2008 Yosemite Rally

[planedick]

BMW????

I thought this was an XS11 rally. Where's the XS? My crotch rocket riding buddy wanted to go with me, but I told him it was for XS11 owners.

[LoHo]

I believe that anyone can attend, regardless of the crappy bike they ride, as long as they accept the fact that they are socially inferior and that they are able to withstand the verbal and physical abuse they deserve...

[planedick]

Ha Ha

I kinda figured that, but when I said that it's an XS11 rally he declined anyway. I can't find many that like to ride like I do. He's the only one so far anyway. Rides a Suzie 1000, Katina I think..... I don't pay much attention to his bike anyway as he's always back there trying to keep up.

[3Phase]

Just have to pack

Well, I made it to Aridzona and back. The bike runs great, so I'll be able to make the Yosemite run tomorrow!

Regards,

Scott

[DiverRay]

I'm still working on a good set of carbs!! If I can't get it running well before 10:30, I'll be going in a cage! I WILL be going up, and E.Liberty will be along on HIS XS1100!!
SHMBO will be with me, or driving her car. It all depends on ME finding out what is wrong with the carbs!!

[REFFI]

Hey Planedick, XS's are a state of mind. I'd be riding mine still if I could have someone to do the wrenching anywhere hear me. The dealer who worked on the bike since I bought it, new, turned me away. She's gone to a good home and I have stepped down to a newer, weaker, different classic.

Ralph

[LoHo]

Well, another rally down...drier than last year, and we almost got to Yosemite.

Ray, did you guys make it to the valley this morning?

Ralph, what happened to you? Did you head home Saturday?

Mike, Tom, and Scott, thanks for making the trek!

Jerry, if not an Iron Butt, you should have at least a bronze, or is it a Brass Ass?

Tkat and Carolyn, thanks for all the help and we'll see you this summer. I'm sure that by August I'll be doing a repair and Cail will say, "Hey dad, you're doing that wrong...Tkat says you should do this, this way and then do that, that way..."

E. Liberty, happy fathers day and thanks for two-upping my son. I know it put a crimp in your peg-dragging, but he enjoyed it a ton.

Uncle Spot, what's up?

Let's get some reports and pics up so they don't think we just camped and drank (hic)...

[DiverRay]

I'll be posting my pics in a while, AFTER I DRIVE to Merced and get "Daily Ride"!!
Penny and I had a great time, we DID make the Yosemite Valley in the morning, and then headed for home about 11:15am.
I filled the tank in Mariposa, and headed down 140. About three miles outside Merced, I dropped into third to pass two cars. Just as I was about even with the front car, I heard a "sproing" from the engine area, and the rear wheel locked up!! There is a single black mark on 140, in the EASTBOUND lane, that was me, trying to keep it up-rite and in a somewhat strait line! I came to a stop about three feet off the road. I DID start the engine again, so I know it runs. It just broke something in the transmission, and locked everything up!
I will NOT be working on it for a while, as I need to borrow a trailer and get it home, and THEN find some time to work on it.
I just hope no one else had that kind of "thrill" for the ride home!

[planedick]

Home

I got outa there about 6:30 and home about 11:45. Uneventfull 341 mile ride home except the bad feeling I got when I got beat by a HD. AT 130 mph I could not even begin to keep up!!! Don't know what kind of HD it was or how much it cost, but I'll bet he had to spend at least $50,000 to get one to go that fast.

I had a good time, especially the food. LoHo and family put on a great rally and feed. You guys who missed it, really did miss out on a great time.

[REFFI]

Yosemite Rally

Posted on XS11 / Yahoo site 6/14/08

I know, you're all asking how someone could be posting on the Yosemite Rally when it's not over until tomorrow. well, I'll tell you. The rally was over for me Friday night. I rode into the mountains with Mike and Tom from San Diego, and with 3wire from the Simi Valley (I apologize for forgetting your name, but I met so many great people, you, and they, have become a blur)

I was booked into the same motel as Diverray and his spouse. After unpacking I put the bags back on the bike because one of them contained my jacket liner and a sweatshirt (anticipating the cool evening to come). The motel sits about twenty to twenty-five feet below the road with a steep drive in, a sharp left across a bridge into their parking area. Going in: piece of cake, though the gravel at the entrance to the bridge is deep but easy does it.

