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Articles unrelated to motorcycle laws, safety, or in the wind articles. These are usually off topic articles that are posted from time to time

Getting settled in to the O.C. lifestyle.

California Personal Injury Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez at age 16, before going surfing

Here it is March 13, 2013, and it has been a while since I posted my last article here on the Biker Law Blog.

I have moved to Huntington Beach, and my new law firm “The Moy & Fernandez Law Group,” is fully operational.

Our phone number and fax number are the same, 800-816-1529, but we have consolidated all our California pre-litigation operations into one location in Irvine, California.

So whether your case originates in San Francisco, Eureka, Redding, Sacramento, or San Diego, the pre-litigation will be handled by our competent staff in the Irvine office, while our field staff continues to come to you anywhere in the nation.

We handle the entire State of California. We welcome all of our new and existing clients to the new law firm. We look forward to kicking ass for you on your cases.

My partner Lawrence A. Moy, who has been a friend and brother since 2002 has merged his firm with mine to create a premier California Personal Injury Law firm. Together we have handled thousands of cases, and settled millions of dollars for our clients. We have many years of combined experience.

I feel sorry for the poor bastards who oppose us on cases, I give no quarter. Some lawyers say they will fight for you, we will kick ass for you.

I think we have what most would call one of the most high tech law firms in the nation. The technology we have employed at our firm is mind blowing.

I am a Southern California native, but I have lived in many places during my life. I would say that the move to Orange County for me will be permanent, in that I cannot see living anywhere else.

I love Huntington Beach. I have taken up walking on the pier each night around sunset, the people are great, the lifestyle is fantastic, and the motorcycle riding is good as well.

When I was younger, I used to surf. As a matter of fact, as a teenager I lived at the beach. I learned to surf at Topanga, my home beach was Zuma. Back then, the wave break was much different at Zuma and Point Dume, then it is now.

Believe it or not, I just bought a brand new 9’ Greco Longboard surfboard. It will be delivered this Friday. I got a new full wetsuit to go along with it. Hell, at 49 who says you are too old to start surfing again. I figure a longboard, will help me to ease back into it, and on those days with a small surf, I will be catching waves while the guys on short boards will be watching me ride. I figure if I start surfing each morning at 5am, I can still get to the office easily by 9am.

I wonder if they make a surfboard rack for a Harley Davidson. Once I get used to surfing again, I will have a custom Harley Davidson themed surfboard made for me.

So there it is. As you can imagine, I am swamped with work right now. As I type this article, I have spent the last 4 days out of 5 days in Court. I am still at the office catching up. Nonetheless I wanted to let you all know what is going on.

Looking forward to the Laughlin Biker Rally coming up next month. This will first year I take “Bessie,” my motorhome, (the same one I rode around the country with) to a major motorcycle rally this year.

I hope you are all well.

By California Biker Lawyer and Motorcycle Accident Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez, © March 13, 2013

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Tags: biker attorney, biker law blog, biker lawyer, norm fernandez, norman fernandez, norman g. fernandez, norman gregory fernandez

The Final leg of my Epic around the Nation RV Trip, From Greybull, WY to Yellowstone, to Salt Lake City, UT, to Las Vegas to Home. August 30, 2012 – September 6, 2012, 8600 miles total.

Written on December 23, 2012 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, Editorial, In The Wind, Just BS, My Harley Davidson Electra Glide, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Other, Riding Attire, Travel

A picture of Hoover Dam taken on our trip on September 5, 2012

Although I am writing this article on December 19, 2012, I actually returned home from my epic around the nation RV trip on September 6, 2012. Being gone almost two months, driving approximately 8600 miles not including the hundreds of miles I rode on the motorcycle while on the trip, almost going over a cliff when we lost the brakes in the RV in Wyoming, etc., required a lot of my time when I got home. It was all worth it. This is the final article I will write about my epic trip. Later I will post pictures and videos from the trip.

When we left off, Liz and I were dry camped in Greybull, Wyoming waiting for the brakes to be fixed on my motorhome. My front bumper was destroyed in the accident, and the back bumper was cracked in two places when the trailer fishtailed into it.

The guys at the shop where we were camped out and who repaired the brakes on my RV were amongst the most reputable and nicest people I have ever dealt with. They could have totally screwed me and told me that I needed a $3,000 brake repair. Instead they told me that my rotors were good, that the pads were totally gone, and the fluid had completely boiled out of the system due to overheating, but that there were no leaks. The total repair bill was $600.00. Another interesting thing about being dry camped at the repair shop in Greybull was that our cell phone service did not work at all, nor did my internet Wi-Fi. We were basically totally out of touch with civilization while we were there.

The total time we were in Greybull Wyoming was approximately 2 nights and 3 days. It was a very small town full of great people. It is the kind of town where I could see myself setting up a cattle ranch someday.

We had a choice to make; should we just count our blessings and drive our damaged RV home or should we continue north to Cody, Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park? There really was no question, we had come this far and we were not turning around now; Cody, Wyoming would be our next stop on the way to Yellowstone.

We left Greybull, WY for Cody, WY in the afternoon. It was a cloudy day. The total drive from Greybull to Cody was around 54 miles. It was really good to be back on the road in our motorhome. You must understand, this was essentially our last week of vacation, and after the accident we had no clue whether we would have to leave our RV and all of our possessions in Greybull and rent a car to get home, or what would happen. We were geared up for a two month trip and you can carry lots of stuff in and underneath a Class A motorhome. Had the RV not been drivable there would have been no way to carry everything home in a rental car or even a rental van.

Being back on the road at this point felt fantastic.

When we got to Cody the first thing we did was go to Wal-Mart and get a throwaway cell phone that worked in the area because our carrier did not work in Wyoming. We called our relatives and I checked in with my office to let them know what had happened. Afterwards we stopped and got some Chinese buffet food.

Turns out Cody is a really cool western town, the gateway to Yellowstone. I really fell in love with Wyoming and its people.

We found a really cool RV park and camped out for the night with the intent of riding my Harley Davidson Electra Glide to Yellowstone in the morning.

In the morning we woke up and there were ominous clouds in the sky but it did not look like it was going to rain.

As soon as we got on the road just north of Cody, the clouds got much worse and the sky opened up. I was only wearing a soft flannel jacket, Liz had on a leather jacket, we both had jeans on, and of course, no rain gear. Plus it was damm cold. We decided that we were not going to stop now, Yellowstone, here we come.

It literally rained during the entire ride to Yellowstone from Cody, it was cold and it was miserable, but it was also one of the most beautiful rides I have ever taken. The grand mountains, the rocks, the sites all were too much to take in on one ride; however, I tried the best I could.

This is one ride that everyone must take at least once in their lives.

When we got to the gate of Yellowstone, I got off the motorcycle, paid the entrance fee, got back on, and rode into the park. It was very cold at this point, and we were soaking wet from head to toes, but nothing was going to stop us.
Yellowstone is much bigger than I expected, plus it is at a very high elevation. The riding in this park was excellent. The sites were breathtaking.

I am sure the ride in Yellowstone would have been much better if we were not soaking wet and freezing cold but hey, you cannot have everything.

While riding in the park there were several places where Buffalo roamed, literally, right on the road. All the cars stopped to observe. Hell they walked right next to us. On a motorcycle it is a bit different having huge Buffalo walking in front of you and next to you, than if you are in a car. Any one of these huge animals could have taken us out.

We rode the loop to one of the boiling water sites. Yellowstone itself sits atop the largest Caldera (volcano) in the world. If the volcano underneath it ever erupted it would take out much of our nation.

