Blowing In to Acadia

Not wanting to sit around again this weekend, we decided to head for Acadia National Park for a stamp. A stamp you say, well this stamp shores up the Northeast corner of the US for the National Park Tour Silver Certificate. While we have til August next year to grab this, better now than letting time get the better of us. After all it is only 300 miles away.

We didn't leave early, but we did get under way by 9am. First stop was Giff's garage to check the air in the tires. Good thing because it has been 3 weeks since we really rode the FJR. Both tires we in the 30's.

Our charted course takes us to Portand, ME via Slabs. Having made this trip a million times (a slight exaggeration) and sun time being limited, wanting to ride up the coast after the traffic congrested areas and grab some historic places, the slabs seemed like a logical choice.

Being still Foliage Season (mayber), we called a couple of motels in Ellsworth to see if what the general availability would be. Priceline was no help to us this time. The Ellsworth Hotel was full, but they are only 59 and if you mention you saw them on the web you got 20 off. We ended up making reservations at Jaspers, just in case places were full. As it turned out we would have been fine. Having to go from city to city at the end of the day is no fun and we almost got stuck once in this area. Something about a lesson learned.

The weather was suppose to be sunny, but for the most part on Saturday, it was cloudy.

One very very sad note. I got a call from one of my kids to tell me they were taking my brother in law, John, off his ventilator. John have been fighting various cancers and heart problems for the last 10 years or so. He was placed in the hospital about a week ago. It was indicated then that this was his last go around. I did not go to see him, because I choose to remember John for who he was from the last time I saw him sitting at his dining room table versus him lying in a bed with tubes and machines hooked up to him. Then came the call Saturday night and I knew what it was for before I even picked it up. John died around 930pm Saturday. While I am saddened by his departure, I am glad the pain he was suffering is gone now.

Back to the trip, I didnt even bother to take the camera out until we got off the Maine Turnpike in Brunswick for our first photo op. The US Custom House in Bath Maine was built in 1858.



In Wiscasset we grabbed a few more pics.

Little Red Schoolhouse



US Customhouse



Now this is a first for me. Red's Eats with no lines. Reds always has a line that stretches to almost the bridge. All for their lobster roll. I am glad I am not into lobster roll, so I have not had to wait in line at Red's. You will find this place in the book 1000 Places To See Before You Die.



This could be a new chase object for me. Fort Edgecomb is just over the bridge from downtown Wiscasset. As soon as you get over the bridge, hang a right. It was built in 1808 1809.



Got to have at least one water shot while traveling up the coast



In Waldoboro we grabbed the Town Pound, the Theater and the Custom House. These are all on the National Register of Historic Places.







Had some coffee at this Moody's. Now this is suppose to be a Maine icon. I had one of the worse breakfasts I have ever had here. Today, I bought one of their cups for my Diner Cup Collection and the person handling the register was about as good as that breakfast I had here 5 years ago.





We blew right thru Rockland ME. In Camden, we grabbed this fellow creating some inspiration for someone.



We didn't stop and get a pic of the squirrel with the nuts, but did flic the button for Floyd.



Crossing the bridges over to Bucksport. The bridge behind the Penobscot bridge is on the National Register, the Waldo Hancock Bridge. If you ever get a chance, take a ride up to the observatory and visit Fort Knox. The observatory is the tallest public bridge observatory in the world.



Sun dropping, temps dropping and just wanting to get to our night destination we put the cameras away, I fought my need to keep stopping at places and we arrived at Jaspers about 6pm. Just shy of 300 miles, but set up in a great spot to hit Acadia tomorrow.

Not Less at Lassen

We are getting down to the end of our trip. There are 2 or 3 more parks to visit while we are out West. I am sitting in our hotel in Redding, CA feeling kinda of knarly.

Heading a little more west to Whiskeytown National Recreational Area on Historic 99. Route 99 was the main highway that went from the border with Mexico to Blaine WA. It was like Route 66 that went north and south.



Whiskeytown was for a pure stamp stop in CA. Not that we needed it, but eventually it is my goal to have hit every park and this one is out of the way. Of note the Trinity Dam is one of the highest earth dams in the world.



We did pick up the Shasta Lake post office as a water town, and then headed for Lassen Volcanic National Park. Based on my brief reading in the prep stage this was a potential grab and run for the stamp. As all plans they are subject to change. Lassen Peak is the largest plug hole domed volcano in the world. There is one road thru Lassen and it is a beauty. Highest elevation the road reaches is 8600'. You feel like you are driving right to the top of the volcanoes. Snow abounds as well.



