 230 Vice President Terry Bishop as Group Road Captain, Richard Von Luft (all are to the left), Ken Indorf, Leroy Wasson, me, Bub, Bill Rotberg who's the President of the Long Beach Chapter.Below, I'm pretty (well, we ALL know that!-JK*) lucky that Mr. Johney reminded me about my camera! Johney, Leroy and Bub, smart, smart men in the SHADE! are comparing notes about something probably mechanical, which is why I'm taking pictures instead of taking part in the conversation. That's Bub's bike in the foreground. When he gets something bigger, I'll get his. You know, something mechanical happens with MY bike, I'll just go feminine and weak and let a man men handle it. I'm a 'bean counter', thank you very much. I'll figure out gas mileage, how many calories burned on a freeway vs. country road, anything with numbers or exercise, but mechanically, forget it. Love to learn sometime, maybe when I have the time, oh, probably around 2010.
Above left is Bub either checking something on his bike or getting ready to light up. Above right is Mr. "Intelligent" Harper in the shade with Leroy at the first gas up despite the fact that Monsieur H. is riding with the 'elite' Group 1. Nice of him to associate with some of us Group 3 "Johnny-Come-Lately's"! No pun intended. Or not much of one.
Above, Bub filling up both bikes while I, uh, take care of some other, more 'pressing' matters. Namely hair and makeup-why do you think I use such a big tank bag? HEL-LO!I made a friend for life-one of the newer members, Tom (sorry, bro, don't know your last name yet) is a fan of one of MY favorite shows; "The Red Green Show" from Canada! "If the women don't find you handsome, let 'em find you handy" and "keep your stick on the ice" are the watchwords from the show.
There was beautiful scenery, wish I could've take pictures of it! It's absolutely GORGEOUS to see a line of bikes cornering perfectly in one fluid movement, synchronized and harmonious with nature, the curving road and each other. Just amazingly wonderful. I refer of course to Group 3-the other groups were probably lucky to NOT fall over and pile into one another. Sometimes I wonder how they got their licenses unless it was on the little motorcycle ride thingy that you put a quarter in and ride at the store, and I mean YOU guys, Group 1, but you know I'm kidding. You think.
The nice thing about Group 3 is that Groups 1 & 2 who were at El Torito before us HAD to watch us pull up in a perfect line, hold for 5 seconds, then back up in perfect unison. We received a standing ovation for that. Hey, we're just THAT GOOD-we'd probably be able to ride 2-3 abreast, except that riding side-by-side is only good for Chippies (CHP to you young'uns) and Masonic guys on Honda 90's in clown suits. You might think I'm picking on Group 1....well, you're right. I gotta abuse SOMEBODY.
I knew it was going to be hotter'n Hades so I dressed accordingly in a tan shirt, jeans, boots, and Bub & I had frozen water. POUNDED water all week so I was pretty much ready for the ride. Ready for the ride? I wanted to keep going for another couple of hours!!!
Here's a pic of our lunch stop (for most of us) in Julian. Notice how nicely the bikes are parked. We utilize space quite well, which isn't hard considering 3-4 bikes can fit into one parking space. Below is Bub, Leroy & Dan; 
Leroy, Bub & Bill just pulled up to the restaurant above. Below, Bub looks pretty comfy on his bike, don't you think? Hmm, maybe I'll get a bigger bike, say, a 1300, and let him keep his comfy bike!
Below I'm getting out of my gear and into someting more...um, comfortable. Comfortable? Try a little, well, quite frankly, REVEALING. Hey, I've lost some weight, it was hot, so I had a top (if you can call two small straps and a piece of material a top) that was perfect for the weather. I did get a little more modest by putting my vest on over the top. I was SO jazzed because you see those pants I'm wearing? Not only are they a pair of the most comfortable jeans I've worn in a long long, time, they're (drum roll, please) SIZE 10.
I'm sorry, and pardon my French, but I feel that those are really shitty pictures of me because I felt so, SO much better than these pictures show. (ok, CUTER than these pics show-hey, I finally feel like I look like I feel...does that make any sense, or am I rambling?)
The food was ok, and Beverage Girl (me) was on her toes, giving water to all who needed it. 'Beverage Girl'...I got your "Beverage Girl" RIGHT HERE...
Tommy Two-Tone doing his usual camera thing (Hey, dude, DON'T point that thing at ME! I know where you're aiming it, and I'm a-gonna DECK you.) 
On the left is Dan with Pedro Vasquez's parents. They came in to the restaurant just as we were getting to leave, darn it!
A couple of videos here of Julian, CA. Nice place.
'Way above, looks like Dave Barlow (somebody correct me if I'm wrong) and Don waiting, again, smartly out of the sun. I guess we really DO look like the typical description of 'biker' because on this boardwalk in front of the restaurant, people were walking around us and giving us PLENTY of space! Or maybe it was Glenn's underarms.
Glenn, Terry, Tom & Laroy waiting for Group 2 folks to make their purchases of pies and get the heck on the road, because WE can't leave until THEY leave, yada, yada, yada.
Below...lookin' GOOD, Leroy!! and Stan the Man Partin looks and feels cool after gassing up.
Below right, Johney, Joe, Dan and Rick noting that we made EXCELLENT time with the ride and Dan getting ready to recap. It is my opinion, and only my opinion and observation that Johney is (or will be) part of the Ride Crew really, really soon because he seems to be attached almost at the hip with Dan on these rides! (again, that's just my personal 
opinion, but I feel that there would be 3 of us who would be definite assets to the official Ride Crew, and one of them is ME. And, I suppose, Bub and Johney.) Is this normal for a club to not have that many ladies riding, not only on the back with the guys but riding their own bikes? Or am I just an anomaly? I do know one thing-when Terry was doing freeway changes and signalling for everyone in the Group to get over and join him from the #5 lane to the #1 lane as quickly as possible, that was the BEST, because I FEEL THE NEED....FOR SPEED. (as Bub and Johney know, since I usually set the pace and lead when anyone rides with me, and I ain't had any complaints...YET. What am I saying? THEY WOULDN'T DARE!!! I'll whup 'em.)
Above, a bunch of the guys waiting for Dan to call the ride so we can go into El Torito and grab some iced tea. I still think that Jim should've gone with a career in the NBA instead of training engineers! (center back-he's the one that looks like a tree next to the other guys) 
So we all made it back to El Torito with NO incidents, no problems except Tommy TT needing to buy a shoelace for his vest. Don't know why, but at lunch Johney asked me if I had a shoelace-what, do I have a rep for having everything but the kitchen sink when we ride?
*Just Kidding
Until later,
Lynne
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