Wolfman's Harley and Trike Hangout

Polar Bear Run - 01/05/2002

Polar Bears?? Sure.. Why not? We were going crazy and wanting to ride somewhere. So what if it is January and I could see snow (lots of it) covering the nearby Sierra Nevada's. My Bro Hollister Steve says he was going.. So, we sent the word out. Mark and Joanie always like to ride.. But Joanie kept asking me "what if it snows"? She went out and bought rain-gear and after that I think that she was okay. Scotty was ready to go... He is a good Bro and loves to ride. I met the "Tazman" at a get together at MaJ's and included him on the (Let's RIDE) EMAIL that went out. We ended up with a pretty good group of riders. One of Taz's riding buddies (Bryon) also came along. Oh yeah... Most of the folks that ride with me, have heard me say "All that I need is 15 minutes notice and I will ride anywhere". Well, I guess it was time to "walk the walk". The night before, I had work to do and didn't crash out until 05:00 AM. Me and Chris woke up at 08:50. The Crew showed up at the Compound at 09:08. No problem... 18 minutes to get ready. I was a bit groggy for awhile. I didn't realize until later that Mark had a minor problem turning his Lady's bike around. Did I mention that Brother Steve sent me a EMAIL the night before explaining that he had poison oak all over his body and wouldn't make it? The morning of the ride... I logged on to cyber-space and got a EMAIL from him saying that he went to the Emergency Room and got some shots? and he was going to make it after all. Cool.. All that we need is for me to get it together so that we could get to Jamestown (about a two hour ride). We were taking the back-roads (Highway 49) all the way to Angel's Camp and then we would shoot across Rawhide Road to Jamestown Harley Davidson. I had time to smoke a cigarette and drink a cup of coffee and we hit the road... I didn't even grab our camera. Mark took the pictures that are included in this story. THANKS MARK.. Mark will post his version of this adventure on his and Joan's web site later. Me and Chris always enjoy reading his Motorcycle Diary and when we ride together we exchange the pictures that we take. That way, he can use any of the PICs that we take and vice versa.

Anyway, we made it to Angel's Camp pretty quickly. It was time to relieve ourselves and see what Mark had in his "Wet Bar". I made myself a "red beer" (kinda like a bloody mary, but beer instead of wodka). After drinking that.. I started to feel like the Wolfman that we were all used to.  We got rolling again and made it to Jamestown at about 11:30. We found Steve and started to figure out the route the run would take us on. About that time.. Me and Steve spotted a bar across the street... I haven't seen Steve since Sturgis and the occasion deserved a beer and a shot of "jack". Okay.. okay.. So maybe we stayed in the bar a little too long (we were all in there for a while). It was time to get rolling with the rest of the herd that was leaving. But where was Brother Steve? The last thing that we remember Brother Steve saying was "I am going to move my bike to where you guys parked". That was some time ago.. We finally got ready to roll, but we couldn't find Steve. I looked for his ride (always look for a Bro's ride; if his ride is gone.. he is gone). I couldn't find his green steed. The Run started over a hour ago... Okay, we won't take the "route". We will intercept the riders somewhere before the final destination in La Grange. We talked to one of the Locals and figured out how to get to J59. Got there... let the other riders (great turn out.. must have been at least 250 riders) pass us and joined the pack. Huh?? Still no Steve. I figured that Steve would end up in La Grange eventually.. So we rode to La Grange and kept an eye (or two) out for Steve. We checked out some of the bikes while we were waiting.. There were some pretty cool bikes around..  

Killing some more time waiting... Scott and Joanie went after some food at the La Grange Road House. Bryon was trying to say "Hi" to his sweetie on his cell phone. He couldn't get a signal.. (that's the way it is in the Foothills). I was just about to "saddle up" and go search for my Bro when he rolled into town. Cool.. I guess that he got distracted and joined the herd when it left Jamestown. Alright, that's better... the crew has all made it here okay. Let's see what is happening around here... These little Gold Country towns are great... The people are nice and the bars are cool. Most of the bars are in the town hotels. We hung out for a while.. 

We decided to roll at about 03:30. So that we could make it back before a on-coming storm hit us. We all said good bye to Steve... Steve had to roll south back to Hollister. It was good to see him.. We are all looking forward to this Summer's Four Corners Rally.  

The rest of us had planned on rolling back to the Compound. But... The ride would not have been a success unless I got us lost at least once. We ended up going the wrong way when we left La Grange.. But, we found a nice place to gas up. It was getting late and we got word from Sacto was that it was pouring rain in the valley. But.. I should know better than to try and make up time by taking a "short cut". We ended up about 28 miles south of Highway 49. The rest of the Crew decided to get on Highway 99 and take it back to Sacramento. Me, Chris and Scotty found Highway 49 and made it back to the Compound. It was a great ride and a great time. Life is good.....

Click on the link to see the pictures... Polar Bear Run