Courting History In Virgina and North Carolina

The sun is up and it is bright, there is a briskness to the Virgina air. Today’s first destination is breakfast in Fredericksburg. Right across the street from the Fredericksburg National Cemetery is a local restaurant. Last year I visited the Cemetery and grounds, so this was not a high priority.


First destination is Thomas Jackson's Shrine just outside Fredericksburg. Stonewall Jackson was mistakenly shot by his own men at the Battle of Chancellorville and was taken to this location, where he died.








At 11 am we pulled into Columbia, VA. This town struck me funny because you are looking at the major part of this town. There are no windows in this store except for the front door and front windown. Note the roll down protection plates over the front door. You would thing this store was in NYC.





Appomattox Court House is where Robert E Lee surrendered to US Grant and ended the Civil War. Steve and I spent some time here viewing the various buildings. One observation in the middle of the town was a lawyer’s house. With all of the legal documents coming out here, this guy must of made a fortune. The pictures below is the table where Lee signed the treaty and the one to the left is the actual house where the treaty was signed.




Next stop is Patrick Henry’s final resting place called Red Hill. He was the voice of the American Revolution. You remember “Give me liberty or give me death”. This was a fee based, private museum and we only grabbed the INK. However, we did run into an older gentlemen who was from the Cape, so we chatted with him for quite awhile.



Crossing the state border from Virginia into North Carolina you can’t help but notice the median and sidebanks to the roads are lined with planted flowers. These are planted flowers. The first group was orangish yellow. A little ways down the road the grouping was purple followed by bright red flowers. My impression is that NC takes pride in their state.




Guilford Court House is the next and final National Park destination of the day. This was the site of the longest and most contested battle of the Revolutionary War. Living in the Boston area, I tend to think the whole Revolutionary War was fought around us, but in reality the majority of the fighting was done elsewhere.



It is late afternoon and the sun is settling into evening. Steve and I are at a gas station in Statesville, NC. I am looking at real PAPER maps to see where we should think about staying for the evening. At the pump is a guy is filling a gas tank. On his way into the store, he asks where we are headed. Well one answer to a question, a conversation develops. He asks if either of us are interested in old cars and stuff. He then invites us over to his house to see a general store he has built in his backyard. At first we are hesitant, but what the heck we are on vacation. We follow Pat Ford to his house and discover he has built a very neat little museum. Well it turns out Pat is the Pat Ford that owns the F100 Supernational show http://www.f100supernationals.com/














After Pat’s place we head for Gastonia NC to find a place to sleep for the night. On the way we pass thru NASCAR country, Mooresville NC “Race City, USA”. This is where many NASCAR teams have there HQ’s.

General route for the day http://tinyurl.com/6yfugg about 400 miles

Donkeys and Elephants

...so it must be Washington DC.

Sunday May 18th was a day for running to Washington DC to grab something in the neighborhood of 57 Stamps, at least that was the plan. The morning is sunny and the temperature is a bit on the cool side. First stop is Turkey Run Park. To get there you find yourself on the George Washington Memorial Parkway. We ended up at the GWMP headquarters in error. This was an error I made in estimating where certain places would be when entering the Waypoints. For the most part I am spot on, but I am human. We passed the CIA headquarter in Langley. The sign contains the words Intelligence and George Bush in the same phrase, which made Steve and I chuckle.

OK We are HERE...18 stamps...WooHoo..hmmm, the gates looks exactly like it did yesterday. LOCKED and CLOSED. Sigh it is Sunday and this is one of those sites that is administrative in nature. First FUCK UP of the trip. It started to sprinkle so Steve put his rainsuit on and I followed suit.

OK time to recover, pull out the Excel spreadsheet that lists out my locations and cross reference to the waypoints in the GPS. Hmmmm Clara Barton and Glen Echo parks are right around the corner. I be damned if I don’t salvage this trip. So it is off to these places

Glen Echo Park is a turn of the century amusement park. It appears this a popular spot for kids to have their birthday parties, since I saw a stream of people walking in with presents and the little girls were dressed up as princesses (hmmmm maybe they were princesses with diplomatic immunity). DC is a pretty well off town, all the cars in the parking lot seem to on upper end of the car market.

