• Looks like we're definitely going to go with Haines (versus Skagway).
• Stephanie magically found us extra days, as it turns out that the ferry from Bellingham to Haines actually leaves on a Tuesday, as opposed to during the weekend. This gives us three days (Sat, Sun, Mon) instead of two to ride up to Bellingham.

arizona update.

• The vacation form for July 7 - 18 has been signed by my boss. Yay!
• I mailed off the registration form and check to WOW today.
• Peter was a very good sport this weekend, and let me show him all of my maps.
• I ordered a rear hugger from Red Fox, in the attempt to keep the desert off of my rear shock.

For those that don't know, Ms. Moore was driving a pick-up truck on Vasco Rd at about 60mph (the speed limit is 45mph, I believe) in heavy fog (visibility was estimated at ~100 feet) when she rear-ended BMW rider Gary Kunich. Mr. Kunich was killed instantly.

Ms. Moore and her lawyer, Louis Goodman, have been venue-shopping for a judge that will accept her plea bargain and give her a sentence with minimal jail time (60 days, I think). This is, obviously, unacceptable. Mr. Goodman has also been quoted as saying that " '[t]his is a tragic traffic accident. As someone who's ridden a motorcycle many, many times, it's a risk all motorcyclists take,' he said. 'I'm not saying there's anything the motorcyclist could have done in a rear-end collision, but there would probably not have been the same result if he was in a vehicle.'".

So, Stephanie and I went to the Hayward Hall of Justice (sounds like something from a comic book) at 8:30am on Friday. We met up with Jodie, another Wind Dancers member, and the three of us just hung out drinking coffee until it was time to go in.

We went through the metal detector just inside the building, where I astounded the guard by not setting off the alarm. "I thought you'd light it up for sure!" he said, laughing, when I walked through in my full leathers. I grinned and explained that there's actually zero metal in my suit. Even the zippers are plastic.

The courtroom was on the second floor, so we all smooshed into the elevator with all these nice-looking people in their business suits. All three of us were wearing gear and had that slightly deranged look of the biker chick who was awake way too early in the morning. The courtroom was different from any I'd seen (i.e. any on Law and Order) -- it was shaped like a mini-auditorium. There was a square room on the righthand side, which I learned later was to keep the inmates under lockdown until their cases were called.

There was a wide variety of cases being heard -- most were probation alterations, a couple of "progress reports", something that sounded like a rape or assault case, and one accessory to murder. It was interesting. The people there for probation reports were, as a rule, sloppily dressed and pretty disheveled. The only person who looked like he had put any effort at all into looking respectable for his court date was the man whose probation insinuated that he was being tried for a rape or assault (my own assumption -- his was the only probation recommendation that included a mandatory HIV test and instructed him to stay away from a woman). I mean, I got dressed up for my court date, and all I was doing was pleading "no contest" to a speeding ticket.

The Nicole Moore case was anticlimactic. Louis Goodman stood up and told the judge that he and the prosecuting DA had conferred and had decided to hold the court date over until February 19 at 2pm. The judge said, "oh, OK" and that was it.

Jodie, Stephanie, and I waited until an appropriately disorganized moment to collect our things and leave the courtroom. Mr. Goodman was standing in the hall and came over to us when he saw us with our gear. He was very polite, asking if he could answer any questions that we had about the case. When he introduced himself, Stephanie said, "oh, so you're the one that made that quote in the paper!" His response was something along the lines of "yes, but you see, I didn't actually make that quote". He said a couple of other things that could roughly be paraphrased as that he wanted us to see where he was coming from, at which point Stephanie interrupted him and said, "we don't care where you're coming from. We care where Nicole Moore is coming from."

After that, there wasn't much more to say on either side, so we all left. We bumped into a few other motorcyclists on our way down (the case had gone before the judge early, so some people were just showing up) and explained the situation. They were primarily middle-aged BMW riders; I can only imagine that they were friends or riding buddies of Mr. Kunich's.

So, we'll be going back at 2pm on Wednesday, February 19. If you're in the Bay Area, I urge you to consider showing up as well. For more information on the case, please see the following links.

Pat Kunich talks about the condition of Vasco Road
Scroll to "Pleasanton", about halfway down
From the AMA

We decided lunch was in order after the courtroom ordeal, so we all saddled up and rode out to Livermore, taking Niles Canyon (I *heart* that road). We ended up in Pleasanton, at Steve's Diner (the same diner we ate at for the Women on Wheels New Years brunch). Whether by intent or coincidence, we rode on Vasco Road for part of the trip, which I felt was fairly appropriate.

After lunch, Jodie and I headed back towards the Dumbarton Bridge while Stephanie went back home to Hayward. This was memorable, as it was the first time that I correctly navigated the city of Fremont to stay on Highway 84 to the Dumbarton. Fremont likes to put up stealth signs for 84, such that you never actually know how to stay on the highway through the city. Grr.

So, that was Friday. Oh, and yes, Tony, I did go home and write my documentation paper for work. ;)