Yellowstone was a great ride. I will definitely go back to Cody, WY and Yellowstone soon.

The ride back to Cody was a cold and cloudy ride. The rain had stopped, but it was still cloudy. When we got near Cody it got dark and a bit warmer. We decided to cruise the main drag in Cody and find a place to eat, we chose an Italian place and had a good meal. After dinner we went back to the RV because we knew we would have a long ride the next day.

Upon waking up the next day, I put the motorcycle on the trailer and strapped her on, struck camp, and we were off.
After a month and a half, we were finally heading south towards our home in Southern California.

When we left Cody, we were not sure where we would spend the night. Usually on the trip we would look for RV resorts in several of the books we had with us or the GPS. We really were not sure how far we would drive.

I was nervous due to the fact that we had lost the brakes in the mountains, our RV was damaged, and I did not want a repeat performance of losing the brakes.

Sure enough we ended up driving through some major mountains on the ride south out of Wyoming. Let me tell you, it was a beautiful drive. The mountains were awesome. When we hit the Continental Divide, the mountains were awe inspiring.

After the Continental Divide, southern Wyoming turned out to be mostly a desert type of environment. It was a stark contrast to northern Wyoming.

It was basically open road with small towns sprinkled in vast distances.

We finally hit Utah in the late afternoon and continued driving south. We ended up in ski country by nightfall. Unfortunately, it became real dark, and we could not find any RV resorts anywhere nearby on any of our resources. We decided to try to find a Wal-Mart where we could park and dry camp for the evening.

We were both exhausted and very tired by this point. Hell I had been driving all day and well into the night. We had no luck finding any place to camp for the night so we kept on driving.

We finally found a Wal-Mart in Salt Lake City, UT to camp in for the night. When we got there our generator would not start and I had no clue why. We had to rough it for the night without TV, just on our battery power and internal water supply. I was so tired that I did not really care. We fell asleep almost immediately.

The next morning we stopped at a Denny’s for breakfast, and got on the road with our destination being Las Vegas, NV. This would be the last major stop before home.

The ride from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas was an excellent ride as well. I had no clue how cool the mountains north of Las Vegas were because I had never traveled this route before.

We found a great RV resort a block from the Las Vegas strip, but a few miles south of the main casinos on the strip. The normal rate there was $60-$80 a day, with my RV membership, we paid less than $30 per day.

We must have looked like ragamuffins when we pulled in. My RV was coated with bugs from an over 8,000 mile trip at this point, the front bumper was basically gone from our accident, the back bumper was cracked, and everything was dirty. All of the other RV’s looked new and pristine in the park. No problem, hell thinking about how far we had come was a mind trip in of itself.

The RV resort in Las Vegas was off the hook, every amenity you could possibly want. However, this was Las Vegas. We waxed the motorcycle to clean her up, got her off of the trailer and took off into town for a great evening. By this time Liz had become adept at helping me was the motorcycle, it was actually nice to have her help.

Our plan was to stay in Las Vegas for two nights, then head home.

The next day Liz and I rode to Hoover Dam. This was her first time there. It was as usual hotter than hell in Las Vegas and Boulder City. But it was OK.

Both Liz and I at this point did not want to go home. We both wanted to stay on the road forever. For both of us, going home would mean going back to work and responsibility. This had been the best and longest vacation of both of our lives, a trip that maybe less than 1% of all Americans would ever get to make.

The fact that we would head home the next day kind of made us both sad and excited. I must admit that I kind of missed just being in a house without having to drive!

On our last night in Las Vegas after the ride to Hoover Dam we had another good time. We both lost money in the casinos, and then we headed back to the RV Park knowing we were going home the next day.

The last day of our trip saw us waking up with a mission, to get home. I put the motorcycle on the trailer for the last time on this trip, strapped her up, struck camp, and we were off again.

I could tell Liz was not happy about having to go home, but since her aunt was house and dog sitting for us, and we were about 3 weeks over the time we were supposed to be gone, she knew we had to go home.

The ride home was a decent trip. Compared to the 8600 miles we had driven, the ride from Las Vegas to our home in Acton was nothing. A little 200 mile or so jaunt compared to where we had driven on the trip.

When we got home on the evening of September 6, 2012, and I walked in my home, I was shocked at how big it seemed compared to the RV which was our home for the last approx. two months. It took me a while to get used to it.

The epic two month 8600 mile trip we took around the circumference of the United States was probably a trip that can never really be repeated although I have every intention of doing it again. The gas alone was almost $10,000 for the RV.

The memories Liz and I shared during the trip will last for a lifetime. It was that kind of a trip, something you could write a book about.

Here it is December 20, 2012, and in a way I am still recovering from the trip.

Two weeks later Liz and I took the RV back to Las Vegas for the Las Vegas Bikerfest and had a great time.

I wonder who my next trip will be with.

By California Motorcycle Accident Attorney and Biker Lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez, © December 20, 2012

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Tags: Boulder City, Cody, Greybull, Hoover Dam, las vegas, las vegas bikerfest, nevada, nv, RV, Salt Lake City, UT, Utah, WY, Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park.

We almost died in Big Horn National Forest

Written on December 18, 2012 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, Brakes, Editorial, In The Wind, Just BS, Motor Vehicle Accidents, My Harley Davidson Electra Glide, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Travel

The scene of my RV accident on US-14 above Greybull, Wyoming in the Big Horn National Forest. This shows the damage after my RV was pulled off of the embankment.

** This article was written on August 30, 2012, 2012, but it is being published on December 18, 2012. There will be one final article to be published soon about the rest of my epic vacation. There will also be a post of many videos from the vacation. Again, this article was written on August 30, 2012.

First off, before I get started, let me follow-up with my status on August 27, 2012.

Liz and I toured all over the Black Hills of South Dakota. We visited Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial, Sturgis, and Rapid City. We had a good time in South Dakota especially on the motorcycle. The Black Hills offer some great riding in what I consider to be intermediate twisties. I think the twisties we have where I live in the Angeles National Forest or in some places in the Santa Monica Mountains are much more difficult to ride than the Black Hills.

All in All though, the Black Hills are beautiful and I will be back next year.

We left South Dakota on August 29, 2012 for Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

When we reached the mountains off of US 14, I knew we were in for some exciting views. These are the steepest mountains I have taken my RV on since getting the RV. We went up to an altitude of 8,900 feet.

The trailer after my RV accident. It jackknifed into the rear bumper causing a crack and a small scratch on my lower, other than that there was no damage to the motorcycle thank god.

On the downside of the mountain, there was a sign showing a truck on a downgrade stating that it was for the next 17 miles. Another sign stated for trucks to switch into lower gears. I shifted into 2nd gear.

The downgrade was extreme. I pumped my brakes rather just holding them down. I cannot describe what it is like to try to slow down a very large 35’ RV with an Electra Glide and trailer in tow, on declines such as the one we were on. It was scary.

On the way down, we both heard a noise that we could not identify. Later on, I felt the brakes get a bit mushy but they still worked. We came to a visitor’s area where there were waterfalls and a viewing area. I told Liz that I was going to stop to check out the brakes.

It was around 6-6:30pm or so and starting to get a bit dark in the mountains. Since the sun was going down Liz did not want to stop or possible or get stuck in this desolate place. I told her we had to stop. I got the rig slowed down and turned right into the area, I downshifted to 1st gear to slow down more without using the brakes, when I pushed down on the brakes to stop, the pedal went to the floor and to my horror were gone. We were not slowing down and we were not stopping.

