Spring Fling 2016

May 20 - 22, 2016

Spring Fling 2016 Trip Report

2016 Spring Fling! Yet another motorcycle adventure for me!

Traditionally, I call ahead of time to reserve the room at the Pioneer Lodge. This year I waited too long and they were booked. So I started looking everywhere and even had a room at the Holliday Inn Express in Jackson, for $475 for the two nights! But I decided it wouldn't be worth going for that price, so I called the Old Gold Country CampGround in Pine Grove, which is usually where Ron & Doe organize the ride and everything from. They still had a couple of rooms open, and for $116 for the two nights, I took it, knowing it wasn't as good as the lodge would be. But it was cheaper than anything else I could find, by a long shot!

As time got closer, I was watching the weather and I had Chris convinced that she needed to ride up with me so she could have some saddle time in preparation of our trip up north in August. Well, the weather never improved, the room at the campground would be less than what the lodge would be, so Chris stayed home for the first time in 13 years, and I rode solo up there.

The only prep I had to do on the bike was to install some MCL "wings" for my legs. The set I had needed some paint, so I painted them with some of the blue spray paint I bought years ago. For a quickie, they came out pretty good! I got them mounted the night before.

I left the house around 10am something and headed up to Chaparral Motorsports in San Bernardino. After looking around in there for a short time, I took off north on the 215, to the 15 and cut across 138 through Palmdale. I did a quick ride through our old neighborhood and was going to stop and take a picture, but didn't feel it was even worth a picture, so I kept riding. Out of Palmdale, I headed out through Lake Elizabeth (which is now dry) and caught 138 again for the last leg to I5. Once in Gorman, I stopped for some lunch and parked the bike where I could watch it while I ate.

I was about halfway through my hamburger when I saw a guy looking over my bike. Before I knew it, he sought me out and told me he had my sister! "My Sister?" Come to find out, he had a 2004 ST1300 with about 88K on it. His name was Larry. We talked for at least an hour and he needed to get to Bakersfield (where I was heading) to have his laptop fixed.

So, we both took off and headed for Bakersfield. So up and over the Grapevine we went! As I was approaching Bakersfield, the temp was up at 99F! I knew where my hotel was, but I wasn't too sure of the freeway off ramp situation until I got there, finding out I took the one too soon! So I headed a bit east until I could turn around and the traffic was so thick I was doing some Lane Splitting. As I was getting ready for my turn to my hotel, some guy on a Harley, with a passenger, decided he wanted to turn too, but he was over to the left part of the lane and as I went by got all bent out of shape and hit his horn. I just ignored him and continued on to my hotel. Never saw him again. I didn't notice if he was from CA or not, but next time plan a little better dude!

I found my room, checked in and relaxed for a spell. After a short time, I decided to see how far the nearest Honda Dealership was so I could pick up a small can of Plexus and just check out the bikes they had. Well, it was just over a mile away and they would be closing at 6pm, so in the 93F heat, I jumped on the bike and rode over. After buying one of the small (.4 ounc) cans @ $5.00 (Stuff is expensive) , I was looking at the bikes when the Salesman started talking to me. After finding out I rode a ST1300, he said that their finance guy did too. Soon Craig joined me and we found that we were both on the ST Owners forum and we knew each other from it. He knew more about me since I post more! After we were discussing the bikes, I mentioned to him about the guy in Bakersfield that I almost bought some plastic off of. He knew exactly who I was talking about and that they had the plastic in their back room! Small world! But at that time, I wasn't about to make an offer on the plastic, after all, it was a dealership.

We went out front to look at my bike and then I was getting ready to leave when he went back inside. As I was just about done, he came back out and said that his boss said I could have all that plastic for $400. I stopped what I was doing and went back in to talk to his boss about it. I told them I would be back next week to pick it up. (Of course I should have checked with my boss first, so it will be the following week! LOL, which we did. We drove up the night before to avoid the heat, because it was going to be 109F that day, and make a trip to Lancaster for my wife's niece's grad from HS party)

I then went looking for a Lowe's to see if they had some small foam I could place on my faceshield (to stop rain from coming inside of my helmet when it is raining!). I found the Lowe's, but couldn't find any foam. I then returned to the area where my hotel was and stopped at Costco for a cheap dinner! Then back and watched TV for a while and hit the sack!

I got up early, got dressed and went to find breakfast that the hotel was serving. It was actually a restaurant connected to the hotel. Some eggs, bacon and a coke. Soon after that, I was loading up the bike and getting ready to take off and the temp was around the 60F mark.