This is the major attraction to GE Park today and probably yesterday. All parents stick their kids on this thing. Personally, I remember GET ME OFF, give me the boats, or the cars or even better yet GIVE ME THE BUMPER CARS, let me crash into people and things. Now that's fun, but the carousel give me a break, OK mom now can we go get some cotton candy or salt water taffy. You know the kind the pulls the fillings out of your teeth.

Next stop is Washington Monument Bookstore, having 22, count em, 22 friggin stamps. Stamp Nirvana, Washington Red (the stamps use red ink), just like Jed Clampett out hunting squirrel. From Glen Echo, downtown Washington is like 15 minutes it that. We found ourselves on Pennsylvania Avenue. The drizzle has picked up a bit, so I figure the traffic is lighter than it would have been. White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Smithsonian, Jefferson’s place, WWII Memorial, the Viet Nam Memorial.…what a great town. We circled the Washington Monument looking for a parking place and decided to squeeze our bikes between 2 cars. Steve decides to stay with the bikes in case they need to be moved. My walk (I am gonna call it a hike) was somewhere around ½ mile to get there.

I arrive at the bookstore, walk in and there it is…The counter containing all of the stamps. Since I stamp in 2 different books and on index cards, I am gonna be here for awhile. I pick up the first stamp, trembling with excitement and test the how it stamps. Just like having caviar and truffles ( I don’t think I ever had caviar and I don’t know what a truffle is).

Next stop is for another stamp bonanza location. National Capital East Headquarters. Well this is when the political promises started coming down like donkeys and elephants (my allegory to rain). I made it to the new DC stadium, stopped and asked someone. Of course it was just across the river. So back Steve and I go. Well I circled probably at least 3 times. Ended up at Anacostia Park, which theoretically was the right place. Stopped in a metro park police station and all they did was scratch their head. Plenty of signs around saying "Save our Park" blah blah blah. I finally had to give up and head back for my cousins house in Fredericksburg.

Ok it is Sunday, it is pouring out, Washington DC is not full of people, we are on I395 going to I95. GIVE ME A BREAK!! There is a traffic jam. The traffic is not moving..WTF...how does anybody live down here. No wonder our politicians lie to us, their brain patterns have been altered from norm by all the exhaust fumes. Make note, don't move to DC or surrounding area when required to travel to DC on a regular basis. Steve and I pull over so I can plan a different route. 7100 leads to Rt1. That's the ticket...I love my 2610.

On the way back to Fredericksburg, I head for Prince William Forest Park. I don't have a clue what the significance of this place. One of these days I will look it up, but I stopped for the spot I am sure Steve is getting antsy at this point and I bet his feet are wet.

Arrive in the Fredericksburg area. At a traffic light I say to Steve "2 or 3 quick stops and we will go back to my cousins". I smell ink. Well it is still pouring. At the next light Steve says, "I am going back to your cousins, this rain is gonna kill me". We part ways and I am off to find Salem Church. Again NADA, now I am suspecting all of the work I put into locating the National Parks. sigh. It is around 4pm and I figure I have time for one more location. I am going to the main visitor center for Fredericksburg / Spotsylvania Battlefield. This where my cousin John works out of. Arrive there to find out it is open to 6. Damn I could have gotten in 1 more location and then this place. I have a nice chat with the folks in the center, after getting my INK at the bookstore. Time to head home for the day.

My cousin has this gravel and dirt driveway, which drops into a gully and then immediately climbs back up to a plateau. I really hate this driveway. Not only does it go down and then up but it has a big curve in it to avoid the big tree and it is tilted on the rise to his house. No, I did not drop the bike, but I still hate it. It is the most imperfect way to end and a perfect day.

