THE WYMAN DISPATCH - Saturday 5/26, Day -2

Wyman “Rendezvous” – 2018 Day -2: Scoring a “Wyman” Waypoint with ice cream…

 

Musings of a
Long Distance Rider

Hayward, CA – In this bustling suburb of San Francisco, at a modern hotel bearing little resemblance to the accommodations frequented by George Wyman in 1903, a small but hearty group of two-wheeled travelers have arrived from across the land.  By state they number: Texas 2, Louisiana 2, Tennessee 2, Colorado 1, Indiana 1, and Florida 1.  Not the most logical places to embark from to reach the West Coast in order to turn around and motorbike to New York City. And not at all sensible either is the logical conclusion that one must eventually return to your original starting point.

The first bike in the parking lot belonged to Tim Masterson, a thoroughly augmented metal and plastic German built machine capable of long miles and long days.  Tim, a three time finisher of the Iron Butt Rally, proudly motors around the country on his BMW R1200GS Adventure motorcycle, doing the heavy lifting to promote the Wyman legacy.  Along with fellow co-founders Howard Entman and your scribe, Cliff Wall, Tim helped give life to the 501(c)(3) charitable organization known as The George A. Wyman Memorial Project.  The “Project” part of the endeavor is traveling around the country to mount bronze plaques, color posters, and tons of “Waypoint” stickers along the original route taken by Wyman.  The BMW 1200 Adventure is always his means of transportation to accomplish the task.

 

A lot of great moments from the road began to emerge from the journey to San Francisco.  Doug Vance snapped this jewel looking at the Sierra Nevada range which he’ll need to cross on the Wyman this next week.



Gary Huff stopped to pose this awesome shot at Caples Lake near Kirkwood, CA.  It’s a great pic but he won’t be going back there on the Wyman unless he gets severely off track.

 

And Robert Rehkopf stopped to visit his daughter Ranger Anna at the Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah where she works as a Park Ranger.  While it is easy to see that Robert is a proud poppa, he also will need to avoid this area on the Wyman to avoid falling behind.

With all riders accounted for a special treat was in store that had not been previously announced.  The group was invited to dinner at the San Francisco residence of Marti Wyman Schein and her husband Jimmie.  Together they own and manage an antique map and book store that occupies the first floor of their downtown home in the North Beach area.  Almost like a “can you pull this off” bonus from the Iron Butt Rally, the group had to walk a few blocks to the BART station in Hayward, get themselves downtown, walk a mile to the residence using cell phone guidance technology, and Uber back to the hotel.  Suffice it to say all riders scored the bonus points.

The food was great, there were adult beverages consumed, and an ice cream run was pulled off by rider Doug Vance to top the night off.  The Wyman family stories from Marti, the great-granddaughter of the riding legend, and the added information conveyed by Jimmie, himself a modern day adventure seeker, turned the night into an amazing start for the group.  Several of us plopped down a few bucks to get a first run copy of a magazine style compilation Marti has put together of some of the Wyman articles.  Knowing we will all be riding off soon with little room for storage, shipping arrangements were negotiated.  We got some great pictures from the rooftop of their home. More pics of the “Wyman Surprise” night and some pics from road taken by our riders are available at our Google 2018 'Rendezvous' Pix public drive.