Boy what a ride!

We started out with 7 bikes from our meeting point at the Chevron Station in Cajon Pass. Riding with us was Joe, Donna, Mike, Miriam, Jimmy, John G, Elmer, Flybynite, Rob and BigMac. It was a cool ride but we were up for it. Our first stop was Pearsonville for gas and break. Then it was off to Lonepine to hook up with Greg R and Wayne. It was there that Elmer had to return home for family business. It was great to have him come along with us even though it was for a short time. We said our goodbyes and headed north to Bishop for our next gas stop. This was pretty much a gas and go as we were all hungry and wanted to get up to Lee Vining for lunch. Bishop is were we lost Flybynite as he had to turn back to go to work the next day. Great to have him along although he had to cut his ride short.

Lunch was great as always at Lee Vining and it was off again. The ride up 395 is always one of my favorites and with clear and dry roads it was awesome. We made a left onto hwy 89 toward Monitor Pass. The road was fantastic as it had been resurface recently. Great views and clear sky's made it incredible. We arrived at our motel in South Lake Tahoe around 5:00 and after 410 miles it was good to be there.

Sunday was a clear and cold morning. 28 degrees when we headed to Denny's for breakfast. By the time we left for the ride a 9:00 it had warmed up to around 38 degrees. Joe lead us on our ride for the day. He did an awesome job and made a great tour guide. First stop was the view of Emerald Bay and what can I say, It was beautiful. Since it was off season the roads were clear so it made for great riding. Joe then took us to the Donner Memorial State Park. If you have never been there it is very interesting and sad story about survival and what people would go through to make there way out west.

Joe took us to Grass Valley for lunch. We ate at the Humpty Dumpty Kitchen which was a nice little place and they took good care of us. After lunch Joe took us on hwy 49 toward the gold country. We stopped at the Gold Discovery Museum for a while and took in the sites. Then it was hwy 49 to hwy 50 for the loop back to Lake Tahoe. It was little over 200 miles of great roads and beautiful country. Although the average temperature was around 60 degrees it was a low of 38 degrees to a high of 78 degrees in Placerville. My bike hit a milestone on Sunday as well. I rolled over 100,000 miles on the odometer. What a great bike these Valkyries are and I hope everyone gets to see theirs roll over as well.

Monday we all made our way back home. Greg R left at 3:15am while most of the others left around 7:30am. John G and I left around 9:00am. I went on to Santa Rosa to visit family and didn't get home until the following Saturday. Great riding everyone and I hope to see you on the next one.

Dave