Where we would have died had I not intentionally crashed into the embankment

Had I kept on going straight in my RV instead of intentionally crashing my RV to the left, this is the cliff we would have went over, at about 300 feet we both would have died. God was with us this day.

In my 49 years heretofore, I have driven or ridden many cars, trucks, motorcycles, you name it, nothing that I have driven or ridden has lost all brake power before, nothing.

Here I was heading for a sheer cliff straight ahead, literally a sheer cliff, and I had no brakes. I yelled to Liz that we had no brakes. I tried shifting the rig into park; it just made a click click sound but did not slow down.

I told Liz that we were going to crash.

I intentionally steered the rig sharply to the left so that we would hit the side of the road which were rocks rather than go off of the cliff. I could not believe that when I made the sharp turn to the left that we did not tip over on our side.

I told Liz to brace herself. Literally from the time I realized I had no brakes until the time we crashed was just a few seconds.

I noticed a white thing where we were headed, I steered to avoid it.

We jumped up onto a curb, crashed through a wood fence, and by the grace of god were finally stopped by two beefy barriers that the National Park Service has planted along the sides of the road.

After the initial impact we kept going until we hit these barriers. We did not stop right away.

After the impact we just sat there. I was freaked out about the damage to the rig, Liz said “Norman don’t worry, we are alive.”

Let me tell you, had I steered wrong or stayed on the road that day, I have no doubt we would no longer be here on this earth. What if I would have lost the brakes on the road? I would have gone 35-40 mph or faster right over the edge. If anyone has ridden the US 14 in Wyoming, you know what I mean.

Two days ago I lost my brakes on a severe downgrade on US 14 in the Big Horn National Forest in Wyoming. I had to intentionally crash my RV in order to get the rig stopped.

This is the front bumper on my RV after the accident. It was destroyed. A new bumper has to be fabricated from scratch to fix the damage.

Thanks to the fine people of Greybull, Wyoming, we were towed off of the mountain into a KOA RV Park last night, and the same guy came this morning to pick up the rig to repair the brakes. The parts won’t be in until tomorrow, so the repair guy is allowing us to bunk down in the RV on his property.

I have fallen in love with Greybull, Wyoming and so has Liz. The town has about 1100 people who all seem to know each other. Went to dinner tonight and ended up meeting some of the town folk. I was invited to attend a shooting event on a private ranch. The people here leave their keys in the car, and will bend over backwards to help you.

I rode up to the crash site twice today, from Greybull, Wyoming east on US 14 up into Big Horn Forest, once by myself, once with Liz. This ride is the most beautiful and awe inspiring ride I’ve ever taken in my life. No words can describe the wide vistas, the ancient canyons, the trees, and the waterfalls. It was as if I was in the most beautiful place on earth on my Harley.

Getting back to the accident; had I not turned the way I did Liz and I would not be here. There was a sheer cliff in front of us when I lost the brakes. It was a scary experience. The RV sustained damage to the lower front where it hit, and the back where the trailer fish tailed. We are not injured. I was told that many RV’ers lose their brakes up here every month; live and learn. I lost my lower lights in the front and some fiberglass. It can be repaired.

If the parts come in tomorrow and the RV is otherwise safe to drive we will be heading to Cody, Wyoming, where I will set up camp. Saturday we will ride the Harley through Yellowstone from the east entrance. Until then….

By California Biker Attorney and Motorcycle Accident Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez

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Tags: black hills, Cody, deadwood, Greybull, KOA, National Forest, Sturgis, US 14, Wyoming, Yellow Stone

American Chopper, the end of a 10 year Saga

Written on December 18, 2012 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, Celebrities, Editorial, In The Wind, Just BS, News, Other, Reviews

From left to right, Paul Sr., Mikie, and Paul Jr. of American Choppers

Well tonight the last episode of American Chopper was aired and after a 10 year run, the show is finally over.

On August 13, 2012 I paid a little visit to Orange County Chopper and you can read a little post about it by clicking here. I will post extensive video on my trip to OCC later on.

The gist of this article is about the American Chopper show.

I will admit, I have watched the show for the past 10 years and have written several articles about it here in the Biker Law Blog. If you want to read my previous articles go to the search box on the top of the right sidebar and type in American Chopper. A list of the articles I have written will appear.

No matter what you or I think about the motorcycles Orange County Chopper and Paul Junior Designs built over the years, you have to admit, these guys out lasted most of the bike builders that I have become familiar with over the past decade. There is a long list of motorcycle builders including Jesse James who basically disappeared, all the while, Orange County Choppers and American Chopper continued plugging along.

I am not sure if the show was cancelled or the players did not want to be on the show anymore, it seems to me that their entire operation revolved around the show. Who knows if Orange County Choppers and Paul Junior Designs will survive without American Chopper? Maybe the Discovery Channel will do some kind of spin-off.

I am going to miss watching these guys build bikes. What is ironic is that I am I am sure all of you have gone though many things over the 10 years that American Chopper had its run.

I think that the years 2000-2010 consisted of one hell of a biker and motorcycle popularity craze, which the bad economy and other factors has ended. I have seen many acquaintances that I have ridden with over the past 10 years die in motorcycle accidents, disappear, or quit riding motorcycles.

So at least to me with American Choppers going away, it also signals an end of an era to me in my personal life and so on.

The good news is that the biker and motorcycle scene is still going very strong, albeit not as strong as years past. I am going to miss watching America Choppers and the dysfunctional family behind it building funky motorcycles. I am sure they made a small fortune over the past 10 years while entertaining us all.

Good by American Choppers.

If you or a loved one has been involved in a motorcycle accident anywhere in the State of California, call the real California Biker Lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez for a free consultation at 800-816-1529 x. 1.

By California Motorcycle Accident Attorney and Biker Lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez, © December 18, 2012

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Tags: american chopper, custom motorcycles, jessie james, mikie, Orange County Chopper, paul junior, paul junior designs, paul senior

In the Black Hills of South Dakota for a few days

Written on August 27, 2012 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, In The Wind, Just BS, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Other, Travel

Deadwood, South Dakota

We arrived a few hours ago in our home for the next few days and nights, an excellent RV resort in Deadwood, South Dakota, within the Black Hills. We are about 12 miles from Sturgis, South Dakota and about an hour away from Mount Rushmore.

Deadwood is a happening town when the Sturgis motorcycle rally is not happening. There are many casinos and bars and an actual nightlife. It is a historic place high in the Black Hills, whereas Sturgis is a small town except during the rally.

The Black Hills happen to be the oldest mountains on the North American Continent.

My last update had us staying at an RV park in Illinois. Last night we spent the night in what was basically a muddy mess in Minnesota.

Since my last update we have driven through or stayed in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota.

All of the States we have driven through have been beautiful.

South Dakota is probably the most desolate state by far with respect to places to stop, traffic, etc. It is truly a plains state. We went through hundreds of miles of corn fields before South Dakota. Once in South Dakota it switched to endless grasslands. To be frank South Dakota reminds me of the drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco in a way, but it is still unique.

The Sturgis motorcycle rally was August 6 – 12, 2012 this year. The rally ended two weeks ago. It is amazing to me that there are still a bunch of die-hard bikers here. I saw many bikers on I-90 as I was driving in.

I guess I will still have much fun riding my Harley Davidson Electra Glide amongst other bikers while I am here.

