Uncle Bill writes:

The final ride day. A relatively short one; only about 250 miles or so.

Yuma lived up to expectations when the sun came up. The day was bright, clear and hot. When we started out I was in jeans and a T-shirt. The ride through the eastern California desert was relaxing and fun. We stopped along the way for some photos and, in a real "Small World" moment, we spoke with a truck driver that Wayne knew. As we passed an 18 wheeler hauling specialty cars, Wayne saw the driver and thought he knew him. Mike got the guy on the CB and discovered it was true. They were old friends. With schedules looming both us and the driver we didn't stop, but we got a cell number for
Wayne to call later.

Then it was over to Loren's house. He has a lovely place in the hills east of San Diego. He took us in the back way through all the canyons and hills We drove passed all the construction of new homes (and the remains of many others) that were destroyed in the fires last year. It was very sobering. At Loren's we met his wife Katie, had lunch and made plans for getting to Long Beach. This was going to be the most difficult part of the trip. 8 bikes and a van on the Southern California freeway system. It was harrowing, to say the least, but we made it in one piece.

As we drove up to the Hyatt next door to the convention center, we met Richard Pilbrow and his wife as they were checking in. They were the first to welcome us Long Beach After getting sorted out and checked in to our various hotels we met for the ride to the party at the Rock Bottom Brewery. We were met there by a number of people, including Mike Garl and Tray Allen from James Thomas Engineering.

And so the ride is over. On Wednesday we'll put most of the bikes in the SRI booth...the plan is to fly Loren's bike, and go about the conference business. It's been quite a trip.

Bill