Home at last!

Day 9 -  In case you were curious, we did make it home on Saturday.  We left Winnemucca early to take advantage of the relatively cool temps.  We shot into Reno, grabbed a coffee and then headed up over the hill. When we hit Sacramento, we faced a huge traffic jam.  There was not an apparent cause as is usually the case.  Faced with 110 degree temperatures, we split lanes to keep moving so the engines would remain relatively cool.  Remember, they only cool by air flow.  Sitting still in extreme heat is not good for the engines or the riders.  Splitting lanes is hairy to say the least.  Most people move aside to let you by while others pinch you off as they hate to see someone else move when they can't.  Finally we were free of the traffic and hammered it the rest of the way home.

It is great to be back home!  We all had a great vacation, a great ride and enjoyed our friends.  Now whenever asked, we can say "we rode ours"... for a total of 3,600 miles!

See you on the road, but not too soon.  :)

Back in Winnamucca

Day 8 - The ride from Rock Springs to Winnamucca was a hot one.  It was mostly freeway so the 538 miles went reasonably fast.  The temperature however was over a hundred degrees.  That made it feel like riding into an open oven.

At one point the girls decided to hit the rest room and switch drivers without letting us know.  When they did not catch up to us, we became worried and pulled off on the side of the road.  After about 10 minutes, just as we were going to find the nearest exit and head back, the truck came by at about 80+ miles per hour.  Shift change!  Without seeing her, I knew Julie was driving.  We jumped back on the bikes and barely managed to catch her.

We hit come sporadic rain on the ride.  Not enough to get too wet.  As a matter of fact, it actually cooled us down a bit as it evaporated.  It did however manage to make the bikes even dirtier.  Tomorrow we leave early and will be home well before dinner.

The following are some pictures taken on the road of our group formation.

Flight squadron

The view from the rear

Raysir

Snake

See you on the road!!

Heading Home

Day 7 - Today we left Sturgis heading to Rock Springs, Wyoming.  The girls manned the truck and the boys rode the bikes.  We left at a leisurely 8:30 as no one was in any particular hurry.  The ride was rather uneventful, thankfully.  We did come across tire debris all over the road and then a little way down the road, found the truck still driving at about 50 MPH and continuing to throw rubber chunks from what was now a shredded mess on an almost bare rim.  We had to hustle by quickly so as not to get hit by the debris as it came off.

The ride was long, warm and thankfully dry.  Today was 432 miles, just a warm up for the 538 we do tomorrow.  No pictures from today, but I'll share some favorites from the trip.

One of many signs about Wall Drug

Very cool scooter

Sturgis Babes!

Mild Hogs at Mt. Rushmore 2012

Spot your favorite Mild Hogs?

Better Picture of a rat riding a cat, riding a dog....

Artists Rendition of the Crazy Horse Memorial.  In the background is the monument as it stands today.

Monument as it is today.

See you on the road!

Bad boys, Badlands

Day 6 - Today we road the bikes to the Badlands.  It is a long haul just to get to the beginning of the park, but well worth it once you get there.  Pam had studied up on the geological beginnings of the area and educated the rest of us heathens.  We stopped several times on the ride, the first being a little bar just outside the park, the same place we stopped at on the last trip.  We also stopped at the entry gate as we saw one motorcycle after the other pay with credit card!  How frustrating.  You would think the first bikes would pay for the rest as they were together.  I think they may have been from outside the U.S..

Once we finally got into the park, we were able to enjoy all the sites.  The Badland is a very desolate and inhospitable terrain, but beautiful at the same time.  The wind today was wicked, pushing the bikes from the side, making it difficult riding.  We stopped on several occasions to take pictures and enjoy the view.

Badlands

Bad Asses

I've often made reference to our trailering our bikes on previous trips, but that is now behind us as we "Rode Ours".  After seeing someone trailiering their bike through the Badlands, I do not feel that bad anymore.

