Day 1 - South Lake Tahoe
The anticipation of leaving was clearly high as both Jorik and I were up early and spent an hour or 2 packing and re-packing the bikes. It would probably have made sense to do this a few days earlier so that we could get the sense of how much stuff we would require on the trip, but it was a busy few days up to our departure and we simply didn’t find the time to go through everything. Like most things we have experienced on this trip, lots of exciting things tend to happen at the last minute. So why should our departure plans be any different!
We loaded up the bikes with just about as much gear as the girls could accommodate. I even managed to squeeze a small camp chair on to the back of my bike as I am too old to be fixing motorbikes on the side of the road from ground level. So the little camp chair that has made an appearance or 2 in our videos from the bike prep prior to leaving, was strapped to the bike. However, Jorik clearly expressed his concern that this was an indulgence and that I should ‘man up’ and that his “vintage” camp chair was under no circumstances to be left somewhere between South Lake Tahoe and Panama City and must be returned. I still packed the chair!
We were due to meet at the Boys and Girls Club Lake Tahoe (BGCLT) at 11:00am so that the kids could have a look at the bikes, and Aimi (our awesome contact from the BGCLT) had arranged for a big send off with the kids at 12:00. With about 30 minutes to go until we were due to be at the BGCLT, we wanted to do a quick video update with the girls in the sun looking ready to roll (albeit a little ‘top heavy’). Jorik had positioned his bike for a great shot, and I jumped on to my bike to move into place and whilst the ignition turned on, the electrics simply died as I tried to start the bike. This was not a promising sign, particularly with time rapidly running out for us to get ourselves down to the BGCLT. Jorik and I were dumb founded as to what the problem might be as I had been riding the bike pretty much every day for the past week, with the exception of the odd ‘snow day’ that we had experienced since I had arrived from the UK. After a few minutes I tried the bike again and it turned over, no problem. So, panic over, it was all going to be fine. I turned it off to check that it would fire up again, and sure enough, nothing! We had done some welding to the rear frame of the bikes a couple of days before to help strengthen the structure that supports the top box and panniers, particularly if we fall over in sand. I had disconnected my battery when we did the welding, just as a precaution and it might have been that when I connected the batter up, I might not have done a great job. So, with minutes to spare, I quickly unloaded much of the gear that I had just packed, took off the saddle, and disconnected and then re-connected the battery. All good, she fired up first time, but it did leave a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that this might come back to haunt us.
Having got the electrical issue sorted (I hope), we shot a quick clip and then jumped on the bikes to get ourselves done to the BGCLT. About 100 kids were all lined up in neat rows in the open space to the rear of the BGCLT facility, waiting for us to turn up at 11:00. As we were only about 5 minutes late, it was lucky that the kids hadn’t started to riot already. Whilst down at the BGCLT, we also got the chance to have a look around the fantastic facilities that they currently offer, including the rather tired and dated playground area. As has been evident from our fund-raising efforts to date (and a massive thanks to Aimi and the others that contributed so generously) the Enfields Overland crew have managed to raise $50,000 that will go towards the reconstruction of a more modern and suitable playground for the kids at BGCLT. The kids were great, with loads of questions being thrown at us. Some random questions like, how do you pee, what snacks are you taking with you, and how old are you? Much to Jorik’s glee, he explained that whilst I look really old with my grey hair and white beard, he is actually older than me.
The kids all lined up and waved us off, which was a really great send off. But we weren’t quite done with South Lake Tahoe yet. A friend of Jorik’s, Ted Kennedy, who is a local business owner and the frontman for a local band call The Residents (check them out https://www.residentstahoe.com/) had asked to have lunch with us to see us on our way. We popped over to the venue that they were playing at that afternoon and caught up with Ted over lunch whilst he was setting up for the afternoon session. Ted very kindly gave us some cash for beers and pizza along the road. What an absolutely awesome gesture and it was great to be in his company, even for only a short time.
We hit the road at around 13:30, heading for our friend, Nick Wells’ house in Newark, which is just outside of San Francisco. Climbing out of the Sierra Mountains after a fair amount of snow in the glorious sunshine was simply spectacular. I have been to Lake Tahoe more than a few times, both in the winter and the summer, but to see the mountains covered in snow, whilst the sun is out, was amazing.
We travelled over the mountains and cut through some of back roads to make our way south, trying to avoid the freeways and motorways as much as possible. Our bikes are not that large at only 411cc, which delivers about 24bhp (with no load), so going fast for extended periods is not ideal for our girls! And before anyone makes a smart comment, our actual girls are certainly capable of going plenty fast for extended periods! Big shout out to Siobhan and Melody (our respective much better halves) for allowing us the opportunity for undertaking this fantastic adventure, although it is for the kids!
We pulled into Newark as the light was starting to fade. It was a little after 6pm when we took the final turn towards Nick’s house. He had provided us with detailed instructions (in the form of a video – nice work Nick) as to how were able to gain access to the garage if he wasn’t home. However, little did we know that Nick was actually following us into his neighbourhood and even managed to shoot a little video clip of us, which was perfect timing.
Nick was a very gracious host and fed and watered us, with a couple of well-earned beers after our first day. I have to admit, for an old man, I felt surprisingly good for a such a long day in the saddle. Still, I was in bed and asleep by 10:00pm, leaving Jorik to beaver away at the video editing, which I suspect might become a recurring theme. He did inform me that he wasn’t up much longer after me.