Moto Meanderings and Guzzi Gatherings

By Lesley Casey (Daytona Beach, Fl, USA/Chinchilla, Qld, Australia)

MOTO MEANDERINGS AND GUZZI GATHERINGS
IN THE USA with JIM & LESLEY CASEY 2006

Trucking with the moto guzzi le mans on the semi has its advantages. In 2006 we had a job change, bought a step deck trailer (low boy) and changed leases. This gave us a whole lot of freedom we had not experienced before. Previously doing tours, tradeshows, electronics and High Value Products the company always told us where the next load was going. We did make rallies and motorcycle events, but not as many as this year! Of course, with having so many weekends off, we didn't make the same money, but that is not the most important thing in the world!

March 4 to 12 -- Bike Week Daytona Beach, Florida

1 Oleander Avenue

Our house is three blocks from Main Street, three blocks from the Atlantic Ocean and eight kilometres from the Daytona International Speedway. Bike Week is always a busy and exciting time for us. Bike Week is the held early spring and bikers from the northern states have suffered 'cabin fever' from 4+ months of winter and no riding. Bike Week attracts 600,000+ bikes/bikers over the 10 day event.

Many of the moto guzzi crowd from out of state are in the area for events, races and partying. Most stop by our house to park and go to Main Street, often they don't get past our house. We usually cook out, the fridge is full, people come and go constantly.

A nearby State Campgrounds is where most of the Guzzi people camp, it is referred to as Camp Carlos. Monday evening is a guzzi gathering at Pantheon Pizza in Daytona Beach, this year about forty people, and thirty bikes got together for pizza and tyre kicking.

We had unexpected visitors this year: Steve and Ryan (father and son) from Perth were in Daytona for Bike Week and a holiday. Jim and I last saw Steve when he and two friends visited for Bike Week in 1999. We hadn't seen Ryan for ten years. Steve rented a Harley for two weeks and they did many of the tourist attractions in central Florida. They spent three days hanging-out with us, and met a lot of our moto guzzi friends. They had a blast as they met and mingled with a different bunch of people other than being 'tourists'.

We went to the AMA Flat Track national series at the Municipal Stadium. Great racing. Jim and a guzzi group went to the International Speedway for the vintage races and Pro-Twins to support the guzzi entries -- great racing, but it was very cold and windy.

May 6/7 -- Arizona Moto Guzzi Rally

Watson Lake, Arizona

We were waiting for a reload in Salt Lake City, Utah, there were no loads going to the east coast that paid very much, so on Friday afternoon we found a load going to Arizona.

Saturday morning we arrived in Prescott, Arizona for the 17th Annual Moto Guzzi Rally at Watson Lake Park campgrounds. There was highway construction in front of the campgrounds, so we parked the whole rig there, and no one bothered us. The truck was parked between the moto guzzi dealer on the highway and the campgrounds, it was an excellent spot. This was the first time we attended the Arizona rally, but we knew a bunch of people.

(from website) Prescott -- located in the mountains of north central Arizona, the city borders the Prescott National Forest. Five area lakes within ten miles of downtown Prescott provide boating and fishing. The 1.2 million acre Prescott National Forest contains hiking trails and other outdoor recreational opportunities.
In 1864, the town of Prescott was laid out along Granite Creek where gold had been panned. The early economy centered on cattle ranching and mining.

To the north is the town of Jerome -- 158 turns in 18 kms, a great motorcycle road, with many hairpin turns: a cliff one side, a 5,000 to 7,000 ft drop the other! The roads were smooth, clean and banked like a racetrack. Because it was a weekend there were hundreds of motorcycles racing up and down. The road goes from 3,000ft to 7,000ft down to 4,000ft, back to 5,000ft in 18 kms, most of the time looking at views of the valley below. Spectacular!

The old mining town of Jerome is unique. It is built on the side of a mountain and the road loops back and forth descending to make the streets like a staircase. From the top street you look at the roofs of building along the street below, then from that street, you look at the roofs of the building on the next street below. It has many of the old saloons and the old stores have been made into museums, art galleries and tourist souvenir shops. An interesting 'old west' town.

