Big Wheel Biker Gang 2006 U.S. Tour

Crossing the border into California, there’s nothing but open plains and mountains of boulders. Along Route 8, I had to stop for two border guard checks. Luckily, having ditched the illegal Mexicans miles back and Midnight having his papers in order, we passed the checkpoints without incident. You don’t see much but mountains until you get to San Diego. Luckily I picked up a zoo brochure at the hotel in Yuma, so I had directions. After a few pictures in front of the zoo, Hank, the monkey, and Midnight went off on their own, while I roamed the zoo. After carrying Midnight up and down the Grand Canyon, I was just starting to get full movement back in my right shoulder. You think it would have been the other way around, Midnight being the horse and all. Unfortunately, he seems to have a fear of heights and my shoulder paid the price. Anyway, first stop was the koala bears. They were cute, but all asleep. Next stop was the kangaroos and camels. The meerkats had babies, so those were fun to watch. I made sure to stop by the Polar Bear Plunge, but all the bears were sleeping. They have it set up, so you can go below and look under the water. I’m guessing it would have been really cool, if the bears had been awake to jump into the water. The tigers and otters were asleep too. I wanted to see some lions, but couldn’t find them. I did get to see a hippo “swim” though. They have a similar set up to the polar bears. The hippo floats along under the water until it hits the bottom and then pushes forward with it’s front legs and floats again until it hits the bottom. The best part was probably the pandas (it’s the featured exhibit). There was a baby panda that slept up in the trees. The branch didn’t look like it could hold the weight of a bear, but she was passed out and didn’t move a bit. The big panda sat under the tree eating the whole time. I hung out for awhile watching the bear strip branches, munch down, grab some more branches and repeat the process. On the way out, I stopped to try to get an eagle for Nicole as requested. As hard as I tried, the eagle had the advantage of being a good 30 or 40 feet above my head and had the gift of flight. A beaten man, I headed back to the car. Sorry, Nicki!
Rounding up Midnight, the monkey, and Hank, it was time to time for Hollywood. After a short run up Route 5 and the 101, I was on Hollywood Boulevard. The hotel was right behind the Kodak Theater and only about two blocks to the Grauman’s Chineses Theater. Having only slept for 2 hours the night before, I passed out after a Pizza Hut dinner… So, unfortunately, there are no exciting Hollywood stories for that night.
Coming up next, “These shoes weren’t made for walking…”
Oh, by the way.., The street sign for Arizona was for roads marked, “Runaway Vehicles Only.” I guess missing people get milk cartons, missing cars get their own roads. The street sign for California was “State Prison Beware of Hitchhikers.” The man is still trying to keep the poor hitchhiker down! Soon there might not be a safe state to hitchhike in.

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