After the Badlands, we went to Wall Drug.  Wall Drug basically takes up the entire town of Wall.  It started as a mercantile, drug store and turned into a major tourist attraction with its quirky shops, cafeteria and yes, nickel coffee.  Please keep in mind that you so have to pay for refills.

Nickel Coffee at Wall Drugs

After lunch and browsing in Wall, we rode back to Sturgis to pick up a few odds and ends we did not get the previous day.  I'm quite convinced that we are doing more to stimulate the economy than president Obama.  All I can say is that it is a good thing we brought the pick up!  We rode home before it was dark and the enjoyed a lovely evening with dinner on the veranda.  Tomorrow we start our drive home.

See you on the road.

Mt. Rushmore or less

Day 5 - I'm sorry if you stayed up late in anticipation of the daily blog, but alas, I had to sleep eventually.  We started off with a ride to Mt. Rushmore.  If you have not seen this monument, it is a must see for all Americans.  We arrived early and the crowds were rather thin.  I'm not sure if that is a reflection on the economy or not.  Everywhere we look we see signs that the "recovery" is in name only.  There is a campground the Hill City that is brand new and very nice.  Not a single site has a camper. In years past, you would see tents in front lawns...

Ray and Pam leading the way

Mt. Rushmore

After visiting Mt. Rushmore we headed to Custer National Park and the Wildlife loop, not to be confused with downtown Sturgis although the similarities are striking with jackasses all over the place.

More buffalo than Yellowstone!

A Dalmation Ass and youngen

What a jackass, he would not move!

As we were leaving Custer National Park, it began to pour.  Luckily, we stopped, pulled out our rain suits and continued on.  The rain eventually stopped and eventually made our way to Sturgis, the heart of the rally.  As always, it was a circus of vendors, riders and all the kooks that events such as this attract.  I'll spare you the nudity this time, but did want to show you something you may never see again...

A dog with a cat on its back with a rat on its back!

That's right, if you look close you will see a dog with a cat on it's back with a rat on it's back.  They walked all around that way.  The owner had a can to encourage donations.

We finally left after dark, which is not recommended given the amount of deer, elk, bears, jack ass and buffalo between Sturgis and Hill City.  We made it without incident, but swore never to do that again.

Time to go!  See you on the road!

Finally, South Dakota

Day 4.  Kirk got up early this morning and polished his and Ray's bikes.  They were covered with bugs and needed a good cleaning.  Julie and I took a quick swipe at our bike to get the big stuff off.  After all, we would not want the bikes to get dirty...  Just as we started to leave, so did the rain.  So much for cleaning the bikes.  At this point, much to my surprise, Ray whipped out a rain suit.  We ate at Bubba's again as it was on the way and the portions are large...  When we finished, it was off again in the rain.  The girls graciously agreed to drive the truck and lead the way.

It wasn't bad enough that we had rain which gets road grit and grime all over the bikes, but we had to travel on 4 miles of mud road through a construction site.  The road was packed mud with some gravel strewn about to give the impression that it was a road and not a field.  While we did not go fast, for safety sake, I could see all the dirt getting thrown on the Kirk's and Ray's bikes and knew that mine was in the same shape.  Luckily the rain stopped and the sun came out and baked the dirt on all the bike parts that were not hot enough to bake the dirt themselves.

We road on many 2 lane roads that seemed to go on forever.  Gasoline stops became a real issue.  At one point, we were going along and all of our low fuel indicator lights came on, well, at least Ray's and mine.  Kirk is still running on the same tank of gas he bought in Sturgis 2 years ago.  At some point, we were below 10 miles left until we run out.  As we came over each rise in the road, we would see the road stretch out ahead of us for miles with no stations in sight.  Finally we had to pull over and use the gallon of gas we had on our saddle bags for just such an emergency.  That should get us an additional 40 miles.  As the miles ticked away, still no stations.  When I went from 10 miles to running out to just the steady LOW indicator, I had to stop looking at the indicator.  When we FINALLY found a station and filled up, Ray and I had less than 5 hundredth of a gallon.  For those of you who are California high school graduates, that is about 3 ounces.  We had 3 ounces until we ran started pushing...  That was too exciting for Ray and me.

