P&H Chopper Party, Pioneertown, CA
Picture Book Test Ride
The plan is simple enough: give the Baja Twins an airing in the almost Baja-like desert outside San Diego, to road-test a few new parts. We plan to go down to the garage on Thursday night to do some last minute tweaking on the bikes, and with an early start on Friday morning we’ll leave San Diego, Ca. heading North-North-East for the Mojave desert. Just before reaching Joshua Tree, we’ll take a left turn to Pioneertown, a former film set posing as an old timey frontier town, built in 1946 by Hollywood big money. There’s an actual working bar / restaurant / music venue named „Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace“ and a convincing philosophy: "bbq, bands, bikers, booze, boots, music, mezcal, families, friends + vets’ together at one magical desert roadhouse". Who could say no to that! Since last year they also sport a major chopper party.
We like our plan. It is a good plan. But,
just as we are about to start out, something happens that never should happen: it rains in Southern California. It takes a full hour until it stops enough for us to go. The bikes are purring happily, the sun is beating down, and the rain … has second thoughts and gives us another dose at Cahuilla. We are lucky and find a roof for us to hide under, they have hot coffee for us, and we do, what bikers like best: we play a round of chess. Hello! The rain stops again, so we open the throttles. Until the next downpour hits us. This time we take refuge in a gas station. Ouch, that is hail clattering down. More waiting, more coffee … After that, the weather calms down and we keep those motors running, taking the epic ’Pines to Palms Highway’ across the mountains. We have a glimpse of Coachella valley and grab some burgers in Thousand Palms. The planned 4, maybe 5 hours had turned into 9, but we see the P&H neon signs now … Beer! Friends! Live music! Los Panchos Tones and Gethen Jenkins …
The next day we meet our old buddy Eric,
who takes us for a ride through Joshua Tree National Park. Amazing. The awesome scenery could be another Hollywood film set, but it’s real enough. Back at the P&H the chopper party is getting under way. Loads of awesome bikes, mixed with great music by Will Worden, Buffalo Larry and The Mighty Stampede, and Whitey Morgan. Later the action goes indoors (to get coyotes and armadillos some peace and quiet) and it’s Doors, Flames of Durga and finally the Throw Rag band from Salton Sea with Sean Wheeler at the mic. It’s gonna be a long night.
Nooo! – already Sunday, and we need
to go home. There is no rain, but hail - a hail of bullets. We just stop for a few photos when we stumble upon a friend of the 2nd amendment, emptying his Beretta by the roadside. Bullets flying, empty cartridges littering the place and we decide to leave as quietly as two pretty mufflerless early Shovelheads can. We point the forks in the direction of home with a few stops for fuel, burgers, beer in Indio, Salton Sea and Desert Shores. Passing Borrego Springs, the Yaqui pass and Julian we finally descend into San Diego in the evening light. After the ride, we have a nice sit down with tacos and beer to review how the testing went. The outcome will be in our shop soon, look for it in the CV carb dept.