The weather reports for the planned meeting day kept bouncing back and forth
between stormy and just cloudy, with the last forecast we checkied on Friday
indicating that Saturday would be cloudy, but very little chance of precipitation.
So Larry, Holly, and I decided Saturday was a go for a 1:00pm meeting at the Wagon
Train Cafe in Truckee, CA for lunch and the official hand off of the NART shirts.
It was indeed cloudy when I got up Saturday morning, but the sky wasn't spitting on
me, so I saddled up and left home around 9:00, heading east on California State
Highway 4 towards Ebbetts Pass and on over to the east side of the Sierra Nevada
mountain range for the run north to Truckee, passing by Lake Tahoe along its
east shore. The weather took a turn for the worse before I reached the pass,
starting with rain, then progressing to hail and snow as my elevation increased.
Fortunately, it never got too bad and I made it over the pass without incident.
Since I was riding alone, I had hoped to find some people hanging around the summit,
as there usually are, however, with the bad weather, I was alone. The reason I
wanted to find someone was to have another body to take a picture of me holding
the shirts in front of the sign indicating passage through the pass. It was not
to be, so I rode on. Here is a picture I have laying around of that sign, taken
a couple of years ago; imagine me in front of it holding up the shirts, only the
image in your mind should not be nearly so bright and sunny. :-)
At Markleeville, I headed north on highways 89 and 88, entering Nevada just before
arriving at the turn off for Nevada State Highway 207; I turned left there to take the
Kingsbury Grade over the Carson Range to the east shore of Lake Tahoe. Still in
Nevada (the California/Nevada border runs right through the middle of the lake),
I turned north on US highway 50, which skirts the east shore of the lake. At highway
28, I turned left to continue north along the shore. I arrived a scenic overlook
just about the time my butt needed a break, so I pulled in. I took the opportunity
to get a picture of the lake, the bike, the shirts, and my destination, all rolled
into one:
The weather had continued to improve as I rode north, and as can be seen in the picture,
it had become downright nice, although still pretty cold.
By the most direct route, it was only another 45 minutes from this point to Truckee,
but it was now 11:45, so I needed to kill some time; I chose to continue the ride
along the shore, going around the north side of the lake to Tahoe City. Here I
rejoined California State Highway 89, which passes along the west shore of the lake;
I turned north and rode along the Truckee River on into Truckee, arrinving about 10
minutes early.
As I cruised along Donner Pass Road, looking for the restaurant, I spied Mr. RC45
parked riderless next to a Honda Superhawk with rider aboard; I knew this had to be
Holly Ober, as how many RC45s does a person find in downtown Truckee on any given
Saturday afternoon. :-) I pulled in next to Holly and she informed me Larry Lovisone
was staking out a parking space and she was going to get it as soon as the cage that
currently occupied it pulled out; Larry would run interference until she and I arrived.
After dismounting and making mutual introductions (we'd never met IRL before), we headed
into the cafe to have lunch, chat, and get on with the business at hand. Here are the
bikes parked right in front of the cafe:
After stuffing ourselves, we took care of the official hand off of the shirts; I filled
out the forms with my mileage, etc., then signed the shirts as Larry took the picture:
Afterwards, we stood around outside the cafe and chatted while Larry disassembled Mr. RC45
to find a place to put the shirts and keep them safe and dry; it seems he didn't have
enough room in his tank bag and the only way to access the area under the cowl was to
remove the body work. I took a few pictures of the disassembly and re-assembly process
but, alas, those are in Larry's camera. I'm sure he'll post them with his ride report,
along with some pictures he took inside the cafe and of the three of us on our mounts
outside.
We parted ways after that; I headed back south, taking the west shore route, staying on
highway 89 all the way to Markleeville (again), then west over Ebbetts Pass and home. The
weather was much drier this time, but it was still very cold. A couple of cups of hot
coffee when I got home warmed me up.
The last I saw Holly and Larry, they were heading towards the north shore of Lake Tahoe and
a planned overnight stay near the CalNeva Casino. I hope they didn't lose too much money... :-)
All in all, a pretty good day of riding, although I could have done without the snow. It
was great to meet Holly and Larry and put faces on folks I've talked with via reeky for
years. :-)
Created on ... September 19, 2004
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