HOME

STORIES

Continuing our year in rides and rallies, we set out for the Western Rally.

We headed out @4:00 AM for Albuquerque NM in a nice thunderstorm. James & Kathy and Gary & I were pulling our bike trailers. Keith Jungesohen, friend of W F and frequent rider for our rallies and runs, was riding with us, but he was the rain gauge.

It was a cool, wet ride until we passed Forth Worth, then we dried out and got down to serious riding… 697total miles. We had breakfast with good friend Mike Mekaya, WFMC from Gallup, NM. He was heading east and we were heading west. We promised to meet back up at the the Western in a few days.

Next morning we decided to go a little shorter distance, 490 miles to the garden oasis of Needles CA. It was 116 degrees in Needles so Kathy and I stayed in the outside pool where is was only in the 90’s. Gary and James cooled by beer in the shade of the motor home, because there were no trees to speak off. We met up with Keith down the road at a little truck stop café and had the best breakfast of the whole trip: Country ham that filled the plate and good biscuits with gravy that rivaled James’. Then we got outta there … heading for shade and water in Santa Maria. To heck with dry heat of the Mojave.

Keith cut out at Needles heading to visit his daughter. So it just the Lovells and the Bates and some great mountain riding. When we reached Santa Maria, we called John and Betty Denning to come over to camp for supper. Kathy cooked up a great meal and we sat around talking for hours. John gave us a new CA map and some shortcuts for the next day into Bolado Park. Another great reason to visit fellow riders in this great club.

At Boladao Park, we pulled our RV’s into the circle and before we got our feet on the ground, we heard a booming: “God Bless Texas!” Ron Simoni ran to meet us with a big hug. We were all wearing our new “GTB” shirts and Ron’s eye got big. Usually the first question Gary has “I just have one question- How long to I have to be here before I’m offered a beer?” This time, Gary said “I just have one question- What size do you want?” Ron brought him a beer anyway and Gary gave him a shirt, which he immediately put on over the one he was wearing and wore it the rest of the day.

We enjoyed the wonderful campsite at Bolado Park, the evening campfires, the bad stories, the food we shared, the beer we shared. Ron and Sherry made sure we had plenty of water and good spots to eat. Mike Sekaya set up a recycle zone and believe me, we had plenty of empties to fill it twice. I think there was a bottle of Jack. Bruce & Erline made some great dip, Barry brought Electric Cherries from Chicago and there were a few tequila cherries, too. Barry won. James cooked a great pork roast and Mindy made some dirty rice. Amy showed us pictures of the special trip she and Dad Ron made together. A few brave souls walked down to the wilder side of Bolado Park and checked out the trade booths and tattoo extravaganzas. Some real neat Hollister shirts

We spent a few great hours and lifted a beer to friends who couldn’t be there at Johnny’s in Hollister. We hooked up with Ken and Sharon Gilbert who took us on a great ride through the “salad bowl” orchards across the rolling hills to the gorgeous Pacific Coast and the Santa Cruz Pier. We had lunch on the pier, took lots of pictures, then walked and shopped for awhile. Then we headed for the redwoods up near Bonny Doon. The Henry Cowell Redwood Forest was awesome, with a very interesting nature trail leading deep into the forest, with some trees 1500 to 2000 years old. This shows all the guys hand-to-hand across the breadth of one tree! It was a cool ride and we were glad for sweatshirts and coats going to Bolado.

The morning of the Western, Ron Simoni’s daughter Amy, arranged a TV interview by the

Safety Station that Ron set-up for WFMC entry into Bolado. (I think we were the only club getting in for free) We lined our bikes up in front of the Chapter 88 Santa Cruz Banner and it was great to see all the clubs represented: Oregon-State of Jefferson,

California -Barbary Coast, Santa Cruz, Fresno, Nevada-Central Sierra, Colorado-Rocky Mountain, Texas-Dallas Chapter #8, Irving Chapter #58, Illinois- Bellwood. I’m sure there were more there that I missed.

The Western Rally started at the Corbin Seat Factory where we registered and got our instructions. It was great to visit with old friends and make new ones. It’s fun to get all the ladies together from across the country (we took lots of crazy pictures). JD was there so we got to visit again. After a brief talk by JR and Ron, we saddled up and took a nice ride out to a beautiful little winery which was closed to set-up for a private party. Prez JR made them open so that we could purchase a few bottles of wine!! Also, sweet Sherri Simoni manned the chase van on the ride with cold water to pass around.

Another lovely ride brought us to the Cutting Horse Restaurant in San Juan Babtista which was our destination for the banquet and awards ceremony. We enjoyed the great food, better company and Ron and Sherri and Amy did a great job on the awards. We were glad to see JD get the “oldest rider” award, again!! He Is The Man!!

All in all it was a grand rally, beautiful weather, great company. We just have one question: “Can we get the same spot next year, Ron?”

Chapter Historian - Mindy Lovell