Third Saturday in August

Yay! We're going to Julian! I know it it's commonly called a 'chick' town, but it's a fun ride and who doesn't like pie?
Chris and Kathy were able to join us this ride, Chris is a San Marcos firefighter. He's been fighting the fires up north and this was their first opportunity to ride with us. Here's their cool Harley.

We also welcomed Karen, who is going to be joining us as our chase car driver. I hope she and Traci were discussing the best pie locations and not work, since they sit six inches away from each other all day at the church!

Mike does the pre-ride, notice his extensive notes.
Ready to go, right on time.
Karen also doubles as another photographer, which gives us some new angles on the group shots.

This months contest-Guess the Location. It's either Gopher Canyon Road or Old Castle Road. Since I took this picture more than ten minutes ago, I can't remember.

Mike couldn't find a chicken farm to take us by this ride, so he had to settle for a dairy.
This is leaving Valley Center, where Cal Trans will be employed through the Rapture.
Grill Master, Chili King and Fearless Leader-Mike and Traci
Scenic shot on the way to Lake Wolford.

Our break was at the second lake of the day, Henshaw.

Dueling photogs-Oscar takes a break and a picture.
And I take one back. Oscar has gone to the dark side and bought a Mac. This has presented a new challenge to my blogging skills since they come in another format. Oscar will be making my life easier by the next ride-right Oscar?

Karen got a shot of my hair glove, which seems to fascinate people everywhere I go. I know, they should get out more.
Leaving Henshaw, we headed to the Hideout, where the facilities were more to our liking since we the only option at Henshaw was an outhouse. We're bike chicks, not barbarians.

Here we are at the Hideout, where a guy tried to throw Karen out of a parking spot because it was, unbeknownst to her, bike parking only. Once she told him she was with us, he couldn't be any nicer.
More dueling photogs.
Masen contemplates the wild life.
Hey, is that a phone booth in the foreground? I thought they were extinct.

We went out Mesa Grande Road, where there was some cool scenery and and a wrecked crotch rocket on the side of the road. Wayne, Chris and the chase car stopped to help, the kid was okay-his bike was not. Here's some of the scenery.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but this is the great view as you head up the hill to Julian, back across Santa Isabel. It was a beautiful clear day and never got hot.
We're here! We stopped first for lunch and to admire a few other bikes.
Oscar and Masen. Sonia was coaching her first soccer game and couldn't come on the ride, they had a tough loss but Rachel (her and Oscars daughter) had fun so nobody cared!
Kathy joined Karen in the chase car for part of the ride. They had fun bonding and Kathy gave Karen all kinds of good tips for being a chase car. Here they are cozying up over chicken livers. Okay, the chicken livers aren't here yet, but they were coming.

Mike and Traci.
Oscar went home from here to watch the soccer game, Tony and Masen went one way, Chris and Kathy another, and the rest of us went searching for pie.
Chris and Kathy in romantic Julian.
In the bag Chris was carrying was a swank biker hat for Karen, who needed something to keep her from being harassed at biker joints.

Karen models her cool hat.
There were about a million (maybe a little less) bikes in town that day, which was loud and fun.
Here we are, loaded up with pie and ready to head home. Notice more bikes across the street.
Chris ready to ride. Right before this, some Julian tourists asked to take our picture because we looked cool. They too, need to get out more often. Okay, they were right, we do look cool.

The view down the hill.
On 76, just west of Palomar we came upon our second wreck of the day. It looked like someone was in the back of the cruiser, we hope it was the rider and his ride down the mountain wasn't an ambulance. Earlier in the day just west of this, there was a fatal bike accident that occured when a sport bike tried to pass and lost control. We have never seen one incident, today there were at least three.

Warm weather and many new, inexperienced riders make this stretch of road someplace to ride even more cautiously.
Despite the wrecks, we had a great time, Karen drove home with about six pies in the truck and she and Kathy showed great self control in not opening one of them! I should have gotten a picture of all of us trying to load pie onto bikes for the ride home from Starbucks, but I was figuring out my own pie situation. Everyone and their pies made it home just fine, and we had an awesome day.

Remember -September 27 is our Big Bear Ride! We will be sending out a couple emails soon with information about the ride so keep an eye out for those.

Keep your eyes on Jesus, and shiny side up and the rubber side down!