Letter from Flo Samuels

I ran the Singles Motorcycle Club from 1999 to 2007. Phil and I first met in either late 1999 or early 2000 when I had set up a meeting place for a SMC ride at a restaurant that was closed. As in closed forever. I picked meeting places like I planned rides, using phone books and maps and often not checking if the road or the restaurant existed. Phil noted that he had the route outlined on some maps, the temperature forecast for all regions we would be riding through and dots on his map for gas stations, restaurants and rest areas. Considering the times I got us all lost, made numerous U-turns and had most of us starving before we broke for lunch, why someone as meticulous as Phil kept coming to the SMC rides was always a mystery.

But I have many fun memories of Phil. On our 2000 ride to the Bodega Bay Art Festival, on the way back he wanted to show us a short cut through Sausalito to avoid the backup to the bridge on101. So we ended up on a two-lane road going uphill, a steep uphill, behind a long line of cars. You riders know what it’s like trying to keep your bike running in stop and start traffic going uphill. But that wasn’t the least. On the way back to the pickup at Stonestown Mall, he led another short cut to avoid the traffic on 19^th street. We arrived at the Mall long after others from our group who had decided to opt out of Phil’s shortcuts. When I mentioned to Phil that his short cuts were as bad as my ride directions he just shrugged and grinned.

On a ride to the Sebastopol Apple Festival it was very cold. We welcomed a new passenger, Rachelle Chase and Phil was her rider. I have from the trip report: We headed on to Sebastopol by one of my ingenious routes. Unfortunately, it was too ingenious and we ended up in Petaluma. Realizing that I had somehow left out something in the route, I humbly went to Phil and asked for a map. Phil always has maps, real detail maps with the route we were supposed to be on marked in orange. Even with that, I directed us to two wrong turns—but we all got lots of practice in U-turns. When we finally got to Sebastopol and lunch we learned that Rachelle, under her light-weight jacket, was in a sleeveless sweater. Her arms were a mass of goose bumps. As Phil and others ran around finding extra clothing for her, he noted, “I wondered why she was hanging on so tight. She must have been shivering so bad she was afraid she’d fall off the bike.” We told him it was just his charm. Rachelle sends her sympathies.

Because I made fun of his being so precisely prepared on other rides, on the Carmel Valley ride in 2002 he only produced his detail maps after I’d really gotten the group lost. He always understood when I had given up. At lunch at the Running Iron, we overwhelmed the place and it was close to 3 pm. when everyone was done. Phil noted in his quiet way that if we did the whole Carmel Valley route, we might make it back to San Jose by midnight. We ended up on a dead end road at 7 pm and by that time I don’t know if Phil was even with us anymore. But then, he had maps.

On the April 2002 Santa Cruz Mystery Spot ride Phil was the lead and poor guy, he had me as the navigator. We took the wrong Branciforte branch and toured a golf course with lots of speed bumps. When I noted the other guys were going to be really teed, he said of course not. This part of the ride was to test everyone's suspension because he didn't want people driving mechanically unsound bikes. Phil definitely now had the SMC attitude. At the Mystery Spot, with wide-eyed amazement, Phil watched balls roll up boards that appeared to slant down and stay perfectly still on slanted boards, watched others lean at 45 degree angles while standing straight, and at 6'2" appear to be the same height as a little girl. On that same ride we were interviewed at Four Corners and Phil was the one who contacted the reporter to get the time of the broadcast for everyone.

The 2002 Christmas Party where a guy nicknamed Lunch Box played the Grinch and Phil was one of two guys who stayed to clean up. I said in the trip report he was a real catch. And the 2004 Christmas Party where two guys snuck in sex toys for the gift giveaway/takeaway and out of 25 gifts Phil got the toy. I can still see the look on his red face as he held the box up by the corner and kind of waved it at everyone trying to get it taken away. I finally took it to get him out of his misery. It reminded me of another ride where the remarks had gotten risqué and Phil’s face was red for quite a while. He was such a proper gentleman.

The Lucia ride in June of 2003 was our introduction to Phil’s new Harley. As I wrote in the trip report: We were all reminded of it's newness throughout the ride as every time we stopped, there was Phil, wiping off every bug, dust mote, and drop of water. Phil’s passenger was Stevie and they were in the lead as she had the first part of the route. And the first, and only U-turn of the day. It wasn't a full U-turn though as Patrick was back a few bikes and realized that the sign saying "Not a through street," probably meant it wasn't a through street and pulled up at the corner. When Phil reappeared, all he did was shake his head and grin. We stopped at Big Sur for gas (and for Phil to wipe down his bike), then Lucia for lunch. The restaurant has great old pictures of the area and appears to have had a few more residents in the past then now. I didn’t read the captions that well so don't know what promoted Lucia in the past but I bet Phil will tell us as he reads those things all the time. We proceeded to Nacimento Ferguson and at a stop Phil again commented that he was going to charge the women for using his bike as luggage. However, he did relent a little when Debra suggested he put a mirror in the lid of his luggage and he said maybe he'd install pouches for their makeup.

The Celtic Faire in Angels Camp where we had so many U-turns and a guy who wiped out that we got there after 4 pm so it would have been after 9 pm when we headed back if we went in. I can still remember Phil’s sad face that we missed the fair, almost like a kid’s, and I always wondered, did he ever get to go.

Bringing in the New Year watching the fireworks on television with Phil, Don, Pamela and some others who had spent most of the night talking about, what else, motorcycles then later watching Phil fall asleep on the couch.

July 06 was the Music of the Spheres concert at Mt. Hamilton with a Celtic group providing the music and amateur astronomers providing a glimpse of the planets and stars. Only two bikes showed. Of course, one was Phil because learning new things was what he was all about. I can remember his rapt attention at the Mt. Ham telescope lecture. While we ate our dinner there, Phil noted that he had bought some tomatoes at the supermarket and they were $4 a pound so he though that was kind of ridiculous and decided to grow his own. He bought two plants at $2 each and called his sister to get some advice on their cultivation. She recommended a number of things that brought the plant bill to $50. So his $4 investment was now $50 and he still had no tomatoes. He said they seem to be doing OK and eventually he’ll get back some of his expenses. That was kind of like his kitchen cabinet project. I’ve renovated a number of homes so every time I saw him I’d ask if the project was done. Every time he’d ruefully smile and say No, too many rides got in the way.

Phil was on the Kaboom San Francisco fireworks ride in 2003 and within a year or so took it over to everyone’s relief. No wrong turns and always reservations at a great restaurant. Kaboom 2008 was the last time I saw Phil. I didn’t participate in the ride but went to the dinner with about 25 others. Many laughs and Phil was there, smiling while receiving compliments on his well-planned ride and his well-planned reservations. We miss you Phil, you were a really great guy.