November 2014, saying good-bye…

Blake Anderson, Chairman of the 2014 Three Flags Classic, Chairman of the SCMA and a good friend of mine sadly passed away on October 14, 2014 after losing his battle with cancer. So in early November I was jumping back on my FJR and heading south for the celebration of his life in Santa Ana, California. Here’s a bit of background leading up to this road trip and a few of the stories on this ride.

It is so hard to believe that just the other day Blake and I were having lunch in the Empress Hotel in Victoria, BC with his lovely wife Giovanna. We were wrapping up discussions on finishing next year’s 40th Three Flags Classic at the Empress Hotel. We were also joined by Trista, the

Empress’s sales manager, who had been showing us what they had to offer for rooms. Trista bought our lunch while we reviewed what they had to offer. Blake had to firm up pricing for the rooms, banquet halls, parking and the meals on behalf of the SCMA. Giovanna and Blake had already looked at another hotel the day before I caught up with them and after our lunch with Trista the three of us looked at another hotel close by and then the three us sat down and reviewed the options. We agreed that the Empress was the best option for our group and that we shouldn’t have to cut ourselves short or limit our options by staying at a hotel that couldn’t cater to at least four hundred of us.

Looking back on that day now it makes me smile. Blake and I had been talking about a Victoria finish for at least a couple of years and now it was almost a reality. Before departing our meeting Blake also said that he’d be pleased if I would look after the BC portion of next year’s route and also asked if I would make myself available as the Victoria point man for anything that might come up between now and next September. I readily agreed and loved the opportunity to give back to an event that I’ve been involved with for the last thirty-five years. I will always remember that day and cherish the memory of us working together on a vision he’d had for a long time, the “Harbour to Harbour” Three Flags Classic, San Diego to Victoria. That was the last time I saw Blake alive ….

I was home a couple of days later and started looking at a route for next year’s Classic. Now the weather was warm and sunny all of September so far and there was no end in sight so it made sense to pre-ride the route now instead of later. Seemed to be the prudent thing to do. So I headed off with my cousin and we did exactly that. Now back at home again I mapped out the route and did some mileage calculations and then around Sept. 18th I gave Blake a call to discuss it all. That was the last time I spoke to Blake….

Now everything after that becomes a bit of a blur. Shortly after we spoke the email comes out about Blake’s illness and just how serious it was. And before you can say “the journey is the destination” he was gone. A horrible thing for anyone to endure but he was surrounded by family and didn’t suffer for a long time so it could have been worse . We waited to hear when there would be something planned to celebrate his life and then word came that Nov.8th was the day. So now I’m going to go on another motorcycle ride. And here’s how it went.

Left home on Nov.1st and got to Victoria that night. My plan was to see all three children on Sunday while I was there and then take the Anacortes ferry from Sidney on Monday and spend the night in Vancouver WA with some very good friends.  Our newest grand daughter, Beatrice, is a treasure and it’s always fun to see the children. So far so good, until getting off the ferry in Anacortes at 15:00 Monday afternoon. It poured down rain all the way to Vancouver. I got soaked through and through and I’m not complaining as “it’s just another story” now but for all of you riders that have been there you understand. It’s pitch black and there’s so much water on the road that you can’t see much through the visor and you’re just hoping there isn’t anything on the highway in front of you. At least it wasn’t cold.

 

It’s now Tuesday morning and because my friend Paul had fans, newspapers, clothes racks and even a hockey stick in play last night to help in the drying process all of my clothes, boots and gloves were pretty much dry now. Good work Paul! The weather had lightened up a bit and I wanted to at least get through Oregon and out of the mountains in northern California to somewhere warm in the Sacramento Valley. Only a few sprinkles of rain in a couple of places going through Oregon but it was certainly much better than yesterday. Temperatures stayed between 14° and 18° Celsius (C) for most of the day and I got as far as Redding, CA when I decided to spend the night there. Good old Motel 6, the $50 T.J. Watt Youth Jersey special. Mount Shasta was looking very nice as I drove through the northern California mountains on my way to Redding.

