Another great rally. Thanks for the walk-around, Jerry. It really captures the spirit of the meet. I meant to take a bunch of pictures at the concours, but forgot all about it when the time came.
We blew a spark plug out, threads and all, in the Triton V10 engine in the motor home about an hour and a half away from home, and finished the trip on 9 cylinders, sounding like a tractor with an open exhaust manifold. But we got there on time, and had no problems except the noise on the way home. The fridge in the motor home also died when we got there, and we lived with warm beer and the smell from the ammonia refrigerant during the week. Fortunately, we were able to sponge off of friends for enough cold beers to survive (and maybe a wee bit more). Not to mention the Glenfiddich from Mark from New Zealand and his friends. Tom Kullen took pity on us and dropped off some ice so we could use the freezer section as an ice chest. None of that diminished the level of fun we had. It was really great to see so many old friends, and make some new ones.
I had a chance to meet and talk with Matt from CNW. He's really a great guy, still full of enthusiasm for Nortons, and going full tilt to come up with new products. He had his new electric starter conversion on display, and it really is slick. Kenny Buchanan was there, and gave a good talk on wire wheel building, particularly the Norton applications. He was hard to miss, being the only guy there in a kilt.
The rides were great. My grandson got to ride the Commando most of the time, so I was stuck with the Kawi, which was probably not a bad thing. I managed to ride four of the five planned routes, as well as some other local stuff. That's better than I managed last year. Really nice twisty stuff, as well as some smooth pavement higher speed sweepers, and beautiful views.
Next year is back on the other coast, Virginia if the rumors are right. I'm hoping to be there.
Ken