HSVROC2006

This past weekend Bev and I were off again for another motorcycle adventure, riding up to the High Sierra for a Kawasaki Vulcan rally in Lake Topaz Nevada. We left early Thursday morning to beat the heat and stopped in Bishop California to have lunch with Bev’s sister Gayla and her 4 kids.

I had met Gayla before and never met her kids, ages 22-14. We had an awesome time with them. Bev even said it had been a while since the whole family was together, each of the older kids have their own live’s and are never around.

Leaving the restaurant we hopped back on our bikes and headed to Topaz.
Total riding was 400 miles from home.

There isn’t any cell phone service there and that was kind of nice. Friday we went on a local ride in the area. And Saturday we decided to ride into Lake Tahoe, once there I noticed I had 5 messages on my cell phone and Bev had 8, this wasn’t a good thing. It was Bev’s family calling and saying she needs to call right away. Bev has a 91 year old grand mother who isn’t in the best of health and we both thought that the news was about her. She called and was informed that 24 hours after we saw Gayla that she was killed in a chain reaction head on collision while driving with her 16 year old daughter to San Diego for a girls weekend to see Rascal Flats and get matching tattoos.

Apparently a driver crossed over the double yellow line and caused the accident. Gayla’s daughter Mykella, suffered a broken elbow and numerous cuts and scrapes. But the worst of it is that she remembers everything, even seeing her mother take her last breathe.

After getting the news, Bev told me that she was fine to ride her motorcycle back the 85 miles of twisty roads to the hotel so we could ride back to Bishop. I lead the way very slowly, as I could not imagine telling Bev’s mom who was on her way from Oregon down to Bishop, that something happened to Bev on her ride there as well. We got to the hotel and packed up and rode the remaining 70 miles to Bishop.

Bev is still in Bishop with her family, I rode home on yesterday in the 120 degree heat through Mojave, and I am heading back up there on Friday for the funeral.

Please keep Bev and her family in your thoughts and prayers- Gayla was a 2 time survivor of cancer- a fighter and for her life to be taken away so quickly reminds me that each of us should take time every day to tell those close to you that you love them.

Tim