"Update 04/27/99" Well, we made it there and back. We were suppose to leave on Friday around 1:30 P.M. The mother in law wasn't on schedule due to the Airlines messing around so, needless to say, we finally hit the road around 3:00 P.M. Being a lovely day..(Drizzly, cold, dark) we went up the 14 HWY towards Palmdale. We got off the freeway for the next Hwy and the rain was a little thicker. Corey's clutch cable was acting up so we decided to take it easy. Corey, Junior, Sheesh, and the wife and I made our way east on the Pearl Blossom Hwy, towards Victorville. After some fun, riding in the exhaust of a bunch of cars and trucks, wer made it to the 15 North. We headed to Barstow for fuel. At the gas station, Junior spies a familiar bike heading over to the other gas station, so we go over there and Garth is gassing up. Garth has a pink bike with a real personal paint job. He's a tall and big son of a gun and he's never going to paint his bike until someone calls him a faggot. I don't think anybody (in their right mind) will ever do that so, Pink looked fine to me! He has a nitrous oxide tank on his bike for a little extra zoom, if he wants it. Anyway, we all split barstow, with chase vehicle behind and headed toward the 40 Hwy. We went east on the 40 and started to pick up the pace. At first I was a little bothered about driving 70-80 MPH, especially with the wife on the back but after a few miles, it really didn't seem to make a difference how fast we went. I think the fastest we got going was about 90-95MPH. But again, it was just in spurts for me, I only drove that fast to catch up. I think the others were doing about 120MPH (for a bit). The wind was nuts. The truck blasts were incredible. I was hangin on myself for dear life. We ended up taking a break at a rest stop where we added oil, wrenched some loose bolts, had a cigarette, bundled up. Of course the moment we got back on the road, the wind had ceased and the ride was just chilly. The moon was trying to come out as we headed into Needles. Gas was $2.09/gallon (Whew!!) Thank goodness for having small tanks on bikes. We went north towards Laughlin and rode on some back road. Sheesh's fannyback fell off, I picked it up and returned it, she had no idea it was gone. Downtown Laughlin was electrified. Bikes were everywhere! Parking lots were overflowing with bikes, booths and people. All of the people on the streets were yelling at us and rooting us on. It was a really fantastic feeling. Police were everywhere but the hot-rodders didn't care. The police couldn't do squat while the bikes were still moving and they were way outnumbered. Estimates of the turnout came in at 50,000 bikes/people. I think that when the noisy, hot rodding clowns stopped for a break is when the police would give em' tickets..(I would assume). We dropped off Garth at the Colorado Belle and we made our way to Katherine Landing, where our houseboats (beds) waited. We pulled into the landing at about midnight. Junior was pretty hungry so we walked over to the bar and demanded food and drink. Of course they were out of food (due to the cook gone home) but drink was no problem. I guess staying out of town has it's pros and cons. We couldn't drive back to town (too many beers) and Pizza Hut didn't deliver. Just as Junior was scrapping off twenty bucks from Corey and I, Troy showed up with the van (thank you!) and off Junior went (in the van) back to Laughlin in search of the almighty burger. It was now 2:00 A.M. Junior came back and we ate cold fries and flat bunned-burgers. It was better than nothing and I personally relished every bite. Of course, I shared it with my ravenous wife who hadn't ate since breakfast, the day prior. We made it to bed about 3:30 A.M. and boy, did that crappy bed feel good. Next day....Woke up to drizzle. The wife and I figured we'd get a bite to eat at the local restaurant before the day got too late and we got in line. Laughlin brings many people from all over the place and the 50,000 people bring in lots of money to satellite towns. Katherine Landing brought in addional help and I can't imagine what it must be like with out it. We spent two hours at our table waiting to be served, We saw people come, order and go. Talk about frustrating. I was ready to go a few times but when I saw that the table behind us wasn't being served either, I knew it was nothing personal. We finally finished off our "brunch" and headed back to the bikes. Every one was ready, except for Corey, he had some last minute business to attend to.. So, we hit the road to get gas and journey over to Oatman. When we reached the gas station, we found out through some other riders that there were sobriety check-points up and during the ride to Oatman. We decided that wasn't good for the majority of our crew so, we headed to the Riverside Casino parking lot. We secured our bikes in the lot and walked into the Casino. It wasn't five minutes and we lost Corey, Junior and Adam. (Amazing!!) Everyone looked alike. Black leather jackets, mustaches, goatees and the same walk. Needless to say, it was futile. Sheesh made quite an entrance into a Bingo area (oops) and we were told to leave. They take that stuff seriously.. SO we went to the vending area, got some Jack and Cokes, hot-dogs and walked around. There was a band playing for the majority of the day. One of the funnier moments of the day was in line waiting for the toilet. There were these people wearing these shirts that said "F___ you Bob". There were about 10 people wearing this shirt and I didn't understand what was going on. All of a sudden, this guy comes out of the head and his shirt says "Bob". Everyone in line (about 30 of us)yell at this guy "F you Bob!!" It was hysterical. The guy just laughed and threw his arms up in the air. "Yep, that's me". After that we walked around looking at all the vendors wares. We stopped off at the "Windvest" booth and I told them about how disappointed I was with the product. They told me they were working on a longer shield and that I might want to change the angle in which it's currently mounted. It works to a point but not quite what I was hoping for. We finally ran into Corey and after a lengthy day, headed over to the casino for a little grub. It had rained earlier and there were still alot of people mulling around inside.

OH MY...SHE HAS HER LICENSE!!! BEWARE,BEWARE!!

My wife's bike was a 1999 Harley-Davidson Sportster. It looks just like this except that it is Black. This picture really doesn't do it justice at all. Maybe I'll get some pictures of us riding to Laughlin together so you can really drool!.(Never happened, she sold her bike)

1998 LOVE-RIDE

The Love-Ride was fantastic. We left for Glendale Harley-Davidson at about 7:00 in the morning. Early registration was at 6:00 A.M. and I wasn't about to get up that early... My brothers and about 16 other bikes left early for the lake and they got registered there. I had spent all day Saturday polishing my machine, making it look real pretty. Low and behold, the freeways were soaked from the night before (RAIN) so, my bike looked like hell by the time I even got to Glendale Harley. We stayed until about 11:00 A.M. on San Fernando Blvd, there was an accident (non-bike related) on the freeway, so it postponed things quite a bit, then we finally left with the crowd. There was every type of bike on the parade route. Many different brands and styles. There were even a few enduro's there (Off-road/On road) When we arrived, we took the time to mill over all the different vendors that supplied great Harley accessories. The food was provided by Tony Romas (Ribs) and it was fantastic! After we ate, we located my brothers (in the middle of course) down in front of the muddy stage. George Thorougood? (check that spelling!) was really smoking. George's group played a super set. After that Steve Miller performed and as always, you kinda forget the music you grew up with until they play it for you...LIVE! It was truely an incredible experience. Great music, great beer, cool weather, great wife, great brothers and the best motorcycle in the damn world.

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