G’day all,                  

This months ride to Dargo for lunch was as usual a great short ride that had something for everyone. Plenty of beautiful country to look at for the cruiser minded and lots of  twisties for the more adventurous to try out.
The Sale crew met at Freedom (formerly Horizon). Rockit, Ronny “the Godfather” and Jean, Paul, David and Lorraine, and Mal……Mal only joined us for part of the way up as he had to do the grandad thing and look after the grand children. It was good to catch up with you anyway maaate. I had Nicky, my youngest along for her first squirt on the 1400GTR.
We left at close to the appointed time and, seeing no-one at Stratty, continued on to the Fingerboards. There we found Geoff and Maree, Dan and Dianne, Deb, and Thug waiting patiently. A short chinwag later and we headed off  for Dargo.
Lunch at the pub was of its usual great standard, and aside from the other attractions is worth the ride if only for the meal. It’s little wonder we keep going back there.
After lunch we said goodbye to Deb who had to leave early for another appointment. The rest of us had the usual meeting before getting back on and heading home. We were blessed with perfect weather, (23 degs), and clean dry roads. For me, it doesn’t get much better than that! The Sale crew called in at Dutchy’s Cruisin Shack for a coffee on the way home. Smally gets the “Distinction Award” on this ride for his efforts in helping us all understand menus and ordering exactly what you want. After being asked by Dutchy if he would  like some cake or tart with his coffee he replied  “I don’t  care what it is as long as it doesn’t have any runny shit on it”.  Thanks mate, I’ll approach this task with a new found confidence.  Thanks everyone for the company, it was a good ride.

PS;  The new bike handled the twisty stuff beautifully even two up. I’ve never felt as comfortable cornering hard than on this one. It is very nimble for a big tourer.
Speaking of the 1400, I had a little mishap the day before the ride. Some fool (me) obviously didn’t put the stand down properly. Imagine if you can, the sinking feeling you get when after getting off, you turn and look around a bit while removing the helmet etc, and the bike seat hits you in the back of  the leg, just before the bike hits the ground. The left hand mirror rolling away is a dead give away that something is not quite right behind you. End result is $800 for two scratched fairing panels and (thankfully) the mirror was repairable invisibly. Damn, bum, poop!!!!