Happy 2026 to all my motorcycle friends from rainy California! May the New Year bring great riding and joy.
Mrs. G and I followed our annual tradition of going up to Pasadena to check out the Rose Parade preparations and to take in the scene. She used to live in the area and was involved with one of the floats before we met. Lots of people running around making final preparations and revelry among the visitors from the Rose Bowl team states. Last night it was a sea of red with Alabama and Indiana folks.
For a Honda lover, it’s a cool scene. As the main sponsor, they provide the vehicles, and normally there are dozens of Metropolitan scooters buzzing around with people in white jumpsuits doing their final parade preparations. If you walk past the Tournament of Roses house (formerly the Wrigley Mansion) they have Honda cars posed out front, festooned in flowers ready to lead the parade. The new Prelude will be the feature car (And isn’t it awesome that the Prelude is coming back!)
It was raining all night so the mood was wet and subdued. TV crews were setting up tents and covering their equipment to keep them dry. This will be the first rainy parade and Rose Bowl in 20 years.
We also check out the nearby South Pasadena float, which is getting its final touches and preparing to fire up and get in line for the parade. An army of volunteers are showing it off. Much smaller crowd in the rain but it looks awesome as always. We chatted at length with a construction welder who did the structural work under all of the flowers.
Then, we have dinner nearby and wait as all of the floats from all over the area trundle up Fair Oaks to line up for the parade. You see a fleet of police cars coming, blocking traffic, and then the convoy of floats rolls by. You basically get to watch the parade the night before, but with a phalanx of support trucks carrying extra flowers, tow chains and stuff to repair and prep the floats and make sure they complete their journey to Pasadena from the surrounding areas.
Still neat to watch even if we were sitting in the car to stay dry.
