4th Of July Weekend

July 5, 2005

On Saturday, July 3, George was heading to the huge Hollister Freedom Rally so I could get the house ready for our annual bbq, and came upon 3 couples wearing H.O.G. (Harley Owner's Group) insignia on the side of the road. George went back and stopped, to see if they were stragglers from the Fremont H.O.G. heading to Hollister. Turned out they were from Salem Oregon, waiting on some other riders who joined them. George asked if he could ride with them, and they said of course. So off they went! George called me later that afternoon from someone's barbecue - the couples had been invited to this barbecue in Hollister and he was there, kicking back with new friends. He told me all about them and how funny they are and they are good people (which is true!). Sunday, he talked me into going to Hollister (I do NOT like riding on the freeway), called the gang, and we all rode there together in a pack of 5 bikes. They don't like our freeways either so George was outvoted as to how we got there.

The Rally was something else. I took some photos that you can check out here. We walked around and I wished I had brought shoes to walk around in. My boots are great for riding but not for walking (thanks, Nancy Sinatra...). We were there until about 5:30, then headed home and had dinner. They were invited to our bbq.

Next day, July 4th, was the Fremont Parade. Fremont H.O.G. led it, and we were riding in it, 5 mph (oh my hand HURTS) but it was a lot of fun. We even had a flyover. We met up with Tattoo man, who rode with us the previous week, and invited him to our bbq too.

Everyone arrived and we had quite a mixture of people and we all had a very good time. We are so blessed to have met some really cool people from our biking. They told me I ride very well for the amount of time I've been riding (10 weeks) and I wish they lived closer because I think we'd hang out a lot and certainly ride. One of the couples used to live here in Fremont so they knew their way around. We exchanged emails, mailing addresses and phone numbers so we don't lose touch.

Last night culminated with some fireworks in Newark, and I am so tired and it's hard for me to get rolling this morning as far as work is concerned - which I have a lot of. (Sigh). It was one of those weekends that I need another weekend to recover from...