Today's bounty 26 INK spots, not bad but not 57, however there is always tomorrow.

Forging and Hoping for Crayons in the Hamptons

Got up early around 6am, raring to go. Looked outside and the sun was out. WooHoo!! Outside our room was a woodchuck playing in the field and then some birds and rabbits showed up. As I was packing the bike up I was humming.

Zippiddity Doo Dah Zippidity Eh my oh my it’s gonna be a wonderful day.

First stop is right down the street in Easton PA at the Crayola factory. We arrived there before 9am and the doors are not open. Impression of Easton is a town under a big revitalization / beautification project. The center of town is just darn nice. The doors opened and got my INK then headed for Hopewell Furnace in Elverson, PA.

Picked up 3 Spots at Hopewell. Hopewell Furnace is very similar to the Saugus Iron Works in Massachusetts being one of the iron smelting locations in the early 1800’s that made up America’s Industrial Revolution. There is a small fee to visit the village, which I paid and visited.

Next Stop was Valley Forge National Historic Park in PA. I did not spend much time at VA, other than to get some INK, but my observation is the place is huge, required probably a whole day to visit (maybe more). Valley Forge is a Revolutionary War site..

Next stop was Hampton Historic Site in Towson, MD. Hampton was a large plantation with iron works on the grounds. The home was finished in 1790 and was the largest house in the United States at the time. We arrived here at 4:30pm just as they were closing up for the day. I did get my INK and was able to walk the grounds a bit. On the grounds was a deep cellar for storing ice for the family that lived in the house. How ingenious and maybe the roots of sweet tea.



Since we were headed to my cousins house and just happened to be in the neighborhood, (I told Steve it was on the way) we stopped at the Turkey Run Park for INK gold. Turkey Run has something like 18+ stamps, however they were closed for the evening. I did a quick calculation and figured it was only 60 miles from my cousin John Stoddard’s house and would return on the next day for the stamps.

Turkey Run was the last scheduled stop for the day and we had ridden somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 or so miles. Just south of Washington DC at 7pm at night the traffic was a stand still on I-95. A quick viewing on the 2610, I figured a quick jump on US 1 would do the trick to get around this traffic. Much better route and the scenery was perfect, the weather turned to a very nice evening, warm enough to travel in short sleeves. One more stop at Outback before ending the days ride in Corbin, VA.

Approxmiate route for the day http://tinyurl.com/4eexco Some where between 325 and 350 miles for the day.

The INK of the Day

Dancing in the Rain Gene Kelly Style

It is 1pm May 16, 2008, Steve and I begin our 3200 mile trek thru the south for INK. Fast forward to 1:10pm. We are pulling over, to put our rain suits on. For the next 10 hours we will ride in various types of rain from drizzle to downright downpours.

Of course the whole purpose of my trip is to grab INK at as many National Park locations as I can. First stop is Weir’s Farm in Wilton, CT [ http://tinyurl.com/5r2gb7 ]. We arrive right at 5pm, closing time, but manage to scoot into the visitor center and grab INK. First stop accomplished.

We continue south and west trying to make I84 in Newburgh, NY, Steve becomes concerned about a strange sound coming for his Road King. He thinks it is the fuel pump and thinks it is louder than normal. We are in the Bridgeport CT area so we pull into a Dunkin Donuts to make a call to the HD dealer to see if they can look at the bike. Steve simply wanted to listen to another bike to see if the pump was really louder or was it because this was his first real ride of the season and just spent the last 5 hours riding in the rain. My sense is it was the rain against his helmet that he heard. Back to Dunkin Donuts. Steve is inside on the phone and I am outside reaching for my key to remove it from the ignition. Next I heard this... tink tink tink. Yup the key slipped out of my hand and fell down into the fairing. So off comes all the stuff from the bike, pull the left side panel to get access to the inside and I can see the keys. Keep in mind it is pouring out. Into DD’s to see if they have a hangar. Go to the counter and ask the girl if they have a hangar. She gives me this blank stare and asks, “What do you want”. I say a hangar. She exits for a couple of minutes and comes back. Sorry sir we don’t have any hangars. I realize then as I gazed into her eyes, she was STONED out of her mind. . OK, next plan, outside I go and I look around at the stores to see who might have a hangar. Well lookee thar it is a Cleaners…WooHoo. Get my hangar, unravel the hook, bend the tip for the hook and fish the keys out. Life is back in balance and the trip is on. Steve decides to ignore the noise from the pump and enjoy the trip. It never causes a problem for the whole trip