Wednesday morning, not a cloud in the sky, California at it’s best. Today’s plan was to get to Ridgecrest, CA. which sits at the southern end of the Sierra mountains. I’d be staying for two nights with Jimmy and DeeDee as they are just super people and they live in a really cool place. There’s is no other place I know that’s anything like it. Now today was also another life first, it was the first time that I’d ever driven south on I-5 all the way to and then through Sacremento. For the last forty years that I’ve driving to California, if I was cruising south on I-5 I’d always turn on the I-505 by-pass to I-80 west and carry on to Carmel, my “home away from home”. Today was also one of the very few times ever that I’ve had a conversation with a CHP officer on the side of the highway and then driven away without getting a performance award of some kind. So I got to ride on a new road, in warm November sun, didn’t get a ticket (I easily could have), and then ended up with great friend’s in Ridgecrest, CA making this indeed another great day to be alive.

Coming off of I-5 onto the Stockdale Highway there were two gas stations just off the freeway. Their gasoline was $1.00 a gallon more than it had been anywhere else on the trip so far. I hate getting ripped off so I waited 13 miles and got gas closer to Bakersfield. The Stockdale Highway ran into Hwy 58 running east and another ride story was born. After gassing up and just coming out of Bakersfield I came up to a marked Ridgecrest Police car traveling in the same direction on Hwy 58. First came the “oh darn” I’m stuck behind a police car reaction, but in two minutes flat it changed to “oh good, look at him go”. I’ll just stay back a bit and let him roll. He was going so quick that he started to slip away a couple of times. That bit of fun lasted for 40 miles, all the way to the Tehachapi turn off. I was sad to see him turn off. The rest of the drive into Ridgecrest was uneventful, but really enjoyable considering how warm and sunny it was and I was on my FJR in November.

So here’s one for you. As I was arriving in Ridgecrest and getting close to their house my satellite radio started playing a song by Porcupine Tree. The significance you wonder… well I`ll explain. This was the very first time that I have ever heard Porcupine Tree being played on the satellite radio. Last July, my good friend Brian and I were staying with Jimmy for a couple of days. While we were there he introduced us to two bands that I`d never heard of before. One of them was called Ozric Tentacles and the other was none other than Porcupine Tree. We got a good chuckle over this one and now it’s… just another story.

We played as hard as we could over the next 48 hours. This Ridgecrest home is like an oasis in the desert. Always great food, good company, and the telling of new stories which makes it almost perfect. By the time I left, late on Friday morning, I’d enjoyed myself immensely! First, the killer dinner on Wed., followed by the kick-ass breakfast on Thurs., then we saw a movie matinee in the early afternoon and finished up at the local watering hole called “Furys”. While there we shot some pool and consumed a few cold jugs of ale before we walked the three blocks home. Retirement is just so much fun! It just does not get any better than this….does it?

Jimmy’s home made breakfasts are a special taste treat. After the Friday morning feast I started getting my stuff together. I was leaving at 10:30 for a lunch rendezvous In the Los Angeles area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We figured it would take 90 to 100 minutes, depending on traffic, to get to the restaurant. Steve Shulman, past Vice-Chairman of the SCMA, is now acting as Chairman for the SCMA motorcycle club and was going to meet me at 13:00 to discuss some of the plans for next year’s Three Flags Classic. We got hooked up as planned and after lunch we drove to Steve’s house. It was so enjoyable driving around in 25° to 30° C temperatures. I could get used to this! Steve and his wife were in the process of moving in the next couple of days so much of their stuff was packed already. Despite that they were still kind enough to let me stay for the night. This simplified things a great deal and made the Saturday morning SCMA meeting logistics much easier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, Nov. 8th, another sunny warm beautiful day in California. We had the SCMA meeting at Coco’s restaurant in Covina and then drove a short distance to meet the first bunch of bikers at Bert’s Mega Mall of Motorcycles, also in Covina. We pulled out of there at 13:45 and made our way to Seaver’s BMW in Santa Ana to meet the final group. A quick tire repair, a group photo, and we pulled out of there about 15:00. We had very close to 40 people in the parade and when we arrived at the “Celebration of Blake’s Life” it was very cool to see Steve roll up on Blake’s machine with all the other bikes coming behind him. And then to have them all park in a line down the street was a way cool. There were people everywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So there was lots of beer to choose from and the ice-cream truck was parked out front so that all could enjoy the two things that Blake really enjoyed. As we riders came into the yard everyone was given a beer mug and our names written on them so they didn’t get lost. Inside each of the cup was a small key ring with one of Blake’s favorite sayings engraved on the tab….

