My Panhead Story !

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crasha51pan
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#46

Post by crasha51pan »

The top of the pass, always stop for a cold one. Think this place gets 6 customers a year, thats because we pass this way maybe 3 times a year. Had to wake the guy up to pay for the beer ! From here you drop into the meadow, for the next 50 miles you can roll at 4 or 5 MPH (if thats what you want). Slow and easy !!!!!!!!!!
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crasha51pan
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#47

Post by crasha51pan »

From the Trading Post, you drop down into the Meadows..
When you find a quiet place, a quiet place with space, it's not a bad idea to shut the bikes down and look back at where ya been !
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crasha51pan
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#48

Post by crasha51pan »

Time to leave. You would think that the sound of that old Pan firing up would be out of place in all that quiet, it didn't, somehow the thump of the V-Twin sounded right. Can't explain, pullin in the clutch and kickin it into gear made me feel good. On any trip, this was usually the last stop for us before we jumped back into traffic and headed home. Had a couple hundred miles to go, mostly on the interstate. The party's over but "We would be back" !
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crasha51pan
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#49

Post by crasha51pan »

Sometimes, ya just can't get away from it ! We rode hard all day, sun going down and we settled in for the night. The cops show up, walked over with that John Wayne swagger (think it's taught in the acadamy) and started to question us. Same old questions, went back to the patrol car and sat there for a good half hour (makin a statement I guess). Guessin he was running the plates, never knew what it was all about.
Glad we had decided to settle in, got the feelin that had we moved on, we wouldn't have got all that far....
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crasha51pan
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#50

Post by crasha51pan »

The lake was well protected. They must of known we were comin !
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crasha51pan
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#51

Post by crasha51pan »

Was not a stranger to those big guns on tracks. Had seen and heard them work before.
crasha51pan
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#52

Post by crasha51pan »

Mountain road up over Greenhorn Mountain. Whenever we went this route, we would always stop at this "Large" red tree. Much as we had our places to stop in the Bakersfield valley ( the stump) or along the Kern River (home base) or in the eastern sierra ( crash point), we called her "miss red". Had a neat little fern lined creek running by her with lots of green grass on the banks. A good place to rest and pound some down !
On my last trip by the tree, was saddened to see that she had fell over and they were cutting her up with chainsaws.
There's a life lesson in there somewhere !!!!
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crasha51pan
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#53

Post by crasha51pan »

If you run the Mojave, it's got to be done in the morning or late evening. The sun comin up and the open space, it's one of the best rides you will ever have.
Run it at noon, whole different ball game! At this point, it had to be 120 degrees and there was nowhere to hide. Cactus gives "NO" shade. What is total beauty in the morning, becomes something to fear at high noon. I did break down out here once, was lucky enough to have a couple of gals who were followin pull over and offer help. They sent a tow truck out from Lone Pine to pick me up. I did have to wait about a hour and a half and towards the end of that wait, I had started to cover my Pan with tumble weeds to hide it, and was about to start to hitch hike into town when I saw the flat bed a commin. I couldn't have lasted much longer......."GO #88"
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crasha51pan
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#54

Post by crasha51pan »

Been through the red's, candies and pearls. Now I feel like "Black", chrome and black "just sings". Pull out the old Binks #7 and get to work.
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crasha51pan
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#55

Post by crasha51pan »

My thought on patches/colors. Took the wife and young daughter to a Easyrider bike show being held on the Queen Mary. This was way back when I had my 48. Was on the boat, enjoyin the show when they announced that we had been locked in. Seems there was somethin goin on outside. When they finally let us off, there was yellow tape everywhere. Seems the Mongols and the Hells Angeles had a problem with each other and a Angel was killed. His colors were layin on the ground in a pool of blood. Years later, I decided to go on the Laughland Run. Way to pick'em Mike. It was the Angels and the Mongols again. In my life, I have seen killin before. To me, it seemed like such a waste. I know Hells Angels, I know Mongols (thats a real jugglein act), I know Vagos. All stand up brothers, and they would give it all for their club. That is good.In my life, I have never had a problem pissing people off. I did just fine on my own. Police seem to have no problem noticein me without a patch, why make it easier for'em ? I remember a time that I was settin at a gas station in the town of Mojave, I heard a rumble off in the distance. It was a pack of HA's, the site was impressive "BUT" right behind them was 6 patrol cars that followed them into a resturant parking lot, broke them up into groups and was running each one of them, checkin their bikes and pattin them down. I had to laugh, I had been there. These guy's were just headin home and it was their patch that brought the heat. When I returned from Nam, I became (in the truest since of the word) a loner (I made my own trouble). My thought, I didn't need to put a patch on my back and inherit a war or to give someone the reason to kill me because two guy's had issues with each other in Frisco or Denver or Miami and I happen to be wearin the same patch. I also couldn't pledge "it all" to the club. I just couldn't do that. Now, to you brothers that fly colors, I support ya 100%, it just wasn't for me. Back when I had my 48, before I was married, I had got up early to go to work (about 5:00am) and the phone rang. It was a brother who informed me that the Viet Nam Vets were having a run and it was to start down the coast at San Juan Capistrano. He asked if I would like to ride along, at the time my bike was down and couldn't make it. I still don't know how they got my #. Over the decades, I have thought that if I were to fly a patch, it would be the VNV MC. I have met a number of them  and we had something in common. Still, I was a loner, but I think (in my old age) I might have made a mistake in that regards. Too late now !
crasha51pan
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#56

