Coffee, Trains & Friends

It takes a while to change gears and to get used to a slower pace of living, but at a Norton rally that seems to happen naturally. Instead of making plans that involve precise and limited timing, one ends up deciding to try to do a ride, go for breakfast, make it to the grocery store, visit other riders, and take some photos. For me, writing a blog entry is a part of every day, so I have to plan on doing that in order to keep from falling behind and being overwhelmed by the need to get everything done.

Today, Jim made a run in to Quincy for breakfast and coffee. I stayed at the fairgrounds and made my way to the Northwest Norton Owners’ for a morning coffee. Paul, Jamal, & Doug testified that the coffee that their chapter made every morning was quite excellent. But what do people from Seattle know about good coffee? As it happened they were absolutely correct.

I mentioned their recommendation to the guy who makes the coffee every morning. That when I met ‘Hatch’. He is a Vietnam veteran who said that when he was a young man, he paid his way through college by working as a waiter and a captain in the restaurants in the French Quarter of New Orleans. His first name is Joe, but he was told that he had to use another name because most of the other waiters were called Joe. His middle name is Hatcher so he went by ‘Hatch’. Now, when everyone isn’t called Joe, he has reverted to his original name. Because he is renowned for the coffee he makes at these rallies, he goes by the name ‘Cup o' Joe’. And, instead of using a Seattle coffee, he uses Community Coffee, a brand that he was familiar with in New Orleans. Community Coffee has been providing coffee since 1912, and the man who runs the company now is the fourth generation of his family to do so.

Cup o' Joe with his morning elixir

Instead of just getting my coffee and returning to our campsite, I spent more than an hour visiting with people when I stopped to admire their bikes. It is quite amazing that when I stop to admire a bike the owner and I often get into a lengthy conversation about where they are from, the history of their motorcycle, what they have done to make it run the way they want, and any other topics that come up. I love this part of a rally. People are open, friendly, and relaxed and we are all united by our love of Nortons. I think that’s why people keep coming back to these rallies. Oftentimes, Norton rallies allow people who are old friends from various parts of North America to get together, re-establish their connections, and just generally have a great time together.

Gratuitous Norton photos

The big activity for today was to do a ride to Portola, CA, to the Pacific Western Railway Museum. The thirty miles from Quincy to Portola is on a very good highway and the ride there was through some beautiful country. We had some difficulty finding the museum, but the lady at the Portola Visitor Centre was very helpful, and the map she gave us got us close. We found that half the streets in town were blocked off so we had difficulty finding our way to the museum. Fortunately, we met two other Norton riders who knew the way so we arrived without much trouble.

The museum had a large collection of motive power and rolling stock, the oldest of which was built in 1916. The shop had a partially disassembled 0-6-0 steam locomotive, number 165 that had been used by the railway until about 1955. The museum volunteers are rebuilding it and are hoping to fire it up in 2018. It would be great to see it then.

Pacific Western 165 under restoration

This is the only railway museum where you can pay to ride in the cab of a diesel locomotive, and for an additional amount, you can actually receive instructions on how to drive the locomotive. It is a great fundraiser for the museum and a lot of people walk away feeling very happy that they have actually run a diesel locomotive. There is such a high for this that people have to make an appointment to drive it, so I chose to pass. I’ll probably regret this in the future, but we all make choices.

Some of the locomotives here are quite striking. One of the engines is painted pink. I have no idea why, but I’m sure that there aren’t many pink locomotives in this country. The other locomotive that was most striking was the Union Pacific ‘Centennial’ the largest and most powerful locomotive ever built. It was named ‘Centennial’ because it came into service in 1969, the centennial of the driving of the Golden Spike in Promontory, UT, in 1869. Union Pacific was one of the railroads whose track met there. This monster, which was built by General Motors’ EMD is ninety-eight feet long, and is powered by two sixteen cylinder diesel engines which develop in excess of 6600 horsepower. Newer locomotives have come close, developing more than 6000 horsepower with a single diesel engine, but none have surpassed this engine in terms of sheer brute power.

Motive power at the Pacific Western Railway Museum

One hundred year-old boxcar/caboose

Union Pacific 'Centennial' locomotive'

Nortons at the Pacific Western Railway Museum

We rode back to Quincy to refuel and then make a quick stop at Safeway. There I met John, the rider, whose 1975 Norton was knocked over yesterday morning by the woman in the minivan. He has been able to remedy two of the parts that were damaged so he is happy about that. However, he was on a beer run for his Northwest Norton Owners buddies so he needed to bring back a significant amount of suds. He came out with two eighteen packs of Corona which I figured would be very difficult tie onto his bike, so I offered to take a box back for him. John tied the case of beer onto the back of my Norton. My excuse was that if it fell off, it would be his fault.

There was no problem though, so I was able to safely deliver my precious cargo to their campsite where they offered me a beer for my troubles.

The evening was quite relaxed and there was another ice cream social. Jim and I took advantage then signed up for the trivia contest. We were joined by another guy and finished third in two of the three rounds. Our team received two tickets for the prize raffle. We won a rally poster and a voltmeter, and since Jim had made the greatest contribution he received the prizes.

Yesterday I met a gentleman who is taking photographs of people and events at the rally. He is eighty-three, travels in his van which is equipped for living, and for sixteen years was the head camera man for Entertainment tonight. He took a photo of me when I first arrived and when I saw him last night, he said that when he saw the photo he thought that my face was made for Hollywood. He may have been being sarcastic when he said that, but if he was, I’m preferring to pretend that I have missed it and I have chosen to take him at face value.

Another great day at the rally. The weather is great. The people are great. The riding is great, and we are generally having a terrific time. Even relaxing is wonderful. And there are still three more days of this. I don’t know how I’m going to get through this. I suppose that it’s dirty work, but somebody has to do it.