Tomorrow before I do anything, I will have to wash my motorcycle in place on the trailer before taking her off. She picked up a thick coat of white paste in Iowa, and rinsing it with water, nor rain in Iowa and Minnesota did not wash it off. So I will be delayed for at least an hour washing her. Once she is washed I will be off.

I plan on getting GoPro helmet footage of my ride as well as standard HD footage when stopped. I will post it on the blog when I get home.

That is it for now. Time to relax; it was a long 500 mile plus drive in the RV today.

By California Biker Lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq.

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The Great American Corn Belt

Written on August 25, 2012 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, In The Wind, Just BS, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Other, Travel

Indiana Countryside

Yesterday, August 23, 2012 and today, August 24, 2012 found me cruising my RV through and camping in Indiana and Illinois. I cannot begin to tell you how beautiful these States are.

First off, all of the states I have driven through since New Jersey have toll turnpikes which are basically freeways that you have to pay to have the privilege to drive on.

I decided that I do not like paying these tolls for my RV and motorcycle trailer since I am sometimes having to pay 75% more than a car. It is not that I cannot afford the tolls; it is that I think they are bullshit. Therefore, I set my GPS to avoid the toll roads.

Avoiding the toll roads is the best thing I have done on this trip. The reason being is that instead of driving on freeways, I am not driving on state highways off the beaten track.

In Indiana we drove all day through the most beautiful farm and tree laced land you could imagine. The landscape was like in a movie. We stayed in an excellent RV park right smack dab next to a huge corn field.

When I went outside just at sunset, all I could see for miles around was corn. I would love to live in a place such as this. I enjoyed an O’Doul’s and a cigar.

Today on August 24, 2012, we again drove off the beaten track from Indiana to Rockford, IL. We made sure to drive through Chicago, IL, but since we could not find an RV park near Chicago, we decided to head for Rockford with our next main stop being Sturgis, SD.

I am from Southern California where I was born and raised. I have traveled the world but I have always come back to California.

My trip all over the nation these past 38 days or so have made me question why I stay in California. The east coast is beautiful.

Indiana is truly a beautiful State; so is Illinois. However, I really liked Indiana. Heck we saw our first genuine Amish buggy with family in Indiana.

The people are nice, the entire State reminds me of Mayberry.

The next time I take a trip such as the one I am on right now, I may take 6 months to a year to travel around, so that instead of taking freeways, I can take roads off of the beaten track and really see the countryside.

So there it is, tomorrow I will be on the road again headed for Sturgis, SD which should take two days if all goes well.

Once in Sturgis, I will take the Harley Davidson Electra Glide off of the trailer, and ride all over the Black Hills and more.

By California Biker Lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez

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Tags: Articles, biker attorney, biker law blog, biker lawyer, california motorcyle accident lawyer, california motorycle accident attorney, chicago, il, illinois, in, indiana, norm fernandez, norman fernandez, norman g. fernandez, norman gregory fernandez, rockford, sd, Sturgis

Day 36, Somewhere near Cleveland, OH

Written on August 22, 2012 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, In The Wind, Just BS, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Other, Travel

The United States Capital Building

I have been on a RV vacation and trip of a lifetime for the past 36 days. I am presently sitting at the table in my RV in a campground somewhere near Cleveland, OH typing this update for all of you. It is now day 36 of my trip.

My last real update was on August 4, 2012 from the Washington DC area. I am giving another update now.

So far we have driven through or stayed in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington D.C., Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. We have many more places to stay and drive through before we get home.

We ended up staying in the Washington D.C, College Park, Maryland area for about 11 days. Washington D.C. was an important stop for us, and with so many things to see, and such a great RV resort, we were in no rush to leave. We toured the Smithsonian museums’ and major monuments, among other things. I have tons of video that I will process when I get home and upload onto here.

The only negative part of the Washington D.C. trip was the hot balmy weather on some days, coupled with thunder storms and rain on other days, and the horrendous drivers in the Washington D.C. area.

My Harley Electra Glide enabled me to park near monuments and areas where people in cars just cannot go. On a few days Liz and I used the bus and train due to the weather. We also took the double decker tour bus for 48 hours as well.

The RV resort in College Park, MA was off of the charts. I went swimming every night with all of the other tourist. Hell on one night I found myself alone in the pool with 20 or so bikini clad coed girls from Europe. I could not decipher what language they were speaking, but my god it was a very nice sight.

I did not want to leave Washington D.C.; it was almost as if I needed to stay there longer. Maybe I should run for Congress?

When we finally left Washington D.C., we drove through Maryland and New Jersey. Maryland and most of New Jersey are truly beautiful states.

I found myself getting pinched for tolls every few miles. It turns out I was on a toll turnpike. My GPS was not set up to avoid tolls. By the time the day was over I had paid almost $100 in tolls because my RV and motorcycle trailer have 3 total axels. They were charging me like I was a bus. It really sucked.

When we got to New York we were led to an expensive KOA campground north of Newburgh, New York that was billed as the New York City KOA campground; talk about fraud, we were about 70 miles northwest of New York City in the middle of a forest.

Upstate New York is a truly beautiful state let me tell you, I had no clue. When we got to the campground it was kind of late and almost dark because of the trees. When we hooked up I discovered that the trees prevented my Satellite TV from working, my cell phone did not work, nor did I have Wi-Fi. Then it started raining as well. I had to rough it with DVD’s from Redbox for the night. Further, we only had a 30amp hookup, so I could not run both air conditioners and my microwave at the same time :]

Anyway, we got the hell out of there first thing in the morning, opting to go to the Liberty Park RV resort in Jersey City, New Jersey instead where we would have to dry camp for $50 a day. The Liberty Park RV resort was billed as the closest RV Park to New York City just 15 minutes away from Manhattan, and with a local water taxi that takes you to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. All of this turned out to be true.

On the way in to the campground I noticed that we were in Orange County New York, so I figured I would check and see if Orange County Choppers was nearby. As it turns out, Orange County Choppers was on the way to Liberty Park in Jersey City, so I figured I would stop in and check it out.

All I can say about Orange County Choppers is that it was a huge disappointment. It is the only motorcycle operation I have ever seen that does not sell motorcycle stuff. They have all sorts of shirts and other crap with OCC all over it, but no motorcycle stuff. They don’t even have examples of their production motorcycles in the showroom; all they have is motorcycles that they built in the past. I did not even like those. It is what it is. I got some video and got the hell out of there. It is nothing more than a tourist trap. The bikes on display seem un-ride able and not practical to me.

It was a very interesting trip through narrow streets in New Jersey to the Liberty Park RV resort in Jersey City, New Jersey. My rig is 35’ long with an attached 10’ motorcycle trailer. Some of the streets and turns I had to make near the Holland Tunnel on the Jersey side were monumental, but I finally made it to the RV Park. The RV Park was a combo Liberty Park Marina and RV park. There were ocean going boats, sailboats and the like dry docked on the other side of the park, with an actual marina and a bar and restaurant there.

Since the RV Park was totally full, we had to dry camp which basically means that we had no external electrical, water, or sewer hookups. We had to rely on our RV, and our generator. There was a dump and water site in the park that we could use as needed.

Since we wanted to run our generator past 10pm they basically put us in an area that was by itself in the middle of a field next to a bunch of boats. On the other side of the fence was a construction site in Jersey City. The setup was kind of like in New Orleans where we were 3 blocks away from Bourbon Street but smack dab in the middle of a bad neighborhood.

The Liberty Park RV area of Jersey City was kind of like a small island of a good area in a real bad area if you know what I mean.

