Wayne Stevens Memorial Ride
Caldwell, Idaho
August 2-4, 2005
Submitted
by the Stevens Family
Thanks from the family to all who came to
ride with us. We had 25 people from five
states, ranging in ages 2 - ??? and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. We had a spaghetti dinner for a get-to-know
each other event on Tuesday evening, hosted and cleaned up by Ron, cooked by
Tom, who was assisted by Ron’s daughter Angie.
Wednesday we started from the hotel,
heading for McCall and New Meadows. The
weather was so nice that the vote was to go clear up the canyon to Riggins, on
the Salmon River. The plan on
Thursday was to go up to Yellow Pine, but just past Warm Lake the road became dirt, so we opted for lunch at Warm
Lake Lodge. The Forest Service had said
that the road was paved all the way to Yellow Pine now, but obviously they
don’t drive their own roads!
On the way back to town, the leaders saw
an interesting one lane road along the river, so we rode that to the end and
made it back to town in time for a dinner of burgers, etc. cooked by the hotel
manager, who invited us all back anytime!
We had a surprise birthday cake for Ron, who started the second half of
his childhood the following Sunday. We
received certificates of appreciation from Ben Beberness, who was unable to
attend because of a bum knee!
Friday morning several folks loaded up to
head for home, but a few rode their bikes back to Boise where they had left pickups and
trailers. We all enjoyed ourselves, and
appreciate the tribute from Wayne’s
many friends; maybe we’ll do it again!!
Wayne Stevens Memorial Ride
By Tim Graber
Well, it was a long
awaited event. I had the pleasure of participating in the first Stevens “ride
along” in Idaho so I knew I
wanted to be a part of this one. After I got all of the ride flyers out on
email I blocked out the calendar and made the plans. Unfortunately Janis was
not able to clear her schedule and I had to travel alone. Loaded the ole Dodge
up with the knuckle head (1940 EL, original paint 22,000 miles) and made a run
for the Nevada border. Great ride
up 395 through Walker canyon, Topaz
Lake, and Bridgeport.
I, like my dad, will never tire of this panoramic ride. There are some 10’s of
beauty in this world and this is one of them. I had a great meal at one of my
little brother’s houses’ and enjoyed a sunset, star gazing, and conversation.
Left town the next morning and headed out I-80 until I found 95 and cruised out
and up through the Nevada, Oregon
upper desert region into Idaho.
Wow, another great ride and I hadn’t even fired up the knuck! I gave Ron
Stevens a call and let him know I was on the way in. He was waiting my arrival
to take some supplies up to Cascade for the run just (another) 90 miles away.
When I pulled into the driveway Ron was all ready. He had a 6ft cooler strapped
to the trailer and provisions with which to load it for the expected guests. I
counted a couple of cases of “pop” and a larger count of cases of beer. We made
sure to get them up to the cabin and to get them cooled down. It was so
peaceful by the time we got things unloaded we decided to spend the night and
make the round trip the next morning.
We got back into
Boise about 0900am, just in time to reload the truck at Pat’s house and get
over to the yard to greet the expected guests. I say expected because only a
few actually arrived. Even though we delayed the ride departure a couple of
hours, those that had called to announce their participation did not show.
We left the yard
with a fun loving group of 8 or so bikes and a caravan of 4 trailers or, a
supply trailer and 3 trailers that needed to depart direct from Friday’s start
point! We experienced a great ride up to Idaho
City and most of us stopped for
lunch. Seems as though the famous Joe Perry missed the stop. He and Luis Ybanez
were having too much fun or maybe they knew what was ahead. They met up with us
again late in the afternoon at the hotel. Of course they missed all of the
action. Joe’s wife Arleta was driving their truck with the trailer. After lunch
she started the truck and was not able to turn the wheel. I checked on her to
see if she knew the way toward the hotel and she said she had a problem. Well I
checked out the situation and found that the power steering, wasn’t. A quick
check under the hood and the problem was discovered. The idler pulley had
broken. Fortunately for Arleta it occurred just as she pulled up for lunch. A
quick huddle of the “know it alls’ present determined that the best approach
was to have Ron’s son Nick run back to town on the modern BMW to fetch the
part. We decided that the parts would be back in 2 hours and that Arleta should
change trucks and have some fun. I had fun too. I rode out over the twistys 45
minutes and then I turned around and went back. I loaded the “knuck” into the
trailer and Nick showed up with the part. It took us 10 minutes to put it on
and it was time to leave. Nick assured himself that I knew the way and he
charged off through the twistys to find the group. I found them 3 hours later.
The hotel was fabulous. Free DSL, fee
coffee, free cookies, free breakfast, and oh so frilly.
The daily rides
were superb. The roads were traffic free. The weather was perfect. Not hot,
just comfortable, not humid. The sights were Idaho
perfect. The food stops were luscious and the evenings were full of
camaraderie. The Stevens provided a great Italian meal (spaghetti, salad, and
crust bread) for all at the cabin on the first night. Let me tell you that Pat
and family are great cooks and great hosts. If they ever offer up the
opportunity to go for a ride you ought to plan it, tell em you are coming and
show up! I did, and I’ll never regret it. I had a blast and I actually forgot
about all that I did not need to think about. Work is better now.
PS: special
thanks to Joe and Arleta Perry, Don and Gail Woodard, Luis Ybanez, Jim Moore,
Ron Stevens, Tom Stevens and the others who rode the ride. I would name their
rides but I forgot to take notes. Ron was up on the black 47 and Tom was on the
Chout. Wayne kept us all on the
rode. Thanks
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