When I first posted about National Motorcycle Day, I had plans to write every year about my motorcycles and my adventures with them. But I somehow skipped all the years between now and 2019, that first post. I'm not sure how that happened, although I suspect COVID had something to do with it.
But here we are again! The day is still a pretty blatant marketing push by the insurance company that created the event. This year they emphasized supporting charities, but they included the suggestion that you could post on social media about your motorcycle story, and blogging is one of the social media, so I guess I'm okay.
This year I decided to write about one of my adventures while riding a motorcycle. Riding inherently always carries some danger, simply because you are exposed on all sides, but sometimes there are twists.
Many years ago when these marketing techniques weren't quite as common, I received an invitation in the mail to visit California City (I think) as a come-on to purchase land while they were continuing to develop the area. (Quite an interesting history on the Wikipedia page.) I decided to go, listen to the sales pitch, and collect the freebie they were giving away. I am pretty sure I was still riding my Honda CB750K at the time.
This was set up so that you drove out the night before, stayed in their hotel, and listened to the marketing spiel the next morning. I made my reservation well ahead of time and headed out the evening before, looking forward to spending the night in the nice hotel and taking advantage of the amenities.
I don't remember if I didn't plan adequately for how long it would take me to get there (which I'm usually pretty good at), but I ended up driving through the desert in full darkness. The area was not developed yet, and much of the trip was on unpaved roads, which are never fun on a motorcycle and even less so on one like that Honda, which was very top-heavy. There were a few times that I had slight skids and thought I was going to drop the bike, but somehow I prevailed.
After taking far too long and worrying myself far too much, I finally made it to the hotel — only to be told at the desk that, even though I had made a reservation, sorry, they were full. I was given the option of driving back part of the way and getting a room at their overflow property (don't remember how far back, but it was too far), then returning in the morning for the presentation.
Over those dark "roads" again? Gee, thanks. I didn't think that sounded like a good idea. So I decided to sit in their lobby all night and wait for the morning presentation that way. I think I had my helmet next to me the whole time. I got a lot of dirty looks, but I stayed put.
The next morning I was pretty tired, as could be expected. My solution? As soon as they started serving it, I drank about 20 cups of coffee in quick succession. I hate coffee, by the way. I was drowning each cup in sugar and milk. I still managed to give myself a stomachache, probably just because I wasn't used to drinking that much caffeine. Eventually they started serving breakfast, at which time eating something helped settle my stomach a little.
When they finally did the sales presentation, I somehow managed to resist giving them any money. As I recall, the giveaway was a fur jacket, which I tucked in my trunk. I then carefully headed back out over the lovely unpaved roads and returned home to Los Angeles, swearing I would never do anything that crazy again.
Good story. I rode on the back of a motorcycle one block before I yelled stop, I want off. Did not like it. I also sat through 2 Hilton Vacation Home sales pitches and we managed to resist, too.
ReplyDeleteI have found it pretty easy to resist the sales pitches, I have to admit. I did go for one several years ago, but it was a really good deal. As for your one block, not everyone likes motorcycles, I freely admit. Better to find out sooner rather than later. But at least you like two wheels when you power them yourself!
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