Eli: September 2009

I'm not exactly sure what copper keister means but this is the second time the bike club has gone this route. I think the first time it was called the 70's route. Also, the first time we went one of the girls got heat exhaustion and we cut the ride short. This is quite the ride! In all, if everything went to plan this ride would only take 6 hours round trip. But of course, whatever can go wrong well, sometimes does. I was abit excited because I knew this would be another 12 hour day.

The ride organizer decided that we'd hit up a new breakfast location. I had heard some really good reviews but when we got there, I guess it really is a good place because the line to get a seat was out the door and into the parking lot. With 11 starving women, we decided to go elsewhere - across the street. The parking was empty and they served breakfast, lunch and dinner. But once we got inside I found out it was a bar. They were open and we were the only ones in there besides the server. Something was wrong with the cook and in hindsight, I should have asked if I could make breakfast. It would have been alot quicker and much tastier! We were all busy talking but about an hour went by when all of a sudden we realized it's been along time and we're still hungry! It took 1 1/2 hours to get our breakfast after the server took our order. But we were flexible on time so we ate very quickly and everyone was still hungry. The food was just awful and we were joking around we should have ordered drinks... they probably never made food before.

Two hours after we arrived at the bar, we were ready to go. Next stop was a historical town called Julian. It was an old mining town but is now famous for pies. The route we took were all 70's... Highway 76, highway 79, highway 78. Very scenic and lots of space! It's mostly farmland, wineries and just hills. We definately took the "scenic" route for sure! But all was good because the scenery was so nice and I didn't even notice we were going the wrong way... about 60 miles the wrong way. No one else noticed either.

We finally made it to Julian. The whole town closes at 5PM. Luckily, it was 4:50 and everyone was starving and we stopped for pie and ice cream. It really was good. But honestly, I think my mom's pies are better. What can I say, I'm biased!

Out of all the riders, I live the farthest. I got home around 1030PM... so 14 1/2 hours. We took a few extra hours on this trip. I think last time, it was almost a 12 hour day. We had a lot of new riders and about half the group had never ridden in the dark before. They nervous and were not prepared. I didn't realize it until later but I think there were only a few that had eye protection for night driving. I was wondering why some were riding so slow but they had sunglasses on! Whew, very dangerous. A long day but it was just a nice time riding around, socializing with new friends, etc. I definately think this ride is a keeper. I know we'll be doing this ride alot since the organizer wants to perfect this ride in 6 hours.

So this is what most of the scenery looked like. Quite a nice area.

There were 11 of us total. One rider lives in San Diego so she met up with us once we got closer to her location. I wished I could have taken more photos but I just didn't want to pull off the side of the road into gravel.

It happened to be one of the best Labor Day weekends I’ve had in a long time. Yet, we were struck with a few obstacles that kinda just made the adventure quite a good story.

Okay, so I’ve been in this biker club for over a year now. I joined a few months after moving here last year and it fulfilled two of my requests – to be able to ride my bike more often and to make new friends. It’s just amazing that this group is getting larger and larger. So much in fact, that there are some folks I have not even met yet!

While making some new friends with this group, we’ve all decided that not only do we want to ride but also to socialize. Riding can be very difficult on the social aspect except when we stop for fuel breaks or a meal – it’s the only time we are able to chat since we’re riding our bikes all over. Then the hikes began, then dinner parties, poker parties, playing pool and even having a beach picnic. It’s really a great group of people. I’m just so amazed that everyone is so friendly, inviting and seeking new friends.

When I was in Texas a few years ago it was very very difficult to make friends and even trying to find decent biker buddies. It was very clique-ish and I was very surprised since it changed so much from the great Texas experience I had while in the military. Then I realized a majority of my friends were no longer in Texas and perhaps that was why it wasn’t the same. Maybe that was why it was so easy to pick up and leave when I found out I was accepted into sushi school and moved to Los Angeles.

I think its people that are changing my perspective on SoCal. I still don’t understand why so many people live here. Sure the weather is great for most of the year but it’s really over populated, there are lots of rude superficial people, traffic is horrid, pollution is just crazy and there’s just no sense of space and definitely nothing serene! I’ve been ready to pick up and leave for the past 6 months or so but then I think of this group and the new friends I’ve made… and want to stay. Yeah, it surprises me too!

So back to this past weekend. One of my new biker friends invited us to the lake for the weekend. There were only a couple of us that had the time off and wanted to go. We left early Saturday and as we were about to leave, she asked if I liked to drive fast. Of course! But then common sense made me ask what do you mean by fast? 80-85mph… Oh, sure no problem. I usually travel 80mph on the highway by car anyway. Originally we were all going to ride together – there were only 4 of us. But I had to return a day early to return to work so I drove my vehicle. And one of the girls was nice enough to ride with me. And Rookie did not go 85… she has this huge monster truck and from what I was informed, the bigger the tires the lower the speedometer reads. So according to her speedometer, she was going 85 yet I was going 95 to catch up. (Yes, mom… I was speeding. Sorry.) And I still couldn’t catch up so I just slowed down to 80 and thankfully, Jayna knew how to get there.

It was so hot out; we unpacked as fast as we could, made a picnic lunch to take with and high tailed it to the lake. Lake Mead is huge! Rookie was driving us to all these coves and we’d swim a bit then move on. Time flew fast and the wind picked up. We moved once more to another cove and when we decided we were hungry and should get back for dinner. We were not able to cross the lake! The winds were so strong the swells were over 2 feet tall! Rookie was worried the boat would capsize although she tried twice to get us home. Several other boaters also tried and had to return to the safety of the cove to wait out the winds as well. The only ones that made it out were the ocean cabin cruisers and even they were knocked around by the wind and waves.

Luckily, we were stranded next to a huge houseboat. We were thinking of the worst and we could perhaps ask them if they could let us sleep over. But 3 hours later, we thought the winds died down enough to try returning to the boat slip. And no, we only were able to cross the lake into another cove. There was a boat there but no one was around. So yes, we ended up waiting and waiting and waiting and the wind never died. There was a lightning storm in the distance and we were worried it would rain (which was in the forecast for the evening). Luckily, it didn’t rain but we did end up sleeping on the boat overnight. Now that was quite uncomfortable! Not the worst situation I’ve been in but just uncomfortable yet we managed to find humor in our delirium… a lot of humor.

The sun rose yet the wind never stopped. It was not as strong at 5AM and Rookie decided to give it one last try. We made it. The waves were crazy huge and it took about 45 minutes to cross the lake and the safety of our boat slip. We were exhausted and ended up taking a nap. We awoke to a very hot RV. What happened?

The air conditioner was on full blast the whole night we were gone and froze the compressor and line. Several hours later and way into the evening, we figured that out and defrosted the line. The A/C was ready to go. We finally made our first meal since that picnic lunch the previous day. Whew! We were starving! With a great dinner in our bellies, we ended up checking out Hoover Dam and just hanging out.

By this time, it was already Monday and we all wanted to go for a little boat ride before I left. I ended up leaving later than planned although nothing else went wrong the remaining time of the trip. The other girls left Tuesday and everyone was wishing for a longer weekend.

This is the arch portion of the new bridge. The road across Hoover Dam will be closed off in a few years due to Homeland Security. People will have to travel across this bridge instead. The arch itself is the largest concrete arch in North America.

This is also part of the dam. You can see the water level of the lake. It is very very low - the top of the white portion is where the lake level usually is.