Laguna Beach to Fantasy Springs Indio

[zzkenoman]

You can come on board at any of the stop, we will be hopefully at Paradise closer to 11:00am if all goes well. It will be fun, bring a christmas card each ok guys. Dress warm, ride safe, have fun and meet you guys tomorrow!!!!! KA CHING!!!!!

 

[bigdolma]

zz, I PM'd you my cell phone in case of change of plans till morning.

So far I am a go and will see u at the MoreBills @ 8:45.

armand

 

[zzkenoman]

zz, I PM'd you my cell phone in case of change of plans till morning.
So far I am a go and will see u at the MoreBills @ 8:45.

armand

It took me a couple seconds to figure out the Morebills, but got it. Remember that I will be leaving laguna Beach at 8am, so if you are at the Morebills at the 74 & 15, you'll see some of the guys already there waiting. We will call you when we leaving Chevron at the 74 & 5 on the East side before going over to Lake Elsinore. That will give you guys plenty of time to eat breakfast at the burgerking across the street.

 

[dkirk]

B) I saw Santa Claus . Had a great ride and good breakfast. It was good to see some fellow FJR riders. Paradise Corner Cafe sure makes a good looking Burger. Anyone take some pictures ?

Thanks, Dan.

 

[SoCalMike]

Wow! What a great ride! The scenery was amazing, the roads were in decent shape and the company was top-notch. Rides can't get much better than this one.

First, the players. From FJRFORUM, we had ZZKenoman, FJRME, bigdolma, and SoCalMike to start off. At the Paradise cafe Dkirk went through and at the Casino 03SilverBullet came and chatted with us for a bit and joined the return ride for a bit. From Orange County, ZZKenoman brought a great group of guys riding a variety of bikes. Along with the FJR riders, each and everyone of the OC group were very personable and were the kinds of guys that make riding fun. I’d definitely ride with any of the guys on this ride anytime.

Now for the ride (or I should say "Festivities"). It starts off for me at the 74 & 15 meeting location. FJRME was there first with bigdolma arriving shortly thereafter. We did the usual farkle examinations and spent time standing around admiring bikes that looked - well just like our own.

Soon after our arrival I noticed a group of bikes heading our way lead by a jolly fat fellow in a red suit. It was Santa - and he was riding an FJR! In one of those moments that makes you do a double-take, ZZKenoman was leading the group in a bright Santa Suit complete with a red hat taped onto his helmet and a big "toy sack" strapped on the backseat of his bike. All you can do is smile when you see it because it really does catch you off guard.

So we begin our ride heading East on the 74. As we begin heading up in elevation the temperatures (obviously) started to drop pretty quickly. Pretty soon, I learned that my new gloves with 3M Thinsulate just weren't going to cut it (time to rethink those grip warmers!). I was pretty happy when we pulled into the Paradise cafe because I was sure my fingers had turned an unnatural shade of blue. A side note: check out Liz behind the counter at Paradise Café

So we leave the café and also leave behind FJRME and bigdolma and we head out on the Palms-to-Pines highway. I’ll leave the detailed description of this road to Pashnit but I will say this was one of the best roads I’ve ever ridden. Definitely a must-do for anyone in the SoCal area. I would just pick a warmer time of year next time.

After dropping down from the 10,000 ft elevation the temperature increase was quite welcome as we entered Palm Desert. There were plenty of smiles and waves as “Santa” cruised through town.

We eventually arrived at the Fantasy Springs Casino and Larry (ZZkenoman) whips out red Santa hats for everybody. As we head towards the casino you would have thought we were arriving with royalty. The Player Services Manager from the casino greets us at the door and says “Larry your table is ready”. We go to the buffet and Larry had picked up the tab for the entire group! As we get seated Larry pulls out Christmas cards for everyone and tells us to open them. To my surprise I open mine and there is a $50 gift certificate from CycleGear! Others also received gift certificates, hand warmers and other items!

As we’re sitting there shocked by his generosity we all start making jokes about never missing another ride organized by ZZKenoman!

Thanks to all, the whole day was a lot of fun!

 

[FatNakedGuy]

Nice!

