Port Hueneme Ride

Submitted by
Steve Morris, Torrance, California
Photos by Josie Morris

MTA California Chapter #3 is always looking for new and interesting destinations with scenic roads for our chapter rides. Our newest member, Dave Palmer, who lives in Fillmore 50 north of downtown Los Angeles, is very familiar with the small less traveled roads in Ventura County. Dave arranged a Saturday ride on November 9. We heard about the ice storms in New England a couple of days ago, and because we had sympathy for our motorcycling friends who live there, we thought about them as we enjoyed the warm sunshine, blue skies and scenic curving roads through the Ventura County mountains. As promised it was a great ride

We met at the Denny's restaurant in Sylmar and had 18 members on 13 bikes. Also, we had two guests. Chris lives in Santa Clarita and has a new Goldwing and is a deputy LA County Sheriff. He just became a new daddy for the second time and his father Dick visiting from the Sacramento area on an 89 Venture. Dick needed a new tank cover for his blue Venture. I had one in blue, which was a perfect match. We invited both of them to join us on the ride and they added to our mutual enjoyment.

We followed Dave up I-5 to Ca 126 near Magic Mountain and headed west. There are often strong winds in the area but Dave had arranged for a calm day, which we all appreciated! Temperature was in the high 70s as we wound our way through the hills and farm communities that compose part of the vegetable basket of the nation. Orange groves, olives, onions, cabbage, lettuce, carrots, artichoke and many other produce items are grown here as we emerged onto the Ventura coastal plain.

We arrived in Port Hueneme, which is on federal port facility property at noon. Because of 9/11, security required us to all show ID and leave our bikes in a special parking area and board a bus for the 3-minute ride to the Port Hueneme Light House tour. After 45 minutes and the obligatory group photo by our official photographer Josie Morris, we re-boarded the bus back to the parking lot. It was then off to Uncle Herbs, a local famous eatery, where we had lunch and the chapter picked up the tab for all members.

By the time we finished lunch it was 2 PM so it was time to head back to the traffic in the city. We all want to thank Dave for planning the route and becoming our newest member.