(from website) Jerome: "America's Most Vertical City", the "Largest Ghost Town In America", the "Mile High Town with 50 Mile Views".
Located high on top of Cleopatra Hill (5,200 feet) between Prescott and Flagstaff is the historic copper mining town of Jerome, Arizona. Once known as the wickedest town in the west, Jerome was a copper mining camp, growing from a settlement of tents to a roaring mining community.
Today Jerome is a thriving tourist and artist community with a population of about 450. Jerome sits above what was the largest copper mine in Arizona and produced an astonishing 3 million pounds of copper per month. Today the mines are silent.
From its external appearances it hasn't changed much in nearly 100 years. Many of the buildings used by present-day business folk are those built after the fires of 1894 and 1899. Due to the 30 degree incline of the mountainside, gravity has pulled a number of buildings down the slope.

A moto guzzi couple were married at the rally on Saturday, they rode around with “just married" signs on both bikes and a veil attached to her helmet. Saturday evening was a bike show, a catered Italian dinner, door prizes and awards at the hilltop pavilion at the campgrounds. There were 114 attendees at the Rally.

Sunday morning was 'cowboy coffee', something new for us and an Arizona Rally original … (?) Ground coffee thrown into a large boiler of water, after ten minutes of boiling, it is carefully ladled into coffee cups. Don't stir it! It tasted good but there was a lot of sediment!
We hung around the campgrounds until 10 am as most people were packing up, so we said our good-byes. Jim and I went for a ride west of Prescott and found an even better twisty road! This one only had a few hairpin turns, mostly tight 'switchbacks' and sweepers, the le mans is awesome fun on these roads. Eighteen kilometres to the bottom of the valley, stop for an ice cream, then head back up to Prescott.

We got back to the campgrounds at 2 pm and everyone had gone. We loaded up the bike and only had a three hour drive to be at our Monday delivery. It was a great weekend!

June 9/10/11 -- Western New York Moto Guzzi Rally

Letchworth NY

We had a busy four days working between Washington, DC and Chicago as we wanted to stay in the northeast so we could attend the Western New York Moto Guzzi Rally. We loaded Thursday afternoon and that evening went to Westfield, New York for the rally.

This is the second time we attended the rally at this site, the Westfield KOA Campgrounds. The camping area is beside a vineyard across the street from Lake Erie. We dropped our loaded trailer on a side road and took the prime mover in to the campgrounds for our 'tent'. Thursday evening fifteen people were already there, it was nice to catch up with friends before the big group arrived.

Friday morning we took the bike off and rode to Buffalo. (It was a wet, cold ride.) Visited with Jim's relatives, then met up with Jim's two sons: Joe and Jimmy, Joe's girlfriend Michelle and a friend Frank, and we all rode to the rally and arrived in Westfield about 7pm in time for the chilli dinner.

Western New York was experiencing a 'cold' snap in summer -- the weekend was very cold and very windy, but no more rain. 96 people attended the rally, about half we knew from previous guzzi gatherings. The Westfield area has many wineries and is part of the Chautauqua Wine Trail. Saturday we visited four wineries for tasting -- we had many laughs, and many tastes. Saturday evening was a catered BBQ chicken dinner and awards. Roy (friend from Daytona Beach) rode his 1976 guzzi convert towing his trailer -- 2000kms, he won the longest solo ride.

Sunday, Jim and I were the last to leave -- we had a leisurely breakfast, said our good-byes, loaded the bike, had showers, hooked to the trailer and left at 2 pm. We drove an hour, then had to stop for a two hour sleep! It had been an exhausting week and weekend.

June Northern California Breakfast

Sierra Nevada

After delivering in New Jersey on a Monday, we loaded in Pennsylvania and delivered it in Carson City, Nevada on Friday, then reloaded in Reno for a return to Western New York.

