Gas prices, Tucson John, and Crater Lake...

Here in southern California, we have some of the highest gas prices in the country. Nor Cal is a little higher, but they do some funny things up there that gets reflected in their gas prices and their overall cost of living. As it is, we are paying somewhere north of $4 per gallon down here in So Cal. As you probably know, it’s a little less larcenous in other parts of the United States (most of you guys and gals don’t have the same nutty laws we do here in California), but it’s still larcenous everywhere they sell gasoline.

Four years ago gas was about half what it is today, as the politicians keep saying (not that anyone needs to tell me that). It’s hard to imagine why the price has doubled in just 4 years. The gas companies are still pumping the same amount of oil out of the ground and it still costs about the same amount to distill it. If anything, I would have expected the price to go down, because the folks who make and sell it have had four more years to find ways to get the production costs down. Ah, what do I know.

The good news is that when I filled up my Scooter this morning, it cost $10. That’s still kind of nutty, but not as nutty as spending over $60 to fill up my car.

Alright, then, that’s enough of a rant. Back to the good stuff…check out this photo of a wire-wheel-equipped 250cc Greaser that’s on its way to Tucson John…

That sure is one good-looking bike, Tucson John! You’ve got the right kinds of roads around your town, too, for some great riding – just watch out for the coyotes, the road runners, the javelina, and the cougars out there, TJ!

My good buddy and co-author Jimbo took a ride out to Crater Lake in his home state this week, and he sent back some great photos! Take a look…

Jimbo, thanks for sending these great photos to us. Crater Lake is one of my favorite spots. I’ve only been there twice, once coming home from Canada on my 1200cc Triumph Daytona, and the other time on a Subie trip with my sweetheart Susie. It was bitter cold both times.

On the moto trip, I was traveling with my buddy Marty on the Three Flags Rally. Heading south from Canada, we came in from the northwest (I don’t remember the highway) just after the sun came up. We had been seeing “Elk Crossing” signs throughout Oregon, but we hadn’t seen any. I was kind of thinking we never would. In fact, that’s exactly what I was thinking on that bitter cold morning when a monster bull elk stepped out in front of us on the way in to Crater Lake. The bull was gigantic and he just stood there, staring us down in the middle of the highway, in perfect profile.

That gigantic elk was awesome, large, and clearly in charge. We stopped about 60 yards away and he just looked at us for maybe 2 minutes. Then he walked across like he owned the place. I guess he did own the place. Then maybe 20 elk, a few at a time, followed him from the woods on the right and crossed the highway into the forest on the left. I remember it like it happened yesterday. That’s the great thing about motorcycle adventures. The memories stick with you forever.

Here are a few of my Crater Lake photos from that first trip…the first one isn’t the elk I described above (I saw the guy in the photo below the next day), but I’m pretty sure they were probably buddies…

This is my old Daytona 1200 parked on the road running around Crater lake…

And here’s another shot of the lake from that trip…

Yep, that’s snow on the ground, and yep, it was cold. In fact, on the way down, we rode around the shaded side of the mountain, and there was still ice on the road. I know that because on that ride I wondered who was trying to pass me on the left so closely. I caught someone coming up close behind me and to the left in my peripheral vision, and then I realized it was the rear end of the Daytona sashaying around! Whoa!

As cold as that trip was, the next one was even colder. I knew that going in, though, and Susie and I rolled up to Crater Lake in the Subaru that time…which was a little bit better choice on icy roads!