[aargee]

@BBlost - Knowing about your avid riding skills on RE, you may want to consider buying a single piece rain gear. This is of great use when it comes to riding in rains; I remember once you saying that you having an additional wear at office so as to change if you get wet. But with a single piece rain gear, you're not bound to get wet.

Also consider buying a rain boot cover

[bblost]

Originally Posted by aargee

@BBlost - Knowing about your avid riding skills on RE, you may want to consider buying a single piece rain gear. This is of great use when it comes to riding in rains; I remember once you saying that you having an additional wear at office so as to change if you get wet. But with a single piece rain gear, you're not bound to get wet.

Also consider buying a rain boot cover

You mean something like this

Originally Posted by bblost

And this raincoat:
Cycle Gear - MOTOCENTRIC: Centrek One-Piece Rainsuit, GUNMETAL/WHITE
which is big enough to be worn over a jacket.

[aargee]

Sorry @BBlost, I'm getting "Page not found" error. I didn't want to give you a link so that you MIGHT get carried away, but, this is what I intent to get it through a friend of mine.
Tour Master Elite 2 1-pc Rain Suit - RidersDiscount.com
Tour Master Deluxe Rain Boot Covers - RidersDiscount.com

PS - Let me know if the link doesn't show up

Edit - Oh!!! Looks like you're already made up your mind to buy one; Good good, its a must buy I would say. The two-piece rain gears sold here are to guarantee for water seepage

[lexusES350]

bblost - loved your videos from Tahoe trip, glad to know that you are enjoying what my beautiful home state has to offer .

Just a heads up, if you want to see snowfall and dont mind going to Lake Tahoe again, this upcoming weekend (Nov 20/21) major snow event is expected and you will see season's first accumulating snowfall. If you do decide to go there make sure you go in either 4x4 vehicle or carry tyre chains as during snow events chains are usually mandatory on 2 wheel drive cars.

[bblost]

Sorry for the delay, been stuck in work and stuff.

Yesterday was Bakr-id here. My first eid away from family. I miss them so much. I found the website of a nearby mosque Yaseen Foundation

The Namaz was scheduled at around 8 AM. There was a parking charge of 10$. I woke up early and got ready real quick. Skipped breakfast and got to the San Mateo Expo Center.

Since I arrived early, the parking lot was quite empty and I had no difficulty parking. Once inside a couple of people had already assembled in the main prayer hall. Slowly the people started coming in. By the time of prayer I estimate that there were atleast 400 men there. The women had a separate section, so no idea on their count.

There were people from so many different countries.
I sat next to an Arab and a Latin. There was an Egyptian in front of me and some Africans behind me. It was such an amazing sight. All people separated by color, race and nations. But everyone doing exactly the same thing at exactly the same time.

There was a brief introduction by someone who I assume is a local council member. He was talking about important it is to volunteer . This mosque is run on purely volunteer effort. There is no funding of any sort. Hence the 10$ parking fee. The 30$ optional fee per family. There were some donuts and coffee arranged for everyone. There were games for children.

The prayers over. I rushed back home. Grabbed some breakfast and got busy in work. Decided to work from home of sorry hotel in my case.

Then by 2:30 got b bored.Went to a nearby beach where I snapped this picture.

I like these sail boats. Maybe someday I will get lucky and get to sail in one over the Pacific and all the other oceans.



btw: My car odo reads somewhere close to 850 miles now.

[TaureanBull]

Eid Mubarak.

Is n't the Eid today? At least in middle east and India its today. Anyways nice to know that you enjoyed to some extent. One definitely misses the near ones on festivals especially.

BTW whenever I read your signature, it gives me an inkling that you were a smoker. I left three years back forever.

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by bblost

There were people from so many different countries.
I sat next to an Arab and a Latin. There was an Egyptian in front of me and some Africans behind me. It was such an amazing sight. All people separated by color, race and nations. But everyone doing exactly the same thing at exactly the same time.

E'ID mubarak, baraka, magfirah and maqbool.
Yeah! Its an amazing feeling. Bound by faith people can forget race culture creed rich poor etc. Indonesians, Somalis, Morrocans, Asian, Sudanis, Sa'uds, Lybians, Leboneas, Palestainians,Malays, and many fresh Americans all under one roof.

[bblost]

Originally Posted by TaureanBull

BTW whenever I read your signature, it gives me an inkling that you were a smoker. I left three years back forever.

Quit on 2-Sept-2008, with the start of Ramzan. Went cold turkey and have been breathing free since then.

Smoking was the worst thing I did. Am glad I managed to leave it behind me. Congrats to you as well for having gotten that devil off your back.

[bblost]

Need advice on planned route for a 4-5 day trip:


SFO to Las Vegas
9 hours 30 mins
564 mi


Vegas to Grand Canyon
4 hours 31 mins
265 mi


Grand Canyon to Salt Lake City
9 hours 16 mins
520 mi


Salt Lake City to Reno
8 hours
521 miles

Reno to SFO
3 hours
220 miles


The only place I really want to see is the Grand Canyon. So I might spend some time there.

One question that worries me is the acceptability of my Indian License in all the states that I am driving thru.

