The Blues!
The Words!
Words from Daryl
The Few, the Brave and the Hardy…. Made their way to Brawley to see the Blue Angels Fly
Recent weather got the best of the So Cal VRCC gang this year, reducing the ranks of the riders to Brawley for the annual El Centro Naval Aviation Facility air show to a mere 10 or 12 hardy souls. Gary and Sally got snowed in at Wrightwood and the recent rains made it no-show time for many more. Most of us who braved the elements waited until Saturday morning to make our final decision – we say most, because Vic and Sue did a "red-eye" run from Glendora to Brawley through the rain and the cold, arriving at 3:30 a.m. to meet up with Len and Irene from Las Vegas, who got to Brawley at a somewhat earlier hour.
Those who met at Chaparral at 9 a.m. included Ed and Darcie, Big Mac, Rob and Daryl, Al Foitag (who came along for the ride as far as the turn-off to Borrego Springs), Don Asay, Chuck; and, of course, Dennis from Blythe, who met us so he could ride to Brawley with the group. Dennis really doesn’t want to give up his title as the rider coming the longest distance, but he lost it to Len and Irene this time around. Dennis’ contribution this time was to prove that we really are a "family" organization as Tammy and our two honorary riders, Carolyn and Michelle met us in Brawley.
Weather conditions in El Centro made them change the configuration of the visitor parking arrangements at the NAF, so we made our own parking lot, right in the middle of the runway…to the envy of all the HD dudes and others. If we had charged $5 to everyone who took their picture with our bikes, we could have doubled the So Cal bank account.
G Junky and his friend, George, in the middle of one of their marathon rides, turned up just in time to head for Yokozuna’s for a huge spread, including this year’s winner for best beans. We were entertained by Carolyn and Michelle at the Karaoke machine and ate, drank and were noisy until the beans were almost gone. Our thanks to Mike and Fukiko for opening their home to such a motley group of riders (see Dennis, I didn’t say bikers… I know, we ride the Dragon we don’t bike it…..).
Sunday morning, with the weather still sunny in Brawley, we had a great family style breakfast at Brownie’s Diner (and met up again with Mike's friend from last night) and split off for home. Dennis and family headed back to the metropolis of Blythe; Len and Irene were already en route to Vegas; and the rest of us rolled back into the black clouds that began just outside Palm Springs and headed on our various ways. Maybe it is true; the sun does spend the winter in the Imperial Valley.
Daryl