We had been in contact with guzzi friends in the Carson City area. We met Mark Colley the next morning in Truckee, California, he took us on some of his favourite roads through the northern Sierra Nevada Mountains and into the Sacramento Valley. It had been hot in Reno and we knew it would be cooler in the mountains, but is was considerably cooler than we anticipated! We froze for the first few hours, but the roads and small towns were great fun -- we stopped in several for breaks and walked around the historic mining towns. Many are now tourist towns -- mountain bike meccas, antique shops, souvenirs, etc.
The snow was melting in the mountains, the rivers and creeks were running white water, often there were waterfalls running down the cliff walls. Very picturesque. When we entered the Sacramento Valley, we went from 12 degrees C to 40 degrees C in half an hour! 7,000 feet to about 100 ft above sea level.

The le mans does not get a lot of attention other than necessary maintenance -- we mostly take it off the truck to ride it, so Jim doesn't fiddle with it like he does the other bikes. After almost six years on the truck a couple of things have vibrated loose -- Mark happened to be looking at the le mans when Jim started it and noticed the exhaust shake -- the bolts that held the left exhaust on had gone, we found (temporary) replacements at a bicycle shop. Riding through the valley later, a connection on an oil line come undone, and covered the left side of the bike and us with oil. An easy fix, just reconnect and tighten them, but it turned our draggin' jeans into driz-a-bone, from the knees to our boots were soaked in oil.

Our destination for the weekend was Winters, California where the Moto Guzzi Northern California Clubs monthly breakfast is held on the third Sunday of each month. We arrived in Winters about 6pm Saturday and were extremely hot and thirsty!

(from website) Winters (population 7,000) was built on agriculture -- dry land farming in the early years: orchards, cattle and sheep grazing, and more recently with irrigation from Putah Creek: fruit and nut trees, tomatoes, corn, beans and squash.

We met the group at the Putah Creek Restaurant at 8.00am Sunday. Our plan was to eat early then hang out with the group arriving at 9.00am, we planned to get away by 10am for the ride back to Reno. It was Fathers Day, so we didn't expect very many people to turn up. Fifteen bikes and about twenty people were there, we knew half of them and had so much fun. We were the last to leave at 11.30am …

We rode with Mark back through Lake Tahoe, a bit quicker than the day before, nice riding, but more traffic. By the time we loaded the bike it was 5pm when we left Reno. The next morning we met guzzi friends Bert and Susi Fox at the Brews Brothers Coffee shop in Elko, Nevada. They are the Nevada Representatives for the Moto Guzzi National Owners Club.

July 7/8/9 Casey Campout, Attica, NY

Casey Campout

Jim's son, Joe had a campout on his property in 2005, we missed it last year because we were on a tour. On the Friday morning we delivered near Buffalo, New Your then we went out to Joe's near Attica. He was holding the second annual Casey Campout at Amborado Acres near Attica, New York. We pulled the prime mover into Joe's driveway for our 'camper'.

It was a big weekend -- about thirty people were there Friday night, most of them camped. Mostly guzzi friends from the area, and some of Joe and Jimmy's friends we had not seen in a while.

On Saturday we went for a ride with friends. There are new turbine windmill farms scheduled for western New York and the first farm of 20 has been 'planted', we checked that out.
We spent a few hours at Letchworth State Park located on the western edge of the Finger Lakes Region.
(from brochure) Spectacular natural beauty, richness of history and pride in heritage, this 14,000 acre State Park offers cavernous gorges, three dramatic waterfalls, inspirational lookouts, historical monuments, amazing stone work, a museum, camping, lodging, hiking, biking, swimming, rafting, canoeing, ballooning and more. It is known as 'the Grand Canyon of the East'.
We visited the waterfalls, some of the lookouts over the Genesee River and gorge, and the stone bridge.

Saturday evening was the BIG party -- more people had arrived at Joe's and it was Jimmy's birthday.
There were approx. 20 motorcycles and 45 people. The main attraction Friday and Saturday nights were the burnouts by Joe and Frank. It was quite the party.

Sunday morning was the monthly Western New York Moto Guzzi breakfast in North Java, nearly everyone made it to that -- and more guzzi friends were there.

July 13/14/15/16 Moto Guzzi National Owners Club National Rally

Old Guzzis at National Rally

The Moto Guzzi National Owners Club National Rally was held in Elkader, Iowa this year. We had not been to a National for four years but we attended the Iowa State Rally in Elkader two years ago, so knew the area.

