What an incredible day – Let me start by saying that I knew that we were going to have a couple of visitors to our February 4th chapter ride.  But as the week before the ride played out I was more than surprised by the number of people that wanted to join in. 

Shari Wendt, the Eastern LOS Coordinator and her husband Dave (they are both from Chapter 193 in
Woodstock Illinois) were visiting this last weekend and I don’t think they could have asked for better
weather.  We had a great ride planned and it seems everyone within LA, Orange, and Riverside Counties
wanted to join in on showing them a great ride.  All in all we had visitors from 5 Chapters (422, 415, 500,
435, and 109), 71 STAR members in attendance, and 62 bikes on the ride! 

I am happy to say also that we had a phenomenal showing from our own chapter – 51 members at the meeting and 41 bikes made the ride!  So glad you all came out.

Our day started with everyone gathering at the Starbucks parking lot, we were prepared with lots of ride waivers and a pretty good plan.  Everyone seems excited – there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it was warming up nice.  We started the meeting welcoming all the visiting officers – of course Shari and Dave from 193, Marge Cunningham (the West Coast LOS Coordinator) and her husband Colin from 422, Frank Alvarez, president of 415 and his VP Jim Holland, Rac Cossart the president of 500, Tony Barbano, President of 345, Terry Bishop our Southern California (North) State Ambassador, Ron Lopez our Southern California (South) State Ambassador, and Bob Barbano our Western Regional Director.  Whew! 

We also welcomed a new rider to our group, Mike Fry!

We wished Happy Birthdays to Minita Vasquez and John Ruland. Amazing how loud that many people singing happy birthday can get!    That was followed by a brief overview of the upcoming rides and adventures we have planned. 

I presented rockers to Susan Palaoro for Chapter Webmaster, Richard “Taz” Green for Safety Officer and Chuck Giambitti his rocker for STAR Vet Rep, and a Past Officer rocker to Stacy Limbach.  Terry Bishop presented Dan Dobler with his IBMATE (I Brought my A** to Everything) rocker.

After Taz Green’s safety briefing, Dan Dobler did a presentation of Hand Signals for the group.  This seemed to be well received and I think we will have him do this at everyride – maybe some hand puppets next time.  Lol. 

We ended our meeting with the Raffle and 50/50 drawing.  The lucky raffle winners were Dan Sauerwald, Brian Hefter, Mark Pinkney, Gabby Peres, and Marie de Putron.  The 50/50 drawing was won by none other than Taz who went home $115 richer! 

So we broke off into our 6 groups – 6 groups!  I still can’t believe it.  A lot of people tried to get photos of the whole thing but you couldn’t stand back far enough to get every bike in the picture.  Once we were all saddled up, off we went down the 5.  A great view of the pacific and San Onofre, clear enough to see Catalina.

As we made our way down the 5 we found ourselves right next to a white tour bus – yeah, we know where they are going, and all we can do is laugh.  We stopped at the rest stop south of Camp Pendelton and of course, met up with one of those white buses and as usual we found ourselves surrounded by Japanese/Chinese tourists.  We tried to warn some of our guests about this – but I think you have to see it to believe it. About 30 piled off of the bus, cameras in hand, rushing to see our bikes.   A suggestion was made that we should charge for each picture. After a short photo-op with our “fans” we headed down the 5 to the 76 and then inland to Fallbrook. 

There was no way this day could not have been more perfect, 68 degrees and clear skies.  I asked our visitors from Illinois if they were enjoying our weather – they tell me they don’t start chapter rides until after April because of the weather – so I think they appreciated our climate.   The ride through Fallbrook, Bonsall, and DeLuz was incredible – winding, tree covered roads.  We were able to keep a nice even pace as we rode and it was great.  The scenery (lots of avocados and grapefruit) was awesome with lots of amazing houses and views – well except for the bit with the cows and chickens; that was a little stinky. 

At the gas stop we all stood in the sun and just smiled from the great ride.  It was a quick stop and then on the rest of the way past Lake Perris and Lake Matthews.  Of course we had to pass the gigantic arrow in the hillside – I think Chuck is still looking for the big Indian that goes with it…
We reached the top of the hill and were able to pick out Chili’s in the distance – lunch!  I really can’t explain to you the sight of 60 plus bikes all parked together – glistening in the sun – really amazing!  And what a surprise to arrive and find Vinnie Grieva (ISC) waiting for us at the restaurant.    I have to thank the staff at Chili’s big time.  We started out three weeks ago telling them we were bringing about 35, and then we called last week and said we thought it would be about 50, and then we told them Friday about 70 – they were great, brought in extra staff and set the whole side of the restaurant up for us.  A few decided to try the other places in the mall – but most of us stayed in Chili’s and chatted, and reviewed the ride so far. 

