We've begun a little tradition: Our road song for the day is, "Hit the Road, Jack!" courtesy of Murray.

We left Bishop this morning at about 7 and the weather was nice and cool. We even had to put on jackets. A great change from yesterday heat. It took about 30 minutes to get to the mountains and trees, and the ride was very pretty today. Our first stop was in a little town called Lee Vining. We found a little cafe with a beautiful garden and had a nice relaxing time.

This photo op was also in Lee Vining in front of a general store. That's Ron and Debbie posing with the grizzly bear statue.

We lined up the bikes in front of the cafe. Looks pretty nice, doesn't it?

George's head in the forefront, then Ron, Murray and Chuck placing their coffee order.

The garden was filled with old fashioned flowers, hollyhocks of all colors and several different types of Sunflowers. It was beautiful and so relaxing.


We followed this mountain stream for several miles. There were people pulled off alongside the road fishing.

The scenery was beautiful. Very dramatic mountains.

We arrived in Reno about noon. Had lunch and checked into the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino. A great place! It has a bowling alley, a cinema, an amusement park with mini golf and bungee jumping. You would never have to leave this place!

We had barely checked in and we were off to the local Harley Dealership. They must have enjoyed our group coming in, we all left several dollars lighter.


There was a Nevada Sheriff at the dealership. They must make good on the casinos, their sheriffs drive Harley's.

We all had a nice dinner at the Casino and then off to our respective rooms for a good night's sleep. We're off early tomorrow for the longest day yet, about 275 miles. We'll be in Klamath Fall, Oregon tomorrow night.

And we're off, again! This time heading north toward Oregon. We all met at Chuck's house: Murray & Nancy, Ron and Debbie, Chuck and Mary, Dave and Susie and George, at 7 a.m. We're trying to beat the heat in the desert by leaving early and being able to stop in the early afternoon.
It took about 40 minutes to come down on the backside of the mountain. Nice curvy, winding roads. Fun. It was still cool on the mountain.

A beautiful sunrise over Lake Silverwood. It looks like an oasis in the desert. This is at the bottom of the mountain on the north side.

We stopped about an hour out for breakfast. When we left we had 180 miles to go to Bishop.

It's a long, long straight highway. One time we went over 21 miles without even a curve in the road. It's getting hot, too. Even this early in the morning.

Chuck and Mary

Dave and Susie

This is a picture of what we saw for over seven hours today. Beautiful landscape, isn't it?!

George

More of the "view". It seemed the road went on forever.

Just a sampling of the lovely real estate available at dirt cheap prices in this neighborhood.


We stopped for a cold drink at this little place in Independence. It was run by a Frenchman. Imagine, I wonder why he stopped here to set up a business. Anyway, it was very nice. The guys "bellied up to the bar" for a photo op.


This alphalfa field was out in the middle of nowhere and there must have been a herd of 100 or so elk there. Fantastic.



We arrived in Bishop at about 2:30 and stayed at the Ramada Inn. The first thing we all did was jump into the pool to cool off. It was 99 degrees when we arrived, so the water felt so good.



Dinner down the street at a local Mexican Restaurant. Very good. Had a great time with everyone. Lots of laughs.


The last thing on the docket was, of course, coffee at a nice local place. Nancy was relaxing in the corner. We're off to the motel now for the night. Early morning again tomorrow and heading to Reno, Nevada.

It's Sunday morning and guess what. . .we're at the local coffee shop, no Starbucks in sight. We met Dave (who with his wife Susie are riding back to Oregon with us) and after a latte, headed for church.


It was fun to see the guys ride in to church together, all geared up. There was special parking for bikes right in front. The Crestline Celebration Centre people are always warm and welcoming, excited to see us all.



The church was filled to capacity today, the worship team did a great job and Murray preached an anointed message. Ministry time was powerful. A great day, however Ron and Debbie being with their own church and can't wait for next weekend when Chuck, Mary, Murray, Nancy, Dave, Susie and George will all be in North Bend for service.

After service we all drove the few miles over to Lake Arrowhead for lunch on the lake.


Yesterday, there were three. . .today we've added another Harley to the garage. George Olmos arrived this afternoon to join the ride. So along with Dave and Susie, that makes five Harley's in our wild gang.



Last thing we did Sunday night was to lay out the plans for the week over Pizza and leftovers. The plan is to leave at 7 am to get the ride over before the heat of the day presses in. We're off to the Mojave Desert and the little town of Bishop. So the adventure continues. . . . .

This is Chuck and Mary's home in the wilderness. Nobody could find this place, it's miles off the beaten path, but once you finally get here it's beautiful, quiet and serene. Just what we needed after 5 days on the bikes. It's been beautiful since we arrived yesterday, very warm and sunny.

This is looking down toward the horse arena from the house. It's kind of nice to have the animals around, but they've warned us about a big black bear roaming around here, sometimes even coming up on the front porch. We've been "bear hunting" ever since we arrived. Murray won't go out after dark, he's sure he's attractive to the bear!

The boys with their toys. With all the bikes and animal heads in Chuck's garage, there's no room for a car. The guys spent the day getting the bikes ready for the trip, while Nancy and Debbie went shopping and Mary went to work.



This is a short video of Murray's bike, sounds good but it doesn't really capture the true sound of the new pipes!

Nancy and Debbie strolled through Lake Arrowhead Village all morning and into the afternoon. The lake was beautiful and blue and the shopping was great. Poor Mary, she had to be up at 3 am to get ready for an all day scrapbooking event at her shop. She worked until 5 pm and then we all went to dinner.

The loot!

Chuck and Mary treated us to dinner at the local Chinese Restaurant. We had a lot of fun together, as you can tell by the smiles. Food was good, too.

Tomorrow is Sunday, and Murray is speaking. All the guys are riding their bikes to coffee in the morning and then on to church. Talk to you all later.

We left Bakersfield today, the weather was still cool, which was nice for a change. After Starbucks coffee, we headed south toward Los Angeles.

That's Murray and Nancy, they had mean motorcycle looks on under those masks. You can see we have gone to shirt sleeves because of the heat.


Went over the Grapevine without incident, except a truck was going down the grade and his tires caught on fire. Murray and Nancy were driving along beside him and tried to get his attention, but when we pulled off he was still going on, smoking and smelling.


By noon we had reached Magic Mountain, just north of the San Fernando Valley, and had lunch.


Then we started toward the 210 Freeway toward San Bernardino. Except for a few slow mergers, the traffic was light and we were able to go pretty fast in the car pool lane. Made good time. This is proof that Ron drove at 80 miles per hour on the freeway.


We stopped for a drink, at Starbucks of course, just before heading up the hill to Crestline. Only 1/2 hour to go.






That was fun, lots of corners. We arrived at Chuck and Mary's at about 3:30, unpacked and the guys began washing their bikes, which we had not done for the whole trip. We wanted the grit and grime as proof of the trip. 1070 miles total from Coos Bay! We made it. Now, rest for two days and we're off again.


By the way, a very Happy Birthday from all of us to Debbie's mom, Ernestine. She's 79 years young today! Love you, Mom.