The Day the Music Died

Today I got a late start riding. About 5 years ago I would be out on the road chasing down stuff probably at 7am. Last season we would be on the road probably around 10 or 11am. Today it was closed to noon before I got going. Of course in the past I would have my ride planned out the night before. Now I do it the morning of.

So today's agenda is grabbing some more BBQ places with some historic places along the way. They were on the way so I threw them in. (The backlog for waymarking grows). Part of the agenda is to grab the Rhode Island tag in Warren. The planning stage.



MeAsWe isn't going today because she is a whoos ass. Not not really, she has this terrible cough, but I keep calling her a whoos ass. Not very nice of me is it.

The travel looked like this.




First BBQ placed knocked off was in Attleboro called Boneyard BBQ. When I got there the parking lot was empty. Being the first stop and not in a big rush I decided to go in and check the place out.





Being an old guitar player and a sucker for looking at guitars I had to take a look at what they had displayed. I took this one like Pete Townsend used to do the windmill on his Gibson SG.



Did I capture the effect ?

When I got outside I was surrounded by bikes and could not get out. One of the guys was nice enough to move some bikes so I could back out. I forgot to take a picture. As I leave I realize I will have to return because on the GLMC Grand USA tour, Attleboro is an A town and then right next to is Seekonk, an S town. I fell a bit guilty of not picking up these, but the USA Tour doesn't start until April 1.

Grabbed a few more places and found myself at the RI Tag. Now if I can just get home before some else posts this puppy up.



Making my way down to Fall River pick up Ed's Famous BBQ and then stopped at this historic place, Fort Barton Site.



When I got home found out this was not Fort Barton. It looked like a fort could have been here. It was a block away. Another day.

Picked up Becky's BBQ in Middletown and then stopped for a bit to eat in Newport. The colors of this place were a selling point to me. It just looked good.





They were good and for you taggers the location is N41 29.637 W71 18.570. This guy kept me company while I ate.



Only had one BBQ place to pick up in Newport. It either never existed, went out of business or is a seasonal place. No Points !!

Got a bit sidetracked and turned down a road, which lead to a road, which lead to a private driveway, which had a sign "PRIVATE" that I never saw and got this shot. Took me a while to get up off the pavement. The car waiting to pull into their spot was real patient with me.



I had a heck of a time convincing the camera to actually record this shot. Apparently the headlights were causing havoc with the on board sensors. Glad I got the extended warranty.

Next spot was Artillery Park. Well I asked a local and they sent me off to another fort. When I got home found out that the graveyard that was where the fort was suppose to be was the spot. No I didn't take any pictures. Another day again.

Ended up at (and not such a bad place to end up) at Beavertail Lighthouse.



Grabbed a couple more historic sites in Jamestown, including this one.



One of these days I will work on getting the wires and telephone pole out of the picture. Just time and patience is needed.

Stopped at Oak Hill Tavern and BBQ. An unusual combination of names for sure. A littel bit of New England (Tavern) a little bit of the South (BBQ). This was sitting out in front of the place. Had Arizona plates.



There is a category in waymarking called Junk Houses. This place will qualify and I will post it up there, however I don't really consider this junk. It is actually very well done. I really should have made this the RI Tag.



The last stop of the day was another place that has closed. By the looks of the sign it looks like it hardly even got started.



On a final note, I came across what I consider to be an unusual site. I caught this out of the corner of my eye, turned my head quickly and continued forward. As I thought about what I had seen I turned around and went back for a picture. You will find this spot at the beginning of a runway at TF Green.

I thought The Day the Music Died fit.

Lightin the Fire for BBQ

Spent the morning over at Giff's. His place has become my Floyd's of Mayberry. Place to talk about bikes, politics, age, and whatever else comes up. Bill closes up right around 12 and I don't blame him.

Decided I needed to and should make a small run to get back in shape for the riding season. Not physical shape but riding shape. Earlier in the month I felt like I never stopped riding and was comfortable and confident. Today I was going to test this out.

