HE2003 Show Took Place in San Francisco on June 5-8... 
...getting there was so much fun!

Vanimal motored up about 400 miles from Chino on her 1991 H-D FXLR with JB and Jamey...

Vanimal ready to ride on her 1991 FXLR

 

The PCH Crew start their trip by picking up JB's rental bike (Road King on left) and dropping off their rental car near LAX.

That's Jamey from Wave Mechanics on the left, JB from JukeBox in France, Manley's French pro gear importer, in the center, and the Vanimal on the right. We are not observing the 5 second rule in this photo where helmets must be OFF the head within 5 seconds of getting on or off the bike. Sorry for looking dorkey.

 

After lunch in Marina del Ray, JB and EveAnna try to figure out where to go.

 

 

With our eyes well protected, we tried to look as strange as possible.


Especially as the three of us had brand new matching Manley swaggy biker shirts on.

 

 
The Vanimal was using Etymotic in-ear headphones to protect her from going deaf on her very loud bike while at the same time she gets to enjoy some fun tunes on her mp3 player hiding in her jacket chest pocket. 
She bought those Etymotics from Tyll at www.headphone.com
They sound great and don't blow out of the ear even at 80 mph.

 

So we motored up the coast road... 

 

 

...to Santa Barbara that night and found a lovely Holiday Inn Express with good parking for the bikes. The best waiter ever, Jerry, served up a killer meal that night to us at a brand new restaurant across the main drag. 

In the morning we headed up for a foggy ride in Cachuma above Santa Barbara. It was cold and foggy but at last the sun broke through and we stopped for pictures.

 

 

Here's the PCH Crew. Frikkin' biker trash...

 

 
You have to be careful when the likes of us shows up at your posh hotel in Monterey. You never know when some respectable industry professionals might hijack some luggage carts...

 
But alas there is an altruistic side to us. Here we are stopping on HWY 1 to help some poor soul from Arizona heading to Oregon whose 1981 600cc Honda suffered a major electrical burnout. Beyond hope. The highway patrol came later to the rescue.

 

HWY 1 up the coast offers stunning views and plenty of cliffs.

JB hangs on to Jamey for safety.

 

We made a pilgrimage to Santa Cruz to visit the Universal Audio factory. We of course spied on all their operations and importantly learned that Erica is indeed tall enough to ride this ride.

Thanks to the UA crew for a lovely lunch and all the hospitality!

 

 
From Santa Cruz we took that nice hwy 9 up through Skyline. That's lovely territory. Neil Young is smart enough to live up there and we are not.

 
We arrive in SF and the Vanimal leads the crew up and down some very scary steep hills as we try to find Union Square.

 

I kid you not: as this picture was being shot, the tv theme from "The Streets of San Francisco" popped up on my mp3 player. No shit! I have it set on random play, but how did it know????

I looked hard for Michael Douglas in bell bottoms but I didn't see him.

 

While the Vanimal worked the show, JB and Jamey toured across the Golden Gate Bridge up into wine country.

Nice action shot!

 

 
Meanwhile, back at HE2003 show at the Westin St. Francis, a television film crew from the Phillipines came to interview EveAnna and Jeff Joseph. 


EveAnna of course swags out the camera crew with t-shirts for max exposure.

 

The Stereophile crew, John Marks, John Atkinson, and Keith Pray 
know where to come hang out late in the day to score some free beers...

Always a party going on in the Manley room...

And elsewhere in SF late at night you can often find guys from Digidesign in full-on party mode...

Here is the Vanimal with one of her fans Craig Ewing from San Jose, CA. 
Thanks to both of you Craig and Chris for coming by and hanging out with us!

 

Here's another pose with another Manley fan, Brett from Iguana Speakers:

 

The Hampton Room crew during breakdown:

Pictured left to right back row: 
Madehi (George's sister), Humberto, George, Vanimal, Reynald and Mark from Orpheus, Alvin from Grand Prix Audio, and Jeff Joseph our Master of Ceremonies

In front: Ken from Globe Marketing and Babba-Bouie (Baltazar, aka: Ricardo)

And yet a better view:

Go Jeff! Go!

 
Getting home was even more fun! Always glad to be heading HOME.

 

Show reports:

 

New product introduced at this show: The MANLEY SKIPJACK
So simple, so clever, you'll wonder why no one else ever built this:

The World's First Real Audiophile A-B Switcher! Check it out!.

 

Go check out other biker adventure reports

Don't forget that... Tubes Rule!
Want to look as cool as the Manley crew?  
Get a swaggy biker trash Flamin' Hot Triode T-shirt!

 

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