The trip up the 99 was without any problems, other than the stupid cagers. But I got around most of them pretty quickly and got up to Stockton around 11:30AM or so. I texted Dave to let him know I was at the gas station and he came over and we went next door for some lunch and some talking!

After a couple of hours of talking, I took off for the foothills and cold. As I climbed, it got colder. Once in Jackson, it was down to 59F. But it didn't stop there. It took me about 45 minutes to get up to the campground and got my room and settled in a bit. I soon met my neighbor (Gary) and he informed me that we were meeting up at the Pioneer Lodge. The first time ever at the Campground, where it always happens, Ron changes it on me! I knew I should have contacted the Lodge sooner for a room.

So I rode up and met up with a few in the "Bar" there at the lodge. I was there for about 30 minutes to an hour (don't remember), but then headed back to my room at the campground. On my way back I went looking for Pete Springer, who was camping up above from where I was. He had Stuart and Tom up there with him. I visited them for a short spell, and then went back to my room, only to discover my heat wasn't working.

My neighbor, Gary came over and we tried to get it working to no avail. So I went up to the office, which was closed, and found the phone number to call for after hours. I finally got ahold of the gal running the place and she sent down her husband. He started it and it ran for enough of the night to keep it warm enough for that night.

The Next morning it was, get up, dressed and off to the Sierra Restaurant in Pine Grove for breakfast. I got there just in time to see Pete and a few other leaving! As I came in, Rich and one other was there just finishing up. So I sat down at a table and ordered. Just after I ordered, Doug came in and said there were at least three more following him, so we sat at a table for eight, worked out great since we all had gear we needed to have somewhere. So Dave and Raquel with the Goldwing rider (can't remember his name) ate and chewed the fat for a little bit.

It was then time to go to the Pioneer Lodge to gather up for the Rider meeting. Ron had emailed everyone (but me) the ride instructions, and he only had the one copy, so I took pictures of the pages with my cellphone, and then Ron told us all about the day's ride.

Doe has decided that she doesn't want to ride anymore, so she had Ron bring the Miata to lead the ride with. Then Don followed in his Miata as cleanup. In between the Miatas, were 19 bikes. I was the only ST1300.

We all left in one group, and I was towards the front. I had a basic idea where the first leg would take us, but I prefer the front of the pack, compared to the back. After west on Hwy 88, we turned on the road that leads by the campground and continued on it for a while. After 30 minutes we stopped at the gas station we had stopped at many times in the past on 49 & 26. But they have since changed ownership or at least management and they close the bathroom they once had. PIA!

As we were gearing again, Ron gave the okay for those that wanted to go faster, which I would have liked to do to, except by the time I got my gear on, they were off and Ron was already taking the lead on the rest of us! "Dang" or was it! We rode down 26 a ways and then turned off and headed for the Pardee Dam. As luck would have it, I got behind the Goldwing that was going at his own pace, slowing the rest of us up.

The roads took us past some homes and then across two different parts of the dam. In one section, it was a one lane road, so you had to wait for the light to change before going on it. We waited for a bit and finally a number of vehicles came from the other direction, then the light turned green for us and off we went. We followed it around until we came to an over look and we made out second stop.

After we were there for a short time, taking all kinds of pictures of the lake and its surroundings, someone got the call that DaveQ and his '84 V65 Sabre had gone down! We all geared up and took off to go find DaveQ. He had crashed on one of the roads we were heading for, but obviously, he went the wrong direction. We had to turn around and head back the other direction on the road. After a number of miles we came up on him. The Emergency folks were already there. At one point I walked up to the crash point and took a number of pictures when one of the EM folks decided too many people were there. So he asked us all to leave and said to me that there were already plenty of pictures. I knew there weren't, but I had taken a number of them so I returned to my bike and then Don led a few of us to the restaurant where we were going to eat. On the way there, we saw the only rain of the ride, short, thank goodness.

Not too long after we arrived at the restaurant, the others showed up too. DaveQ and Raquel were on their way to ER and the bike was on its way to Volcano, one of the homes of one of the riders with us.

We were at a Mexican Restaurant, but I had a bacon cheese burger (nothing to write home about) and the others enjoyed their Mexican cuisine. After lunch, most, due to Dave's crash, just wanted to go back to their motels, but there were a few that still wanted to ride.

I agreed to lead since I knew the area well enough to get us to Volcano, but I really didn't have Ron's maps (other than my phone) and I just planned to go 88 to the Ione hwy and then go find Plymouth. This caused a couple of issues, the first everyone letting me know I missed one of Ron's turns and me telling them I was heading to Ione, then to Plymouth. I figured they could go on their own to follow Ron's instructions, or follow me.

