Halloween Ride-n-Dine

Wow! What a great day to ride-n-eat.

It was a little on the chilly side when we started off in the parking lot at McGuire's this morning, watching to see who showed up in costume. We saw a fat old lady with a dog stuck in her butt crack, a grim reaper & his gruesome assistant, a dead couple, super girl, beer keg man with a dog humping his leg, a couple of punk rockers, a county prisoner, heidi the beer maid, a sailor, a cowgirl, and some others. It was great to see them ride in. There was even one bike that was decorated with tassels pumpkin and a skull.



After ohhhing and awwwwing over all the cool costumes we had the pre-ride brief and lined up under the BART tracks. There were 21 bikes in attendance as we pulled out of the parking lot and made our way through town on surface streets. We zig zagged over to Pleasant Hill Rd and up to Martinez on Alhambra Ave to find our way to Diane Harlan's house for our first stop. We had coffee, several different kinds of quiche (I had to let Diane know that real men don't eat quiche. But I had some anyway, just to make her feel better ;?)several different kinds of muffins, bagels, sausage, did I mention the coffee?, and way too much other food to finish. I almost had to take a siesta before joining the rest of the group on the second leg, but I managed to stay awake with another cup of coffee.



Once we'd gorged ourselves on all that great food, we saddled up and began our trek to Butch & Trinnie's. It had warmed up significantly by the time we were ready to leave and everyone was shedding layers to get comfortable. We rode through Martinez to hook up with Alhambra again, then to Bear Creek, to Camino Pablo. Along the way one of the sweeps was having a mechanical problem. Every time we stopped at the engine would die. The group pulled over and the problem was assessed. It was determined that the fuel tank had been overfilled, causing a problem with the evaporative cannister. The solution was to loosed the gas cap slightly to allow the tank to vent until the excess fuel in the cannister evaporated. This seemed to take care of the problem so we continued on to Moraga, over to St Mary's, to Tice Valley, to Danville Blvd, to Stone Valley, over to Tassajara. We made a short stop here so folks could get a drink and use the facilities, and then we were back under way. We rode down to Highland Rd and crossed along the foot of the hills to Vasco Rd where we turned north and into Brentwood/Antioch where we made a stop to purchase pumpkins for the pumpkin carving contest. We had a little trouble finding the Safeway store at first, but after touring one unsuspecting shopping center and not finding it, we made our way down the street to the 'Safeway' shopping center.



After everyone that wanted to purchased their pumpkins we rode the last few blocks over to Butch & Trinnie's in search of more food. When we went back to the patio area we were greeted to the welcome sight of Rocky, Melanie, Todd and Julie waiting for us to arrive. It was great to see them moving around so well. We were not disappointed with the food either. The theme here was Mexican food, beans, rice, burritos, quesadias, chips-n-salsa, and of course, some cold drinks. We ate and chatted for awhile and then voted on costumes and pumpkins. Once the votes were counted the big winners were, drum roll please, Mike & Kelly Gelbman for best costumes (appliance and cutting board (?) with severed heads) and Laurel Bart for best pumpkin (hamburger. yeah, you gotta see this one). These are too hard to describe accurately, so you'll have to check out the pics when they get posted.

Shortly after the voting we headed for home. It was another great day spent with friends.

October GAR - Schellville Grill

It was a beautiful day for a ride. There were 12 bikes as we pulled out of the parking lot under the BART tracks and headed north.

We rode up 680, over the Benicia bridge and took the Lake Herman Rd exit. We followed Lake Herman Rd over the hill into Vallejo. We turned right onto Columbus Pkwy and then merged onto I-80 east. We exited I-80 at Red Top Rd and made our way through Cordelia to the Chevron station on Central Way where we made our scheduled stop.

After a very brief stop (we wanted to beat another group to the restaurant in Schellville) we were back under way heading north on Wooden Valley Rd. We made a left turn onto Hwy 121 and followed that over the hill into Napa where we turned left onto the Silverado Trail. Our group got infiltrated by numerous cars at this point and we took a quick trip through a Shell station to regroup before continuing on our way. From there we turned onto Imola and made our way over to Hwy 29 headed south. Then it was a right turn onto Hwy 12 for the last few miles to the Schellville Grill. The weather for our entire trip was crystal clear with temperatures in the high 60's to low 70's, and no noticeable wind.