Coming out: Another story. I attempted to brake at the top of the driveway so that I could look up the road for traffic. Tried to put my right foot down, but, "down" wasn't there. So, over we went, the bike and I. I got it shut off, then began to ponder how to get the sucker upright when it's on a downhill slope. Fortuitously, a very good samaritan was passing by and offered to help me right the bike. (Damage: Cracked windshield and a snapped off right side rider's foot peg.) He did, and before I could thank him or offer him some money, he was gone. So, to the guy in the red car with the two dogs, I hope you win the lottery!

Anyway, I made it to the KOA where the festivities had, obviously been going on for a while. LoHo puts together a mean shindig. It was great meeting people who heretofore were just names on the list.

I especially want to thank Mike and Tom, who with much greater ingenuity than I could muster, conceived of moving the right hand passenger peg to the rider's peg position. The pins don't line up, that's OK, here's this tire tool that will fit, and lets wire it into place. Et Voila! I'm a viable rider again with a place to rest my right foot. Had it not worked, I could have gotten home, uncomfortable, using the passenger peg and my highway peg, but it was much better with their fix.

I am eternally grateful and, Mike, if you send me your address, off line, I'll be happy to send your tire tool back to you, so maybe you can save somebody else.

This morning, notwithstanding the Tylenol Arthritis I took, my body was way too reluctant to roll out in time to make breakfast with Diverray at the Miner's Inn. (It seems that the KOA, in order to enhance its revenue charges $6.00 apiece for visitors to the campers who are already paying for the space. Serious grumbling ensued. I'm sure when, and if, LoHo plans the next Yosemite rally (I'd really like to see one all the way through.), so changes or arrangements will be made.

With more Tylenol, I was able to pack up and get going around noon. I was hopeful that the Fresno dealer would have a foot peg, but no joy there. So, I decided to just head on home. I left Mariposa around 1:30 (Fill up, rear view mirror adjustment with borrowed Allen wrenches, and telephone calls to dealers in search of a footpeg.) Took a long break at a rest area, because there was shade and a breeze hoping that as the sun set the temperatures would lessen. (Once above 3000 feet, they did.) Stopped for fuel and fluids and once to put the liner in my jacket and don the sweatshirt and glove liners. Total elapsed time: seven hours and 45 minutes.

The possibilty was broached about a central coastal rally sometime this summer: Sign Me Up.

Ralph

P.S. Scott (3wire) called me today to check up. It was much appreciated. I'm bruised and battered but mobile.

Ralph

[3Phase]

Home, home again! I like to be here when I can!

Okay now, THAT was fun!

It's 11 O'something PM and I got home about a half hour ago but I didn't get to drive PCH -- too much fog and wind, so I'll upload the pictures I have tomorrow after I get some sleep and I'm not all bleary from the road.

I'm calling this new bike "Columbo." The tip (useful) portion of the speedometer needle broke off in San Luis Obispo and dropped into the innards behind the faceplate somewhere so I drove the rest of the way home with the tach... nothing else eventful or even mildly exciting happened. It was a good ride.

Loho: Thanks, man, that was a great! You have a good family there; must do this again when the tunnel isn't on fire and all that!

Reffi, DiverRay and Penny: I'm glad you're all okay. Sorry about your bikes but it was good to meet you. You can fix the bikes when you get a couple of round tuits.

Mike and Tom: Thanks for sharing the shelter!

Jerry: You the man! All the way from Colorado!

(Special) E.Liberty: LMAO!

Tkat and Carolyn: It was a pleasure to meet you both and I hope you made it home okay with the sofa. I haven't seen the remote. Have you looked under the cushions?

To the kindhearted graduates of the Don Rickles Charm School: Thpbpbpt!

That's all I can remember right now and my eyes are....

