Good buddies and a great ride…

When the phone rings and it’s good buddy Duane wanting to head into the San Bernardino Mountains for a motorcycle ride, I know it’s time to hop to.  That’s what I did last week and it was an awesome ride.  East on the 210, up Waterman to Hwy 18 into the mountains, and then down the 138 on the other side to ride home through the Cajon Pass.  Good times, and this trip was made all the more special because of two more good friends we connected with on the ride.

It was a grand ride through one of the greatest motorcycle playgrounds on the planet.  The weather was perfect and the bikes were running like Chinese 250s (I was going to say like Swiss watches, but I have Swiss watches and I have Chinese 250s, and the Chinese 250s run better).  Both the Indians were running great.  My Indian is an Enfield made in India.   Duane’s bike is an Indian made in America.  It’s very confusing, I know.

So we turned onto the 138 somewhere in one of the little mountaintop towns and we had a fun slalom down through the twisties.  As we approached Silverwood Lake, I wanted to stop to get a photo of the bikes.  There’s this huge parking lot and it was completely empty, so I thought we would park there and I could angle my shot for the best photo.

So we’re rolling to a stop and I noticed this silver SUV pulling in behind us, and wouldn’t you know it, the guy parks right next to us.  I was thinking that would completely screw up my photo.  You know the drill…a parking lot the size of Texas and the guy, this, this, this interloper parks right next to me.  I was all set to dip into my not-such-a-nice-guy routine when Mr. Silver SUV stepped out of his car with a giant grin.

Twin Peaks Steve!

Wow, we were ever surprised and happy.  Duane and I have a lot in common, as alluded to in one of the photo captions above, and Twin Peaks Steve is right there with both of us in every regard.

We had a real nice visit overlooking Silverwood Lake and caught up on things.  Steve’s beautiful wife Rosemary was there, too, and we had a wonderful chat with her.  I can’t tell you how great it was bumping into these two.  Steve told me he recognized us when we rode by and he and Rosemary followed us down hoping to have a chance to connect.  I’m glad he did.  We all met back in the CSC Mustang days about 10 years ago, when Steve was the very first guy to order a custom CSC Bobber.  It was one of the prettiest bikes we ever built at CSC.

Twin Peaks Steve rode with Duane and me on a bunch of CSC rides, and the more we learned about him back in those days, the more impressed we were.  How about ultra-lights as a hobby?   Yep, Steve did that, too.

Then CSC went into the ADV motorcycle business by importing the RX3.  Steve and Duane both bought bikes from the very first RX3 shipment to arrive in America, and we rode together (Duane, Twin Peaks Steve, and yours truly) on a bunch more rides.

Steve is a serious rider and camper, and he outfitted his RX3 with all the good stuff for disappearing into the boonies.  He did a lot of trips up and down the 395 (one of the prettiest highways in America), and the motormaestro even did a guest blog or two about his adventures when I was writing the CSC blog.  If you poke around on the CSC blog and search on “Twin Peaks Steve” you’ll find he’s a regular there!

What a ride and what a day!

So, how about you?  Are you getting out on your motorcycle?  Do me and yourself a favor and live large, like Steve, Duane, and the rest of us.  Get off your computer, get your riding gear, and get on the road!

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More great rides are right here!