Gibbo's Nom Ride

We started the weekend with a few members and their partners heading around home for drinks and a feed on the Friday night. We christened the “Drunken Walrus” and generally sat around chewing the fat. Saturday dawned with grey skies and misty rain. Just bloody fantastic!

Not to be daunted Sandy, Shrek and myself headed off to RV with the others. Chef, Scorpion, Foggy with their ladies, Stevo and Cougar showed up. After a quick brief we braved the wet weather driving skills of the Melbournites and headed toward Pukka Army base where we dropped off Dip who stayed with us the night before. From there it was onto Nagambie to meet up with Fred and a couple of mates: Lindsay and his wife Sue.

Thankfully the mountain range had stayed true to form and the sun was shining. With the wet weather gear stowed we rode toward Shepparton and found Clubs was waiting for us on the bypass. We headed off to find a fuel station and then onto Katamatite pub for a beer and meet up with Crossbow, Roadkill and Koggins.

Now totalling 15 bikes, we negotiated some back roads through the local farming area, dodging locusts and snakes to the Victoria Hotel in Rutherglen. There Herve supplied us with the dinning room so that we could hold our monthly meeting. He and his crew also looked after us with a good feed, accommodation and anything that you wanted to drink. At the close of the meeting, Chef presented me with my Members Patch, which will be worn with pride. With the official business out of the way, it was time to get the serious end of the day. Fred unfortunately had to cut out early and the Fellas from Yarrawonga headed out a few hours later.

Sunday morning dawned and guess what. More bloody rain! We originally intended to head into Bandiana to have a look overt the Army museum and Crossbow had squared it away with the PMC of the SGT's Mess for us to have look through the mess and grab a brew. Using the wonders of modern technology (Chef ringing his son and having him check the weather satellite on the net) we decided that if we had to get wet, we may as well do it heading home.

So we left Rutherglen for Glenrowan through some fairly ordinary weather. This saw us out of the leading edge and into some dry stuff again. A quick fuel stop and we headed to Euroa where Clubs split and headed back over the mountains to the other side of Melbourne. The remainder of us headed for Melbourne. Somewhere along the road, a clown in a commodore decided to merge into the pack even though we had cars in the lane next to us. Shrek and myself decide that educate the driver and his passenger, who by the way was laughing thinking that it was funny to try and run motor bike into other traffic, on some common road manners. I think they will be more receptive now when next they encounter a group bike on the highway. Steve and Cougar peeled off and the rest of us headed for home for a couple of beers and a BBQ.

Thanks to everyone who came along. The weather not withstanding, a good time was had by all. A special mention must go to Crossbow, who used his local knowledge to help us sort the accommodation. Also to our newest Nom's Sandy and Cougar who are also on their loonies, a well done must go to them for the way in which they handled the crap weather that we encountered. Once again thanks to all who showed up and stay safe on the roads.

Gibbo