We said our goodbyes to our visitors after lunch.  A lot of the folks from the other chapters headed home from there as well, while those of us from 230 continued on to our usual place at El Torito.  Lots of hugs and congrats for a ride well done.  We promised to look Shari and Dave up at STAR Days in July. 

We left there and made our way up the 15 to the 60 to the 57 and back down to El Torito where we thanked our new rider Mike Fry, and thanked everyone for a job well done.  After some reminders on the upcoming rides and events the ride was called.

I left the house Saturday morning thinking it would be nice if we got a good turn out for the first ride of the year.  Knowing that we were doing the charter reading and ride waivers I thought for sure some of you would stay home and wait for next time – I was so wrong!  I arrived at our usual Starbucks location at about 7:00 am.  There were a few of us there early to get everything set up.  A few bikes arrived early and I thought this will be easy, a few at a time – then everyone started showing up.  By the end we were 36 bikes and over 40 members.  Everyone was prepared and quick to get the paperwork done.  We were able to start the meeting at 8:30 – can’t thank you all enough for all your help and cooperation! 

The first meeting was called to order.  I introduced Terry Bishop (Past President) and he presented me with my newChapter President rocker. All of the new officers and appointed leads were announced and rockers presented (Chuck Giambitti/Vice President and Vet Rep, Patty Giambitti/LOS Rep, Jim Rawlinson/Sergeant-at-Arms, Johney Harper/Lead Shephard, John Ruhland/Lead Tailgunner, Richard “Taz” Green/Safety Officer, Susan Palaoro/First Lady).  Rockers were also presented to past officers (Terry Bishop/Past President, Keith Limbach/Past Lead Tailgunner, and Stacy Limbach/Past LOS Rep [although Stacy wasn't present]). Officers who are continuing in their current positions were also announced (Scott Hamilton/Treasurer, Ken Indorf/Secretary). 

We had some visitors this time as well – Barry Shapiro with his daughter Jackie, Doug Cort and Pat Jacques, Michelle Russell, and Carl Artinian and his daughter Alex. 

After a rousing round of Happy Birthday to Rose Cossart and Larry Barton, raffle tickets were drawn.  The four lucky winners were Keith, Luis, Glenn and Gary.  Congrats guys!  Then for the first time in a few years we had a 50/50 drawing with Charlie being the lucky winner of $50.50. 

We finished up the business at hand and split up into three groups of 11 bikes each to head down the 5 fwy to San Diego’s Mt. Soledad.  We stopped at our usual rest stop on our way and as usual were greeted by a bus load of Chinese tourists – where was Dan when we needed him to translate lol.  After a quick stop there we were on to San Diego.   I admit that a lot of the trip was freeway – but the view from the mountain is amazing and surely made up for that.  From the top you have a 360-degree view of all of San Diego county.  Wish it had been clearer but still an awesome view.

When we arrived we parked in the lower parking lot and walked up the hill to the memorial.  If you don’t know the story, Mt. Soledad was built in 1931 and the cross has stood at the top of the mountain for all that time – in the 1990s a group decided that they wanted the cross removed (that whole separation of church and state) – so to protect it, the site was dedicated as a memorial to our veterans in 2000. The memorial itself consists of a large, white cross and placards dedicated to servicemen (and servicewomen) on the surrounding walls.   Plaques were located for Jimmy Stewart, William Holden, General Pershing, Ronald Reagan, and a lot more.
 
A surprise to us was the Channel 8 news van.  Okay – we saw a bunch of bikes and lots of vests – wondered what we were walking into but…relief it was a group of Christian riders that was having a “blessing of the bikes” event on the mountain as well.    Pretty cool. 
Once everyone had a chance to look at the view and the plaques, and Scott Hamilton was able to locate his grandson Colin, we all saddled up and started our decent down the mountain.  The ride up was really smooth and sweeping – the ride down is a pretty good grade with a little bit of twisties – really fun.  Next stop was lunch.  We all arrived at Islands in La Jolla Village and it was really awesome.  Although we had warned them how many of us would be having lunch (around 35) I never thought they would pull it off, but they did.  We were seated and served and out in around an hour!  I can’t thank them enough they were great.  I hope everyone had a good lunch – I hear most of you did. 

After lunch it was a quick stop at the Mobil and a jump onto the 5 north.  Now originally we were supposed to take a little trip up through Torrey Pines and Del Mar, but just the morning before the ride we found out the bridge between the two would be closed and that was that. 

We all arrived around 3:45 at El Torito with only a few peeling off on the way.  After some heartfelt thanks to all of you, the ride was called!  Funny though, it took almost an hour for people to say their goodbyes and leave.  I trust everyone had a great time.  Can’t wait until next months ride on February 4th.