The Snow





Lassen Peak



We also got off the bike and took a walk looking for bears. Not sure what we would have done if we actually came across any. The walk did us some good, I think.



The flowers







From Lassen we headed for Reno. The roads leading out of Lassen were twisty, forested and interesting. Eventually they turned desert plains like. We followed this guy into Reno. A Hayabusa with twin Givi for side cases.



Locked up Nevada for Smoke Chasing 2011



Called it a night here

The Connie Goes Sailing

Last night the Concours was sold to a really nice guy from the Marblehead area. His main hobby is sailing and sails like we ride all over the place. I drew similarities between our quest for roads and locations with leaving a harbor and sailing off to a new destination for no other reason than being able to do so.

After he left, I had an empty feeling as the cash laid on the table. I have been to every state east of the Mississippi on that bike and a few just west of the river. That bike earned me 2 National Park certificates with the IBA and traveled 49,700 miles without a hint of hiccup.

I did have one scary moment before the sail. I decided to take the Connie out just to make sure every thing was working. As I headed into the center of town, it started to sputter. As I passed thru the center, it sputtered some more and then died. I said to myself, Damn why today. Thoughts of getting it back home, putting some Seafoam into the tank and trying to clear the ever so present problem raced thru my mind. I looked at the speedo and the Trip 1 Odometer (It has 2) was telling me there was only 146 miles since the last fill up. Not trusting what I was seeing, I popped the gas cap and it looked awful empty in there. Switched the petcock to Reserve, fired up the engine, released the clutch and the Connie took off like it just got a new lease on life. Blew thru the center clocking 5000 RPM and rose to 6000 RPM. Smooth as silk. Anxiety abates. Pull into the gas station for some more fuel.

I will miss the Connie. Every day it sat next to the FJR, saying Ride Me Ride Me. At least now it will have its desire fulfilled.






Somewhere over the rainbow Way up high
Somewhere over the rainbow Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream Really do come true
Somewhere over the rainbow Bluebirds fly
Why then, oh why can't I?





The Connie is the Bluebird

Go West Part Deux - Planning Stage

This morning I finished the routing for our trip out west. We will be riding 16 days and cover right around 4300 miles. We have done more miles in the same amount of days, but I did promise we would be in before dark. We will let the forest rats own the night. Our trip will cover UT, ID, WY, MT, WA, OR, CA, and NV.

Our planned National Parks parks will be:
Golden Spike
City of Rocks
Craters of the Moon
Nez Perce
Grand Tetons
Yellowstone
Glacier
Fort Vancouver
Mount Ranier
Whitman Mission
Crater Lake
Lassen Volcanic
Lava Beds
Whiskeytown
Tulelake
Great Basin
Timpanogos Caves

These will cover Washington and California for our Silver National Park Tour certificate from the IBA. Next spring we will head south for Florida and pick up Maine during the summer or even this fall to cover the four corner states. READ HERE

We will also pick up one barbecue joint in each state for Smoke Chasing 2011 so that we end up BBQ Pit Masters (1 joint, 15 states). We are at the Smoker level (3 joints, 5 states) right now.

I haven't counted the number of towns that will be covered for An Affair with Water, but as a guess it is probably over 40. We are not going to go way out of our way for the Water Towns, but when close we will go seeking the Post Office. Some of the towns that come to mind are; Great Falls, Idaho Falls, Columbia Falls, Salt Lake City, Bear River City......

We are also grabbing a bunch of National Historic Landmarks. On the agenda is Bonneville Dam, Experimental Breeder Reactor 1, Two Medicine Chalet, Temple Square, Timberline Lodge, and many many more....

We will attempt to see the infamous Shoe Tree and the new sprouting one in Nevada along the Loneliest Road (US 50). This 70' cottonwood tree was adorned with 1000's of shoes in the middle of Nevada. It was cut down by some vandals in 2010. I hear there is another one sprouting from the shoes that lie on the ground next to the original one.

We will cover the Northwest Passage, Volcanic Legacy, Historic Columbia River Highway, Chinook Scenic Byway and White Pass Scenic Highway all of which are America's Byways. Last year we covered Beartooth Highway, Chief Joseph, Flaming Gorge and Buffalo Bill Cody Scenic Byway. CHECK THEM OUT

This weekend will be the final preparation of the FJR before shipping. This time we will pack as much on the bike as possible. Less we have to carry thru the airports. I might even wash the FJR before it leaves, well at least the windshield and Laminar Lip. We deliver the bike to Allied Van Lines in Franklin, MA on Aug 1.

