Pandemonium at the Majestic

Majestic view from Shawn and Jerry's room

According to my friend Webster, pandemonium is the following: “not capitalized (and this is important): a wild uproar”. Capitalized, it is the capital of Hell from Milton's Paradise Lost. For the purposes of this post let’s not capitalize it, shall we?

Webster also has something to say about ‘majestic’. He says majestic is having or exhibiting majesty or ‘stately’. I suppose we need to look at majesty: “sovereign power, authority, or dignity, royal bearing or aspect: grandeur, or b: greatness or splendor of quality or character.” Okay, now we’re getting somewhere, though our Majestic Suite might be loftily named. Especially after dinner with fifteen bikers.

Pandemonium is spot on the event and started at Casa Serano for dinner. Really, they shouldn’t have put us at separate tables across the room from each other. We wanted to communicate, and so we did with toasts and boasts devolving into cheers of “Dilly dilly!” Other tables joined in and the place was not a quiet night out for any couple or group of various description. There is photographic evidence available on the Southern California Victory Riders Facebook page. It’s all there.

As we completed dinner our fifteen were made when Pam and Loren (not a lesbian couple – not that there’s anything wrong with that) joined us. They live just across the river from the Aquarius and the rest of Laughlin, NV. We trekked back to our suite for after dinner drinks of wine and spirits, nuts, Lemoncello Almonds (aka big nuts dipped in lemon cream), and peanut brittle from Eddie World. The decibel level in the room increased as the bottles were emptied, not an uncommon occurrence. By observation, I’d say the groups congregating at the bar contributed the most.

This was not unexpected after a day of disciplined riding with friends who seem to spend too long apart. My day started early and tentative. I’m nursing a painful back and once I woke I needed to keep moving. Shower, shave, dress, keep moving; pack the bike, check the pack, move on and leave ten minutes early for the meet spot in Santa Clarita, a hop that took twenty minutes less than anticipated. Six of us left the station an hour or so after I’d gotten there, Jed in the lead, Sue, Tim, Bev, Shawn, and I following - all of us on Victories.

We made our breakfast stop at Molly Brown’s Country Café in Barstow for a hearty, aka huge, breakfast and catching up with the  mixed-bag group that had come up from the south; Kevin, Mike, Karen and Keith, Andy and Jane, and Jeannie in from Bakersfield. We mounted up on a variety of Victory bikes, a new Harley (Keith), a new Can-Am Touring (Karen), a new BMW 1600 touring model (Mike), and a Lexus (our poor Jeannie busted her hand but not while riding). The ride was notable for the ease with which we all fell into formation and held it while in traffic without doing stoopid things.

We did some sections of the old Mother Road, route 66 and made our gas stop a new watering hole, Eddie World. The selection of candies, jerkies, and goodies is majestic. It goes along nicely with the huge fountain drink with the Eddie World logo. It could house two or three families.

I heard comments from our group that their favorite parts of the ride are the long sweeping curves on Nevada State Highway 93 known as Laughlin Highway leading into, you guessed it, Laughlin. We can maintain speed as we bend around the turns and wind our way to a view of Laughlin along side the Colorado River. I came in last as Keven, Keith, and Karen gave themselves over to the joy of the road. I remember Karen came by on her Can-Am on a curve that tightened as it went. She scooched over in her seat while maintaining her center steering position and it was a classic three-wheeled turn exquisitely executed.

I can think of three things you can do when faced with pandemonium – there are others, but I don’t recommend trying to throw a bucket of ice water on it. You can gleefully join in, sit back and observe and enjoy the scene, or you can run like the wind.

Now, as we get ready for our Saturday ride, I have a word for the day: Instauration – restoration after decay or lapse.

Remember to ride well, do what your mother told you and play well with other, and to keep the iron side up.

Jerry ‘Shakespeare’ White