FIRST DAY

The flight has been great so far, we are better than half way to Frankfurt and have met some wonderful people.
I asked the flight attendant to give Jeff his birthday cards, one from Barb and Leon and one from Anne and me, plus a small gift that I had for him. She was so stoked that it was actually his birthday that she came back later with champagne from the 1st class cabin and some other goodies.




We have drunk most of their Warsteiner,
Jeff has practiced his one German phrase "Zwei Bier Bitte" and has been praised by the crew with the compliment "Sehr Gute" and of course two beers.
We cannot wait to get to Frankfurt and try some different beer.
Yes Leon, we are still in the big aluminum tube.
Oh Oh, another beer just arrived.
More soon.
Beer that is...
Two hours to go, my plan to stay up late and get up early so that I would sleep on the plane did not seem to work so well.
I am now betting on what we will be offered for breakfast, omelet or omelet?

We are now in the airport in Frankfurt waiting for the flight to Munich, we should be leaving in about 40 minutes and it is only about a 50 minute flight.


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Location:ON THE PLANE

On the plane

In the limo then...
On the big silver bird ready to go.






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The trip begins!

We are at the airport checked in and ready to go.
First lunch in the Daily Grill and then a couple of beers after security and we should sleep to Frankfurt.




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Location:LAX

Less than one week to go!

One of our stops on the trip is Venice, next time this picture appears on the blog, Jeff and I will be standing in Piazza San Marco.

Check back soon for more updates.

Just over one week to go!

The route for our ride is shown below:

The stops are
Munich
Salzburg
Emmersdorf
Villach
Venice
Cortina D'Ampezzo
Bressanone
Innsbruck
Munich
Total miles apart from side trips is less than 1,000. No day is more than HB to Vegas, no 600 mile days like last year.

After due deliberation we have decided to try to go to Neuschwanstein on the second to last riding day.
That would mean riding from Bressanone to Fussen and then back to Innsbtuck.

Not a big deal really, about 190 miles total. So now it just depends upon the weather.

Mad King Ludwig

Today it is two weeks until the start of the trip.
I decided to try and fit a visit to Neuschwanstein into the last day of riding.
It means a bit of a detour from Innsbruck to Munich and a really early start (by European standards) around 9:00 AM.
We will decide nearer to the end of the trip depending upon weather and how much we are up to the visit.

During our first and last days we plan to visit the Hofbrauhaus and see my old buddy!



Watch the blog for more updates as the days pass.

Coming Soon

More craziness headed your way.
Follow our next adventure starting on August 29th.
Jeff and I head for Europe for the Harley rally in Faaker See, Austria.

Belgian beer on the way to the airport (Budweiser) then German beer for the rest of the trip!
What could be better?



   

 
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Comments

I have finally fixed the comments section.
If you prefer to make anonymous comments that is the way they will appear.
If you want to be recognized for your comments then put your name in the text.

OK it's not a John Deere but it is a tractor and I did get to drive it.

Norm

The Bike!

Anne and I rode over to San Pedro to check on the progress of the Triumph.
There is a picture of some of the parts below.





As you can see it is not yet quite complete!
However, Tim assures me that I will be riding the bike this summer.





Those of you who are mechanically inclined can see the problems with bits of aluminum (aluminium for those on the other side of the pond) broken off. I think that the chain must have snapped at some time.





Here a little piece of fin is broken from the rocker cover. Oh well! it's only money.
On the way to the bike place, we rode through Ports of Call, which is kind of a tourist area of San Pedro. Pier 87 is now home to theUSS Iowa. The ship opens to the public on July 7th, pretty soon afterwards Anne and I will be there for the tour.
The link below may not work, but cut and paste to your browser to see the website.

http://pacificbattleship.com

More soon,
Norm
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Location:San Pedro

The Wedding

Kellie, the daughter of John and Susie Shultz was married this weekend at the Ponte Winery in Temecula, California.
Anne and I drove up on Friday evening and spent two nights at the Ponte Inn which is part of the winery operation.
The Inn has only been open since May 4th and is very well appointed.
The wedding was superb, the minister must have been on an incentive from John to keep it brief. One of best marriage services I've heard.










The happy couple.




The father of the bride with Tony and Dorothy Vinter.






Madame, ready for action.




Anne with Dorothy Vinter and Margaret Nash.





The mother and sister of the bride, Susie and Kristen Shultz.



What a blast, we had a great time.

Location:Temecula California