We had another close call when we had to make a sudden U turn and I hit my kickstand as I came out of the parking lot.  Ray noted that it was hanging precariously and brought it to my attention at 65 MPH.  What?!  Kick what?!  Oh, Kick Stand!  We all stopped and eventually got the spring reattached.  Note to anyone in a similar situation, put the spring on the stand first, then connect to the bracket underneath.  Lots easier, found this out the hard way of course.

We are finally in Hill City, South Dakota, first stop on the Sturgis tour.  The bikes are clean and now it is time for bed.

Gratuitous Pictures from yesterday...

See you on the road!

A Ride in the Park

Day 3 - We started with breakfast at Bubba's in Jackson.  It was pretty good despite the name.  The portions were generous as expected.  We walked around Jackson for a little while, but it was still early and very few shops were open.  I can tell you this, it is a shopping tourists paradise.  We did manage to get a picture under an arch made from elk antlers that was the entrance to a park downtown. It was actually one of 4 arches made from antlers.

Antler Arch in Jackson, Wy

Shortly after gassing up (at the Chevron Station, not Bubba's) we were on our way.  We entered the Teton National Park.  It was a bit confusing because we thought we were going to Yellowstone.  Yellowstone was a bit down the road yet.  The views of the Teton's were unbelievable.

Teton's

More Teton's 

The natural beauty of the Teton National Park and Yellowstone were overwhelming.

Natural Beauty!  :)

We stopped at several spots to take pictures of waterfalls, lakes and other assorted sites.  We eventually found ourselves at Old Faithful.  It erupts about every 90 minutes and we had to wait for 25 minutes.  Not bad timing.  The girls made the most of it by shopping at the gift shop while the boys saved front row seat.  I was entertained by a small dog that had issues making friends, but eventually warmed up to me.  I filmed the eruption and will try to attach it to this blog, a first.

It is late and I'm not sure if the video works, but I must go on as I am very tired, but committed to getting this done daily.

The remainder of the trip went well. We rode 265 miles in the park and did not even see a small portion of it.  We did see a herd of buffalos on the side of the road as well as antelope and a few sporadic deer.  I'm happy to report that they did not interfere with the ride accept for the traffic jams that were caused by the onlookers.  We will see many more buffalo in Sturgis, so no reason to get too excited.

Buffalo at close range

That is enough for tonight.  We have a long ride to Hill City, South Dakota.  See you on the road.

America the Beautiful

Any of you that know me, know that we plan to return to the United States as soon as we retire.  For you progressives in the bunch, California is not part of the United States, not as I know them.  More to come on that.  Today we rode from Winnemucca to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  What a ride.  538 miles!  Much of it was freeway through Nevada, which I can take or leave, but then we got onto a two lane road to head to Twin Falls.  It was a beautiful ride with vast prairies on either side and regular reminders that herds of deer migrate across the road.  We kept a vigilant eye, but never spotted a deer, thankfully.  As much as I like seeing them, I do not enjoy the thought of them in the roadway, particularly in herds...  The fences on the sides of the road must have been 12 feet high and we even came across 2 bridges specifically for migrating herds.

Bridge for herds of deer to cross the highway.

We stopped for lunch in Twin Fall, Idaho, the beginning of the United States.  Of course we ate at Subway.  Every time we stopped in Idaho, someone would come up, comment on the bikes, as where we were going, offer directions, etc.  At first it freaked us out a bit, being from California, but eventually we calmed down and enjoyed the attention.  At one stop, Ray left his credit card in the store.  As we rehydrated and chatted in the parking lot, the young lady came out to give Ray back his card.  I'm fairly confident he will not find any unusual charges on it, after all, it is America.  I'm trying to cut Ray some slack since he is a Prospect, but he seems to forget a lot of things.  Let's see, no sunscreen...no bike lock, no cover...  I didn't ask about rain gear....  Welcome to the club, Ray!

