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A Contrast to the Midwest

In the Midwest, when someone talks about California, most people in the Midwest think of Los Angeles, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and those posh places where everyone drives a Hummer, shops at Gucci, and act like snobs. That is the exact opposite of San Francisco, where the people are (certainly in comparison) laid-back and much more friendly. For a major city, San Francisco is really a beautiful city, with scenic hills and valleys and on a peninsula surrounded by water. Most of the houses are two or three stories tall, and they are placed close together. The first floor was a single car garage, if it hasn’t been converted into living space. The appearance of the rows of homes is quaint and gives a warm feeling of ‘neighborhood’.

For those of us in the Midwest, San Francisco is renowned for the hippies in the 60’s and 70’s, and the gays in the 80’s and beyond. These groups are only a small portion of the population, and it is a city that seems to welcome everyone, and allows everyone to be a little ‘weird’, as long as they have a sense of humor.

For example, I was in a bar, talking to folks, and a 40-piece marching band comes through the bar! The cheerleaders, male/female/undetermined, are dancing on top of the bar, while tubas, trombones, drums, clarinets, and saxophones play wild versions of pop songs, while mingled with the bar crowd. After a few songs (and many laughs, and much applause) the parade goes out the door, and the bar eventually returns to ‘normal’. That just doesn’t happen in the midwest. Ever.

One of the other cool things they do every Easter, that I have not seen, is the BYOBW (Bring Your Own Big Wheel) race, down the steep and curvy Lombard Street.

Pre-Hawaii Camping Trip

This year, again, work flew me to the city for a conference. The dates coincided with a camping weekend, sponsored by some of the guys I have me at Sturgis over the years. The camping was about one hundred miles north of the city, and I was able to rent a Harley to get there in proper style. Also riding was my old friend BikerBaer, and Wayne, and Kym. We bailed off the highway for a fun, curvy, ride on SR128 to get lunch in the town of Booneville. This is a popular motorcycling road, for good reason, and I remember riding it back in 2000 during my first cross-country trip.

The weekend was a fun reunion with many friends, and it hardly feels like a year has passed. The food is excellent, and the time passes far too quickly.

We ride back to the city, and I return the rental bike. Bikerbaer gets me back to his house, I shower, and repack to head to Hawaii for a week. I’ll return after that to attend the work conference, and another weekend in the city before heading back to Ohio.

Back from Hawaii

When I return from Hawaii, BikerBaer tells me that some of the guys are going for a ride. Rather than hassle with getting another rental, BikerBaer offers to let me ride ‘bitch’ on his bike. I’ve tried on several occasions to take photos while driving the bike, and it’s not very safe, and the pictures don’t usually turn out, so I look forward to the chance to get more photos of San Francisco for the calendar! (See, I did it for you! — grin)

We meet for breakfast, then head up to Twin Peaks, one of the tallest points in the city. It’s an incredible view of the Bay and surrounding area.

From there, we ride through Golden Gate Park to an old Civil War era fort, Fort Point, just beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. I never knew that there was a fort there, so its a great chance for me to learn more of the area’s history. There are many tourists there, and a bunch of leather-clad bikers attract the attention of their cameras.

California was purchased from the Spanish in 1848, just before the start of the Gold Rush. With all of the new wealth in the region, there were concerns that the Spanish may try to reclaim the area, so a fort was constructed to guard the entrance to San Francisco Bay, known as the Golden Gates. While the fort never saw battle, it has served a place in the region’s rich history. During construction of the bridge, the fort was used as the base of operations. Restoration has preserved the structure, and there are tours and reenactments that take place there regularly.

We continued our ride, heading across the Golden Gate Bridge. I was really enjoying the ability to get pictures of this. Since a motorcycle doesn’t have windows and a roof, its easy to get excellent pictures of the enormous structure.

On the north side, we stop at an overlook and get a few more pictures. One tourist tries to get his girlfriend to stand sort of near us, so he can get us in the background. We invite her over for a proper picture. After that, other tourists want their pictures with us. I wonder if they thought we were famous?

We continue our ride up a few miles to China Camp Park, where many of the Chinese immigrants lived during the Gold Rush. This scenic park was a pleasant break from the highway.

After lunch at a local micro-brewery, we head back towards the city. Stopping at another park that’s north and west of the bridge. This area was a military base during World War II, and many of the abandoned structures still remain. The view up the coast was breathtaking, and we found a tourist to take pictures of our group.