Vincent Thomas Bridge

Well, it was time for the periodic oil change for the 'ol bike.  I scheduled an appointment at Harbor City Harley Davidson, some 90 miles away.  The reasons that I chose to go to this store instead of my local shops were to take advantage of the special oil change price of $17.76 and to ride over the Vincent Thomas Bridge.

It's been some time that I've been over that bridge and I've been wanting to go there for quite a while now.  Last time I recall going over it, there was still a toll to cross.  That's right, a toll.  This is no longer the case, as I understand it, the toll was used to repay the debt incurred to build the bridge.  Once paid off, the toll no longer exists.

Here are a couple of pics of the bridge:

While out there, I was fortunate enough to see a small Homeland Security convoy.  There were a couple of black S.U.V.s with flashing lights, and sandwiched between them was an armored vehicle of sorts.

I'm not sure how you guys feel about Homeland Security, but I am thankful they are there doing their jobs.

I sped past them a couple of times in order to get some pictures.  They could have easily thought I was some loon and taken me into custody.  If they did, perhaps it would have been confirmed that I am in fact some loon.

Here are couple of images of the Homeland Security detail:

After riding out to Harbor City in the blistering southern California heat today, I stopped at one of my favorite fast food restaraunts to get out of the heat and let the bike cool off a bit - Miguel's Jr in Grand Terrace.

After putting on around 200 miles today in the heat, this is about all that I have to show for it.