They chose to follow me, until another one of Ron's instructions confused them again. The second time I continued until Plymouth and found a gas station. I figured if they weren't there in a few minutes, I would just go out on my own, but they soon showed up. I then lead them to the Fiddletown road and a number of miles later to the Ridge Road to Volcano. Both roads are fun roads on a motorcycle. I kept a good, but not fast pace, since I didn't want to lose any of them. As we went down from the ridge road to Ram's Grade road, the turns were pretty tight. Once in Volcano, I stopped and we all took a quick break. They were all saying how great the roads were once we got on to Fiddletown road and loved that Ram's Grade road with the tight turns!

We all then geared back up and took off back to Pine Grove & Pioneer. Not long after getting back, I checked my heater again and it was dead. So I walked up to the office before they closed and had the guy that came down the day before to relight it. This time he brought a log/BBQ starter, so I asked him to just leave it. And I was glad I did. Temps got down to 39F and the heater had to be restarted 4 times during the night. Once I got the heater going, it started raining, so I went out and covered the bike. The rain continued for about 30 minutes and by 6:30 things were drying up. At that point I went over to the Pioneer lodge, to join the others for dinner. As I went into the bar, one of the other riders came in and said DaveQ was in his room and that he wanted visitors. So I went over to Dave's room to find a room full of folks, including his wife, who had driven up to get him and the bike. Pizza was also being served, so I had a slice. Arrangements were made to get the bike into the back of their truck the next morning, but I was to meet my brother, Dave down in Stockton at the restaurant that we had met on Friday, so my time was limited.

As I left DaveQ's room, I ran into Ron and Doe, so I said my good-byes and thanks you's and headed back to the room as the next wave of rain started coming down. I covered the bike and got into my room, just as it started coming down pretty good. I felt sorry for all the guys that were coming back later; I watched a couple of them and they got a bit wet!

The next morning, after getting the heater lit one more time, I got my shower, dressed and loaded the bike by 8am. I was soon off down the hill. As I was leaving Pine Grove, I saw Pete Spring and Stuart heading to Volcano to help load DaveQ's bike in the pickup. Earlier I had thought about the fact that this was the first time in 13 years, 9 or 10 trips up, and I didn't have my trailer and ramp, which would have made loading Dave's bike into the back of his truck, a breeze. About 40 minutes into the ride, my GPS quit on me again (every time the battery gets low, it does this.) , so I continued down to the gas station without any music. I pulled to a pump, right behind a car that was there on Friday when I was gassing up, a really nice 69 Chevelle! I didn't even text Dave, I could see his car there before I started gassing up. He came over as I finished up and then we went back to the restaurant for breakfast.

After Dave and I chatted for quite a while, I finally went back to the bike and started replacing my GPS with the other one I brought with me. As Dave and I were standing there talking, while I setup the other GPS, we saw Terry at the gas station. He came over for a little conversation for a short time. It was then time to head off back south on the 99!

The trip down 99 was without any issues and I didn't even take a break until I had gone over 140 miles. As I hit Bakersfield, I hooked a left onto 58 east and up the hill I started. I was getting too low on gas to make it up to Tehachapi, so I stopped along the way and filled up. I was soon on my way again and as I climbed, the temperature dropped. At one point it got down to 61F, so I stopped at a gas station and decided to take a break while I shifted to warmer clothes. Off I went again, only to get near Mojave, where the temps climbed back up. There was a Rest Area towards Boron, so I waited until there to take my cold gear off.

As I was getting ready to get back on the bike, I had a Japanese guy ask if he could take a picture of my bike. I said sure and removed my jacket so the picture would be better. I was back on the road shortly after. Making the turn in Krammer Junction on to 395 south, which always proves to be challenging. This time was not different. I had a SUV and two Semis up ahead that I got around before too long. And I didn't hit anymore traffic until I was about halfway through the 15 miles of no passing, except in the mile long passing zone.

Once out of that area, I just kept slipping between the cages to get to the front of the lines and I was soon heading down I15 to home. The ride on I215, through San Bernardino and Riverside went without a hitch, and then as I was coming into our area, Chris called to see where I was. I told her I was just entering our area and she said; "Good, I'll wait dinner then." Okay, sound good. As I was approaching the house, I could see that Brett, Katie and the baby where there for a visit.

I parked the bike in the garage and the trip was over!

Pictures: Spring Fling 2016 Pictures