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I have been wanting to spend a day on the bike with my granddaughter for a long time. Our schedules finally came together and she came down from Orange County for the weekend. So this morning we got up, bundled up and decided to look for a great spot to have lunch. from La Mesa we went up wildcat Canyon. My low tire pressure warning was being extra annoying so I decided to run past Udo house in Ramona and say a quick hi while borrowing five psi of air. But, alas, no joy. Udo must be out, traveling some hidden corner of the country again, and we rolled on. Farmhouse 78 is always a win! Dutch Apple pie ala mode and French fries w hot coffee seemed perfect. she wanted to touch the snow, so I warned her we’d probably lose another 10° of warmth. She said she was kind of scared of getting too cold, and as soon as she said it, she knew she was doomed. I absolutely loathe the word scared. And my grandkids know that. If something scares you, you should run headlong straight into it as long as you know how to do it safely. Even though this was a very small paper tiger I just have a thing about people saying they’re scared. So we turned on the electrics and headed up through Julian to Mount Laguna. of course I had to pull over at inspiration point. This is a very special spot for me for many reasons, and it was great to snap a couple of pics and point off into the desert below with a few stories about places I’ve been and hope to take her to someday. Next stop Kwaaymii Point. Another meaningful view. I idled the bike for about seven minutes while she kept her hands on the heated grips. I don’t have nearly as good of women’s gear in the closet as I do men’s. Note to self, spend a little dough on my granddaughter, and get her some gear that will make riding Very comfortable. at this point, she’s asking me when it’s gonna get a little warmer and if we are going to have any trouble, encountering snow and ice on the road. I pointed to the snowflake on my dash and said, don’t worry honey, these BMWs have a special snow mode see, see here? I think she bought it. It was at this point that we started to encounter the endless massive throng of Californians driving up from the eight. We really didn’t have any trouble with traffic going south. But those poor suckers coming up from the freeway were stacked for miles and miles and miles, bumper-to-bumper barely creeping at all. There were easily over 1000 people in must’ve been at least 500 vehicles, come up to see the snow and make a small snowman. I knew better than to come at it from the eight, but didn’t realize how lucky we were to hit it clockwise. There was only one section at the most common area where traffic was stopped in both directions. This is where my granddaughter finally got to see the total awesomeness of motorcycle travel. Of course we were able to squeeze between the two lanes and putt putt past people, many of who had been sitting for hours, trying to eventually find a parking place. it was awesome! at Mount Lagūna we pulled over at the rest stop and you can imagine what a ---- show that was. A little parking lot was packed full of cars of which pretty much all were just stuck. Lauren got off to use the head and I politely told a few cars, what needed to be done to unstick the mess. It didn’t matter what direction cars were pointed, they were all just stuck, and nobody wanted to get out of their car and talk with the others to figure it out. Come on Lauren, let’s blow this pop Stand. The northbound tourons crept along between zero and 2 miles an hour for miles and miles. The lineup started for them just about 1 mile off of the eight. as we descended, the temperatures slowly climbed up from 36° back to 61 as we rolled past Alpine and into El Cajon. It was a great and special time with my granddaughter. We both learned she’s a little bit tougher than she thought she was. The next day trip with her will be to La Bufadora and then back on Viada Guadalupe through Tecate. a great introduction to Baja. You gotta love living in San Diego County. It’s such a buffet of unique experiences. Ride on brothers and sisters!

Well I’m glad you’re home now. Sorry to hear about your struggle but hope you’re making headway. Im heading south for a couple weeks but hope to swing by and say hi after. Happy to take your HP for a run just so it doesn’t get too dusty!