We wait for traffic to die down since it is rush hour, with no hope of the rain dying down. For next 5 hours we ride in the rain and finally arrive at the border of NJ and PA. We pull off and pull into the Phillipsburg Inn at around 10pm. Lady behind the counter asks if I have an AARP card. I said nope. You have a Triple A card, Nope. I plead with her to give me the discount, explaining I definitely qualify for the AARP. I simply refuse to acknowledge that I can have an AARP card and tell her I have RVRoadHelp which is like AAA and have maps like trip tics on the bike and and and on and on…She says all right already, you have AARP. (make note to join AARP the discounts are worthwhile). So ends the first day of travel. Oh, as soon as we checked in and went outside to ride our bikes to the rooms, the rain had stopped and the moon was out. Go figa.

http://tinyurl.com/3k4hl3 Approxmiate route Estimated miles 275 to 300

Chasin' Stuff

In 2005 I bought a Kawasaki Nomad. In this year I relearned how to ride, spending most of my time on group rides with the New England Riders aka NERds. In 2006, there was group called the Diner (which was a split off of the NERds, but that’s a another whole other story). They held a contest for riding and taking pictures of the most Diners. Well this seemed like a neat thing to do, equipped with my Garmin 2610, I proceeded to research all the classic diners in New England. Well I outright won that Diner riding contest with something like 60 diners to my credit with my closest competitor having 15 or so. I discovered I really like tracking down these destinations. OSJ of the NERds was holding a treasure hunt that started in April of 2006. I kind of dismissed the hunt, because alot of the clues were very cryptic at best. The treasure hunt was broken into 2 parts: A> riding to locations that were published at the beginning of the contest and B>monthly bonuses. The following is the September 2006 bonus as a sample of what we had to solve and the one that got me hooked on Chasin Stuff.

"Once was said of this fine man,
Pompous are so your phrases you say..
they search & search across our land
trying to find Ideas on such a day

Before it ended, it came to a end
At the city by the bay
A cool man took over, for he had to wend
to foggy bottom on a summers day

Now figure out the name
And you will see
For there are six the same
That you need to post to me

Get wind first and then visit to see
5,000 points will add real fast
you score will climb suddenly
The others you just may surpass

Once the puzzle is solved and the photos flow
the rest can play for they didn't know
only 1000 points they can get
So then become not much of a threat."

OSJ Treasure Hunt September 2006

I spent a good many hours as Google became my best friend and worst enemy. I had exhausted all combinations I could think of until I plugged this combination of words in. {pompous phrases president search of an idea} Viola!! Low and behold it lead me to our 29th president. OK so how did the above fit?

City by the bay = San Francisco, where Warren G Harding died

Cool man took over = Calvin Coolidge, VP to Harding

Foggy Bottom = one of the oldest sections of Washington DC, hence a guess we were talking about a president

For there six the same = there is a Warren in each of the New England states. Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont

The objective was to ride to each of the Warren's and grab a picture of some official place indicated you were in Warren. We had the entire month of September to grab these places. I left on a Friday morning at 5am heading to Warren, ME. 26 hours later and 1044 miles, I completed the 6 Warrens. It was never my intention to do them all in one day; it just worked out that way. I realized then it would not be that difficult to complete an SS1K for the Iron Butt Association. After all, this only took 26 hours and I snapped something like 100 photos during the journey.