Being involved in the Smoke Chasing thing I figured BBQ places was as good as anything to chase today and start racking up the points. The plan >>



Since I really wasn't in a rush, I stopped on the highway (ya gotta get used to this when hunting some stuff down) (I have MeAsWe face the traffic and let me know if we are gonna get run down) and grabbed a border crossing (another waymark category)



First stop was a 2 fold stop at LJ's. One for the picture of the BBQ place and one for a bonus stop for going there and taking the picture with your flag facing the wrong way. This was called the "waste of time, backwards bonus"





Next stop is United BBQ in Providence. We ate here last year and it was pretty good. Matter of fact I think I used this as a tag location. Well the economy has not been that great and it has taken a toll on the independent businesses and my guess it may have hit the food industry that much harder. Just look at the Piccadilly Pubs, they all seemed to have closed very suddenly.



Came across this old house and new it had to be on the National Register of History Places. The sign was kind of a giveaway.





But even more interesting right across the street was this place. I am not sure what this person is trying to accomplish. Now researching these guys, I would have called them gargoyles, however gargoyles are exclusively used as water diverters. They are grotesques when the are gargoyle like but don't function as water diverters.





We get extra points called sidedishes if we find foreign BBQ places.



I have a huge backlog of places we have been from last year and have been whittling away at this backlog for waymarking. One of the places was Putnam Railroad Station. When I posted it, the waymark was denied because the GPS coordinates did not seem right and I said the building was vacant. Also the picture wasn't that good. I decided to take another ride to this place and fix er up. BTW the building is vacant.





The long stretchy picture, I used some new software for creating panoramic pictures. I have one from ArcSoft that I got with one of my cameras, however it always creates a bowed and distorted picture, which is really neat if you are trying to be Salvador Dali. I went searching for a replacement so I could get rid of the bubble in the pictures. I found Hugin, which works mint, gives you lots of options and is free to boot.

Another BBQ that burned it's rub.



Downtown Putnam, CT is kind of a neat place. Lots of restaurants and the building are interesting. Another lost iconic retail company. There have been so many that have come and gone.



BBQ places are usually very colorful and have neat signs.





All in all it was great day of riding, made a riding mistake (remember the confidence thing) that made me aware to be aware, captured a bunch of places for the grand tours and just had a nice relaxing day on the bike.

A "I is Dumb" Moment

As they say for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The other day during lunch I decided to go to Hope Depot to see if I could find some clips for clipping (is that redundant, and how would you say that)the various rally flags to the bike or tank bag. It was a cloudy day and I headed out, got onto the main drag and as Home Depot came into view on the right, I drove right past it. It wasn't until the point of no fix that I realized where I was going in the first place. Turned into the next street to make my u-turn to get back to Home Depot.

Leaving Home Depot I decided to go to Wendy's to get my regular lunch, one large chili (330 calories). I pull out into traffic make the left turn and head for Wendy's. Wendy's comes into view and I turn my head to the left to get a full view and drive right past it. Again I got far enough past Wendy's that I had to, as the lady says on all my Garmin GPS's, you f'd up again and now I have to do extra work, make the next left.

So that is 2 instances with a half an hour of one another. The other day I had a "I is Smart" moment, so this must be the opposite and I would say more than equal reacting moment.

A "I Is Smart" Moment

I am up and about at 5am this morning. Brought the remaining locations I had saved into Google Maps into MapSource, between Scranton PA and Poughkeepsie NY for GLMC USA Grand Tour. Started to review the May trip and decided there was not enough time to concentrate on the remaining segments of the trip, so I decided to Waymark some additional places we had visited. I am up to June 26, 2011.

Waymarking is a fun way to document where you have been, get some merit badges and see how many categories you can cover. Among the categories, I stop at are Vermont Historical Markers. You find these all over Vermont on the side of the roads. They are the green signs with gold trim and offer tidbits of history of what occurred at that spot.

In Putney, VT on Kimball Hill Rd sits one these signs titled Family Home of John Humphrey Noyes. Part of the requirements for this waymark category, one must include the marker text in the long description. I blow up the photo and begin typing the text into Notepad.


Marker reads:

Family Home of John Humphrey Noyes
Eldest son of a Putney family, John Noyes (1811-1886) became deeply religious after a revival meeting in 1831. Convinced that Christ's Second Coming had occurred in 70 A.D. and that all people could now be free of sin, he became a "Perfectionist".

