Traveling to Southern California? The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley is featuring a motorcycle exhibit until November 9. It contains 35 motorcycles divided into three sections: classic to modern Harleys, vintage motorcycles dating back 1899, and movie and celebrity motorcycles.
This tip is specifically for inseam-challenged riders but is valuable to anyone getting accustomed to two wheels.
The 4th dawns damp and overcast. We rethink our bunking in the screen-walled gazebo by the Lake and move the things that need to stay dry (clothes, bedding, electronics) into Mike’s parent’s motorhome or the car’s trunk. I do a run to Cannon Falls to do laundry and discover a winery! The evening’s fireworks — managed by Mike’s second cousin (and the host of the reunion) — are incredible.
Details to come. (I shot a video of the fireworks but it’s more than 15 minutes long – YouTube max.) The trip summary page.
I want to visit Red Wing! Who knew that the boot company was named for a town? This turns into a family expedition. Mike and I are the only two who can’t find shoes/boots to fit. (There’s a buy-2-get-1-free deal.) It’s HOT and humid. Doh! We’re in central Minnesota in early July! (Google Map; the trip summary page)
After a visit to Aerostich Rider WareHouse in Duluth, we avoid the construction on I-35 by taking “surface” roads. We head south to St. Paul, where we stop by the home of Mike’s maternal grandparents. The folks who bought the house way-back-when are still the owners and graciously welcome us and show us around. Mike makes a pitch for the pool table! As we leave, Mike’s parents and brother are driving up to do the same thing!
Then it’s a stop at the Apple Store to try to figure out why I can’t download images from my iPhone. The tech does an archive-and-reinstall of the OS. I’d had a wipe-and-reinstall done earlier in June. Finally, we get to Cannon Falls, the site of the family reunion. (Google Map; the trip summary page)
Spending the night in the car at a CENEX truck stop is probably more fun in your 20s. But when you can’t get a motel room after trying for about an hour — and you’ve been in a major thunderstorm and are tired and it’s late — you do what you have to do.
In the ladies room at the restaurant across from CENEX, I get to explain to two women from Alberta that the “wah-wah-wah” sound they heard last night (“Was it a tornado warning?” was the emergency warning system announcing the thunderstorm. They spent the night in their truck instead of their tents. We’re all tidying up; no shower but large sinks!
