35th Annual Redwood Run, River View Ranch, Piercy

~ 08,09,10JUN12 ~

Report by Raz

35th Annual Redwood Run - 8,9,10 June
~ the Raz Report ~

Ars in the saddle at 0-dark:thirty,
I-5 north to Williams, 20 west to 101 north,
reminded of what a nice ride 101 north to Piercy is,
in camp by 9:30.

As for the event:
- Still ABSOLUTLY the BEST party of the year!
- Still a bargain at $120/ticket for the 2-day multi-band concert!
- Still a mellow friendly time to meet long time friends from afar!

Learn something new every day:
Tim of Lagunista Brewing: "That's the worst draw I've ever seen, pour that out, I'm going to teach you how to draw a beer from a tap."
Raz: "hate to waste it, but, I'm old enough I should have learned a long time ago..."
Tim: "Pull the handle, let run till no bubbles, cup into stream at an angle, tilt to straight up as it fills, tap off when full - wow! - that's the best draw I've ever seen!"

The bands:
DRAT! Savannah Blue played at 10:30am Friday... as I was leaving for the grocery store in Garberville for ice and sumptin to put on ice, really hated to miss their performance, hoped they would play again later... wrong...
JOLT! Lukas Nelson... Willie's kid, yeah, riding on his dad's name, going to be a yawn show... WRONG!!!... holy KRAP... GREAT SHOW Lukas... and... in the middle of the show there's a power failure... like drums?... I do... and drummer Anthony LoGerfo never missed a beat... kept right on playing... dint need any power... soon there were flashlights all over him... well, I don't know, 10 maybe 15 or 20 minutes later the power came back on, the band picked up their guitars and joined back in... really dug that drum solo... what a drummers dream!
EXTRA! The Fryed Brothers, scheduled to start at 11:30pm Saturday night started at 9pm and played for THREE HOURS!!! RIGHT FUGGIN ON!!!

Fun with Gary:
Up early Friday, up Late Friday, up early Saturday cooking a new pot of coffee... after breakfast Steve and I are tossing back a 5-hour energy drink...
"Gary, you want one?" "Nooooooo, I'd be doing burn outs and wheelies if I did one of those."
"Steve, lets have fun with Gary... we've got to get him to do one!"

Security:
Modified Motorcycle Association, Gus Alverez, Chuck Peterson... good job again... would be easy to take these dudes and the job they do for granted, thank you very much.

Bike parking bike show:
Again, walking among all the parked bikes... incredible show... not just Harley as in the days of old when only Harleys were allowed to enter, but, all manner of Harleys: stock, cruiser, chopped, Buell, and, all manners of other manufacturers, Limey, Italian, German, Japanesse, etc: street, cafe, crotch rocket, dirt, dual sport... you name it, it was there!

Saturday in the Pit:
People watching - whew! a lot people to see in all manner of dress and undress...
wonder if folks looked at me and thought my mommy dressed me funny?... what more can I say...
Games - bite the weenie contest... rider balance, passenger eye-mouth coordination... always fun.
The Bike show - the best of the bikes there all in the pit to check out.
The Wet T-Shirt Contest - a lot like a train wreck...,when you come upon a train wreck, it doesn't matter that you have seen a train wreck before... you gotta look... and boobs are a lot like that too... doesn't matter that you have seen a pair before... you still gotta look! Al won the privilege of being the ice water bucket man for the wet T-shirt contest... who is Al? He is a retired local dairy farmer 72 years young and still riding and partying on!!! RIGHT ON AL!
Burnout and Wheelie demonstration - now that was fun to watch... and this was done up and down that steep road into the pit... hell... I don't even like walking up or down that road much less riding a wheelie up or down it!

Sunday alarm clock:
Up late again Saturday and awoke by the sound of bikes warming up and hitting the road... cooking another pot of coffee... eggs, potatoes, ham from a vendor in the pit... then... break camp, load my dirt clod and head for the homestead with another great Redwood Run to drag up from my memory cells on a cold winter night in front of the fireplace with my Babydoll.

Next, The 36th Annual Redwood Run - June, 2013
Get there... the cost is a bargain... the distance... no big deal...

Los Angeles 9 1/3 hrs / 567 miles
Reno, NV 6 1/8 hrs / 339 miles
Santa Cruz 5 hrs / 266 miles
Grants Pass, OR 4 3/4 hrs / 245 miles
San Jose 4 1/2 hrs / 238 miles
Sacramento 4 hrs / 212 miles

KNUCKLEHEADS FOREVER!