Made another food run with the Girlfriend on the back. This time it was to Julian at the Miner Diner. The food was surprisingly good, even if I did pay over 6 dollars for a milkshake! On the way home we took the 79 down past Lake Cuyamaca. We were keep our eyes peeled for some good places to go camping and spotted a few. Overall a good ride until the long boring stretch of the 8 we had to ride to get home. Sunday I rode to Idyllwild with the usual gang of suspects including an old friend from high school. I think it might have been one of my favorite rides ever, even including the part where I took my bike into the dirt after coming into a hard right too hot. Idyllwild was a very cool place and we’ve already booked a weekend of camping there in “Dark Canyon.” Only a couple of hours of riding made it seem like we were in a different state. I am really starting to appreciate this area and how you can pretty much drive two hours in any direction and put yourself in a completely different environment. I guess thats why living here is so expensive.

What was supposed to be a trip out to Jacumba turned into a pretty long ride, 217 miles to be exact.  While eating at the Jacumba Hot Springs restaurant we asked the locals there for some advice on some good roads to take back home.  We ended up taking S2 across the desert to hit the 78.  It was definitely a good ride although S2 does get pretty boring.  The best part is the 78 between S2 and Julian.  That’s such a fun part of road although last time I rode it in a group ride two people lowsided which made me pretty nervous, especially riding with a passenger.  Bre took some great pictures off the back of the bike, something I want to master while on the front.  Probably not the safest of ideas.   Click here for a map of the route.

Here’s a few shots from the latest March Air Force Base “Airfest.”  My pics did not turn out so hot, it’s been awhile since I shot an airshow and it is easy to forget how hard it can be to get a decent shot of airplanes.  Anyway click below for the gallery.  For more info on this event visit: marchfieldairfest.com

Rode up to Julian with my girlfriend on the back.  It was our longest trip 2-up and it went very well.  The bike felt very solid and I could almost forget there was someone back there.  We stopped and had a good breakfast buffet and headed home.  On the way back the 78 was closed down to one lane due to a motorcycle accident.  Come to learn later it was someone from a group ride I was planning on attending but opted out for the shorter ride.  I wish the fallen rider a speedy recovery.  When we got back home we scored a great deal on a leather jacket for Bre to wear on rides.  In the afternoon I took her to a school parking lot and gave her her first motorcycle riding lesson and she did great. Not even a stall.  Unfortunately I didn’t take the camera this weekend so I offer this gallery of my first motorcycle instead. 79 Vespa p200e.

I rode around 400 miles this weekend starting with a ride to my parents house in Orange County.  Then, Saturday morning I took the 5 south to Ortega Hwy over to the 15 south.  Great ride over Ortega, I forgot how fun that road gets towards the lake.  Had a quick stop at the lookout to take the view in.  Unfortunately no camera with me at the time.  On Sunday I did the usual Wildcat Canyon/Barona Rd./78 run to Julian, made a couple of runs up and down Old Julian Hwy then on a whim took Sutherland Dam road to see what was there.  I always wanted to turn on that road after passing it a million times and it was pretty worth it.  Not so much for the riding but for the nice views it offered as you can see in the pics above.  The road itself was pretty trashed with no lines panted and a ton of gravel and sand all over the place.  Stopping for lunch on the way home I bumped into a group of trikes which was cool.  All the guys were really friendly and I even got to see the infamous Star-Trike in person.  All and all a good motorcycling weekend.

Is anyone interested in making a ride out to Kingman, AZ by way of hitting up as much as Route 66 as possible?  I have made a map of my proposed route here.  I am open to suggestions as far as the route goes as I am not too familiar with the area.  I plan to make it to Kingman in one day then stay the night there and head back in the morning the next.  Also, I will be making stops for photographs and random spots along the way.  If anyone has any suggestions or wants to join along let me know.  I plan on making this trip within 4 weeks from today.

I met a lot of new faces and a lot of new roads on this ride.  Overall a good experence except for all the cops, sand in the road, and three bikes going down.  Luckly nobody was hurt.  I must say the turkey club and french fries at Carlees in Borrego Springs was worth the trip and I look forward to making this ride again.  The desert is going to start getting hot soon so I want to spend as much time out there as possible.

This is my first attempt at taking my good camera out riding with me. I need to tune the settings on the camera better for the action shots but overall a really good ride. Weather was gloomy at first but cleared up really well and road conditions were great except for some gravel in a spot or two.

My second ride with the Meetup.com crew.  At about 250 miles round trip I’m pretty sure this was the longest ride I have done on my bike.  Rode on some absolutely amazing roads and met some awesome people.  Every time I ride with these guys I feel like I learn so much.  Here is a map of the route.