Regards,

Scott

[LoHo]

'Aight...here's the scoop on why we didn't make it into the valley...but got oh, so close:
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/309422.html

[Jerry]

Home OK

Well, I made it home at about 5:00 PM MST without incident. Have much to say, but will wait until tomorrow when I get my photos downloaded.

In the mean time, I would like to add my thanks to those tendered to Larry and Kellie (sp?) for putting on this shindig. Also was great seeing Ray and E. Liberty again, has been a couple years. Always nice to meet the 'new' folks like Mike, Tom, Reffi, Richard, Scott, Penny, and Carolyn. Of course, it is always a treat to chat with Tkat.

Food was great, company was excellent. I did not suffer as much from the Saturday cut short as I had toured the park on Friday, and hit a lot of it again on Monday on the way out. The photos I plan to post are primarily from those two days.

One closing note...there are parts of this country that are not worth riding through more than once. While I have ridden to every rally so far, any more rallies on the west coast will result in me trailering the bike. Ely to Tonopah is a case in point, and even Ely to the outside world is a stretch.

Total mileage: 2,475 give or take a couple miles.

More to come.

[Special Ed]

Yosemity say I'm

What a wonderful time! Loho, Kelly, thank you for an absolutely wonderful job of hosting the event. The only downside for Ray and me is going to be matching your largess when it comes to footing the bill for a possible mid-coastal rally later on. The only negative was "The Wicked Witch of the West," the manager of the park, who seemed to have been a graduate of the "Don Rickell's School of Customer Relations."

Then there was the rather unfortunate decision to take us the long way through the southern entrance to the park rather than the closer western entrance. After a stop-and-go, ride 100 feet to the next shade, shut her down till traffic moves, then ride another 100 feet, entrance to the park, we road around twenty miles through the usual mundane, panoramic vistas of Sierra forest and valleys. Just when the scenery was really starting to get interesting, we were turned back by the report of a fire in the "tunnel." Beyond the tunnel is a panoramic view of the Yosemite Valley in all it's splendor, as recorded by Ansel Adams, and thousands of lesser known figures such as Mrs. Miriam Cohen, Sukie Tahkahashi, Bob Smith, and yours truly, Edgar Darwin, AKA, E.Liberty. There was some discussion of taking a side trip up to see Glacier Point, but there was some slug in a cage in front of us who turned up the road, and our fearless leader made a split second decision to not follow. Besides, we were starting to get hungry. Seemed like a good idea at the time, so we headed out of Yosemite Park for Bass lake and lunch.

After Bass Lake it was pretty much "every man for himself" back to base camp. That evening was spent grousing and bitching about the declining state of Western Civilization and amusing our lady guest and each other, with ( quite possibly alcohol-inflated,) tales of thrills and spills and epic trips on two wheels!
This while Loho was grilling to perfection, a couple of tri-tips for us!

The next morning we met at the (?) restaurant in Mariposa for a final de-briefing. Kelly insisted on paying for my breakfast just because I had transported her son safely through the ride. Kale's folk's were so kind to me just for taking him on the back of my bike for the trip, but I kept wanting to ask him: hey Kale, what do you think of yer folks naming you after a disgusting green leafy vegetable? But, discretion not being my forte, I decided to wait and ask it here. Be that as it may, Kale was an absolutely delightful young man. He thanked me several times for taking him on my bike, and it was obvious that his parents were raising him right!

Our Yosemite passes were good for seven days, and the Scottish blood in me just couldn't stand the thought of letting such value go to waste, even if it wasn't I who paid for it. So Sunday after we bid each other adew, I decided to take in the park by meself. I road up 140 along the Mercead River to the entrance to the park: this in itself was a very memorable experience.

Oops, this is tuning into a short story. I have pictures of Yosemite which I hope to post when I finish this narrative, Bye for now!

E.Liberty

[LoHo]

Jeez...you try to give some newbies the view of a lifetime and all you get is grief. Besides, the view of that gal on the Hardley in front of us was pretty good, too.

And "Kale" was not named after a leafy, green vegetable, Cail was named after a leafy, green great-great-grandfather.

Thanks for totting Cail almost to Yosemite, pal...and we look forward to the Mid-Coast Rally.