Nor Cal Cycle Swap May 2014

EZ's bike is in pieces, so he got the short straw and had to drive the box van up the boring old 99 to Sacramento for the latest Nor Cal Cycle Swap. Otto and I teamed up with our buddy H8ter and did the 1100-ish mile trip on bikes. Day one was a pretty boring highway blast up to Hanford, where we did some like pickin' and swappin'. Mostly we just ate ice cream at the truly superior, Superior Dairy Co. We found a few crusty gems and tossed 'em in the van with EZ and agreed to meet up again in Sac. Turning off in Merced got us off the '99 and up into Gold Country where we dicked around on HWY49 with a stop in Sonora for chow. Have you noticed we don't really bar hop? We mostly ice cream hop with a burger or coffee thrown in once in a while to even things out. Otto and H8ter are sober dudes and mostly avoid drinking and riding, so ice cream has kinda become the deal. Terrible pizza in Sacramento the night before the swap was made better when we got to molest Ian's Indian. This bike just shits excellence. Hanging with Steffan, Gabe, Mike and crew was cool but 3:15 comes early... The swap itself turned out great. Talking to vendors and spectators from all over proved the point: there's gold in them there hills. Chopper gold, that is. A lot of crusty old junk traded hands and that's what it's about. Running the swap went smooth enough that we let people in about 30 minutes early and it was on! One thing we gotta ask, is please leave your dog at home. I know you love it, and your dog is super special and amazing, but the venue doesn't allow 'em and we have to stand by their rule. We were a little lax on this, but next time if you have a pooch with you, be ready to get turned around. Legit service dogs are another deal of course. After shutting down the swap we split lanes from Sac to the city. Man, I thought that was a little closer. Stopping for gas in SF, we chilled with some crack heads, watching 'em swindle scared tourists into enough for a rock and then hit the road for the coast. It'd been pretty warm up to this point so it was a nice change to get some into some cool air and scenic views. We camped in Felton, just outside of Santa Cruz for the night. Nothing beats Redwoods. We didn't bring much gear since it had been super warm on the way up, but the camp host graciously let us use one of his "permanent" tents. Thanks, Hayward! Once we bailed on Santa Cruz Sunday morning, it was pretty much just trying to kill the miles and get home. Since we try to keep the pace tight and calories high, a stop at Marshall's Bodacious BBQ in Ventura was a must. The tri tip was glorious but trying to stay awake for another 150 miles of lane splitting through LA traffic was another thing all together. Ol' FXR airlines delivered me home in one tired-ass piece with not a single hiccup in over a thousand miles of hauling ass. Thanks to everyone who came to the swap, we appreciate it and hope you had fun and bought or sold (or both!) some motorcycle junk. We'll see you again Aug. 10th. http://www.norcalcycleswap.com