We were so close to NY City in the Liberty RV Park that we could see the World Trade Center and Wall Street just across the Hudson River, and I could see the Statue of Liberty from my RV.

Due to a breaker on my generator, I did not get full power until just at dark on our first day in NY City, so we decided to wait until the next day to hit the city.

The next day we immediately went to the World Trade Center site and the 911 memorial. It was a very rainy day.

We did so much in New York over the next week that it is too much to write about here. Like Washington D.C., I felt attracted to the city; as a matter of fact I fell in love with the city. We rode the subway and went all over the place.

Three days before I left New York I ended up partially tearing my calf muscle walking down the subway steps. The reason I know it is partially torn is because three nights ago I spent most of the evening at Jersey Medical Center ER where they confirmed the tear with an ultra sound.

My years of sports and injuries have made me kind of tough when it comes to injuries like this. I tooled around New York City for three days in severe pain because I did not want to miss anything.

We finally left New York City two days ago on August 20, 2012. It took a while getting out of the city, we did not really want to leave, but we had to so we could finish the 3^rd and final leg of this great trip that we are on.

We ended up driving to Northumberland, PA where we found a killer RV resort right on the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. We got there just before dark. I swear I could live in this place. Pennsylvania is one of the most beautiful and big states in the United States.

The locals there upon seeing my Harley Davison in tow assumed I was there for “PA Rally on the River” which was set to begin on August 23, 2012, or the day after we were set to leave the campground.

Unfortunately the campground was booked and full months in advance for the rally. I was told that if I paid $50 a night, I could dry camp there with my RV. Had they gave me a regular camp site, I would have stayed for the rally. I think if they knew who I was, that they would have accommodated me. Liz called even after we left asking if there were cancellations; there were none.

Based on what I was told 2k people would fill up the camp grounds for the event which is adults only. I knew that if I stayed for the event, I would be stuck in the campgrounds until it was over due to the number of people. Further, there would be no way to dump the brown water tank or refill the fresh water tanks for the next week.

I decided to not stay for the rally but to instead spend the time tooling around Sturgis, SD when I get there. We left today on August 22, 2012. We drove all the way to near Cleveland, Ohio where I now sit writing this update.

We still have a long way to go on our trip and further updates will come soon.

By California Personal Injury Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez

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A little visit to Orange County Chopper

Written on August 18, 2012 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, Celebrities, In The Wind, Just BS, My Harley Davidson Electra Glide, Other, Travel, Videos

I have been on an RV trip of a lifetime for the past month. I am presently in an RV Resort at the Jersey City Marina with a view of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island from my RV.

During the trip I have filmed hours of video which I will not be able to edit until I get home. I therefore have been spoon feeding here on the Biker Law Blog, small unedited raw video clips of interest when I have the time.

Here is another small video clip of Liz and I visiting Orange County Chopper aka OCC in Newburgh, NY on August 13, 2012. I will do a complete write-up when I return home from my vacation at the end of August.

By Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq.

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Tags: biker attorney, biker law blog, biker lawyer, california motorcyle accident lawyer, california motorycle accident attorney, new york, newburgh ny, norm fernandez, norman fernandez, norman g. fernandez, norman gregory fernandez, ny, occ, orange county choppers

Times Square New York on Friday 8-17-12; Wow!

Written on August 17, 2012 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, In The Wind, Just BS, Travel, Videos

I have a ton of video and pictures that will be posted of my around the USA trip that started on July 18, 2012 and still continues. Unfortunatlly my laptop is unable to process the vast quantities of HD video I have taken so until I get back home, I will post small raw video clips of my trip.

Here is a video I took of Times Square this evening. The clouds opened up and it started pouring. I bought Liz and I an umbrealla right away since our other umbrella’s were in the RV.

Suffice is to say, Liz and I owned Times Square for about 5 minutes until the rain let up, then the crowds came back in force. Here is a little raw video clip.

By California Personal Injury Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq.

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Tags: Articles, bike accidents, biker attorney, biker law blog, biker lawyer, california motorcycle accident lawyer, california motorcycle attorney, california motorcyle accident lawyer, california motorycle accident attorney, new york, new york city, norm fernandez, norman fernandez, norman g. fernandez, norman gregory fernandez, raw video, times square

A Little Video I took in the New York City Subway

Written on August 17, 2012 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, In The Wind, Just BS, Travel, Videos

I am presently on vacation and in New York City. I thought I would give you a little glimpse of how busy their subways are. I took this short video while traveling from Manhattan 33^rd Street Station to the Grove Street Station in Jersey City where my RV park is on August 16, 2012. Enjoy……

By California Personal Injury Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq.

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Tags: 33rd street, biker attorney, biker law blog, biker lawyer, california motorcycle accident lawyer, california motorcycle attorney, california motorcyle accident lawyer, grove street, Manhattan, new york, new york city, new york subway, norm fernandez, norman fernandez, norman g. fernandez, norman gregory fernandez, subway

A ride to the Gettysburg Battlefield from College Park, Maryland; a Great Day

Written on August 14, 2012 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in In The Wind, Just BS, My Harley Davidson Electra Glide, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Travel, Videos

Battle of Gettysburg; The High Water Mark

On Tuesday, August 7, 2012, Liz and I rode from College Park, Maryland to the Gettysburg Battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

To put what this ride meant to me into perspective, when I was a teenager, I read the Civil War Almanac. I have been an amateur civil war buff ever since. To me the Battle of Gettysburg signifies the point where the South lost the war.

If you read the historical as well as firsthand accounts of those who fought the battle you will come to realize that this battle, the bloodiest in American history with over 50,000 casualties in 3 days, was a great and horrific event in American history.

Now I can say that I walked the ground where all of the great fighting took place between July 1 – July 3, 1863.

I walked Little Round Top, Big Round Top, The Peach Orchard, Devils Den, Slaughter Pen, The Wheat Field, Cemetery Ridge, Culp’s Hill, The Bloody Angle, The High Watermark, the Place where Pickett’s Charge began, and the field not only where Pickett’s Charge happened, but also the ground beyond the breastworks at the Bloody Angle where the Southerners advanced toward certain death. I stood where General Armistead fell, and where General Reynolds fell.

I now know the ground of Gettysburg. When I stood at the Bloody Angle I could look at the field and imagine what the bloody and vicious hand to hand combat between Americans must have been like.

The ride from College Park, MA to Gettysburg, PA was to be frank, a nightmare on the Maryland side. Let me tell you, I have been around half of the circumference of the United States now. We have seen road construction going on in every single state. I suppose those are our stimulus dollars in action, I do not know. What I do know is so far, Floridians, and Marylanders are the worst drivers I have seen for motorcyclist so far in my travels.

Maryland drivers are by far the most aggressive drivers I have ever seen. Where there was a speed limit of 55 due to construction, these idiots were doing 70 and passing me half way in my lane. I can honestly say that after riding my Harley Davidson Electra Glide thousands of miles with no fear, I felt fear on Tuesday. It was almost as if the cagers in Maryland did not see me, it was if I was invisible. If was a ride of terror on the Maryland side. The Pennsylvania side was great except on the way to Confederate Blvd. a Doe (female Deer) ran out in front of us about 50 yards ahead, then on the way back, a young Deer ran out in front of us as well. I will tell a Deer story in a future article.

I highly recommend that if anyone wants to tour the Gettysburg Battlefield that you only do it on a motorcycle. We owned the battlefield on Tuesday. In many places, Liz and I were the only ones there. Imagine being at a historic part of the battlefield with no one there with you to interfere. On the motorcycle, we could stop at will and park at will.