When I got home I posted up my pics to the Rally Bastid and realized I had taken a picture of West Warren, MA and not Warren, MA. I heard another person was out and about trying to complete the Warrens in the same day and I would be damned if I was gonna be beat by a technicality. Back on my bike to get a picture of Warren, MA. Got home (almost fell asleep riding home) and posted up the picture of Warren.

Well I got those 5,000 points and from that day on I have been Chasin Stuff.

Oh!! I won the 2006 OSJ Treasure Hunt, but not by much. One of the clues was to post up as many pictures of jails you could find. All the other contestants interpretted this to mean prisons. In most towns I was in (and I was in a lot of them), I took a picture of the police station. All police stations have a holding cell that would be considered a jail. I sandbagged these pictures until New Year's Eve which is when the contest ended. This was what pushed me over the top to win.

Warren ME

Warren NH

Warren VT

Warren CT

Warren MA

Warren RI

Fee Fie Fo Fum, I smell the Ink of a National Park Stamp.

The Iron Butt Assocation sponsors a National Park Tour. There are 3 levels they will provide a certificate for. The easiest level is covering 50 National Parks in 25 states within 1 year. The intent is to get you out on your bike and to see the beautiful National Parks this country has. There are sites dedicated to obtaining the stamps, 3 of which I frequent. One is in the Delphi forums names NPS Motorcycle Touring and the other is http://www.parkstamps.org/ and of course http://www.nps.gov/ , which is the National Park web site. This year, I needed some destinations to pursue and stumbled over the IBA National Park Tour ( more reading here http://www.ironbutt.com/ridecerts/getdocument.cfm?DocID=11 ) . During the winter months I took this on like a vengeance planning, routing, way pointing as many National Parks, all generally east of a line from Arkansas to Minnesota. I planned 2 major trips, one which I have executed and one for July / August 2008. At first I was simply going for the INK, but on a few practice runs this winter (read I needed something to do), I actually watched the movies and viewed the exhibits that the local sites had. This has turned my pursuit to more than just gathering stamps (I call it INK) into learning something about this great country we live in.

Beginnings

I am a rider and the reason for the blog. I really have no clue why and what I will post here from time to time, however I am sure it will be about riding. Just in case someone other than me read this and to remind me who I am, a little bit about myself is in order. Right now I am 57 years old, divorced male that has been thru senior corporate scene and found myself unemployed for a good part of life after 50. I have three great kids, one who is still in high school, the other 2 are out on there own. I have had 3 biking lives. One during my 20's when I was in school. Harold (he likes to be called Butch) built a chopper in our dorm room at Ohio University. The base bike was a 57 Norton Dominator (at least that is my recollection). Another fellow student had a really lame BSA that I learned to ride on. Not that BSA were lame, just this particular bike. Bad brakes, extended front end and generally a POS.



My other roommate Mark brought a 450 Honda Scrambler from Dayton OH to school in Athens. His was gold and looked something like this. This is the bike I spent most of my time on in the hills of Ohio around Athens and developed my initial riding skills.


Graduated school and Harold, Mark and I parted ways. Harold went into the Air Force. Mark disappeared to someplace around Butte, Montana artificially inseminating cows. Was married to Rita in school and about 2 years after graduation our marriage ended. Moved to Boston in 1979 owning a house in Ohio, a 1960 TR-3 being restored in Maryland and no money because the house did not sell.





In 1980 my house finally sold, paid off all my accumulated debts and went to the nearest Harley dealer in Framingham, MA. I had cash in my pocket and they wouldn't give me the time of the day, so off to my the local Honda dealer. I wanted a sport bike, so this caught my eye. At 5'7" (or is it 5'6") I simply did not fit this bike. But I sure did like it.




