Guy
Boutin's Motorcycle Touring and Travel Pages
Adventures in Sport
Touring with the Honda ST 1100, 1300 and the BMW 1200RT
Exploring North America...One Road
at a Time
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Guy
Boutin's Motorcycle Touring and Travel Pages
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Day 14 I had some time to kill before the 5pm wedding, and after a slow morning, rode into Angels Camp looking for a sporting good store to buy a pair of Asics Kayanos'. It was going to be a nice day, and I was pissed off at not being able to run this morning. It was a 20 mile ride back into the town, and when I got there nothing even looked close to a sporting good store. My running shoes are kind of specialized and if I found one I doubted they would be in stock, but I had to try. I couldn't find a sporting good store, but I did find a Checkers Auto Parts, and went in to buy a new tire gauge (mine had broke) and pick up a REAL tire plugger. The kind the kid at the gas station used. Dejected, I rode back into Arnold. "I'll keep my eyes open tomorrow for a running store. After all, this is California, stores for anything a joker might need out here" It was time to clean up for the wedding. TJ was the only female in a chalet of 5 guys, but she handled it pretty well. Chris had brought a few clothes for me to wear to the ceremony, I was going to wear the Roadcrafter, but Debbie said not to embarrass her. (Just kidding) We loaded up in the Hutchinson's rental car and went over to the Johnson's' chalet. There, I transferred over to their rental van for the ride back to Angels Camp. The ceremony was outdoor ( in California you don't worry about rain). The ride to Angel Camp was interesting. I was sitting on one of the rear passenger seats, when my butt suddenly started getting hot. I had the rear ac blowing cold air on my head, and my butt on fire. What's the deal? It was then I noticed one of the Johnson's grand children had turned the heated seat on.
At the country club I stood around and mingled while pictures were made, the most annoying thing about a wedding. After that we were herded on down to the chairs under the tree. As far as weddings go, it was pretty good, We were back on the streets in about 30 minutes, and Chris did a good job with the rings.
A reception followed in the country club's restaurant. I was seated with members from the brides side of the family, I didn't know anyone, and was quickly fielding questions about my trip, and Alabama. Seven people were at my table. A lady comments- "I hear you came out here on your motorcycle" "Well, yes m'am" "Alone?" "yessssssssssssssss" "oh that sounds dangerous, but so exciting." The few folks from Alabama were kind of lost. Just me and John David's family. But it was nice and I had a good time. I returned to Arnold with John and Kathy. Chris remained at the reception till they closed the place down, and made it back to the Johnson's chalet late.
Chris was spending the night at the Johnson's to catch his ride back to Sacramento in the wee hours. I told him good bye when I caught a ride with Mark and TJ back to our chalet. "Be careful dad." "Don't worry son, always am. Call me along the way and give me status reports on your flight. I'll be thinkin about ya while you're stuck in some airport, and I'm out ridin the Sierras." I was looking forward to the trip back east. I'll be going home the long way. First I go north to Washington State, then turn east across Idaho, Montana, and the Dakotas. I'll turn south when I get to the Mississippi River. I turned the lights off about about 12:30 and looked forward to an early start in the morning. I have a long ride ahead of me to get to Oregon, through California Gold Country, Next: riding the spine of the Sierras to Oregon.
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