We managed to beat the other group (they actually never showed up. Guess they heard we were coming ;?) so we got seated right away. The food was good and prices were reasonable. Not a bad choice if you find yourself in the vicinity around mealtime.

After eating, most of the group headed back via 121, 29, 37, 80, 780 to 680 and home.
Another great day spent with friends.

Magoon's Saloon Ride Report

The parking lot at Devil Mtn was empty when we pulled in this morning at 7:00 AM. It made me wonder if I had the correct starting location, but then I spotted Daisy's truck and knew I was in the right place. Daisy had come in early, again, to open the place up so we would have coffee, snacks, and access to the restrooms before we departed. I can't thank the team at Devil Mtn enough for all that they do to support our rides. I hope they know that we really do appreciate all that they do.

It wasn't long before more bikes started arriving, and by the time we were ready to go there were 10 bikes in all. Just before the pre-ride brief Kelly informed me that my reputation was at stake on this ride because I had declared this route to have some of the best motorcycling roads in Northern California. Well, we'd know the outcome of this by lunch time, one way or the other. We jumped on Hwy 4 and made our way to the Antioch Bridge where we had a cage try to cut into the group at the last minute when he discovered he was in the FasTrack Only lane. One of the road captains convinced him that this wasn't the right thing to do, allowing the group to stay together at the toll plaza. Then it was up Hwy 160, through Isleton, followed by a turn onto Andrus Island Rd. We rode along the Georgiana Slough to the Walnut Grove Bridge, this time coming at it from the opposite direction, crossed the bridge, and took Walnut Grove Thornton Rd to the Chevron station in Thornton, our first scheduled stop.

After a short break we were on our way again, up to New Hope Rd and into Galt. We zig-zagged our way through Galt, crossed over Hwy 99, and made our way up to Hwy 104 which we followed all the way into Ione where we made our second scheduled stop. While taking our break here we noticed a yard sale across the street. A few of our riders walked over to see if there was anything of interest but came back empty handed. Whew! I thought we were going to have to find a way to cart all the booty back on the bikes ;?)



We departed Ione on Hwy 124, following that up to Hwy 16 and then joined Hwy 49 for a few miles. This took us into Plymouth where we turned right onto Shenandoah Rd. and headed up into the hills. We rode along Shanendoah, Mt Aukum and Sky Park Roads into Pollock Pines. These roads took us through some fantastic country, riding up and down hills, around sweeping turns, through vineyards, forests, and small towns, in and out of the shadows and past the Jenkinson Reservoir. As we rode along we could smell the pine trees and smoke from the chimneys of the houses along the road. We passed under Hwy 50 and made a left turn onto Pony Express Trail, riding the last mile to Magoon's Saloon. As we pulled into the parking lot we could smell the smoke from the BBQ that was out back. While parking the bikes we determined that my claim that these were some of the best motorcycling roads was indeed correct and my reputation was intact. What we couldn't decide on was what my reputation was, and whether it was good or bad. Oh well, that's a topic for another time and place.

So happens that the BBQ wasn't quite ready yet, but we were OK with waiting another 30 min. or so to eat. We sat around watching the NASCAR race and the football game till the food was ready. And it was worth the wait. We had BBQ'd ribs, tri-tip, chicken and hot sausage served with potato salad and beans for $15. A lot of food and it was good. If you find yourself traveling along Hwy 50 any Sunday you should make a lunch stop at Magoon's. You won't regret it.

We began splitting up for our ride home with one rider breaking off right away and half of the remaining riders turning off when we got to Ione. We took back roads out of Pollock Pines, working our way through the twisties on Snows Rd back to Hwy 49. This part of the return trip was as spectacular as the ride up. We joined Hwy 49 at Diamond Springs and followed that through El Dorado, Plymouth, Ione, and Flag City on our way home.

Another great day spent riding and mingling with friends.