[prince_pervez]

Go through the DMV sites of all the states intended to visit and check for out of country validity of licenses. Most states should allow an out of country license anywhere from 6 - 12 months. e.g. http://www.dmvstat.com/dlresidency.htm#Non

[lexusES350]

Originally Posted by bblost

Need advice on planned route for a 4-5 day trip:


SFO to Las Vegas
9 hours 30 mins
564 mi

-- If you do it during non rush weekend then this time is sufficient however if you try to do this at the beginning of thanksgiving I would say allow 12-13 hrs. I-15 from Barstow to Vegas can get really crowded as it has all the traffic coming from LA area.


Vegas to Grand Canyon
4 hours 31 mins
265 mi

-- Easily doable. Leave early in morning so that you can spend time at Grand Canyon.


Grand Canyon to Salt Lake City
9 hours 16 mins
520 mi

-- Nothing to see in Salt Lake City. I would suggest you spend more time at GC as you want to see that place.

Salt Lake City to Reno
8 hours
521 miles

-- Would not recommend going to SLC, not much there. Reno is depressing at best once you see Vegas. No use going there.

Reno to SFO
3 hours
220 miles

-- You are being extremely optimistic with that estimate. Its almost impossible to do this distance in 3 hrs. under any condition let alone in winter time.
If you attempt to travel over Donor Pass (I80) during snowstorm it can even take 10-12 hrs for that distance. Snow chains are usually mandatory and speed limit drops down to 25 mph. Even if you want to take a risk and driver faster, its not practically possible as visibility drops to nearly zero and you just risk yours and other traveler's life by doing so.


The only place I really want to see is the Grand Canyon. So I might spend some time there.

-- Spend more time. Its worth it.


One question that worries me is the acceptability of my Indian License in all the states that I am driving thru.

-- In Arizona, make sure you carry all your immigration papers with you at all time. They recently passed a law where any law enforcement officer can demand to see immigration papers and if don't have it with you, its a criminal violation per local state laws. You can be detained if you fail to comply with the local regulations.

In short here is my suggestions to you is to drop SLC/Reno idea. If you see Vegas, there isn't much to see in Reno, its rather depressing place to tell you the truth .

Day 1 - SFO - Vegas
Day 2 - Vegas
You will enjoy the city and it has lot to offer and do. Very hard to get bored. Easy to spend 2-3 days there and one day is actually very minimum.
Day 3 - Vegas to Grand Canyon
Spend entire day.
Day 4 - Grand Canyon to Vegas
You can spend most of second day and go back to Vegas in the evening.
Day 5 - Vegas to SFO

[lexusES350]

I forgot to add this, check with your rental car company to make sure you can take the car to Nevada/Arizona/Utah. Even though car companies offer unlimited mileage some times when car leaves the state boundary they have set mileage limit for out of state travels such as 250 miles per day or something like that.

[bblost]

Prince and Lexus: Thanks for the inputs.

I will check the website for the license and the rental guys for the limits. I did ask the lady if there are any limits when I took the car. She had said no limits, but I will verify again.

Finally decided to go and eat Indian food.
The restaurant was Indian. The management was Indian. The names of the dishes was also Indian but alas the food was not.

Had a sweet tomato gravy with chilly flakes added to it.
There was potato and chicken in the dish.

The roti had a thick helping of butter although I had order for plain tandoori roti.

I will not be going back to this place.

Anyways there is a party tomorrow. Lunch treat at Macaroni Gril in San Mateo.

Luckily the menu card is available online. So have found myself a fish based dish.

Good night folks. Its midnight here.

[lexusES350]

Originally Posted by bblost

I will check the website for the license and the rental guys for the limits. I did ask the lady if there are any limits when I took the car. She had said no limits, but I will verify again.

-- No problem. I hope you enjoy your time in the states. Feel free to ask any question about bay area or travels within western US. I have spent decade in this area and I can help out.

Originally Posted by bblost

Finally decided to go and eat Indian food.
The restaurant was Indian. The management was Indian. The names of the dishes was also Indian but alas the food was not.

Had a sweet tomato gravy with chilly flakes added to it.
There was potato and chicken in the dish.

Welcome to American where they will Americanize the Indian food to suit local tastes. The dish with potato and chicken is most probably chicken vindaloo....I had never heard about it until coming here so not sure what is the origin of this dish.

Originally Posted by bblost

The roti had a thick helping of butter although I had order for plain tandoori roti.


I will not be going back to this place.

If you ever want to eat genuine good Indian non-veg food there are few Pakistani restaurants where you can get halal meat and food is tasty.
Though I'm Hindu by religion and dont have any religious constraints I prefer to eat at these places simply for the taste of the food.

You can go to Shaan in Sunnyvale, Shaalimar in Fremont, San Francisco proper. There is one in Sunnyvale also but they recently separated from the SF/Fremont chain and operate independently though I have not seen any change in the taste and menu is identical at all these places.

If you want typical Hyderabadi biryani, try Peacock or Athidhi in Santa Clara and Sunnyvale respectively. I have heard from my friends who are from AP that this is the closest they get to their hometown taste in the bay area. I cant vouch for that as unfortunately I do not know what true Hyderabadi biryani should taste like :(

[tsk1979]

Only Enterprise has restrictions for mileage and out of state. Dollar/Alamo/Fox/Avis etc., have no restrictions.