Rode to Utah for Memorial Day Weekend
The drill team that I ride with, the Gold Angels Motorcycle Drill Team had a performance at the GWRRA Region F Convention in St. George, Utah this past weekend. I rode up alone on Friday, really early, and arrived around 1:30pm local time to help my teammates set up the field, and supervise the "Amazing Team Challenge" (ATC) open practice. The ATC is an obstacle course set up with cones with prizes for fastest time through it on your motorcycle.
xianjaguar drove down from Cedar City and hung out with me all weekend. It was nice to have some company, and a co-rider who knew her way around town.
Saturday was our performance, and we teamed up with the Arizona Precision Motorcycle Drill Team to put on a great show for everyone. The local St. George news wrote about it and even linked to some video here:
http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2013/05/26/caldwell-gold-wing-road-riders-convention-rolls-in-for-drills-fun-show-stgnews-videocast-and-photo-gallery/
Right after the performance, Teams started showing up for the ATC. Around 4:30, everyone had finished competing, so we picked up all the cones and called it a day. XJ and I went for a brief ride around town, and then had dinner.
Sunday morning, XJ went to the services at the convention being hosted by the Christian Motorcycle Association while I loitered around the lobby and vendor hall, browsing and chatting with members of my GoldWing family.
As a member of the drill team, I get a little bit of celebrity status - people I don't know come up to chat, always wanting to know how we can control those 1/2-ton motorcycles as if we were in a ballet performance.
After the services were over, XJ and I headed out to Zion, where except for the 15 minutes or so to get through the gate, and a couple of 3-minute stops at one-way traffic choke points, it was a really pleasant ride. The highlight of the day was when XJ saw a horned sheep, so I turned around to get a better look at him.
After the ride through Zion, we went to the convention's closing ceremonies, had dinner, and passed out fairly early. In the morning, I packed pre-dawn, had breakfast with XJ and some of my San Diego GoldWing chapter members, said my goodbyes and thanks to XJ for keeping me company, and headed home.
With a couple of my chapter members riding with me, we took the 15 down to Vegas, then turned to back roads to avoid the predictably horrid memorial day traffic. We went through Henderson, Nipton, Cima, Kelso, Twenty-nine Palms, Palm Springs, Anza, Warner Springs, and Ramona before getting back into the San Diego area where everyone peeled off toward their respective homes. The 530-mile trip was 13.5 hours with Lunch in Twenty-nine Palms, and a Dairy Queen break in Anza.
It was a wonderful weekend. ;)
xianjaguar drove down from Cedar City and hung out with me all weekend. It was nice to have some company, and a co-rider who knew her way around town.
Saturday was our performance, and we teamed up with the Arizona Precision Motorcycle Drill Team to put on a great show for everyone. The local St. George news wrote about it and even linked to some video here:
http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2013/05/26/caldwell-gold-wing-road-riders-convention-rolls-in-for-drills-fun-show-stgnews-videocast-and-photo-gallery/
Right after the performance, Teams started showing up for the ATC. Around 4:30, everyone had finished competing, so we picked up all the cones and called it a day. XJ and I went for a brief ride around town, and then had dinner.
Sunday morning, XJ went to the services at the convention being hosted by the Christian Motorcycle Association while I loitered around the lobby and vendor hall, browsing and chatting with members of my GoldWing family.
As a member of the drill team, I get a little bit of celebrity status - people I don't know come up to chat, always wanting to know how we can control those 1/2-ton motorcycles as if we were in a ballet performance.
After the services were over, XJ and I headed out to Zion, where except for the 15 minutes or so to get through the gate, and a couple of 3-minute stops at one-way traffic choke points, it was a really pleasant ride. The highlight of the day was when XJ saw a horned sheep, so I turned around to get a better look at him.
After the ride through Zion, we went to the convention's closing ceremonies, had dinner, and passed out fairly early. In the morning, I packed pre-dawn, had breakfast with XJ and some of my San Diego GoldWing chapter members, said my goodbyes and thanks to XJ for keeping me company, and headed home.
With a couple of my chapter members riding with me, we took the 15 down to Vegas, then turned to back roads to avoid the predictably horrid memorial day traffic. We went through Henderson, Nipton, Cima, Kelso, Twenty-nine Palms, Palm Springs, Anza, Warner Springs, and Ramona before getting back into the San Diego area where everyone peeled off toward their respective homes. The 530-mile trip was 13.5 hours with Lunch in Twenty-nine Palms, and a Dairy Queen break in Anza.
It was a wonderful weekend. ;)