Yes, this was another great day for a ride. No rain. No wind. Not even any clouds to speak of. Just sunshine and open road. And as usual, the Devil Mtn Team was ready for us with coffee and goodies. Man I LOVE those guys!
There were 37 bikes in the parking lot in Pittsburg this morning, some of which were still pulling in as we were doing the pre-ride. I think those were the ones that forgot to set their clocks ahead last night ;?) Anyway, after the pre-ride briefing we staged in back of the shop as a single group. We rode down Leland to Railroad and then merged onto Hwy 4 heading east. We took the new Hwy 4 bypass down to Balfour and over to Brentwood Blvd. And this may have been the first chapter ride to take the new bypass. Brentwood Blvd becomes Hwy 4 and we followed that all the way across the delta to Stockton. Of course we had the typical issues with getting a large group of bikes through all the signal lights, but we invoked the bread crumb system again so everyone knew where to turn. The levee roads are in their usual state of disrepair, with pot holes, irregularities, and breaks in the pavement, but other that that it was an enjoyable ride across the delta. There weren't even many bugs, which is unusual in that area. They must not be used to the time change yet ;?)
Because of the earlier issues with the traffic lights breaking the group up, we had some cages in amongst the group as we rode into Stockton. We were able to keep the lead group in sight though so we knew where to turn. After turning from Charter Way onto Wilson Way the lead group pulled over allowing us to catch up, then it was only a couple of blocks to the Port Stockton MC.
We found places to park and made our way inside to register. This was an interesting process. They had two lines for registration and they weren't what you would expect. You had to go through both lines as they were different. The first line was to pay your $$ and get your envelope. And DON'T open the envelope yet! (Mr Perfect). Then you get into the second line and go through the building to sign all the waivers and get a number assigned. I think I have writers cramp after filling out all those forms. And I don't think they were expecting this many people to show up as they ran out of envelopes and a bunch of folks had to wait for more to be made up. Anyway, we made it through the maze of paperwork and mingled for a bit in the back yard where they had a couple of vendor booths set up. One was a MC club from Lodi that had this dirt bike which they used to annoy everyone while they were waiting to register. There was also a booth with what looked like novelty helmets and other typical trinkets & motorcycle garb.
Before you know it, it was time to head out on the poker run. I had to get back home to take care of some more chores so maybe one of the folks that went on the poker run can let us know how that went.
See you all on the next ride ...
