Over the last two years I have been incredibly fortunate to have a winter spot in Ventura, California for my motorcycle in Gandalf’s garage. Who is this Gandalf? He is the wizard of the west and knows the roads like no other. He’s also a Civil Engineer in the most geologically challenging place in North America so it’s safe to say he’s a cut above the rest.
He leaves much of the discipline of his profession at the office and has become the de-factor leader and world headquarters of AGALOS which is a name given to our riding group. AGALOS stands for Ain’t Got a Lick O Sense which is how we were described by a rider on one of our tours.
As a proper Wizard, Gandalf knows all the best roads, best places and the best people too. Over the last few years we’ve been taking advantage of this with a weekend in Paso Robles and last year a trip to Baja. This year plans included another weekend in Paso Robles, a trip to Baja and the California Back Road Discovery route.
Then along came a virus.
When we got together in early February the writing was on the wall. This was the weekend that Wall Street decided to take the virus seriously; the following week started the run on toilet paper.
The plane tickets for the BDR ride got cancelled, then rescheduled before cancelling once more. Delta was great about issuing a full credit and my original economy ticket became a first class ride.
With our plans scrapped my issue became how to get my bike home. Shipping is an option from Las Vegas. Flying to LA, riding to Vegas and flying home felt to carry more risk than riding the back roads across the country. With encouragement from my wife I reached out to Gandalf on Friday, April 24.
As you can see I waited until 8:24 which was 05:24 at AGALOS HQ. I chalk it up to Wizards never sleep, my wife considers it fair play after all the 02:00 drunken shout-outs we’ve received.
I booked my ticket. I had a choice of two itineraries both of which went though Delta’s hub in Atlanta. One trip had a shorter duration with less time in Atlanta. First class in this flight was pretty full. The alternative was a longer trip but this one only had three passengers booked in first class and very few overall so this was my choice.
24 hours after booking my ticket I was on my way. I was the only person going through security at 06:30 and was also one of a handful of passengers for the entire plane.
The astute observer might have noticed the shiner. The previous Monday evening I had an incident playing Platform Tennis which resulted in a trip to the Emergency Room for three stitches.
I went to a smaller hospital and found on that Monday I was their only patient. They had yet to have any Covid-19 cases. The ER staff were fantastic and started off with a temp screen and a check of my lungs before taking care of a cut.
I spent close to two hours on the ground in Atlanta. Considering it was a hub it was deserted. Three of us took the middle and each end of a bar for much longer than anyone would have been able. I decided that for the first time in close to 35 years that a beer with breakfast would be a good idea. As an aside the entire trip had an underlying layer of stress involved and a beer with a tater tots seemed like a fine idea.
The flight status monitors at Delta’s Hub. All the flights for the day.
Back on the plane I’m sure I was quite a sight. What was an empty flight from Atlanta to LA yesterday was announced as a full flight today. Everyone was wearing a mask and some took more precautions than others.
In flight meal.
I survived the flight. After take-off and the distribution of the snack bags the flight attendants were scarce and with everyone wearing masks conversation was non-existent.
Flying into Los Angeles was interesting. We were reminded that masks were required in the airport. It was a beautiful day and it was a bit jarring to look down at somewhat empty freeways and sub-divisions with little movement.
405 in Los Angles, California 13:20 Saturday.
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