This was one heck of a great ride day, we had approx. 15 members show up on an awesome sunny Sunday morning. After some discussion it was decided that we would take Hans suggestion and check out a new place for the group to eat. The ending local for this Sunday's ride was going to be Fenton’s in Vacaville, now for those of you who have never been there before this place is known for there ice cream but we wanted real food, Hans assured us that they have not only ice cream but hot food as well as salads and many other choices. We picked or decided that Jen would volunteer to be today’s Road Captain, thanks Jen for putting up with us! Ok we now had a Road Captain now we needed to come up with a route to get there. It was decided that we would head over via Lake Berryessa with a stop in Calistoga. We departed our meet location and headed to Calistoga via Hwy 12 to Calistoga Rd. It was a beautiful ride over the hill & temps were warming up nicely. Once we got to Grahams potty stop & got parked it was time to shed some of the warmer clothing as temps were approaching the mid 70"s. We had about a 10 minute break there also we attempted to fix a light that had come loose on a members bike with no luck, so as a result we lost one member in Calistoga, that was a bummer we do not like to see a member having to depart from the ride due to a issue with his or her bike, but safety first.
We said our farewells to the departing member and headed out of Calistoga via Silverado Trail, once we got to the Angwin turn off we headed up & over what a spectacular ride the weather was perfect. We followed our fearless leader on a great ride around the Lake with one more stop just prior to leaving that area; it was a nice place to take a break right next to the water. With our break behind us we continued on route until we reached Winters where we stopped for fuel for those with smaller tanks & bladders. After about another ten-minute break the members were getting hungry you could tell by all the growling, no they weren't becoming mean it was there tummies. We opted at this point to jump on to Hwy 505 instead of the alternate we were going to take. As mentioned we got on to Hwy 505 then on to Hwy 80 for a short distance until we reached the Nut Tree turn off. We found Fenton’s after a few minutes of driving around in a mall parking lot & got parked & went inside. They were very friendly to us & got us seated right away no waiting. The waitress was great she took care of all of us in a matter of minutes. We had a lot of fun at this place, as you might be able to tell from a pic or two that was taken. We had a great lunch the food was really really good, now it could have been that we were really hungry so I think we will have to go back there again and test them out.
After lunch the group surprised us by wanting to take Hay 80 the most direct route back. Some of us had talked about taking Hwy 505 to Hwy 20 through Williams then over to Lake County then home from there. All except two decided that they wanted to do the direct route back, I would tell you how the group did going back Hwy 80 but since I was one of the members that opted for the Hwy 505 to Hwy 20 route I can only speak as to that experience. Jen & myself were the only ones who opted for the more indirect route back & boy am I glad we did. With the temps approaching near 80 degrees I new this was going to be a great ride home. As we were heading up Hwy 505 & I looked back at the big white Goldwing behind me I noticed something different the front end of the bike looked very different, I finally figured out what it was Jen for a short time had lost her headlights. We pulled over to see what was going on & after some investigation it was determined that perhaps a fuse had blown, so we opted to modify our route which would actually add time but cut distance just in case. We headed up Hwy 505 until we reached Hwy 16 which would take us in stead of Williams it would take us by Cash Creek & no we didn't stop to gamble but I know I wanted too but we were on a mission to get the Goldwing as close to home & as fast as possible just in case.
We followed Hwy 16 until we reached Hwy 20 & followed that around Clear Lake, until we stopped at a gas station for fuel for Jen & a butt break, I must tell you those members that opted to do the direct route back you missed one of the most awesome rides around the lake with the sun starting to set & all the fall colors it was just breath taking. Ok back to the break once Jen had filled up her ride, and was moving her bike we noticed that her lights were back on again, well so much for the fuse theory, oh that was my thought by the way. With that worry out of the way we were able to take our time & take it a little easier for the remainder of the ride around the lake and really enjoy the scenery, there were a couple of more breaks before getting back to Santa Rosa. I would like to thank all the members for attending today’s ride it was a blast & kudos to Jen who with a minor bike issue handled it like a pro and didn't let it detour her from having a good time.
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Redwood Riders M.C
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