Photos please

 

[SoCalMike]

 

[bigdolma]

and I thought we were going to eat at that joint, that is why I ordered food!...

next thing you know, you guys were on the bikes heading out...

no worries, I enjoyed the ride, the company was great, the weather was excellent and the bike just was begging for speed...but the Hard leys were leading.. <_<

 

[FatNakedGuy]

and I thought we were going to eat at that joint, that is why I ordered food!...
next thing you know, you guys were on the bikes heading out...

no worries, I enjoyed the ride, the company was great, the weather was excellent and the bike just was begging for speed...but the Hard leys were leading.. <_<

You were riding with hardleys bro?

Man, sounds like it was a fun ride! Lovin' the Santa Suit!!

Sorry I couldn't make the ride, had prior family activities that I couldn't get out of (we do Christmas over a period of a few days because of all the divorces in the family).

I did photography for a Toys for Tots/CHOC run in Mission Viejo yesterday. Lots of Hardleys and not a single FJR. I was bummed.. shoulda rode my bike to the gig to represent! Photos are at: https://rickweller.com

 

[SoCalMike]

and I thought we were going to eat at that joint, that is why I ordered food!...
next thing you know, you guys were on the bikes heading out...

no worries, I enjoyed the ride, the company was great, the weather was excellent and the bike just was begging for speed...but the Hard leys were leading..  <_<

bigdolma I was wondering where you were! FJRME told me he was going to eat breakfast at the cafe but I didn't see you so I hustled out to catch up with the rest of the group. It didn't dawn on me that we missing anyone until we already well underway.

You were riding with hardleys bro? 
Man, sounds like it was a fun ride!  Lovin' the Santa Suit!!

Sorry I couldn't make the ride, had prior family activities that I couldn't get out of (we do Christmas over a period of a few days because of all the divorces in the family).

I did photography for a Toys for Tots/CHOC run in Mission Viejo yesterday.  Lots of Hardleys and not a single FJR.  I was bummed.. shoulda rode my bike to the gig to represent!  Photos are at:  https://rickweller.com

FNG, I think the majority of the OC riders mentioned they were participating in the CHOC ride the next day too. I wished I'd known about that ride. I would have definitely participated. Maybe next time there will be a whole group of FJRs?

 

[zzkenoman]

I'm glad everyone had a good time. It was a pleasure to bring smiles to everyone, every car, biker, bicyclists, pedestrian etc etc. I think the guys had more amusement when people would honk horns for santa, waving and kids stretching thier necks to see santa on a Motorcycle. Mike, I don't know if you noticed, but there was a New Chopper that followed us down 7 corners. The camera guy was waving, so maybe our group made news somewhere and someone here saw the newscast...lol. I do however, want to do this trip again. I do not recommend taking the same route back, but we will work on the trip as a regular ride, and possibly ride a bit faster!

 

[FatNakedGuy]

and I thought we were going to eat at that joint, that is why I ordered food!...
next thing you know, you guys were on the bikes heading out...

no worries, I enjoyed the ride, the company was great, the weather was excellent and the bike just was begging for speed...but the Hard leys were leading..  <_<

bigdolma I was wondering where you were! FJRME told me he was going to eat breakfast at the cafe but I didn't see you so I hustled out to catch up with the rest of the group. It didn't dawn on me that we missing anyone until we already well underway.

You were riding with hardleys bro? 
Man, sounds like it was a fun ride!  Lovin' the Santa Suit!!

Sorry I couldn't make the ride, had prior family activities that I couldn't get out of (we do Christmas over a period of a few days because of all the divorces in the family).

I did photography for a Toys for Tots/CHOC run in Mission Viejo yesterday.  Lots of Hardleys and not a single FJR.  I was bummed.. shoulda rode my bike to the gig to represent!  Photos are at:  https://rickweller.com

FNG, I think the majority of the OC riders mentioned they were participating in the CHOC ride the next day too. I wished I'd known about that ride. I would have definitely participated. Maybe next time there will be a whole group of FJRs?

Right on Mike. Probably photographed them as I shot about 300 photos that day. If you see the guys you rode with, tell them to check my page to see if their in a photo. https://rickweller.com

Let me know when we're going out again! Ready to ridddddddddddddeeeeee!

