Wordjanitor Strikes Again

Destination: Stillwater Cove, Fort Ross, California Mileage: Approx. 340 miles, round trip Food & lodging notes here...  Should we ride 150 miles to go camping for one night? Let's do the math: Good people, good roads, good food, good laughs? That's 25 miles for each good. The math works for me, even without one of TG's grand spreadsheets. Load up, let's go. And really, by the time we got home, there were far more goods than that, so the goods per mile just kept getting better. TG wrassled with MapQuest and the Garmin zumo to map the route. It should be as easy as creating the map hiding behind that little link right below this paragraph, but... Oh well. I wanted to say, "Head North, Young Man," but you know how boys are with their electronic devices. Day 1: 2+2 Wheels Up the Coast Route: Silicon Valley to Fort Ross via CA-1 150 miles

Notes from stops along the way on the North Coast... Point Reyes Station Food: Cafe Reyes, Station House Cafe Marshall Food: Hog Island Oyster Co. Jenner/Fort Ross Sleep: Stillwater Cove Campground

Once upon a time on a very hot and humid planet, I learned about squeaky cheese. I have now been to Planet Wisconsin. And yes, cheese curds do squeak when you eat them – not in a mouse “eek” way, but a sound they make against your teeth. It’s a little weird, honestly. When I told people I was spending a week in Wisconsin, they invariably asked “Why?” I told them I wanted to throw cheese curds at giant mosquitoes.I expected the cheese curds to be more like cottage cheese, which would have been quite a messy way to distract bugs. And I expected the mosquitoes to live up to “Wisconsin State Bird” status I’d been promised. The mosquitoes were completely overrated. I didn’t need a tennis racket to fend off the little vampires after all. Although both my grandparents were born, raised, and met in Wisconsin, I’d never been before. But the reason for this trip was joining the Tall Guy to visit his family.

Feather River Canyon. Cars above train above river. Destination: Quincy, California Mileage: Approx 500 round trip Food & lodging notes here... I'd been hearing about last year's Quincy trip ever since the minute everyone got back. So when they posted it to the Meetup schedule waaaaaaaay back last winter, it was a quick click click click, sign me up! Day 1: Ugly Fish & Pretty Rivers Route: Quincy via the Delta and Feather River Canyon The morning started with 50+ of us descending upon on an unsuspecting Livermore Starbucks from random bay area points for pre-ride caffeinating and safety talking. It's a funny thing, when that many motorcycles show up in a suburban strip mall, the coffee sales go up but the minivans seem to scatter. Go figure. We staged in four groups, each with a lead rider and a sweep rider. We're big on safety and small on egos. It's safer, less stressful, and therefore more fun. As for the sweeps, it's a bit like the ...

In this post find out about food and lodging from our Feather River Weekend trip... Natomas Food: Virgin Sturgeon Quincy Food: Pangea Cafe and Pub, Courthouse Cafe, Cafe Le Coq, Morning Thunder Cafe Lodging: Spanish Creek Motel, Ada's Place Penryn Food: Cattle Baron's Click here to get the story about the trip. FOOOOD! Virgin Sturgeon   Natomas, California Right on the river, lots of parking, and very casual. They knew we were coming, so they were prepared for enough that 50 people in jeans and leather jackets didn't throw them for a loop. The pulled pork sandwich was great. No fries on the menu because the restaurant is actually on a houseboat -- no fryers on floaters. Learned something new on that one.

New roads, goofy friends, and lots of laughing. That's an understatement -- the part about the laughing. Maybe goofy is an understatement too. And on our last ride, some of the roads were really, really new. As in they were being paved as we rode by. Riding a motorcycle on a brand-new road is kinda like hot fudge on a sundae: smoooooooth.  As for helmet hair? No understatement there. Bumble and Bumble have nothing on Arai and Shoei . I got my M-1 two years ago and bought a motorcycle. Two months later, I was rear-ended while in my car -- my really easy to see red car -- and my back hasn't been the same since. It's one way to keep the chrome on a bike bug-free. :-( Anyway... But I'm a heck of a pillion . No, not an animal pelt.

Sprouts: More than just a garnish. Sometimes having a precocious kid is a health hazard. More specifically, sometimes having a precocious kid is a choking hazard. We're sitting at the dining room table. He's doing his homework and I'm reading Sunset magazine. He looks over at a page with a picture of a salad with a garnish of sprouts on top. "Mommy, those look like sperm." Wha? Huh?! Cough, sputter, choke... Wait, do I choke or laugh? Dammit! Wait, breathe. Now, OK mom, time to put on the card-shark face and handle this.

As I was driving to work in my sensible car, the local classic-rock station started playing songs that were popular when I was in high school. U2 is now classic rock. Not even early-career U2, mid-career U2. I cursed out the radio -- probably drowning out Bono crooning "in the name of love" or something equally inappropriate to have cursing as accompaniment. Ah, but that was just one of the rude awakenings that have arrived at my doorstep in more frequent numbers these days. Or, if not rude, they're just not terribly polite nor invited awakenings to my advancing age. I kept finding long blonde hair here and there in the house. I accused the dog of having an affair. Then I realized they weren't blonde. They were gray. And mine. Alas. And why is it that my gray hair comes in completely straight while my brown hair remains characteristically corkscrewy?