St Patrick's Day 2007- Hell's Angels Run

Hello to everyone. We had a killer weekend for St Patrick's Day. We went on the Sonoma County Hell's Angels Poker Run yesterday. It was a fine time. We started out at the Wagon Wheel Tavern in north Santa Rosa, and then we rode to downtown Sebastopol, and then to Gigi's in Santa Rosa, and finally to the clubhouse. Once we got to the clubhouse, they had a raffle with our run tickets (I even won a shirt!), and then a corned beef and cabbage dinner. It was a great time. As usual, no one got out of hand, and no one went down that I know of. I am not sure about the actual turn-out, but it was definitely in the hundreds. I never got to see the whole pack go by at one time, since I'd been given the honor of blocking, which was cool too. This was the first time I've "officially" blocked for an HA run, but I had a great time doing it. It's cool when you feel like you can get away with riding aggressively, and help people out in the process. There were a few dummies in rolling cages, but for the most part, people were in awe of the spectacle of the massive pack creating such a distinctive thunder. It is powerful, and I love being a part of it. Most of the time, when you're blocking intersections, the people in the cars are having a great time watching the river of shining chrome flow by. The kids in the cars are always excited. It's funny to watch the families in the cars, and the kids jumping up to watch over their parents' shoulders from the back seat. So, after hanging out at the clubhouse for a while, and winning the shirt, eating great grub, and enjoying all the other bikers' company, we headed home.
We had to ride back to Lake County from Santa Rosa, and we left right when it was just getting dark. It was also getting kind of chilly for those of us who can't ride in the cold(WAAAaaaa!). So, we went over Hwy 12 to Calistoga Rd to Calistoga, and then cut over to Hwy 29. We went over Mt St Helena on 29 to Middletown, and then the rest of the way to Lower Lake where we stopped at John Henry's Pub for a visit before my lady and I broke away toward home. The drastic temperature change when we hit Hidden Valley was a nice surprise. I think the temp rose about 8 degrees within a 20ft distance. So, we are getting ready to go for a ride now, so I will get back to this later. I hope you're all out riding right now. Read this later! ;)

Well, I have been very bad about blogging for a few months now. This is mainly due to the weather, and the fact that I bought a new "2007 Harley-Davidson FLHX Street Glide" in November 2006. I went into McGuire's Harley-Davidson in San Ramon, CA after a refi, and saw the same model, color, and add-ons that I'd been looking for...fresh off the truck. I said,"Sign me up!"
The day after I first saw it, I picked it up. Today is the 15th of March, 2007, and I just finished doing the 5000 mile service today. When I first picked it up from the dealer, it had 6 miles on it. It's been a great 5K miles so far, but they were wetter than I would've liked. I haven't dropped the bike, nor have I had any "close-calls" as of yet(KNOCK ON WOOD>>>). Now the plan is to try to make Sturgis this summer. We are also going to try and make the Laughlin weekend with some friends. My lady wants to get a new SoftTail, so who am I to stop her? We have a Hells Angels St Patrick's Day run this Saturday, and lots of events coming up in the weeks ahead. I will make a real effort to blog more often this season, and maybe someone will read this and recognize my writing skills and offer to finance a European Motorcycle Expedition for me :D

Love and Respect