 

[FJRME]

Hopefully I can do the whole ride next time. My wife was at home with a cold, so she didn't go. Since the Paradise is in my backyard, I decided to spend half a day riding, and the rest with my family. Nice folks, even though they were on LOUD obnoxious sounding cruisers. That's why I passed them in the hills Keno. I was stuck between two of them most of the way. Riding fast wasn't the point for me, the noise was, lol! So I let you all know I wasn't continuing when I saw that it was after 11:00 when we got to the Paradise. It was looking like it would be an all day ride, which I couldn't do with wifey at home sick. So I said goodbye to all and started eating lunch. About halfway through, dolma comes up to me and asks "where did everybody go?!" He was sitting around the corner eating his lunch and didn't hear the call to ride. So he and I finshed lunch, and decided to ride home together by taking the 243 back through Idyllwild and down into Banning. He says the weather was nice. My summer gloves were telling me it was colder than hell! And at 6000 feet a little foggy also. Gravel on the roads. Ahhh, good times.

By the time we stopped back in Hemet, I realized I had made a new friend.

So thanks for the ride Keno. I am sorry not to have been able to finish at the casino, happy to have found a new riding buddy.

We'll get together after the first with keno and socalmike for a low desert ride.

Ride safe and Merry Christmas.

 

[bigdolma]

that was really a nice ride back through Idlewild...great ride! I wanted to go back but gravel is not my cup of tea. Can we ride again? Can we Can we?

What has the world come to...we are riding with Hardleys now...hehe...

not bad though one of the guys had a Yamaha Star..but the others hardleys...

Lets do it again sometime..riding on the 60 Fwy is not cutting it.

 

[twowheelnut]

Armand,

Look for my video to be posted in 'Images' of Hwy 229 (as soon as google releases it)... You show me your ride and I'll show you mine!

 

[SoCalMike]

ZZ, yeah I did forget to mention the News Helicopter that followed us down the mountain. I couldn't make out which channel it was from. That was a great route. I think that one these times I do that run I will head south past the western edge of the Salton Sea. Either that I or I might book a room at the Casino hotel...

As far as time required, I had no idea how long the ride was going to be. My wife asked me as I was walking out the door at 7:30am what time I'd be home. Since I never did actually plot my total distance (~350 miles) I just said off the cuff "ooh, about 1-2:00pm"... Ha! I didn't finally pull up to the house until 5:30 (and that was after some "hurried" speeds down the 15 Fwy). CHP had speed traps everywhere and they were pulling folks over left and right but I managed to slip the dragnet (must be because the sidebags made me look slower ).

Nice pictures FNG. The CHOC ride looked like it was a lot of fun too. All the bikes looked like they were either Harley's, Harley-look-alikes, or a Goldwings. No sport bikes or sport tourers(?) at all.

I'm always looking for the next ride so we'll have to organize something again soon... maybe just a short ride for now.

 

[03silverbullet]

It was great meeting you guys at the casino. sorry I was late, I got off to a late start.

I would love to do that ride again, maybe when the weather warms up

 

[FatNakedGuy]

Nice pictures FNG.  The CHOC ride looked like it was a lot of fun too.  All the bikes looked like they were either Harley's, Harley-look-alikes, or a Goldwings.  No sport bikes or sport tourers(?) at all.

There were a couple sport bikes, a couple GoldWings, a couple offroad bikes, a couple of Goldwing trikes, and the rest were Harleys......... L O U D H A R L E Y S

From what I understand (I missed the shot... sigh), a horse walking by the bikes managed to catch one of the Harley handlebars in the stirrup of the saddle and pulled the bike over. Ouch

The lead rider and Santa, Frank Orr (I think his name was), mentioned that an even bigger Santa ride will be happening this Saturday, December 24 at 7am in Huntington Beach, CA. at a place called Fitzgeralds. He says the restraunt will be serving free breakfast to the riders.

https://www.fitzgeraldsoc.com/

I told Frank that I'd come down and shoot photos again (I need the practice). C'mon down if you don't have plans.. The FJR needs to be represented, and it's for a good cause.

 

[FatNakedGuy]

more information on the ride:

5th Annual Harley Santa Ride

Sat, Dec 24

7:00-12:00am

Join us for our 5th annual Santa Ride. All riders must come dressed in a Santa suit. We will be serving a free breakfast buffet from 7.00 am to 8.15 am. The ride leaves at 8.30 am sharp as we will ride to Orangewood Childrens home to deliver all the toys collected. Please bring a toy to the pub. We will continue our ride thru Newport , Balboa, Laguna, Huntington, and Long Beach. This is a great way to celebrate the holidays and put a smile on a lot of childrens faces. Please contact Greg or anyone else at the bar for more details.

guess you'll need some red flannels to ride