Rolled into San Bernardino just before 8:00 local time.  What a day!  Woke up in Vegas (without hangovers!), checked out and loaded the bike, said good bye for now to Susan (sis) and Roy, then met up with Ted (brother) and Cheryl for breakfast at IHOP.  I guess we lingered there a little too long; didn’t hit the road for Laughlin till 10:50 AM.  It was worth it to spend the time with them. 

Traffic was light heading to Laughlin, but oh, that wind!   It’s been such a constant out west that I think I’m actually getting used to it (he’s not on the back of the bike!).  We started wearing ear plugs after Forrest City, AR and that has helped us deal with the wind and traffic noise.

Laughlin was very cool.  This was our first bike rally, and we didn’t know what to expect.  Riders were coming and going all day, so we saw lots of bikes on the road before and after we left.  While there, we enjoyed the constant thunder of bikes rolling up and down the street.  We cruised the vendor tents, of course while enjoying adult beverages!  The Indian Company had a semi wth lots of nice bikes, and there were several custom builders displaying their machines.  We also chatted for several minutes with Sherry from Hog Holder Co (http://www.thehogholder.com/ ).  I loved their product and will probably get one when I am back home.  See picture below.  Of course we had to get event shirts, and a nice nutritious vendor tent lunch (no chains here!).  We finally rolled out around 2:30 or so.  Did I mention it’s windy out here? 

We figured with the late start we wouldn’t make it to Pasadena, and we were right.  But we’re close!  It was just getting dark when we rolled into San Bernardino.  Coming down the mountains there is a wonderful long and winding 6% grade that felt almost like the downslope of a roller coaster.  It was exhilarating to travel that stretch going 80 mph on the bike!  Tomorrow we meet up with Debbie Hockersmith Fukuhara in Pasadena.  Can’t wait!

By the numbers: here are today’s stats: drove 340 miles; fill ups were 41 mpg and 44 mpg.  Later gators![gallery]

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 26th, 2009 at 12:18 am and is filed under On the Road. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.