Whoa Nellie Deli RTE - 08/21/10 - Lee Vining

A few of us decided to ride up on Friday and camp in Mammoth Lakes. I met Jay in Yosemite and we rode over Tioga Pass. We stopped at Olmstead Point for a break where I took this picture:

Jay and I got to the campsite in Mammoth Lakes just as the sun was going down and hustled to put up our tents. Mike, Vince, and Dave were already there waiting on us. Jeff rolled in later on in the evening. We decided to ride in to town for dinner, ending up at a little pizza place. We had a nice dinner before returning to camp and hitting the sack.

Saturday morning we went out to breakfast, after which we went on a nice long ride, even crossing into Nevada for a little while, ending up at the RTE. 

Along the way we met up with Greg.

We stopped for a break and to sight see a bit. 

There was a pretty good turn out for the RTE at the Whoa Nellie Deli... A popular and quirky deli with awesome food located inside a gas station. I didn't do a headcount of our group but I'm guessing we had at least 30 people.

Sunday morning after breaking camp and having a nice breakfast, Jay took me on a little tour of the Mammoth Lakes area before we headed back towards home.

Gigolo at Horseshoe Lake:

 Twin Lakes:

 Minarets Vista by the Devil's Postpile gate:

I'm really hoping that we can do this one again next summer.

Harbor Cafe RTE - 06/26/10 - Santa Cruz

The Harbor Cafe is really popular place, with limited parking just for fun. We ended up having to wait about 30 minutes or so for a table for our group. The service was a bit slow, but the food was very good. 

Waiting was hard...

Flip and Jeff trying to be patient:
 

 Trying to figure out what to order:

 Vince is ready for food NOW:

Leann and Vince:

After lunch Jeff decides to park his behind on Gigolo... 

A few of the bikes:

TentSTOC III, Big Basin SP, June 17-19, 2010

TentSTOC III was my first STOC event and I was lucky enough to be of the dis-organizers. Along with planning activities, we took a couple of trips over to Big Basin to talk to the rangers about the group sites and parking concerns, and we took care of reserving the group site.

A shot of Gigolo all loaded up and ready to go:

STOC banner hung up and ready for attendees to sign:

A few of the bikes. At one point on Saturday there were about 22 bikes or so. 

Dan with his "Porsche" ST1100 & Fred with "Veronica" his ST1300:

Jerry and his STeed:

Uncle Larry arrives on his VFR:

Mac arriving on Friday morning:

Dinner time on Friday. Mike, Dave, and John enjoy the tri-tip brought by Dan:

Stoner, Bru & Capone, and Dan relaxing around the campfire:

Mike relaxing around the fire. He was travelling with all the good stuff and cooked up a most excellent breakfast for the group on Saturday morning:

Dave, Greg, and Jay by the campfire:

Rick checking out Dan's ST:

Dave from Muir Beach giving me a wave:

Bob & Bonnie getting ready to go for a ride:

Our little mascot Capone:

A few of us went on a ~200 mile tour of the area Saturday, which included a stop in Corralitos, lunch in San Juan Bautista, and a little ride up Hwy 1 from Pacifica to Monterey. We took this picture for Mellow:

Introducing Gigolo

Even though I had a brand new CBR and couldn't justify spending any more money, the I-want-an-ST-itis would just not subside. I spent hours looking online at ST1100s and ST1300s for sale, trying to figure out to get an ST and be able to keep the CBR. Then I'd come to my senses for a while and decide to wait until next year and revisit it after I saw what the next tax return would bring. I don't know how many times I waffled back and forth between throwing caution to the wind and getting an ST and deciding to wait.

Somehow, I couldn't seem to stop myself. Even though I kept telling myself NO - many, many times NO - it wasn't working. I told myself that I couldn't afford one. That they were too heavy and I'd never be able to pick one up if I dropped it. That I wouldn't be able to get it in and out of my driveway around the car without tipping it over. I was afraid of putting one on the centerstand (still am!)... All to no avail. I always ended up back looking at the ST listings trying to figure out how I could get one now.


Yes, I am totally INSANE!!!


On June 3th, 2010 I found a listing for a used '05 ST1300 that was up at East Bay Motorsports - the same place I bought the CBR. They had it listed a bit high but I had to go check it out. Before I went I did my homework and wrote down everything about what it should cost with tax, license, etc. Then I researched the trade in value of the CBR, the payoff of the loan, what it would cost to fix the damage on the CBR from when I dropped it in the driveway... I researched the nada and kbb values for the ST1300 and the CBR. I even went and got quotes for insurance so it wouldn't be a surprise. Lastly, I wrote myself a little script on how I was going to handle the negotiation and what my deal breakers were so that I could walk away if necessary. Then I made plans to ride up to the dealership the next morning when I got off of work.


When I arrived at the dealership, the ST was sitting outside in front of the building to the left of the doors. It had not been detailed and it looked like it had just returned to from a road trip. There was a major road rash on one of the saddlebags - like you would expect to see if they forgot to lock the bags down and then rode off only to have the bag seperate somewhere along the trip. I was still interested in talking to them about it so I went ahead and went inside. While we were talking the guy had to take a telephone call and that gave me a chance to walk around the showroom. 


All of a sudden a light shone from above... and settled directly  upon a lonely '09 ST1300 sitting in a corner of the showroom.

The rest is pretty much history, I got the '09. I got full trade in for the CBR and they knocked a couple thousand off the price of the ST. I gave them my CBR keys and $4500 cash and financed the balance through Honda with a really good interest rate. While they were detailing it and having their service department check it out I was on the phone having my insurance policy switched over to cover the new STeed. 


Around 3pm I was sitting on the ST on the sidewalk in front of the dealership, sweating bullets, knees shaking, trying to get the courage up to get out in traffic and ride it home... Telling myself I was nuts... As soon as I turned on the key and started moving everything else fell away. I smiled all the way home.


Now it's time for the adventures to begin!

Solvang - "Sunny Fields"

Solvang was founded in 1911 by Danish settlers. There are lots of bakeries, restaurants, and shops that provide a little taste of Denmark. It is a bit of a tourist trap but it is very scenic and sometimes it is fun to do the tourist thing.

While I was in Solvang I made time to visit Old Mission Santa Ines, founded on September 17, 1804 by Father Estévan Tapís, which is still in use today.

I also took a ride ~25 miles west on Hwy 246 to Lompoc to visit La Purissima Mission, founded in 1787, which is now a state park.

I had planned to visit the Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum but it was not open both times I stopped by. I did my best to see what I could through the windows and put it at the top of my list of things to do on my next Solvang visit.

Making the CBR work for touring

While the CBR was a fun ride, it was not real comfortable and had absolutely no storage. If I was going to be able to ride for more than 100 miles or go on a multi-day ride I was going to have to address these problems...

The first thing I did was order and install a corbin seat. The new seat was a great improvement over the wafer thin stock seat. To solve the storage problem I bought a Bags-Connection luggage system, which was big enough to hold pretty much everything I would need if I went on a weekend trip. Then in April I loaded up and headed down to Solvang for a weekend at the Worldmark Resort, about 260 miles south. This was both a weekend getaway and a test of my new setup.

While it was definitely better with the new seat my rear was very uncomfortable at the end of the ~260 miles. In addition, my poor arthritic knees were screaming for relief. As were my shoulders and neck. If I was going to really make this work I was going to have to make some serious and costly modifications like adding handlebar risers, foot peg extenders, and a more touring oriented windscreen. I was starting to really feel the "I wants" for an ST...