Volume I Episode II Larry’s Somewhere Under the Rainbow Motorcycle Adventure

I have just had an unbelievably long day. The night before, I spent a glorious evening in the Berkeley Inn. When you walk into a telephone booth sized lobby and there is an unpleasant face on the other side of a bulletproof window, you will not get it confused with the Waldorf.

My suitcase was a 52-pound potato sack on two small wheels and it accompanied me wherever I went in that hilly city. It was with me when I lugged it up yet another hill to find my adopted Harley partner for the next couple of weeks. Well, there she was, waiting for me like a loyal stallion, but one that looked as if it had led a tough life to this point. I noticed there we no hard cases in the back and it looked like they were ripped off. Surprise, the cases were ripped off over night, while hapless Harley just stood there and let it happen.

I began to experience my first major crisis and I hadn’t even gotten on the goddamn bike! This part is too precious to keep from you. The owners of this business weren’t even located at the address, instead a neighboring business guy acted as their surrogate. He was totally clueless and rightly so. The only solution the long distance management team came up with was to call an Uber car and have it take my things to a Harley dealer about thirty minutes away and not even in a good direction for me. I got on the caseless machine and followed Uber to a dealer, who installed some cases and turned out to be one of those long time riders, who clearly loved everything about it. He was one of the lights in my dark day.

When I finally got on the road, it was too late to avoid the kind of San Francisco traffic everyone tells you to avoid. Yes, I used avoid twice and now three times because I don’t want to look for a synonym. Remember, I am now on a totally unfamiliar, less than perfect cycle, negotiating speeds between zero and eighty and doing it for over three hours. If you have never done it before, it can suck you dry.

I couldn’t even think about stopping because I knew it was going to be dark when I started the gradual ascent to Yosemite. Winding mountain roads are a treat in the dark and with this kind of altitude, it gets chilly and on a bike that means cold. Before the darkness, I cut through beautiful farm country, some of the finest in the land. It was a good in between time for me. I had finally escaped the Mad Maxian world of the too many and I had yet to fall into total darkness. I really wanted to stop and take some pictures for you and I apologize.

All together, I had to have gone for two and a half hours in the dark and cold. I have some decent gear and at least didn’t have to experience the knees rapping on the gas tank torture. My initial destination is a place called Groveland and I rode on fumes until I caught a place a few miles before the town. Imagine riding up a steep, winding road with no shoulder, behind a big RV and honestly worrying about running out of gas, surrounded by cold black.

Yosemite Lakes, my final destination is around 18 miles from Groveland, which is when time decided to join the fun. Could I stop for a burger and fries and make it to the Park before the office closed? My stomach won the discussion and promptly got flooded with a half chewed burger and fries.

Good luck trying to gauge what eighteen miles feels like when you are a small beam of light on a twisting, climbing road. I pulled over several times to try and read the faintly lit odometer. I am thinking if I blow this one, I will get back to Groveland too late to find a place to stay. The only thing worse would be running out of gas, while going up a mountain.

You have probably guessed the end to this episode because I am sitting at my computer writing to you. Fortunately, I have two nights to walk around, surrounded by one hundred foot high pines. Today, there was no way I was getting on that bike to go anywhere and I haven’t. Tomorrow, I take 120 over Yosemite and down the east side. The road winds up steeply and drops down precipitously, but today I am just walking around.