Elkader is located in the north east corner of Iowa and about 400 kms west of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
(from website) An active town of about 1600 persons surrounded by the hills of the beautiful Turkey River Valley, Elkader offers scenic vistas, unique shops, great recreation and many historic sites. The region was not scoured by glaciers during the last Ice Age and remained rugged while the surrounding area was scraped level. Elkader is the hub of a large trade area which includes one of the most prosperous and diversified farming sections in the Midwest.

There was record breaking heat forecast for the weekend -- it was very hot and humid.

We arrived Friday afternoon, dropped the trailer at a truckstop four kilometres from City Park Campgrounds. We parked the prime mover in front near the museum, we were close to the main pavilion. We unloaded the bike and spent the evening catching up with guzzi friends from all over the USA -- 575 people attended.

Saturday we spent the morning socializing, in the afternoon four bikes headed out for a ride. We crossed over to Wisconsin at Prairie du Chien and followed the eastern bank of the Mississippi River north to La Crosse, Wisconsin, our destination was the City Brewery Tour.

We took part in a tour of the City Brewery in La Crosse -- it was a lot of fun. At the end of the one hour tour there was beer sampling. It was hot, and everyone was thirsty! The beer (and air conditioning) was very refreshing, and it turned out to be unlimited sampling! We left our mark on that place!

(from website) The people of La Crosse take their beer seriously -- the Oktoberfest party there is listed as one of the ten best world-wide. The City Brewery features the worlds largest six-pack of beer. Six giant tanks in graphics of La Crosse Lager, and a statue of King Gambrinus, the patron saint of beer.
Got to go back to La Crosse, Wisconsin for a better look, it is an interesting place!

It was a great rally -- organized and everyone was fed well. The Elkader community enjoy hosting the rally -- the local Lions Club and school catered Friday and Saturday dinners and Saturday and Sunday breakfasts.

On Sunday most people left early as they had a long ride home. Jim and I went for a ride for a couple of hours, spent time in Prairie du Chien, McGregor, and Pikes Peak State Park. Prairie du Chien and McGregor are old river towns: history, unique architecture, antique stores, novelty shops, etc. Pikes Peak has a lookout over the confluence of the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers.

We loaded the bike around noon and headed to Waterloo, Iowa to make our deliveries.

August 4/5/6 -- Wisconsin Moto Guzzi Rally

Wisconsin Rally

Thursday afternoon we loaded north of Minneapolis. Friday morning we received notice that the rest of our load had cancelled.
Nothing came up on Friday and we were not driving to Florida with half a load, so we went to the Wisconsin Moto Guzzi Rally at Camp Joy near Belmont, Wisconsin. We left the trailer at a truck stop.

(from website) The 22nd Annual Wisconsin Moto Guzzi Riders Rally features Wisconsin's best grilled brats and burgers Friday evening, a pig roast Saturday evening, deluxe continental breakfasts on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Wisconsin's finest refreshments (Leinenkughl beer) including soft drinks from the ever flowing artesian taps.
Lake Joy is located in the heart of Wisconsin's "driftless" region -- the area not flattened by glaciers. It is spectacularly scenic riding territory. The campground has clean modern restrooms and showers, and a 60 acre private late with two beaches.

We had not attended this rally before, it is held 200kms from where the Elkader Rally was held and considering it was only three weeks ago, only 220 attended this one. Many people that we knew were there -- one of only two Rallies we know of that the registration fee includes continuous beer and food for the weekend. They have a refrigerated van with four beer taps -- quite an attraction. We had a fun time and saw a different area of Wisconsin.

We were able to take the prime mover through the campground and park amongst the tents and close to everything. Camp Joy has a lot of permanent occupants. Many of the caravans/campers have been built on to and around. Residents use them most of the summer. The motorcycles were at the back of the campground and had to ride through the whole campground to get out, so a highlight Saturday night at the rally is the golf cart parade put on by the residents -- about 40 all decked out with lights, people dressed up all waving and yelling. The lead one had two big truck stacks with fire coming out and air horns. It was a lot of fun for everyone.
Guzzi friend Carl Werth was teased at the Iowa Rally because he didn't have 500,000 miles on his 1976 T -- only 497,000+, so three weeks later at the Wisconsin Rally he had over 500,000miles. He has ordered a new Classic model Guzzi, but is keeping his faithful T.