Under Noyes' leadership a small group of followers came together as the Putney Perfectionists. They lived communally, practiced "Bible Communisim", ran a press, and published a paper call the "The Witness".

When they extended the sharing of their financial resources and labor to the sharing of themselves in "Complex Marriage", villagers pressured them to leave. Fearing legal action they left Putney for Oneida, NY in 1848. There in the Oneida Community they practiced their beliefs for the next 32 years.

Vermont Division For Historic Preservation - 2002


I get to the section of Perfectionist and think to myself there is a National Landmark in NY and a society that existed with the same dogma. I get to the Complex Marriage part and I think to myself, I wonder if these 2 sects are related. I finally get to the Oneida Community and realize this spot in Vermont were the same people as the National Landmark I visited in August of 2009 in New York.

For that brief moment I was smart. As I was typing the text of the sign I knew exactly what the sign meant. How kewl is that. Also, I connected two seemingly unrelated dots of visited places in my life to one another, completing a circle. Sends chills up ones spine. (well that might be an over statement)


The Vermont Historic Marker in Putney.
Located on Kimball Hill Rd at N42° 58.6248', W072° 31.5806'
My Waymark as posted.






Oneida Community Mansion House - Oneida NY
Located at N43° 3.6259', W075° 36.1772'
My Waymark



Now I bet all of you have a relationship with this posting. Ever eat using Oneida silverware ??

1500 Miles for BBQ you say

So I am sitting at the computer Sunday morning. MeAsWe has just gotten up and having her first cup of coffee. I surf my way to the Smoke Chasing 2012 site to print the rules out for MeAsWe. She is a great navigator for the Grand Tours we do, especially picking out something that is not right. Well she is reading the rules for the 15/15/15. I have planned our trip to Florida to finish up our National Park Tour with the 15/15/15 in mind. Do you know once you cross the border into West Virginia, BBQ places seem to cease to exist.

Here's the Side dish for the 15/15/15:

David Morrow's 15/15/15 Iron Gut Challenge

Riders must visit 15 BBQ joints, in 15 different states or provinces, in 15 days or less with Kansas as a mandatory state.
All riders who complete this challenge will receive a limited edition jacket pin designed by David Morrow and 25 bonus points.
Submission must be made in accordance with sections 2,3 & 4 of the rules. This includes the bike/sign/passport photo and the name and address of the BBQ joint visited in each state. Riders MUST also produce a receipt from the BBQ joints visited or a nearby gas station if the BBQ joint is closed. This will validate that the ride was completed in 15 days or less.
This challenge is in no way affiliated with the Iron Butt Association or its corresponding rides. We do however encourage our long distance riders, and especially those who complete this challenge to check out the IBA, subscribe to the magazine, and complete an IBA qualifying ride.

So after she gets done reading, MeAsWe said you never mentioned we are going to Kansas. I said we are not. She says well you need it for this one.

Panic, I immediately start thinking my whole route, all 4000+ miles of it are for crap. MeAsWe underlines the word Kansas, just to make sure I understand all of the rule. I throw her a highlighter, this is the salt for the wound.

I jump on MapSource, bring up our 2012 file for the trip and find the most western point of our trip. That is right around Russell Cave in Alabama, which is just south of Chattanooga, TN. From this point I create a route from this area to Fort Scott in Kansas. (it was convenient, since I have the visitor center as a way point). 704 miles one way. Hmmmm, only 704 miles times 2 is 1408 miles. Then a big grin and maybe even a little bit evil of a grin. If I route myself thru some National Parks in Arkansas and we head due east on the way back to Chattanooga and then head south I probably could squeeze another 100 miles to bring the total over 1500 miles.



A Bun Burner 1500 is born.

Annie Get Your Buns - New England Style

We met Giff at his garage, right before 1pm. Temps in the mid 50's and we are headed out for Hot Dog Annie's

This is the stage. Annie's is an area icon. Relatively cheap (1.20 a dog with everything) (everything being mustard, relish and onion) I think we got 4 dogs with 2 drinks and it came to just over $9.





Some of the props.



The Cast of Characters

































The Resons Why (not the one in the blue leather either) (he just happened to be in the way)







Perfect March Day