Unfortunatly it appears I will not be able to post any video while on the road. My laptop cannot handle the huge HD video I took at the battlefiled, and the unedited file takes too long to upload to Youtube. Therefore I will not upload any video until I get back

By California Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez, August 10, 2012

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Day 17; Touring Washington D.C. on my Harley Davidson Electra Glide (4300 miles)

Written on August 4, 2012 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, In The Wind, Just BS, My Harley Davidson Electra Glide, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Other

It has been over a week since I have given an update of my “trip of a lifetime,” wherein I am traveling around the United States in my RV with my Harley Davidson Electra Glide in tow.

I have video and pictures of my trip but have been unable to get them off of the memory cards. Tomorrow I will hit a Best Buy so I can post a few.

My last update had me in New Orleans having a great time. A lot has happened since then. I ended up staying in New Orleans for 2 days and nights.

On my first evening in New Orleans after having fun on Bourbon Street, while typing my last article, I noticed that I was starting to itch on my ankles and on my forearm. By the time I finished the article I realized that I was being, or had already been eaten alive by bugs. I suffered over 10 bites. I think the bites were a combination of chiggers and mosquitos, or “no see um’s” and mosquitos. Suffice is to say it sucked!

Turns out with this year’s massive heat wave in the Panhandle states, there are a ton of bugs. I did not put on my insect repellant in time. I have been caking it on ever since. Elizabeth thinks the bites came from Kinder, Louisiana, I am not so sure. She had a bunch of bites on her arm as well.

While loading my Electra Glide back on to the trailer I had a bit of a mishap with the trailer. There are three motorcycle positions on the trailer. I did not hit the center position correctly and it slightly bent the diamond plate where it was not reinforced. Most would not notice it, but I am a stickler for detail so I noticed it. Putting the 4 straps on and ratcheting the motorcycle down was no big deal at all.

From New Orleans, we got back on the road and spent the next night in Tallahassee, Florida. On the way to Tallahassee, Florida we drove through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Let me tell you the deep southern USA is amongst the most beautiful and green land in the world. I only wish I had months to explore these states instead of just driving through.

We hit some rain in Tallahassee which was no big deal. We also stopped off at the local Camping World to dump the folding bicycles; we decided to get full size bikes instead.

After spending the night in a nice RV park in Tallahassee, (I went out at night to have an O’Doul’s and a cigar and thought I saw a friggen Alligator) we hit a Wal-Mart the next day and got two full size Schwinn 22 speed mountain bikes to replace the folding bikes.

We decided to do a grind so we could get to Key West that night/morning, where we planned on staying a few days. We had a long but excellent ride all the way from Tallahassee to Key West. I was a little disappointed that I could not see the scenery while driving to Key West due to the fact that it was dark, but I figured it would be no big deal since I would see it on the way back.

We got to Key West at around 3am, and we were tired as hell. They had more security than we were used to, plus to top it off our RV space was the first one to not be a pull through. A pull through allows you to simply drive in to your space without having to back in. Since I have a motorcycle trailer on the back of a 35 foot motorhome, backing up is a big problem especially at night since the infra-red night vision on my camera reflects off the glass rendering it useless. When I get back home I will take it back to Camping World to have that problem fixed, since they installed the new camera.

Suffice is to say after a couple of attempts the Security Guard allowed us to park in the registration area. We closed the blinds and curtains, I fired up the generator from inside, and no big deal, and everything worked as though we were hooked up in a space. We crashed out until around 10am. We registered, took the motorcycle off of the trailer, folded the trailer, backed into our space, hooked up, took the new Schwinn bikes off of the ladder rack, and we were ready to have a great time for the next 4 days and 3 nights!

We stayed in a resort which was the last island before the actual island of Key West, 1 mile away. Due to its location, they charged us $100 a day for the privilege of staying so close to Key West.

On the first day, we peddled our bikes all over the island, swam in their salt water pool, and then set out for Key West on the Harley.

Key West is the southernmost part of the USA. I heard it was like 20 miles or so from the Bahamas and for all intents and purposes, it was a Caribbean island in the USA. There were a lot of foreigners there with various accents.

We toured the island on my Harley. There were tons of scooters on this island. Everyone was wearing shorts, tank tops, and no helmets. I was in shorts, wife beater shirt, and modular helmet.

Yea yea I know that driving on a Harley Davidson with shorts is crazy, but the speed limit on the entire island was 30mph and the heat and humidity was so bad that after a few minutes you are soaking wet anyway. This kind of weather takes time to get used to.

The weather throughout our entire trip heretofore was basically hotter than hell, with horrible humidity. This night was no different. I was soaking wet in no time but it was OK. I am sure in due time if I decided to move to Key West I would acclimate to the weather.

Now let me tell you, Key West is off of the charts. There were a ton of people on the main drag walking, biking, shopping, taking carriage rides, you name it.

I love beautiful women, and the fine looking gals in Key West rival that of Southern California. It was fantastic. I could get used to this place real quick. We walked around for a while and then cruised the strip on my Harley. We had a great second night!

The rest of the stay in Key West consisted of swimming, lounging in the sun, bicycle riding, and tooling around Key West.

On the night before we were about to leave, we took the Harley back in to Key West; it started to rain. We went to this restaurant that was right on the beach. We had a nice Mediterranean style meal and it appeared the rain stopped, so we decided to go back to the main drag to walk around.

All of a sudden it seemed like the sky opened up. It was pouring rain the likes of which I have not seen since around 8 years ago in San Francisco. The difference in Key West was that it was still very hot, and I was luckily in shorts. The bad news was that we were on a Harley dressed for 30mph touring, and it was pouring rain. One wrong move and we would slide out. I took it real easy. We were literally soaking wet from head to foot. We decided to head back to the RV to call it a night. The next morning after 4 nights and 4 days, we were off again. The ride back to the mainland was great with nice views of the ocean and the Florida Keys. I would actually consider moving to Key West one day.

We decided to head to Miami Beach for a day. Once we got to the Southern Tip of Florida, we headed east. It seemed like the whole southern part of Florida was gated up for the super-rich with no public access to the beaches. Unlike in California where there is no such thing as a private beach, Florida has the exact opposite. They have literally gated up miles and miles of beaches for the super wealthy. It sucks and I was pissed off.

When we got to Miami Beach, it was sure a site to see. The development was off of the charts compared to Southern California where I am from. I hope Southern California never gets like Miami Beach at least in my lifetime.

We drove through South Beach, North Beach, and all through Miami Beach in my 35 foot motorhome with motorcycle trailer attached. We got some real curious looks along with way from the valet parking guys who were all along the street we were on. It was tough to navigate the Miami Beach jungle in my huge rig. Thank god we did not get stuck somewhere.

After going north for some time we found a public parking place where it looked like they had room for my rig and we pulled in. They charged me 15 bucks because they said I had a bus. We pulled in, pulled the blinds and the curtains, fired up the generator, and changed into our swim suits. We then went down to the beach.

Miami Beach is a trip compared to where I am from; there are high rise condos all along the beach, and tons of people on the beach. There were two things that totally blew me away; (1) There were no waves whatsoever, and (2) The water was like a hot tub.

As we walked to the beach I did not hear any waves crashing like what we have on the Pacific side of the nation. I thought something was wrong. The ocean was basically like a big pond, no waves whatsoever.

We laid out our blanket and sat for a bit. I decided to check out the water. When my foot hit the water, I expected it to be cold like the Pacific Ocean, boy was I surprised. The water was actually warm like a bath tub. I jumped right in.

