.

June 14, 2011

Santa Monica to Bishop

The next morning, the men from Vienna headed to LAX to pick up the motorcycles they were renting. Franz is now a full-fledged BMW guy, with the gear to show it, so he got a BMW, while the others rented Harley-Davidson Electra Glides. During the morning, some of us headed out to find some decent coffee (this would become a seach during the whole trip, as the Viennese believe they have the best coffee anywhere and generally dislike American style coffee) and to walk the Third Street Promenade and for some, have a major shopping trip. Having a van for the luggage opened up all sorts of opportunities to get deals and steals. Just before noon, the bikes and men arrived and our soon to become daily routine of fitting all of the luggage inside the van began. We then headed out with Rob and Daryl leading the way through the web of LA freeways and getting onto the 14, heading up the Eastern Sierra on the 395 for our first trip night in Bishop. Franz had originally planned to stop in Lone Pine, but he was easily diverted to Bishop and a slight change in plans for the next day's continuation into Death Valley. Rob and Daryl had reserved the last 7 rooms at the Best Western which is conveniently next to Schaat's Bakery and across the street from the Whiskey Creek restaurant. Generally, Franz does not make reservations as while there is always a goal for the night's stay, it is not always where we end up as we might ride farther or not as far, or find out that there are no rooms to be had or none that we would want in the target city. Remember, he is planning the trip from Vienna, with a simple map book and is just picking cities at the end of a certain mileage for the riding day. However, during the peak season it can become more difficult. For instance, in Bishop it was fishing season and there was also a state event for young people in town and that meant lots of parents and grandparents taking rooms. During our ride we experienced a significant change in weather with temps in the high 90s, a major change from Santa Monica. We also established the patterns for the rest of the trip: lots of stops for drinks, rest rooms and cigarettes; and a break of the 14 into 2 groups, 8 and 6. The group of 6 (Mayer, Mayer and Mueller) wanted to ride at a different pace (slower) and stop more often. So the group of 6 was 3 Harleys and the group of 8 was a BMW, a Gold Wing, a Harley. a Porsche and a Chrysler Town and Country van.