    “THE JOURNEY IS THE DESTINATION”

And printed on the side of each beer cup was a quote by Hunter Thompson of the Hell’s Angels:

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention

of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but

rather to skid in broadside, in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly

used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming

“Wow! What a Ride!”

We all mingled, visited and cried a bit as we sipped on beer or wine or water and there was also a microphone set up. Every half hour there was an opportunity for people to go up and say few words. I certainly had no idea that Blake was a very well respected engineer or that he worked for the city and had about 650 employees working under him. Nor did I know that one of his huge accomplishments was to turn about 20% of the city’s waste toilet water into drinkable water. This is a big deal in California. They’ve been in a drought for a long time now. Lots of yellow everywhere, a big poster for people to sign, and a guest book was available to write in as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was staying in Long Beach for the next few days and left the party around 18:00. Now as luck would have it, the Vancouver Canucks were currently on a road trip in California so what the heck I thought. Which game could I watch and are there any good tickets available? The LA Kings game was on the Saturday night and they were playing the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night so the Ducks it was. Bought two tickets so I could take my host, Stan, to the game with me. So Sunday morning we went out for brunch with Stan’s mother, Gloria, and his girlfriend Annabelle. Gloria and I discussed the 2015 Three Flags Classic for awhile. She has also ridden 35 of the first 39 Classics so we’ve known each other a long long time. Back to the house after brunch and then getting ready for the game. We headed out around 16:30 and were inside the arena by 17:30. Not only did we have a great seats and a great time at the game but Vancouver actually won it in a shoot out. I was wearing my son’s autographed “Brent Sopel” jersey at the game and had to laugh when a Vancouver fan came up behind me and was all excited about Brent’s jersey. I was surprised that anyone there even knew who Sopel was. And now it’s … just another story.

So Monday morning, once I got up, it was time to plan the trip home. I really wanted to be back in Gold River before 20:00 on Saturday night so that I could vote in our municipal election. So I’d leave Tuesday morning and get to to Red Bluff, CA. Wednesday to Vancouver, WA. Thursday to Mission, BC. Friday I’d swing by Richmond, see my dad and then take the ferry to Victoria and see the children. On Saturday I’d cruise up island and vote.

So now I had a plan and it started off without a hitch… then on Wed. as I started up into the northern California mountains it started getting quite chilly. The weather had changed significantly from a few days ago and it wasn’t so enjoyable anymore.

Driving north through Oregon it didn’t get too cold, between 7° and 11° C, but when I got close to Portland and crossed the Columbia River into Washington it dropped into 4° to 5° range. Still not really cold but nothing like LA. Thursday morning was a little different, very light snow falling and only 2° C. As long as it didn’t get any worse it was just fine to drive and in fact once I got closer to Olympia the sun came out and it was much better. The border crossing at Sumas took about 20 minutes and by the the time I got to Dale and Karin’s place just outside of Mission it was still light out but the temperature was dropping fast. Over night my bike was parked outside and it froze up. In the morning we put a little heater under the engine and gave the battery a little boost and 90 minutes later I was ready to go.

Fred, my dad, and his wife Diane were both doing well. Diane was entertaining a friend so dad and I went across the street for a coffee at Starbucks. After an hour or so I blasted out to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal and headed across to Victoria. The FJR will be staying in my son’s garage, right beside the Super Tenere, for the winter. We went out for dinner Friday night and then I drove my truck home and voted on Saturday, as planned.

Death is such a shitty reason to have to go on a trip, but, it happens …and life does go on. So as bad as this whole situation was I kept looking at the positives.

A thirteen day, 2700 mile, road trip on my FJR in November, to a place that was warm and sunny. That works. A Canucks hockey game while in Anaheim as well as getting a chance to see many good friends along the way. That also works. Was it important to say good-bye to my good friend Blake? Absolutely! Blake was a very special kind of person and to me a very good friend. I loved him and he’ll be sorely missed.

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