Aids Lifecycle - Riding Moto - The Post Blog

I thought I could blog this bad boy while I was on the road but turns out they didnt have computers for us to use to do that and besides, I was so exhausted I couldnt have even if I wanted to.
So here's the scoop.

To bed at 9 pm to up at 4 am to meet at 6 am to start work at 7 am....sunday May 31st.

It was all a blur even as I moved through it. Confusion, wrapping my head around the paperwork displaying directions, trying to figure out what exactly I'm going to do when I arrive at my assigned corner...
It was all just a cluster fuck in my head.
But the high of having a packed motorcycle with all I might need and meeting my crew mates all decked out in their moto finest was an over the top rush.

This is how it works. 2100 bicyclists leave from cow palace s.f. anytime between 6 am and like 9 am, heading towards L.A. On this day Sunday, the first day, they will ride around 90 miles. They turn many corners. They cross many wicked streets. They merge where cars are unforgiving. They face death at every turn.

Hence the Moto Saftey crew. We jump ahead of them, position ourselves on a nasty corner and warn/direct/encourage them as they pass. Once the last rider has passed us (noted by the infamous Caboose which is a bright yellow truck that travels from S.F. to L.A. going 10 mph or the speed of the very last bike rider...Day in and day out)
We then we speed our motorcycles up ahead of the group and position ourselves at another knarly corner and do it all over again.
We leap frog them all day. 30 of us on our moto's. Leap frogging the bicycles.
The mapping out of scary corners, the assigning of moto's to the corners, the making sure that the moto crews are not consistently assigned to the most hairy corners is an undertaking that boggles my mind and I saw it all happen.

Some corners were no more than a reminder to turn right. Very boring. So you get creative.

Other corners were so scary that you spend 4 hours yelling the same instructions over and over again. "come to a complete stop, cross traffic does not stop, the drivers dont know what they are doing so proceed when you feel comfortable" over and over again for 4 hours, on your feet while you wave a flag or a stop sign to alert drivers to your presence.

Up everyday at 5 am, speeding off to a new corner, doing it for 3 to 4 hours then on your bike to the next one. By 7 pm were done but we have our daily 7:15 moto meeting so Dinner happens around 7:30 and if you can stay awake long enough, you can have a shower.

I fell asleep dead in my bed every night no later than 9 pm. One night I tried desperately to stay awake long enough for the sun to go down. Didnt work. I was out before I knew it.

The biggest shock I had in all this was the fact that people CAN actually ride a bicycle for 90 miles a day. It never crossed my mind, in all my life, that not only is it possible but 2100 can and will do it for 7 days. Of course they have sweep vehicles. These vehicles are equipped with bike racks and at any time any rider can quit for the day. This is a fun ride, not a forced ride and each person has their agenda/abilities/plan for riding. Some go the distance each day and some just have a goal of say...20 miles. But I can say that most did the distance. Fantastic.

Once we arrive at the destination of the end of the days ride, they set up tents, sleeping tents, massage tents, chiropractic tents, sports medicine tents, food tents, sales tents, for the love of pete it's huge. They set it up, we come, we eat, we shower, we get massaged, we sleep, we wake up, we go and they pack it all away and drive ahead to the next days end camp and set it all up again.

FANTASTIC!

Are you with me. It's fucking amazing.

There were a few highlights for me.

On the day I couldnt keep the peepers open before the sun went down I crashed hard. But I was woken up and as I opened my eyes, there was Lori staring down at me, it took me a quick second to realize she had the most gorgeous kitten in her hands. Yup. A real live, omg, beautiful kitten. It was like a sweet flowing dream to pet that bundle of fur. They soon went away and I fell back into a deep sleep. As I always remember my dreams, I awoke to realize I had dreamt about kittens all night.
It was a magical night that actually felt like some kind of fantasy of bliss. I really cant explain it to it's righteousness. But it was other worldly.

The other highlight was watching nearly 3000 people (oh did I mention that while there were 2100 bike riders there were upwards of 600 roadies/workers)
file onto the beach in venture, at night, full moon, all holding a candle,...........in silence.
IN total and complete silence.

We all sat. still. quietly. crying. a vigil. for all those who got the shaft by aids. we left when we were done. randomly filing out and back to the life of the camp.

And again,
closing ceremonies.
every bike rider and their relations, every roadie and their relations, every person who wanted to experience closing ceremonies, all standing in silence as a beautiful song played and someone walked an empty bike into it all. The empty bike that represented all who were no longer here to ride.
The power and sadness of that moment will haunt me forever.

There is so much more. As most of you festies know and even you burners...try relaying what it's like. 20,000 things happen in one day. You could never cover all the fantastic deets. So you give up and just say, you gotta go see for yourself.

I am slammed with burning man work, slammed with getting ready to leave for mich, slammed with my impending departure for nearly 3 months.
I would love to write this trip down, not just for you, but for me to keep fresh on all that happened.
Perhaps I will on a slow night. Cause it's gonna be a great story to tell.

