Back from the Philo

Whew, I'm smoked. We did the trip up in two chunks with a great relaxing campout on the way up, and then made the rest of the trip to the Philo on Saturday. 395 north to 88/89/49 was epic. Just perfect riding conditions and some of the best roads possible. We got off to a super early start on Friday and that made the vibe great since we made such good time. We were drowning worms by 1:00pm, and the 300+ miles seemed like nothing. Saturday was a little more work even though the mileage was way less. We hammered over the Sierras through a couple hundred miles of world class twisties. The Philo event itself was a good, low key time, and I'll put up some pics from that later in the week. Suffice it to say, it was the best food of any event this year, or maybe ever. Gabe and Lois sure know how to cook, and we scarfed it down after getting skunked on trout and eating canned chili and MRE's the night before. We got off to a late start this morning since breakfast was so good and we were just enjoying hanging out. A crash on the 80 had traffic backed up for miles. We threaded through the single lane of open car doors and people spread out all over waiting at a dead stop until we finally couldn't fit between a semi and the barriers on both sides. That probably cost us an hour, but the people in cars were even more bummed. We rode as hard as we could down the 395 and all made it home about 10:00pm-ish. About 600 miles in about 12 hours. Not bad time, especially considering the passes we had to clear (7,000'+), the traffic jam and two bikes that only get about 100 miles to a tank. We were on reasonably modern bikes, BCM Chris' 8--something sporty, my '92 FXR, Larry's S&S pan, Tony's 88" Dyna and Craze's brand new Wide Glide. He's had it three weeks and turned 3,000 miles on the way home. The only mechanical issue was Tony's headlight breaker popping after dark and Larry's brakes needing some fluid and a couple bleeds. An exhaust hanger fastener backed out on my FXR but luckily I noticed it before the bolt fell out. Chris' trusty old sporty hauled ass the whole way, with zero complaints. We discussed taking the 99 freeway back and it would have been faster and easier for sure, but this route was more scenic, less crowded and worked out fine in the end. Thanks guys, this was another one to remember.