This year the spring equinox (at least for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere) falls on Friday, March 20, 2015. The equinox is when the plane of the equator passes the center of the sun. Earth's axis tilts neither towards nor away from the sun, resulting in equal amounts of daylight and darkness.
Throughout the ages, traditions both religious and secular have celebrated the spring equinox and all it symbolizes. Most notably, the cosmic cycle of death and resurrection, the struggle between the forces of light and those of darkness, good versus evil, the search for balance on both a global scale and on a personal level. For many, myself included, the spring equinox symbolizes the end of the dominance of darkness and the beginning of the dominance of light.
What better way to celebrate this year's spring equinox than with motorcycles and pizza?! And what better motorcycle to capture the essence of balance than our very own CBs? Let me know if you're in. Here's the plan:
Pizza at the Idyllwild Pizza Factory.
http://www.idyllwildpizza.com/
I plan to leave my home in San Diego at 9am. By then, a good portion of the commuters will be off the roads. From San Diego I will ride north to Temecula, arriving around 10am. I'd be happy to stop and join up with any other San Diegans along the way. Temecula is a good meeting spot for those coming from the north. By 10:30am, we will depart from Temecula and head east on Highway 74 - the Pines to Palms Highway.
Highway 74 is a beautiful, somewhat technical ride with lots of curves, some blind, some hairpin, a few sweepers. My hope is that on a Friday, between 10:30 and 11:30am there will be little traffic. Still, my plan is to take it easy and have a smooth, fun, casual ride. At the top of the pass there is a viewpoint with amazing views of the surrounding desert. If there are any speed demons amongst us, the viewpoint will be a good point to meet up before the descent down an equally fun set of curves.
From Temecula to Idyllwild is just over an hour. With a short stop at the viewpoint, we should make the pizza place by noon. For those of you who don't like pizza, it looks like the menu offers a lot of other options. What am I saying?! If you don't like pizza you're not human and that's pretty darn creepy. I suppose you can still come but keep your tentacles to yourself! Once I know how many of us are going, I'll make reservations so we can all sit together. Our very own OMC. No, not "Outlaw Motorcycle Club." More like, "Old Man Club." We can trade stories and you all can laugh at the mark my Bullitt helmet leaves across my forehead.
Around 1:30pm we'll start our return by heading south, eventually making our way through the mountains to Julian where we'll stop for fuel and, depending on how much we gorged in Idyllwild, maybe even a slice of their famous apple pie. Hmmm, pizza, apple pie ... bring your insulin boys! The ride from Idyllwild to Julian should take about an hour and a half, hour and three-quarters; getting us there at 3pm or shortly thereafter. From Julian, we make the final push for home. If we leave by 4pm, that gives us just over three hours of daylight. The sun will set at 7:05pm on March 20th.
Heading south from Julian we'll hit Interstate 8 and head west. Those of you going north will eventually hit the 15 or the 5. For me, the ride from Julian to home will be roughly an hour and a half, getting me on my couch, beer in hand, by 5:30pm. In total, approximately five and a half hours in the saddle and 240 miles (your times and distances will vary!). Bring your cameras!
So, that's the plan at least. I'm not opposed to getting sidetracked, lost, or spur of the moment changes. But I thought it best to at least have a plan. After I learn how many (if any) of you are going and from where you're coming, I'll post specific meeting spots and times. And feel free to do only part of the ride if you can't do the whole thing. I'll be going solo (no way my wife will subject herself to that much time on the back of the CB) but let me know if you're bringing a passenger so I get an accurate count for the lunch reservations.
I hope and look forward to meeting you guys!