Blondie is up for sale

Well, not him exactly but the suit he has on can be yours for the low low price of $900.
Check out the details here,

sfundergroundflicks.com/leathe...ers.htm

the 1986 - 87 - 88- *89*... Vanagon Westphalia

That's what I'm looking for. If you know of one for sale, doesnt much matter on the aesthetics but would like it to be mechanically sound.
the inside could be trashed, the outside faded and looking worn, preferable. I need a project vehicle. And am limited on $$.

in addition,
figure I'll just put the energy out there of exactly what I'm looking for.
here goes:
1989 vanagon, 4 speed manual, recently replaced clutch and tranny. engine replacement with low miles, not camper but 7 seat van, inside and outside decent but doesnt have to be perfect, pop top or sun roof, prefer sun roof to pop top. no oil leaks, no coolant leaks.
(if you think the whole engine tranny clutch thing is a stretch, I'm kicking myself for passing up that exact scenario) not much over 100,000 miles. color no matter cause I'm painting that bad boy. dings no matter cause I dig the imperfections. minor mechanics all working, blinkers, cruise control, lights, wipers... DOOR LOCKS. dunno why these go wonky on vwb's.
there, that oughta do it.
ohhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Burning Man's Prohibition Soup Line Depression Era Free Bread Shindig with Fox Trots 2008

sfundergroundflicks.com/bmxmas...S08.htm

Wake up Call

It's long but worth watching

video.stumbleupon.com/#p=s97k42ifry

December 10th - Day without a Gay....

Call in "Gay" to work december 10th
daywithoutagay.org/

Betty Diamond is up for sale

Check her out here

sfundergroundflicks.com/betty/...ond.htm

Kinetic Steam Works Video

I was mucking around in my video collection and found this.
Dont know why I didnt post it before, but it's kinda awesome.
check it out, It's a NIMBY gig.

sfundergroundflicks.com/kswnim...age.htm

South West Tour Video

sfundergroundflicks.com/swtour...our.htm

Take a ride on Betty with me.

We go fast!

Cory's Piss across the Southwest Tour part quintuple

Sadly Charlie never gets any.
Cory pissed once again in the exact same spot 4 times in a row.

And off to the San Diego Decom.

I remember Yuma now. strange that I forgot this whole part.
But Betty had an accident. Not a run into something accident
but a part failure accident.
One of the wheel bearings on one of the wheels that holds the belt on broke off.
But cooly enough, the wheel stayed on the post, probably held in place by the belt.

I heard it of course but didnt know what the heck happend.
I drove another 12 miles to yuma and pulled into a gas station. Looked under the hood and finally saw the fail.
It was another 2 miles to a mechanic so I limped her over there. Wishing often and hard that she just gets me to the man.

I pulled into the jankiest looking mechanic shop. Clemente came out. A handsome older mexican dude and he immediately went to work. Fixed her up pretty and $50 bucks broker I was on my way.

I loved Betty. She is an amazing vehicle. Her engine purrs. Her parts all work. She had a little faux paux and she survived like the bad ass motor home that she is.

Anyway, back to the road. Left the dunes and it was weird. They ended as quick as they started. I mean it was only a few miles stretch of dunes. Like how is just this skinny part of the world dunes. Dessert before and dessert after. weird.

I headed into Jacumba and followed my directions to the decom site. It was a cute little town. Dead mostly it seemed. One store.
Not much else except there were quite a few homes. Seemed like a really sparse place to live. I followed the road to decom and was kind of perplexed. I almost couldnt find it. It was in a wash. A sandy wash. and I remember them saying that rv's couldnt drive in cause it was too sandy. cars either for that matter. only 4x's. The surrounding area was residential homes and I was trying to figure out where 300 people were going to park. I walked around and couldnt find a soul. Not one person or one mark of the impending party. I got back to my rv and had a sit down. what the heck should I do? Wait around? It was early enough in the day that it seemed like people could show up. But late enough in the day that if they didnt, I didnt want to waste a day sitting in bum fuck.

So I decided to head to San Diego and come back tomorrow. I've never been to San Diego and I thought It would be cool to find a nice place to chill, maybe find an internet connection since this whole trip was supposed to be blogged but I couldnt cause it was impossible to steal internet on the road. So off I went.
But the landscape changed. And not for the better. In fact, during the whole time driving Betty I never once felt scared for her. I sure the fuck did on this stretch to San Diego.
They were steep mountains but they were entirely covered in rocks. And the scary part was the wind. There were times I actually felt like I was rolling on two wheels. That I was actually as some point going to have to throw myself to the other side of the vehicle in order to right her. It was FREAKING ME OUT. And not in any kind of good way. I slowed way down and white knuckled the ride.