I noticed that no one was going out too far. In the Pacific, we like to ride waves and we go out far. In the Atlantic, I have heard there are many sharks. Hell with the warm water and the lack of anyone going out too far, I decided to hang out close to shore. I had a blast swimming in the warm waters of Miami Beach. After a couple of hours, we went back to the RV, took showers, and hit the road again.

After driving a bit, we noticed a Hometown Buffet and decided to partake. They had steak, roast beef and a bunch of other stuff. I overate and had a great meal. Afterwards, we got on the road to head north to Washington DC.

Once on the road we realized that we did not reserve a campground for the night. We were both tired from a very long day, and we could not find a park close by off of the 95. To top things off, it started to rain a bit. While looking for RV parks I got stuck in two separate places where I had to back up before I could get out, which was real fun in the rain.

After some time, we were burnt out. At around 11pm we found a Wal-Mart with a security guard and decided to park the RV on the Wal-Mart parking lot and spend the night. Wal-Mart allows RV’ers to park in their parking lot and sleep overnight because they sell RV gear in their store. I prefer an actual RV park but this particular night we had really no choice. After parking, I fired up the generator, we turned on our satellite TV and it was just like home. RV’s are basically a home on wheels. Anywhere will do!

The next day we woke up around 9am, had some breakfast in the RV, and we were off again. We had an excellent drive through Florida all the way to a great RV park in South Carolina where we spent the night. South Carolina is a truly beautiful state. I could live there! The RV Park was like something out of a movie, perfect green lawns, trees, pond, etc. I have pictures but cannot get to them right now.

Once I set up camp I enjoyed a nice cigar and an O’Doul’s, then watched some Satellite TV and Redbox videos in the RV. I went to sleep early.

I woke up early, broke camp, and got back on the road with our next stop being Washington D.C. We decided to do the ride to D.C. in one swoop which was around 500 miles or so.

There is one thing about the ride from Georgia to DC that I should tell; Interstate 95 was lined with beautiful tall green trees on both sides of the Interstate the entire way. We are talking millions of trees. It is much more beautiful than anything Los Angeles has to offer. However, in a way it was disappointing as well. Traveling around the nation is what I am doing so I can see the nation. With trees lining the entire Interstate from Georgia to D.C. with little breaks in between, we could not really see anything but trees; it gets old after a while.

Again in the future, I will visit the Deep South again and spend some time actually seeing it instead of just driving through it or taking breaks here and there like I did on this trip.

During the trip to DC, we hit a massive thunderstorm in North Carolina. The rain was coming down so hard I could not see in front of me even with my wipers on full blast. To top it off the wind all of a sudden felt like it was going to tip my RV over. Luckily there was a rest stop a mile away. It was around 3pm but it was almost dark, that is how bad this storm was. I guess the south does not get its green grass and trees from lack of rain.

There were truckers and a bunch of cars at the rest stop. Believe you me; if you cannot see with your windshield wipers set to the fastest setting, you need to pull it over. I kind of felt bad for everyone else at the truck stop, because we had our house with us and they did not. I started up the generator from inside, Liz made us a good lunch, and we sat at the table and had a good meal while everyone else was hunkered down in their vehicles. After about a half hour to 45 minutes it stopped raining enough to where I thought we would be ok and we got back on the road.

I knew it would be a long grind to Washington DC, but it was worth it to me to just get there instead of stopping somewhere for another night. We stopped at a Waffle House at around 9pm and had dinner.

When we finally got to the DC area I thought I would give Liz a little treat and drive my RV/Motorcycle Trailer setup through the streets of the capital. Boy was that a mistake. There are turnoffs which are hard enough to handle in a car let alone a 35 foot RV with a motorcycle trailer. We almost got stuck in the Union Station roundabout.

It finally got to the point where my exhaustion, coupled with the size of the rig I was driving made me set the GPS to the RV resort where we were going to stay instead of playing around the Capitol with my RV. I was so tired that I missed several freeway options so we ended up taking the streets. Our RV resort is about 10 miles from DC.

The RV resort is a place where you really do not need to leave to leave. There are people that live here full time. Heck I could get used to it as well. I love resorts! They have multiple pools, a hot tub, gym, restaurant, store, and a bunch of great people.

When we got to the resort on Thursday night/Friday morning we pulled into our space, I set up camp and we crashed for the night. On Friday we had a blast touring the capitol on my Harley. We were the only Harley Davidson in town yesterday. It was a great time.

Today we decided to sleep in, lounge around the pool and hit DC in the evening.

So there it is, a brief update on how the trip is going so far.

We will be staying in DC until at least Tuesday maybe Wednesday. The next stop will be New York City.

By California Personal Injury Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez, August 4, 2012

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Day 7, The Big Easy (2000 miles)

Written on July 25, 2012 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, In The Wind, Just BS, My Harley Davidson Electra Glide, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Other, Travel

My Electra Glide

Well here I sit at 3am on what is actually day 6 and ½, 3 blocks away from the French Quarter in the nicest RV park yet, right smack dab 3 blocks from the French Quarter, within walking distance, after having had a great evening of riding my Electra Glide and walking down Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Let me first start off by telling you that I spent last night in an RV park that was basically in swamp land in Kinder, Louisiana. When it got dark and I shined a flash light on my RV, and what seemed like hundreds of small black bugs went for the light. Many of them got into the RV. I got rid of them within 10 minutes with a piece of paper. Last night was basically spent hunkered down in the RV resting and watching Satellite TV.

Today we left Kinder and drove to New Orleans. On the ride from Kinder to New Orleans I saw the most unique part of Interstate 10 I have ever seen and what is probably one of the top human engineering marvels of all time. The Interstate is literally raised over many miles of water logged swamp land. I have never seen anything like it.

The state of Louisiana is beautiful; it is a green state with millions of trees lining Interstate 10. The foliage is so dense that you cannot even see through it. I can only imagine what it was like when Europeans first found this place.

Another huge part of the ride today was crossing some big rivers including the mighty Mississippi River. Let me tell you something, I experienced fear driving my RV over the river bridges. My rig is as high as a regular truck. At that height the guard rails do not seem like they will do much good if you crash, and in a Class A motor home, there is no room for error on a bridge like the ones I crossed today. It was an experience I will tell you that.

I have to say that the New Orleans part of our trip has been the best so far. It was hotter than hell today with humidity that I have heretofore only read about, but it was a great day.

This is my first time in the big easy. I did not expect much except the French Quarter. Boy was I wrong. There is much to see and do here. The French Quarter was off of the charts. It is something you have to experience in person. Pictures do not do it justice.

After driving all through the French Quarter and New Orleans on my Harley Davidson Electra Glide, we parked and walked the French Quarter. We found a very nice Seafood Restaurant. Now anyone that knows me knows I hate seafood except for tuna fish sandwiches and breaded fish sticks and shrimp. Last night I decided to throw caution out with the wind and have a bowl of Gumbo. Gumbo has shrimp and Crab along with other ingredients. It tasted OK. We had a very good meal after that. We were seated literally right in the window of the café, so we could see all of the traffic walking Bourbon Street as we dined.

Across the street I noticed a cigar place, and went there after our meal to get $50 worth of hand rolled Cuban cigars. (The guy rolling the cigars was Cuban) $50 worth turned out to be 5 cigars. The guy gave me a catalog so I could order when I get back home.

