Atascadero 2010. Bud Ekins Memorial Tour, Day 2

Friday morning came, and a bit of parking lot maintenance was conducted on the bikes…

Friday’s ride took us through the Paso Robles wine country and  Peachy Canyon, to a lunch stop at Mission San Miguel.  It was built starting in 1797, and is an extensive property, complete with many buildings and displays for the tourist to study.  It was damaged during the 2003 San Simeon earthquake, but workers have repaired most of the cracks.

Urban H. brought a few of his bikes on his ultramega tow truck.  It is a fancy new rig that holds 6 passengers and about 8-10 bikes on the tilting bed.   He has one of the nicest collections on the West Coast, and can choose from his garage to ride just about anything you can think of.  He’s currently prepping his three 1915 HD’s for the Cannonball ride.  He’ll be on #1, with two friends riding #2 and #3.  With 1000cc and three speed transmissions, the 15 HD is a very capable mount for the Cannonball, as witnessed by the fact that almost half of the entrants will be mounted on one.

Here are some photos of his Cleveland 4 cylinder.  I enjoyed Urban’s comment about the bike: “It is a very nice 1920’s bike, but I prefer to ride the older stuff”.  Cleveland bikes were built well, and have clean lines, unfortunately, they were one of the companies that could not make it through the stock market crash and the Great Depression…

Note the porcelain exhaust manifold.

Urban also brought this early Excelsior belt drive V twin.  Study the paint closely and see if you want to comment on the finish…

Nice cleats to hold the belt rim onto the clincher.

Friday night’s dinner was at the AJ Spurs Saloon and Dining Hall in Templeton, CA.  The building has been on Main Street since 1889, the restaurant is a bit newer.  It is filled to the rafters with cowboy junk, including lots of mounted heads, branding irons, spurs, bits and bridles.  An open piano serenaded the bar with old time songs, while the taps poured into large mugs.  Out of deference to the age of place, I stuck with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale instead of searching for a more recent microbrew.

I do love a good roadhouse, and this one serves up food aplenty.  The paper menus are printed in a great old font, and each steak dinner comes with a huge pile of fixins.  Try the Tequila beans, then mix them with the salsa and the soup as the house-recommended appetizer.   Skip the plate of potatoes and the rice pilaf too, so you can save room for the root beer float and/or after dinner aperitif, also included… We couldn’t finish even half of what they served us, but it was fun trying.

Sorry, this one is a bit out of focus.  But it does convey a bit of the atmosphere from that night.