On Aug 11th we board our plane to Salt Lake City to begin this journey. We will ride right past the spot where we were taken out last year. Maybe we will stop in the Antler Bar and buy a round for some of the folks. They sure deserved it in the help they provided during the night we will never forget. It was the 175# buck last thought. I am hoping we get to ride the whole Going to the Sun road this year. I heya thars snow in dem hills. Ranier and Mount St Helen may have snow as well. Tulelake was a Japanese intermnet camp during WWII and probably the worst of them to boot. This was a black spot on our history in the US. We might even watch Old Faithful again. There is so much to see, that one trip just doesn't cut it, but ya gotta start somewhere. Better to have done, than dreaming about doing it.

2010 Grant Titanic Tour

One berg brought down 46,000 tons.

The Glacial Lakes Motorcycle Club sponsored many rallies this year, one of which we participated in. Essentially you sought out towns that end in Ton or Burg, Berg, Bergh or Burgh, grabbed the city limit sign or the post office with you camera, insuring a substantial portion of your bike and rally flag are included in the picture. Repeat as many times as you wanted. Your entry was due into headquarters by 9/15/2010.

This treasure hunt started on 4/14, however we did not find out this treasure hunt until June and did not get our rally flag until 6/19. We grabbed our last town on 8/15 and sent our DVD around 9/1. We submitted 263 towns of which 261 were accepted. We ended our tour early in preparation for our Iron Butt National Park Tour as the FJR was shipped on 8/23.

Our Flag


One of our stops


Results
We came in third. The first place winner submitted 600 towns and 2nd place 302. I could go through a bunch of if's but I doubt we could have topped the 1st place winner. Congrats to places 1 and 2.

The results can be found CLICKY HERE

More info on the tour can be found at the AMA site and at the GLMC site

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Day 3 - Blowing off Steam in Wyoming

Bright and early, 37 degrees in Kemmerer, WY. Well 2 out of 3 not bad. Bike was full of frost and took a while to scrap it off the tank and seats. Today's agenda would be to grab ink and learn stuff from Fossil Butte, Grand Teton, run the Rockfeller Memorial Highway and hits some places in Yellowstone. A full day in front of us. As with all my posts, click on any photo, it will open a new window, to enlarge.

First Sun and Frost in Kemmerer



Before we get out of Kemmerer we stopped for shopping at JC Penny's mother store. This is where it all began for this chain of stores and a National Landmark



We arrived at Fossil Butte right as the rangers were opening the park. Perfect timing



Fossil Butte main attraction is inside the VC. On display are some really amazing detailed fossils.





As we left the park to head for the Tetons, a forest rat jumped out in front of us and ran down the highway, turning right and off into the fields. I think this guy phoned a cousin in Montana after he gathered his breath in the hills.

Heading into the Tetons, we came across these guys heading up the same mountains. Our biggest effort will be the strong spring the FJR had on the throttle, these guys kinda of put us to shame.



First snow shot





The scenery into Jackson Hole changes from mile to mile. From treed mountains



To bare mountains



Nice shot of the snow capped peaks



Antler recycling Jackson Hole style



Grabbing ink at one of the Grant Teton locations



We will see plenty of these guys during our visit in this area. These were the first.



Hitting Yellowstone





Do we fall to the Atlantic or head for the Pacific



Of course no visit to Yellowstone would be complete without a stop at Old Faithful. I equate this to visit to Plymouth MA and the rock. I am sure those that come from the west coast to see Plymouth Rock walk away shrugging their shoulders, saying Thats It. We walked away having much the same feeling. One day the visitors are going to be treated to a special final performance from Old Faithful. It will be a "really big shew [in my best Ed Sullivan blog impersonation]





I actually found the Old Faithful Inn to be more interesting than the gusher thing.









Yellowstone has some incredible beauty which is hard to capture thru the lens, at least my lens. We did not spend alot of time here, and I also feel this is a place to visit in a car versus a bike. Being post Labor Day, traffic was relatively light, however enough to aggravate and wear out your left hand.

As you ride thru the park, there is steam coming out of every place.



Getting late we head for West Yellowstone, MT for the Pony Express Motel. Since I am mixing tenses because I can. I have a feeling I will not get many shots of the moon like this in the future. You will just have to read future editions to understand why. I will surely miss these times. The air is crisp, the mood is serene, the earth is peaceful and at peace, these are special times in a riders life.





Our restaurant was in walking distance, so we had a couple of these to finish the night off for a perfect day.

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