Today is 6/13/10
Today's journey starts off at the hotel in Flagstaff. The best thing about the hotel, which I can't remember the name of, was it had two beds & a shower. Overall, obviously very forgettable.
We load up and head out about 7:30am. After the long day on the 12th, we decided to "relax" a bit. Weather was a touch chilly, but nothing like Colorado. We hit the road and stop in Prescott for breakfast at another cool little diner. Great food, nice people and well, not unattractive waitresses ;)
We have Much nicer riding conditions as we ride towards Earp, CA The ride through the mountains was Very cool. I got hung up behind some rather slow moving cars; my own fault, of course. Hans, on the other hand, was able to get out in front of the slow movers and got to play for awhile. Lots of twists and turns.
As we get farther into Cali, it just continues to get hotter & hotter. We felt like we were walking across Death Valley. In reality, it was just a long hot ride to Twentynine Palms. When we finally got to 29 Palms, we stretched and sucked down some water. By the time we got there, Morten had already arrived from Norway.
Closer and closer we get to LA and the busier and busier the roads start getting. By the time we get outside of LA, it's late afternoon. We take another quick break for gas & water and a stretch and mentally gear up for the last run. I've got to say that running on the "I" in LA on a motorcycle at the end of a long 500+ mile trip is really not what I would call a laff-fest, but it was Well worth it. Only 3 or 4 close calls on the highway. We rolled into LA close to dusk and pulled into the Hacienda Hotel.
The Hacienda is a pretty cool older hotel not far from LAX. After we pulled up front & got off the bikes, and again stretched a bit, Morten was there to meet us. Apparently, they don't get many bikers pull up near the valet parking. We made a bit of an entrance :)
Morten was certainly glad to see his boy & it was great for me to see that and to finally meet my son's father. After a few minutes of getting acquainted and reacquainted, it was time to unload the girls. This would also be the last time we would "have" to load up the t-bags on the bikes until the end of the trip. Gotta love a van for lugging around all your crap on a 2 week trip. ;)
We got the bikes unloaded and talked to a pretty cool valet to figure out where we could park the girls. I'm pretty sure he wanted to take them for a spin, but, well, not just Anyone gets to take one of Joey's ladies for a ride. At any rate, we were able to get them some shelter and locked up for the time we were there.
Next up was the "interesting" part of the stay at the Hacienda. Turns out, the hotel had Joey sleeping on the floor in Morten & Hans' room. Well, since we know things happen for a reason, there was another gentleman that had been "roomed" with another and he had actually paid for a private room. Case closed right, Joey has another place to stay, with a Norwegian biker, or so you would think.
I went to the front desk to get a key and get everything taken care of. That, my friends was an adventure in and of itself. After I couldn't get the "lady" at the front desk to get it right, I had to enlist Morten. At least in part because I was dain dramaged at the time. Long & hot rides will do that sometimes. Anyway, the conversation went round and round and round and oh yeah, round again. She really turned into a bit...not nice lady and was getting frustrated because Morten didn't understand what she was saying...as if! We got our guide involved and after more arm twisting and undoubtedly a few uttered Norwegian curse words, we got it all straight.
Finally armed with a room key, we got my stuff out of Morten & Hans' room & I got nekid, uh I mean, got a shower and cleaned up. Mind you this was ONLY about 2 1/2 hrs after we arrived there. The roommate who we'll call, "Roomy" as sound asleep and snoring away. Joey & the Boys went out for a much deserved cold adult beverage, for Joey & Morten anyway, and some food.
What a Great conversation! After just a few minutes, we were all laughing and having a great time. OK, so there was a fair amount of picking on Hans, but isn't that what Dads do, anyway? A couple hours and beers later, it was time to call it a day.
Success!! We made it to LA and only sweat & a little bit of oil was the cost; yeah, yeah, gas & food, too. Not bad, not so bad at all.
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