May 2001
Detour Version 1.0
Day 12
“Las Vegas was ruined when the corporations
took over from the mafia. Everything’s now too
expensive. They’re overwhelmed by the drug trade
and gang related crime and shootings,”
-ALA MAR’s resident manager
(I share his feelings for Vegas’s early 70s version)
A flight of pelicans headed south to LA; we bikers are headed north to Monterey
Rope tow started the Fatboy (after a several day clickety-clickety hiatus) in the AM as there was no sun (fog) to warm the primary case oil. One yank was enough. Yahoo. Folks at the motel gathered to observe us, including several Modesto CA bikers who hadn’t seen this before. These 30-somethings hadn’t spent substantial portions of their lives kick-starting Panhead and Knucklehead powered choppers. Pop. Pop. Pow!! Shinbone smack!
Skipped breakfast to maximize time on the Pacific Coast Highway. Priorities we got.
Observation #9: We knew we were in CA, when over the course of the past two days we saw top-down convertibles with shiny blonde haired (natural of course) women insouciantly piloting them in various states of undress more notable for their fleshiness. Now, mind you, they weren’t porcine nor obese, but they obviously displayed themselves to be noticed. One at the FISHOUSE wore a low-cut top. both fore and aft, accentuated with slits up both sides of her dress along with her stiletto heels. Someone’s Dixie Chicken, I thought.
Dude-ititude lessons commenced upon entering CA. We heard whenever the speaker thought it possible in multiple modes, moods and parts of speech as opportunities presented themselves words from surfer culture, pyscho babble du jour, legalisms, scientisms, rap, pop and hip hop music mixed with current techno fad speak.
Stayed at the Navy Postgraduate School Lodge on Monterey. Amenities overflowed — real cloth-towel bathmats, functioning shower head, and voicemail. Dinner at a long ago favorite on Monterey’s Fisherman’s Wharf not up to snuff. Things change.
Coast to Coast Smells of the Road
clover hay dirt
freshly mowed grass
overheated radiators smoking breaks
car oil diesel gasoline
tar melting snow lavender
electrical storms (scary) pepper
pine tree oil wild sage & thyme
falling snow wildflowers across the SW USA
orange groves north of LA peach tree groves in NW Colorado
cherry tree groves in northern California
ocean spray eucalyptus trees
mint lilac gardenias strawberries
smoke smell from last year’s Sierra fires
cultivated fields of coriander north of LA
roadkill
donkey, cattle, pig, chicken stock pens
anhydrous ammonia
Day 12 miscellany and counts:
Daily Windshield Bug Smash Bingo Game winners: no players
Query count as of the end of Day 11:
Where’re you going? – 14
What’s that? (Steve’s Valkyrie) – 5
Damsels in distress? – 6
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