The weather in lo-cal so cal was perfect. OK, a little hot.. OK, a lot
hot, but no humidity. It had been a while that squidboy and I had gone
riding, just the two of us - so I neglected to call or post we were
heading up... 

Breakfast at Newcomb's, and then I realize my map is at home, so I
have no idea how to get from the end of the Crest to a road that would
lead to Lake Elizabeth (I hadnt ridden Lake Hughes in a while).

The Crest past Newcomb's has some bad memories for me, so I dont tend
to ride it much - but it was fine. My only problem was the tar stripes
causing my front end to wriggle - still too disconcerting.

We then manage to get UTTERLY lost trying to find Pearblossom highway
to some connector road that would lead to Lake Elizabeth. The heat is
too much for squidboy, and we give up taking Soledad canyon to San
canyon to Vasquez Canyon to Bouquet Canyon. (I dont like Bouquet much
- too many cages parked or driving and too many stupid people walking
out in front of your motorcycle...) Bouquet has a turn off to this
piquant little road called Spunky Canyon, a twisty, nasty bumpy fun
road...

	that's just been re-paved! whooHOO!!! 

except of course, we run into the first slow pokes of the day - three
sport-bike riders, in full leathers, riding like old slow men on a bad
day..  I'm not kidding! they were braking into every turn and going
about 20 MPH - even I, slow as I am, can take this road at twice the
speed..

Squidboy disappears, as he manages to pass them, but then we got into
the really twisty stuff and I couldnt manage to get by them and they
refused to wave me past. I ended up pulling into a turnout and waited
a bunch of minutes, and then headed thru the turns..

wow. this road was cool in its old nasty condition, but its even
better now. :)

Caught up to squidboy and waved at the clueless riders (only one
finger) and headed to the Rock Inn, on lake Elizabeth road for
lunch... we see a couple of Harley's, who leave as we sit down, and
then another club appears - one was a trike that had been the back end
of a Volkswagen, and a couple of folks wander in. As we leave,
Squidboy points out that there are absolutely NO harley's in that
group, tho the club was founded in 1955... (goldwing, valkyrie, Vmax,
volks trike and soe other Honda).

Decided to head home and to figure out where that STUPID connector
road was, so we took Lake Elizabeth to the 14 South, to Pearblossom to
Angeles Forest to Hidden Springs, where we stopped for some more cold
water.

The most amazing thing happened...  Someone came over and started
asking me about my Triumph.  Squidboy usually takes over bike
conversations, but this time he was remarkably quiet as I talked to
this young, good looking guy about my bike... I asked Squidboy what's
up, and he says, "Just letting you bask in the glory of the fact it
wasnt a weird old guy..."

(usually, when someone comes over to admire my bike, its _always_ a
weird old guy who had a couple of Bonnies in his past... (no, I'm not
kidding, even with the new t595, no cute chicks! ))

The ONLY real Moron moment of the day - we're on Angeles Forest, and a
white camaro comes around the corner, leading a couple of other cars,
none of whom could manage to stay in their lane - fortunately, I was
not yet into the corner, tho suddenly the camaro swerves AT me.

I find out later that squidboy had almost been run off the road in a
corner up ahead by the same idiot. The driver saw squidboy, and then
crossed over the double yellow to take 2/3's of the other lane.

	*Yikes!* 

Too much traffic at the base of the Crest, and we head home from there
- 240 miles in all.

next weekend? Off to Laguna Seca!

Gayathri
--------------------------------------------------------------
gayathri@world.std.com		Calamari Club #002, WSMC #701
		'98 Triumph T595, "Huckleberry Hound" 
		'90 Suzuki GS500e, 'trackbike'

	"Life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to
	be experienced."	- Kierkegaard