Pam and Ray

The ride from Twin Falls to Jackson Hole was spectacular.  Beautiful fields of golden grain, large fields of something green...we were going 75 miles per hour.  It reminded me that our nation is not just the cities, but has a large heart land that produces an abundance of food, so much the we feed the world, and still have enough left over to burn in our cars.  If I was bringing someone from outside the country to see the U.S., I would avoid S.F. and New York and bring them to Idaho so they can see the immenseness of our farming capability.  Everywhere you look, huge John Deere equipment plowing and reaping.  America at its finest.

As we entered Teton County, there were signs to watch for moose on the road.  Needless to say, this captured my full attention as I was both excited and fearful all at the same time.  No luck, or perhaps great luck as no moose were spotted.  As you come into Jackson, there are full size metal silhouettes of moose on the side of the road.  We all thought they were real a distance.

As day 2 draws to an end, we are not far from Yellowstone as seen on Disney or the National Geographic channel.  See you on the road.

Where the Mucca is Winnefucca?

Day 1 - Sturgis 2012
Day one went without a hitch.  Really, we did not tow the bikes!  This is our first time time to make the trip without towing our bikes.  In Sturgis you can buy patches for your vest that say "I rode mine".  I looked and looked for "I towed mine" patches, but sadly never saw one.  It is a different feeling to ride all the way to Sturgis.  We saw a lot of bikes being trailered, and can only assume they were heading to the largest Harley gathering in the world.  As we passed them on the bikes, I would sneer at them in their cushy trucks with air condition, cup holders, heated seats, XM radios...ok, that does sound a lot like my motorcycle.  Anyway, we sneered and uttered "pussy" under our breath.  How good it is to be so righteous.

We left this morning at the crack of dawn, actually 8:45, from the Starbucks in Benicia.  The weather was overcast and cool, perfect riding conditions, but unfortunately did not last for long.

L to R: Kirk, Patty, Pam, Ray, Julie, Dave

Today's journey took us from Benicia to Truckee where we made our first gas stop.  It was also a good opportunity to shed the jackets as the sun and temperature were both on the rise.  Julie was on the bike for the first leg with Patty and Pam, manning (womanning) the truck as we have a 2 person in the truck rule.  We met shortly thereafter for lunch in Verde, Nevada.  It was a lovely lunch at the Jack in the Box.  This was clearly a break in Mild Hog tradition as we eat strictly at Subways while on the road.  Oh well, I suspect we will be breaking many traditions with the women on board.  After lunch, it was a boys only ride  to Winnemucca.  Wow was it ever hot!  The temp was 96 when we finally stopped.

Jerry has been on our minds constantly.  We've never been on this run without him.  We have been filling in as best we can.  I rode in the back and tried to look out for all the riders, just as Jerry always did without ridiculing anyone's riding, at least not where they can hear.  Kirk even spotted a deer!  It had been hit by a tractor trailer, but none the less, he did spot it.

It is good to have new prospects, Ray and Pam on the ride.  Their stories are new, at least for now, so it helps.

Tomorrow we head for Jackson Hole which is 60 miles outside of Yellowstone.  It will be a long day so I will close for now.  I promise more pictures tomorrow.  Ansul Adams (Julie) took a few pictures today, but to be honest with you, Nevada is not exactly picturesque, after all, it is the smoking section of California.

More tomorrow!  See you on the road.

Jerry Macauley

July 30, 1953 - June 29, 2012

Repo Man

 We are all saddened by the sudden passing of our dear friend, bother and co-founding member of the NorCal Mild Hogs, Jerry Macauley.  While this has been a few rough weeks for everyone who knew and loved Jerry, we can take comfort in knowing without a doubt that he is in heaven and waiting for the first opportunity when we can all ride together again.