Post by crasha51pan »

Ready to roll !! Bike was clean. Heard they were "Blessing " bike's at Cook's Corner in Orange county. Figured " what the hay" rode in, surprised at the number of bikes there. Preacher walked over, laid a blessin on the old Pan and I was good to go. Slipped him a ten spot for his trouble, rode up the canyon and stopped under a large oak tree and drank a beer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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crasha51pan
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#57

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On the lazy days, when I need peace and quite, I ride the hills surrounding the basin. That works well, but sometimes I need more. I need adrenaline. When that happens, I head south to Capistrano and the Ortega Hwy. Its a thin ribbon of road that snakes thru the mountains and ends up overlooking Lake Elsinor. Every time I have made that ride, there have been bodys covered with yellow tarps, their feet stickin out. Seems this is the road that "crotch rockets" like to go test themselves on. This road is "SO" bad, they have a bumper sticker that reads "I Survived The Ortega Hwy.". Now, I'm a cruiser. I like slow and steady. When I'm on that road, I always watch my mirror. These guy's come on ya so fast that it startles you. You might have 15 or 20 pass you goin 80 on a mountain curve. I have seen them pass a car doin 70 on a blind 90 degree turn in the oncoming lane. This is just crazy, and they pay the price !
I came close myself one day. Up near the ranger station, headed north with oncoming traffic, a jacked up pick-up truck turned left in front of me. I threw the Pan hard over to get around his rear but now I'm in the oncoming lane. As I came around the bed of the truck I was facing a yellow Chevy headed straight for me. Lucky for me he was payin attention and swerved hard to the right, up on the shoulder of the road. Once I was around the bed of the truck I threw the bike hard over, to get back into my lane. What actually happened in the matter of a couple of seconds, felt like it took 5 minutes. I had flashes of goin through that "again". This time, it would have been head on and behind the Chevy was a line of cars. Had we hit, I really don't think I would have made that one. I pulled over and was shakin so bad, I couldn't stand. After a moment, I turned around to go find the truck. It had pulled into the ranger station parking lot. When I rolled up, I used every foul name that came to mind. The guy was "pale" and he just kept sayin "I didn't see you, I didn't see you". I looked at him for a bit and just turned and rode away. He was shakin, like me.
I got my adrenaline pump for the day, maybe the "bike blessin" helped. Will never know, all I do know is that I came REAL close !!
Hours later, when I got home, I said nothing of what had happened as I walked in the door. The wife took one look and said, "What Happened". She just knew.....
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crasha51pan
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#58

Post by crasha51pan »

Made a bet with a guy I worked with that my riding brother would not buy this 64 Pan I ran across at a HD dealer. Needless to say, it was a good time at Homebase that night....(he lost the bet)...He paid up, we partied down. Here's to Rusty, the bike was bought before the bet was made !!!!
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cory
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#59

Post by cory »

What an awesome post! I like seeing the pics, and hearing the old road tales like these. Kepp 'em coming!
Are you living in Montana or Cali? I'm in Saskatchewan right above Montana.
crasha51pan
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#60

Post by crasha51pan »

Where I'm livin? I'll get to that. Thanks for the thought ! I'm playin around here, but to be honest, I'm have a flood of memories myself. Thats a good thing !
Got a ways to go, got some things to say:

We are all the same, you might be young, I'm gettin old. IT'S THE MEMORIES !
Scooter Trash !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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