We’re home now, after a weekend in Mariposa that was both fun and disappointing. It was fun because I was able to see old friends and make new ones, and I was able to share the stories about my RX3 adventures in Colombia and China. It was disappointing because of the attendance. I would guess the attendance at HU Mariposa 2016 was less than half of what it was last year. But it was still fun. Hopefully, next year will be a better-attended event.
I gave my presentation on the Colombia ride Friday afternoon, and I had a nice crowd with lots of questions. That was fun. We stayed for Sam Manicom’s late evening presentation on his travels through Asia and Iran, and that was extremely interesting. He’s a cool guy who tells a great story and gives a wonderful presentation.
When we arrived at the Horizons Unlimited event Saturday morning, it was so empty that Sue and I decided to take a ride up California 49 (the Gold Rush Highway) to Coulterville. It’s a little town 27 miles north of Mariposa. The road was spectacular….
That’s the Merced River you see off in the distance, with a very photogenic bridge. It had a sign warning people not to jump off of it.
The scenery that morning was as good as any I have ever seen in California. I’d like to organize a run up there just to ride Highway 49 again. If any of you folks are interested, let me know.
We were lucky…there was car show going on in downtown Coulterville, and there were lots of photo ops…it was the perfect place to play with the 8mm wide-angle lens…
Later in the afternoon on Saturday, I gave my presentation on the China ride. It was well attended. I think the road photos impressed people the most…the folks in my audience had no idea the roads in China were as good as my photos revealed. China sure was an exotic trip.
Our good buddy Rob was at Mariposa this weekend. Rob is a real RX3 aficionado…he rode an Iron Butt day on his RX3 (I wrote about that previously right here on the CSC blog), and he rode with us for a few days on our 5000-mile Western America Adventure Ride. It was good to see Rob again…
We went to another incredible talk late Saturday afternoon presented by Peter Day, CEO of Mosko Moto luggage. It turns out that Peter loves to travel the world and his approach is this: He flies into whatever third-world country he wants to tour with no motorcycle and no firm plans, he finds and buys a used Chinese motorcycle wherever he goes (central America, Africa, you name it), he rides for a month or two or three, and when he feels like returning, he sells the bike there. Peter especially likes Chinese bikes based on the CG engine, and he was very excited when he saw our TT250. He threw a set of his luggage on the TT250 and used our bike during his presentation, which we thought was great. Peter’s presentation was as much a commercial for the TT250 as it was about his travels, and that was okay by us!
And folks, that was about it. We made the trek home from Mariposa today just fine. It was a good weekend, and it made me anxious to get back out on the road on my motorcycle. I’m riding my TT250 to work tomorrow, and I’m already looking forward to it.
SG250 San Gabriel Cafe Racer
TT250 Enduro
RX4 450cc Adventure