We spent a very pleasant evening with Rafe and his wife Dianne at their exquisite home on the shores of Lake Tahoe. Rafe is the father-in-law of our nephew Daniel and father of Kellea, who was living in LA. We had met him in 2011 when he came to Melbourne for Daniel and Kellea's wedding and that was when the plot was hatched to do this trip with him.
Rafe was in the restaurant business for years and also invested in property around Lake Tahoe. He was now retired and had just had his 65th birthday. Dianne helped him manage his business interests and look after their grandson Dexter. They had just come through a very difficult period due to the collapse of property values in the wake of the GFC. Rafe was just as his name sounded - a bit raffish. He loved the outdoors and knew the National Parks around the country very well and had walked, canoed, or cycled through most of them. He also loved his Harley motorcycle "Old Blue" and organised a 9-10 day ride every September with a group of his friends loosely linked to his restaurant and property investment businesses. Dianne was his second wife and was a true California Girl and more than a match for Rafe. They had four children - two by Rafe's first wife and two with Dianne.
Rafe and Dianne's House at Lake Tahoe
The time had come to pick up the Harleys. Rafe drove us back into Reno, but on the way Dianne called him to tell him that Dexter had fallen off the monkey bars at school and bust his elbow quite badly. Rafe had to drop us and return to Lake Tahoe. We filled in the final paperwork and paid lots of money and were given a quick rundown on the bikes and then we were off. We were supposed to do a test ride to convince Chesters that we knew how to ride, but they weren't interested. We bought a set of pannier liners which we found very useful for unloading our gear at each stop.
Alan and his Road King
Colin and his Road King
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