As we walked Bourbon Street I smoked a big cigar that cost $10. It was the best dam cigar I have ever had. As I was walking and almost finished with the cigar some guy tried to talk me into going into his bar. I explained to him that I do not drink. He told me that he did not drink either. As we shook hands the dam cigar fell out of my mouth. Anyway…………………………

All I can say is that anyone who has not been to New Orleans needs to come here. No pictures can ever do how great this town is, justice. Everyone was friendly as hell.

The only bummer is that I noticed I have a bunch of mosquito like bites on my ankles and on my arm. I just put some deet on, hopefully that will prevent any more bites.

Well I am going to get some shut eye in a few minutes. Later today I will load the Harley back on the trailer, strike camp, and head through Mississippi and Alabama into Florida. Key West here we come.

By Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., July 25, 2012

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Tags: biker attorney, biker law blog, biker lawyer, california motorcyle accident lawyer, california motorycle accident attorney, French Quarter, new orleans, norm fernandez, norman fernandez, norman g. fernandez, norman gregory fernandez, The big easy

Deep in the heart of Texas; day 5

Written on July 22, 2012 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, In The Wind, Just BS, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Other

California Motorcycle Accident Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez

California Motorcycle Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez, Photo courtesy of the American Bar Association Journal, and photographer David Newhardt

*** July 23, 2012 Update – Had a great time riding in San Antonio yesterday, got back this evening at around 10pm, and had an ice cold O’Doul’s and a sweet cigar in the balmy warm San Antonio night. The parking situation around the Alamo was a nightmare but I managed. I got the feeling that the many tourist around the Alamo did not comprehend the true significance of what happened there. Had a great Tex Mex meal along side the River Walk. Most of all I really enjoyed getting on my Harley and riding around. Tomorrow or I should say later this morning, I will put the Electra Glide back on the trailer, strike camp, and head out. I suspect I may hit Louisiana by evening, we will see.

Here I sit in a luxury RV park in San Antonio, TX on day 5 of my grand tour of the USA; I love it.

The last time I was in San Antonio was when I flew in at age 17 for Air Force Basic Training in March of 1981, boy have things changed.

First off I must say that I love the great State of Texas, I have some fond memories of being stationed here many moons ago.

Two nights ago I stayed in a really nice RV park in El Paso, TX, after driving through some heavy thunder storms in New Mexico. Last night I stayed here in San Antonio, and I am staying on for a day of rest and touring.

The last couple of days have seen me driving through some of the most beautiful and wide open country on earth. I have driven approximately 1400 miles so far.

I am going to take a break today and ride my Harley around town, check out the Alamo, and generally have a good time.

Last night while driving in downtown San Antonio, I got lost and ended up driving right next to the Alamo. It was quite an experience with a 35 foot motorhome and a motorcycle trailer navigating amongst all of the tourist.

Anyway, I just unloaded my Harley off of the trailer, used spray on wax to clean her up, and I will be leaving shortly to tour around town.

I was going to go check out the world famous San Antonio gun show today but unfortunately it is too late in the afternoon.

I will post some pics and maybe some video in the next day or two. You have to understand, this trip is about having a good time; blogging about it is a bonus.

San Antonio awaits…….

By Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., July 22, 2012

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My epic grand tour of the USA has begun!

Written on July 20, 2012 by Norman Gregory Fernandez in Articles, In The Wind, Just BS, Norman Gregory Fernandez Ride Reports, Other, Travel

California Biker Lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez riding around a curve on Mulholland Highway

I am typing the this short blog post from the dining room table of my RV in a RV park in Tuscon, Arizona. Yes, my trip around the USA has begun.

My trip was supposed to start on July 15, 2012, but due to unforseen circumstances and a last minute repair that needed to be made to my RV, I did not depart my home in Acton, CA until around 9:30pm on Wenesday night, July 18, 2012, 3 days and about 13 hours later than my original plan.

I contemplated just starting out on the morning of July 19, 2012, but I knew that if I did not leave, I would never leave, so I left. When I got to Blythe, CA, I was wiped out, so I decided to pull my rig into a truck stop with all of the other trucks, fire up the generator, and crash out in my rig parked in line with all of the truckers.

I woke up in the morning and got back on the road around 10:30am. Another glitch arose while on the road, this time I discovered that my generator which ran all night in Blythe, would not start up. It was cranking, but not starting. I decided to stop at the Camping World in Pheonix, AZ to see if there was somthing that they could do. What a mistake that was.

First off when I got to the Camping World parking lot, I discovered that my generator started. I figured that I have either some heat problem, a clogged air filter, or maybe a clog in the fuel system. I figured I would have them check it out and I would be back on the road; wrong…………..

At Camping World it was probably over 100 degrees yesterday in Phoenix, and the humidity was off the charts. It felt like I was in a Sauna. Second, when the tech came out to check the generator from Camping World, it started like 4 times in a row with no problem. I should have told him to just forget it and that everything was ok. Finally after having this guy mess with my generator a bunch of times, he got it to fail. Great………. I sat in the friggen heat for hours waiting for this guy to fix the generator. The generator runs the central air so I could not run the air the whole time he was working on it. Since I have all of my possessions in the RV I was not about to let him stay in it by himself.

The tech from Camping World finally shows up with his manager to tell me that they thought the problem with the generator was a coil or a circuit board, and that I should call the local Koeler generator factory authorized dealer and service rep. After the guys from Camping World played with my generator, I could not start it all all. I was freaking out in the Arizona heat and contemplating returning home before I got too far away.

I called the Koeler dealer and at first got a voicemail, and then after trying multiple times, I finally spoke to someone who told me that their service guy had left for the day, it was only 4pm, and that the service guy said he was booked for the next day. I told them my situation but they did not seem to care. Talk about shitty customer service, I decided to move on.

Suffice is to say, I decided to head to Tucson and take my chances there. After stopping at Walmart in Phoenix to stock up on water which I drank in great quantities due to the heat, I decided to try the generator again; thank god it started.

I know I have some kind of heat problem with the generator, but it is not going to ruin my trip. As long as I can get it to start after it cools off, I am ok with that, especially since I will stay at RV parks like the one I am at right now, and they provide me with the 50 amp service my RV requires.

Let me tell you about the RV park I am at right now, it is awesome. The front office closed at around 8pm. I called them from the Walmart parking lot at around 7pm to tell them that I was a member of a certain RV club and that I was on my way. My RV club membership gives me 50% off on all member RV parks. I was told my fee for the nights stay was $18…….. awesome!

They kept the office open for me. They knew I was in a 35 foot class A with a 10 foot motorcycle trailer. They set me up in a drive through space with easy hookups in a class operation.

The manager gave me a bag of apples and told me he would keep the pool open for me. Once I hooked up to electrical, water, and sewer, I threw on my bathing suit and went to the pool and jumped in. All I can say is ahhhhh what a relief. There is nothing like floating in a pool looking at the Tuscon, Arizona sky, knowing that an epic journey is ahead.

There is no way in hell you will ever meet nicer people while traveling, then the ones you meet doing the RV thing. I used to think bikers were the best, well RV’ers are right up there on top.

So even though my trip got off to a rocky start, I will jump into bed in a few, wake up early, have some breakfast, and get back on the road in the morning. I anticipate spending the night either in New Mexico or possibly Texas depending on how far I go.

For me this trip is not about rushing, it is about quality, just like my motorcycle trips.

Good night for now folks. look for another update soon.

By California Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., July 20, 2012

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Tags: Action, arizona, AZ, Blythe, ca, california, Camping World, Koeler generator, Phoenix, RV, RV park, Tuscon, Walmart