Jerry went by many names, Jerry, Jerald, Dad, Grandpa, Scout, Tail Gate and Repo Man.  But we will remember him as our friend, riding buddy and moral compass for the club, and heaven only knows we needed the last one.

Jerry was an enthusiastic rider, always ready for the next trip.  On our last outing, Jerry asked if we would be wearing our colors.  I told him we were laying low due to some squabbles with the Angels and therefore not wearing our colors that day.  Jerry just said okay, not knowing if I was joking or not, which of course I was.  That was just like Jerry, easy going, easy to get along with.

We've reflected over the past several weeks on all the good times we had together, especially on our trips to Sturgis.  We thought it might be nice to share some photos of Jerry from our past trips.

Jerry at Custer National Park

 Jerry loved the great outdoors. He was an avid fisherman and hunter.  He could spot an antelope a mile away, and boy did he ever spot them on our trip across Wyoming.  One after one, after one he would point them out until Jersey snapped "Okay!, We get it!".  Jerry and I had an ongoing debate about a particular animal we spotted under a tree, I still say it was an elk.  That was how our rides would go, constant joking, teasing and laughter.  One of my favorite recollections of Jerry was when we were putting together our "Know your Mild Hog" quiz on our last trip.  When asked who you would like to take to Sturgis, Jerry blurted out, "John Wayne".  Kirk said Halle Bary, I said Angeline Jolie.  After hearing our proposed riding partners, Jerry quickly wanted to change his decision.  We of course would not let him...  We all laughed, including Jerry at the thought of us with chicks on the back of our bikes, and Jerry with a cowboy on his.  Regardless, I know John Wayne would have had fun with Jerry.

One talent that Jerry had that did not get as much credit as it deserved was Jerry's skill at "Air Drums".  A good song would come on the radio and Jerry would pick up his air sticks and play along.  He was amazing, never missing a beat.  I personally watched him play along at several concerts including the Eagles. He was the best!

Jerry in the Badlands

On our trip to the Badlands, Jerry led the way.  He did not often lead, so it was a treat for all of us.  Jerry almost always rode last.  "So those who are last now will be first then, and those are first will be last". There was a great deal of comfort having Jerry guarding the back of the pack.  He provided early warning of bogey's coming up from behind, he would block traffic so we could all move over a lane, but best of all, he quietly watched the rest of us make our occasional bone head moves without a word.  On one particular occasion I was looking at an electric motorcycle on the side of the road when I hit a raised manhole cover straight on.  I looked back only to see Jerry smiling.  Yep, he saw it all happen from his vantage point.  Only once can I remember Jerry getting caught off guard.  We were in Sturgis of course when a Bandito (not the Frito Lay kind) came screaming up on the shoulder of the road passing us all on the right, scaring the crap out of us with his stupid, reckless riding.  I remember we were all going to go after him, but Kirk's bike was low on gas so we called it off...  Lucky for him.

Jerry enjoying a cool one

Jerry loved riding, a road trip, music, the outdoors, but especially his family and especially his wife and best friend, Doni.  Jerry loved having Doni on the back of his motorcycle sharing the open road and all the adventures life had to offer.

Doni and Jerry in Las Vegas

Tres Amigos and co-founder of the NorCal Mild Hogs

Needless to say, we will all miss Jerry and will think about him each time we ride.  The NorCal Mild Hogs will forever have a missing piece.

See you on the Road, Jer.  Rest in Peace until we ride again.

Newest Mild Hog Arrives!

Denise, Born April 23, 2012, 6:50 AM, 6 lb. 11 oz.
The NorCal Mild Hogs welcomes its newest member!  She already has proud Grandpa Kirk wrapped around her tiny finger.

She is also sporting the latest in HD baby attire.

Congratulations, Kirk and Patty, Kelli and Todd!