I finally got to what ever the other side was and it was major freeway crossings and Flagstaff like hilly treey mountains. San Diego was not boding well for me so far. I needed to eat and just kept driving til I found a Baja fresh and a gas station. I chilled out and contemplated my next move. I wasnt really liking san diego and I thought perhaps I could head to L.A. and hang out with some peeps I know. I had talked to Martha earlier and she was like, Come on Down. All Bob Barker like. So I decided to head to L.A.
I could always head back to s.d. decom but to be honest, that road freaked me out enough to not want to go.

I headed to L.A. and it was hot. It was sweaty, havent had a shower in days, sticking to myself and getting a tad bit grumpy hot.
I knew exactly the first place I was going and that was to the place me and Ty lived at when we were 13. We had written in the sidewalk when it was still wet and I had to see if it was still there.
I got to victory and Burbank and hopped out to see..... It was still there.
I took pictures. It was awesome.
But at the same time, it didnt strike me as exciting.
You know when you go back to a place you grew up in and you get kind of a unique feeling. Like wow, this used to be home.
Well, I didnt get that. In fact, I spent many years in L.A. and while I drove all those familiar streets. It was the first time back visiting L.A. that I felt no connection or feelings of home.
I was realizing that you just cant go back.

I decided that I need a shower. I headed to the Laural Canyon Golds and took the sweetest shower ever. It was delicious.

I walked out of there a new womyn. I text'd Martha and told her where I was at and if she was free to meet up with me.
I hung out til dark and didnt get a text back from her til later. She was in class and would be for a while.

I decided to go eat. Good ole In and Out... real savage.
As I was leaving, Betty was acting strange. But nothing notable. Just funny.
I got a bit paranoid about this behavior and started rethinking my plans.
Now I love Betty. She has mostly flawlessly taken me on this here tour of the southwest.
But if she was gonna be ailing, I really didnt want to experience it far from home.
So I decided that I was gonna head for home.
I really didnt want my trip to end. In fact, the thought of going home straight away was distressing to no end.
I loved the road. I wanted to stay out here for way longer. There was just nothing to come home to.
But I was a bit scared.

So I headed to the freeway.
Then it hit me.
Oh Shit..... The GrapeVine.

The fucking car killer. Noooooooooo.
How could I have forgotten the freaking grape vine.
I just couldnt wrap my mind around the fact that I totally spaced on having to take the grapevine home If I went home by way of L.A.
If you've ever had a car killed by the grape vine, you know what I mean. I've had one killed and one maimed. My friend tina had hers killed outright.
I stopped at a gas station and looked at maps. go the 1, go the 15....
..........................
............
I decided that Betty could take it. I dont know exactly what she's complaining about, but were here and she can do it.

I was soooo wrong.

It wasnt 15 minutes that the grapevine started fucking with her.
She was complaining louder and stronger.
I was white knuckling it, teeth grinding, sitting to close to the windshield. Begging for mercy.
But I kept pushing her. I had to. I couldnt get stuck in the midst of the grape vine.
If she could make it over, I'll get her attention immediately on the other side.

she made it over. but she was not happy about it.
I stopped at the first gas station but they told me the nearest place was Bakersfield.
35 miles away.
I apologized to Betty profusely and begged her to help me get her to a dr.
She listened and she did.
We arrived in bakersfield and I stopped at a rest stop cause the night was closing in.
I figured to give her a rest and we'll attack her ailments tomorrow.
I woke up creaky and sad. I hated that I had to push her.
I made it to the mechanic and they gave me a few suggestions. Ones I already thought of.
Spark plugs and wires. perhaps she just needs new ones. I pulled the spark plugs out and saw they
could stand to be changed.
I went to a autozone and replaced both spark plugs and wires.
Even changed her rotor.
She smoothed out some but the knocking was still there.
I finally decided that if I could get her to limp home, I could deal with her there.
But she just wouldnt stop knocking.
so I made it to a ford dealership and decided to turn her over in the morning
and take a train home to await the verdict.

It was a bitter sweet night with Betty.
when the guys at the dealership looked at her they saw the crankshaft was out of round in it's rotation.
The night passed with me going through all I know about engines. I wondered if the wheel bearing going out could have
off set the crank shaft enough to send it on a slow decent into out of alignment.
Ending in her screwing up the valves.
Shit, I know a bit but not enough and not enough to figure it out that night.

I left Betty with the dealership and I limped home by train.
A sad sad ending to a really cool road trip.

she sits now getting work done.
Not by the dealership cause they are total fucking scam artists.
I got her out of there and to a real mechanic that doesnt jack their prices but somehow make you feel like your getting a deal.

I'm not really all that bummed. Cause whatever went wrong was gonna go wrong sooner or later.
I'm glad to have it taken care of now. Cause I love this RV. Betty is like a freakin dream.
She is clean and has been well cared for in her 30 years on this here earth. She only has 84,000 miles.
That so low for so old. But all her parts work so well. The fridge, the stove, the generator...
She's just got it all and She's pretty to boot.
So while I was sad at the end, I'm happy to get her what she needs.

and that is the end of the southwestern tour.

Yo mama!