Last year after speaking at Dreamforce, I had rented a Ducati Hyper, and took off up the PCH on a trip that resulted in one of the best solo-motorcycling experiences I've every had.

This year's journey began under a much darker moon.  I had postponed planning my ride for months, as half the state of California was seemingly on fire until a few weeks prior.  My presentation only kind of came together last minute, and I felt like I might be shirking some responsibilities back at home, such as my firm moving offices without me.  Most importantly, my grandmother fell while dancing at our annual Halloween party in Pennsylvania, and managed to break six ribs and collapse a lung.  As I rode with her in an ambulance to the hospital, I figured this trip was doomed.
But after she stabilized after a couple of days, there was very little I could do by lingering around in PA, so with everyone encouraging me to go, I got on my flight to California.
Dreamforce was amazing and overwhelming.

  My speech about Elegran as a leading tech-enabled brokerage was a success.
My fellow New York Pardot User Group Leader Mike let me know that Ducati was presenting their Connected Customer Experience at Dreamforce, and I got a chance to meet and hang out with Jason Chinnock, the CEO of Ducati North America.
Jason told me that this November was the first time in years he hadn't been to EICMA, and though they didn't have the new V4 Panigale for Dreamforce, they did have the new 1260 Multi on display. 
Ducati is also doing some very cool stuff with Salesforce, both internally, with their dealer networks, and for their customers.
 But the conference was work, and I looked forward to the chance to ride.  I had stayed in touch with my friend Patty from last year, who runs Desmo Silicon Valley (the local Ducati Owners Club), and she had promised to review my routes and hang out after Dreamforce, and it turned out she would do much, much more...
© 2017 Tigh Loughhead