August 18/19/20 International Roadrunners Rally

Roadrunners Rally

We delivered on Long Island, New York on Friday. No loads were going to or through where we wanted to go, which was the International Roadrunners Motorcycle Rally, so we deadheaded.

We arrived at Paradise Park Campground at Reading Center on Saturday morning 19 August (north of Watkins Glen, New York on the western side of Seneca Lake). We were able to get the whole rig into the campgrounds and parked close to the campers. There has not been a Roadrunners Rally that it has not rained some of the weekend. It rained all day Saturday.

We unloaded the bike then went wine tasting with Joe, Michelle and Jimmy -- we were on the Finger Lakes Wine Trail.

We got through two wineries before the whole rally (60 attendees) hit Hazlitt's for more wine tasting and Red Cat, the number one hot tub wine in existence (believed to be an aphrodisiac...) This is where new Roadrunner members are required to pour the wine.

After Hazlitt's we spent a while beer tasting at Wagner's' Brewery. Saturday night was spent socializing under the pavilion at the Campgrounds out of the rain.

Sunday was overcast but no rain. Everyone else had packed up and left by noon, so Jim and I spent the day on the bike and another night at the Campgrounds -- a much quieter day! We didn't have a load, and didn't know which direction to go because we didn't know where we were loading, so we stayed!

September 29/30 -- Kentucky Moto Guzzi Rally

Kentucky Guzzi Rally

We thought we were finished with rallies for the year. The Kentucky Moto Guzzi Rally was totally unplanned! It was very conveniently located between where we loaded Friday and where we had to deliver.

Friday afternoon we left our loaded trailer at a truck stop 25 kms past the Kentucky River Campground, near Frankfort, Kentucky.
Jim's son, Jimmy loaded nearby as well, he left his trailer at a truck stop to the north. The road to the campgrounds was like driving into a tunnel with thick tree canopy, very narrow and twisty. Had a few low overhead lines to lift up to get into the campgrounds, but we made it. Jimmy arrived an hour after us, so there were two trucks in the campgrounds! Everyone got a kick out of that. Both were parked back to back in the 'dry dock' boat area. We arrived in time to enjoy the chilli dinner that night.

Jimmy's and our first time at this rally which has been held beside the Kentucky River for seven years. Two weeks prior, the area received a lot of rain and the Kentucky River flooded over the campgrounds, and over the pavilion and lifted the roof off. The clean up was still going on.

The rain started again Friday night, it was sunny Saturday morning, but rain again Saturday afternoon. We didn't get the bike off, just socialized. It was cold.

(from website) Frankfort is the capital of Kentucky and has a population of 28,000. It is in the Bluegrass Region of Central Kentucky.
The Kentucky River is a tributary of the Ohio River -- and is 417 km long. The river and its tributaries drain much of the central region of the state. It supplies drinking water to about one-sixth of the population of the state The river is navigable along its entire length because of a series of fourteen locks.

We had heard the 'moonshine' stories that feature at this rally. We decided ahead of time: do not drink anything out of a mason jar (canning bottle). That turned out to be a very wise decision!
(from Website) Moonshine, or mooney is a common slang term for home-distilled alcohol, where production is illegal. The name is derived from the fact that moonshiners often work at night (i.e. under the light of the moon) to avoid arrest for producing illegal liquor, especially during Prohibition.
Moonshine is produced in such small quantities now that laws are not enforced.
The Bluegrass region is home to many bourbon whiskey 'legal' distilleries: Wild Turkey and Jim Beam as well as local ones.

Thirty-five people attended the rally and we knew most of them, and have seen them this year at other rallies. Have to get back another year as there are twisty roads, tourist attractions to visit, and historic sights and scenery.

The weekend of 7 October we took the le mans off the truck in Daytona Beach. It was getting colder, and we experienced an early snow storm in Wyoming in September. The roads are treated with salt and grit to melt the snow and ice, and we don't like getting it all over the bike.

So that is the end of our motorcycle adventures while on the road in the USA for 2006.