The year began with the sun
rising in the Eastern sky. Now that’s nothing new, but it seems like we always
get it late compared to those guys out East, but then again, at least it’s warm
here in the West. I’m not sure how much of the rest of the country was riding
on January 1st, but we sure were.
By 10 AM a small group of us were gathering outside President Tim Grabers famed mansion in Costa Mesa.
As Tim wrenched on his machine’s brakes out in the street, the rest of
us chatted and conversed about the comings and goings of 2006 and now
2007. Only a handful of guys showed up
for the first run of the year, but those who did were in for a real treat.
One, two, three, four little
Indians were on hand for the first chance to ride in 2007. Tim Graber’s 1929 101 Scout was the oldest
machine on the ride; Tom Hart’s 1939
Chief came in second; Craig Dillmann’s 1945 Chief was
third and Marc Gallin’s 1950 Chief rounded out the
Big Four. The machines were lined up and
looking good, and besides the Indians, we did get a “Just Legal” 1972 Triumph
Daytona, owned by Bill Harris joining us too.
Nice to see the late model bikes getting their legal status on the AMCA
Team.
The group departed at around
10:30 AM after giving anybody who couldn’t make it “On Time”, a last chance to
arrive. We fired up those old Machines
and heading down the back streets through Costa Mesa down to the coast. Once we hit the Pacific Coast Highway, we
headed north and rode through some of the most scenic beach cities in Orange
County. Newport Beach, Huntington Beach,
Sunset Beach, Seal Beach and finally Long Beach, just across the Los Angeles
county line. Wow, it was all happening
in such a short time too, as this entire route only covered about 25 miles
one-way.
Once we hit LA County, we headed
west and rode through the towns of Naples, Belmont Shore and finally ended up
in Downtown Long Beach. We made a quick
pit stop and took some photos of the group down by the seashore and then headed
inland and took a roundabout loop through Downtown Long Beach. Seems like Tim was a little confused and
couldn’t find the restaurant he had picked for lunch. But after some 10 turns and a bunch of
looping around and around, we finally arrived at the famous Roscoe’s “Home of
Chicken ‘n Waffles”. It sounds like a bad joke—fried chicken and waffles on the
same plate. But Roscoe’s is one of those places that you have to visit at least
once to see how it works (and judging by the wait, it definitely works). If you
want to see they’re funky website, follow this link: http://www.roscoeschickenandwaffles.com Since I was a huge fan of both fried chicken
and waffles, this seemed like a perfect place for me. It certainly was as everyone totally enjoyed
their lunch.
Following our chow break, we
climbed aboard our trusty steeds and rode a couple of blocks back to the coast
where we parked them in the garage of Tim’s Condo. A true home away from home. Seems like a miniature version of the Graber
mansion we started our morning at, but in a slightly trimmed down manner. The condo was on the 8th floor and
had a wonderful view of the downtown Long Beach, the Convention Center and the
Pacific Ocean. Man, Was that ever cool
hanging out on the balcony, but after a bit, Tim rounded up the group and told
us we had to hit the road. Oh well, all
good things have to end, or do they?
Once we got downstairs to Tim’s
garage, I noticed a strange thing with my Chief, “I had no juice.” After checking out all the possibilities, Tim
brought out some jumper cables and Tom Hart
did the honor of giving me a jump.
Seemed like that was all I needed to get my Chief fired up again. Keeping the RPMs up was the trick in keeping
it running, but that’s all it took. The
bike ran a bit rough, but it got me home with Tim and Craig following me all
the way. When I got home, we found that
the brake light switch spring had unhooked and that’s probably what drained the
battery down during lunch. That
wonderful meal came back to haunt me, but overall a great time was had by
all.
Now that I’ve got my feet wet for
2007, there’s no stopping me. I’ll do my
best to come out and ride with the group whenever time allows. Happy New Year
to all and to all a Good Night...
By Tim Graber
The dawn rose
bight and clear. (No, I did not see it). We had the regular group over for
trivial pursuit and I slept in a little. I did get the coffee on in time for
the arrival of the early riders. Dave Cook (Harley “K” model) and Tom Hart (‘39
Chief) rode in from Long Beach.
Marc Gallin rode his ‘51Chief and Craig Dillmann trucked in his chief from “The
Valley.” (I apologize for missing the other riders). We left Costa Mesa about 10:15and headed up the
coast. It was clear, clean, and sunny. Traffic was light and the scenery was
fabulous.
We watched the
surfers in the water in Huntington Beach and gazed
across at Catalina Island, 22 miles across the
sea. Breakfast was at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles on 4th street in Long Beach.(I had the
chicken liver and cheese omelet). From there we took a quick tour of some high
rise condo’s overlooking the water and the Queen Mary in Long Beach. The group broke up for the ride
home and Craig and I followed Marc back to his place in HB to make sure that he
made it. Seems as though he had a wires shorting out which caused an abnormal
drain on the battery which impeded his ride’s performance. Craig and I shadowed
him home and then we boogied back to my place. Craig loaded up his ride and his
date for the ride back to the “Valley” and the ride was complete. Thanks Craig
for bringing your machine down the 90 miles in order to ride 65 with us. That
is starting the year out right!