We lost a lot of good men out there

This weekend was Paul's bachelor party. It wasn't your traditional strippers 'n' blow kind of bachelor party, though. This was a motorcycle ride/campout and it was a great time.

Friday, I took the day off so I could pick up Simon at the airport. Simon, Paul, and I are all old friends from our Arizona days. We're very close, and any time we can all be in the same place at the same time is guaranteed awesomeness. Simon arrived at around 10:30, signalling the beginning of the ROCK.

We met up with Paul over at SF Moto, where he was having some last-minute things done to his scooter. From there, we headed over to Paul's house in the East Bay, where Simon and I immediately began inebriating ourselves while Paul ran a quick errand. We were lit by the time he returned, so we went to lunch.

After lunch, we went to Costco and bought massive amounts of beer, and other consumable goodness. I also got a new pair of shorts, which I quite enjoy.

We did a little more shopping for camping necessities, and then Simon and I headed back to the City, where we continued to get loaded.

Saturday, we hung around the house until around 1pm, when everyone who was riding showed up. We quickly headed out of town, stopping in San Mateo for lunch, and then forging further south. We made our way south on some of the most deserted back highways I've seen. There were miles upon miles of twisty mountain-side roads, some of which were two-way single lanes. We took most of these at around 50 mph, butts-puckered up the whole way, hoping nobody was coming the opposite direction.

We headed a few miles down what we thought was the final stretch of highway before the campground,  around a curve, only to be greeted by a dirt road. As we stood around debating whether or not to head down the road, an old feller in a pickup came out and asked us if we were lost. We explained where we were going and he told us our options: Take the dirt road - 12 miles with about 3/4 of it being dirt, or go back a few miles to where we turned off, and take a different road, which would end us up a few miles off course. He was kind enough to explain that taking the dirt road would put us in the territory where some angry dude had set up a booby trap which almost killed one of his neighbors on his dirtbike, so we opted to go back and try the other road.

When we started down the other road, we noticed a "Road Closed Three Miles Ahead" sign. If it were true, then this would clearly be a problem. We decided to check it out. Actually, we decided to send Steve (the same Steve who made the cool video game, in case you're wondering) to check it out. Ten minutes later, we got the call that all was well so we took off down the road. Three miles ahead, we found ourselves on half of a road. The other half was mostly covered in a land slide. There were huge potholes that were a foot deep to navigate around. I felt bad for the Prius that was following us with all our camping gear and stuff, but he made it.

A few more twists and turns and we rolled in to the camp site. It was about 7pm, but thankfully still light out.

Our friends that didn't do the ride were already there. Scott, who works for Prather Ranch Meats, already had the grill fired up. He'd brought with him massive amounts of steak, sausages, veal, buffalo burgers, and various other barbecue accoutrements. It was truly an amazing amount of food. There was also cake. We ate like kings and got wasted like frat boys. We spent the rest of the night laughing our asses off, telling stories, and even singing songs.

Best joke of the evening:

Steve: Knock knock

Scott: Who's there?

Steve: I ate mop.

Scott: I ate mop who? (pronounced "I ate mah poo")

Everyone laughs like five year-olds.

Runner up:

Steve: Hey Simon... you don't live here, but do you ever read the Chronicle?

Simon: No

Steve: Oh, so you probably don't know about what happened at the zoo?

Simon: I don't think so... no...

Steve: You haven't heard about what happened at the zoo??

Simon: No! What happened??

Steve (flexing his arms, Hulk Hogan style): These two big pythons got loose!

Fuck, I about fell out of my chair.

At around 12:30 or so, the last of the firewood burned out, so everyone started off to bed. Last conscious person at the fire, I took it upon myself to let Brian know we were calling it a night. I poked at him, and he grunted a bit. I told him the fire was out and he should go to his car (where he was planning on sleeping). He grunted again, and I decided my duty had been fulfilled. As far as I know, Brian slept in that chair for the rest of the night.

Sunday morning, we packed up and headed out. We took a more direct route home, with a nice stop in Santa Cruz for a hot chocolate. The roads home were almost as twisty and fun as the ride down, so it was a fun ride.

We chilled at home for a bit, and then I took Simon to the airport. It's always sad to send Simon off, but he'll be back for the wedding in a couple of weeks. I headed home and went to bed, exhausted, at about 9:30. I'm still pretty beat.

My bike did great. We logged somewhere between 250 and 300 miles and it ran good and strong. I hit speeds up to about 75 mph with no scariness from the recent front end rebuild, so I think that's good. Everything that I recently assembled stayed together. The bike was comfortable and strong and it responded really well as I tossed it left and right through the curvy roads. I love that bike. It fucking rules.

I hope to get at least one more awesome ride/campout in before the end of the Fall.

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