So after spending some time reading the cycle mags of the time, one bike seemed to keep coming up over and over again. Off to the local Honda dealer to look at this bike. My girlfriend at the time and future wife, put a small deposit down on the 1980 CB900 Custom at the Honda dealer in Pittsfield. I arrived at the dealer with a certified check for around $3,200 (again recollection on my part). The only request I had was for them to put a sissy bar (thats what they were called) on it so that Jo Ann did not fall off. I remember riding that bike back to Jo Ann's house in Cummington, not particularly in control what I was doing. It had been awhile since I had been on a bike and all the previous bikes I had ridden were all under 650. This was a monster of a bike to me with its 4 carbs, 10 speed transmission, shaft drive. This was the fastest vehicle I had ever been on.



Harold bought a 1981 CB900 Custom and rode all the way from Harrisburg PA to Plympton MA. It was our plan to go to Nova Scotia. I was amazed at how far he had ridden. Little did I know this was the Beginnings and the planted seed to, today. My daughter Tavana was born in 1982 and when she was around 4, she and I took that last ride on the 900. With her sitting in front of me, essentially on the tank, we rode from our house to the Upland Sportsmen Club and back home. The whole trip was a whopping 1/2 mile at most. The bike went up for sale and that ended my 2nd riding life. I used the money from the sale to buy some really high end audio equipment.


So now we have to fast forward to 2000. After a relatively successful career, raising 3 kids, and a very comfortable suburban life, it all came to an end. Chapter 11 has a way of messing things up. Out of a job, financially strained, turning 50, life seem to be playing a nasty trick on me. My marriage to JoAnn after 23 years came to an abrupt end. So did life at home for my daughter Tavana, my ex asked her to leave on the same day as me. Go figa.



Tavana had her first job and just wanted a motorcycle. As a parent I was saying no way, but as a previous rider, I was secretly saying go for it. So out we go to visit the various motorcycle shops. I remember we tried to close a deal on a Yamaha 750 at Performance Cycle in Shrewsbury, but she simply couldn't qualify for a loan. Then she found this bike in the some paper and got one of her friends to co-sign a loan with her.



I got on this thing and it scared the crap out of me. Remember when I thought the CB900 was fast, well this bike was fast. I had not been on a bike for over 20 years. Boy had things changed. How was I going to teach Tavana how to ride. I was self taught. We just got on the dang things and off we went. Being a parent now, that did not seem like the responsible thing to do. Tavana had the solution, she had signed up for the MSF course. According to her story, she graduated at the top of the class and came home with a motorcycle license. What was really neat, Dad finally was enjoying his kids toys, while she made the payments on it. I really liked this bike, but it did kill my wrists and shoulders after a day of riding. This was the Stage 1 of my 3rd riding life.

Stage 2. I have this very very good friend Steve Dodge. I was unemployed, going thru a divorce and just generally feeling like 5.25 feet under the Grand Canyon while everyone else was standing at the top looking down at me. Read really really depressed. Well Steve being the good friend he is goes out and buys one of these, registers and insures it and says here go for a ride to make yourself feel better. The day he presented his offering we went for a great ride thru Connecticut and Rhode Island. Tavana who was living with me at the time, say me pull in the driveway where we were living and noticed I was grinning from ear to ear.

My divorce started in 2001 (well that was be beginning of the legal process) and I would visit various dealers from time to time. One can dream can't they. I can remember I was in Reading, MA and visited the Kawasaki dealer. In the showroom was what must of been a 2003 Vulcan Nomad. The one I remember was red and champagne. What a awesome looking bike that was. Steve probably is the one that influenced me into looking at V-Twins because he owns a really beautiful 2002 Road King.

Stage 3. Divorce is finally final, March 2005. The monies for the house (that had to be sold, because the ex said the bank told her she did not have to make the payments on it) (read foreclosure) were dispersed, I have a job, and it is one of those 70 degree days in early April. It must of been a Friday afternoon (the company I was working for had half days on Friday, how kewl is that). I got nothing to do, the temperature has warmed up my spirits to a euphoric state of mind. Let's go visit Performance Cycle in Shrewsbury, just to look. I am kicking tires (for like the 25th time) and Buzz the sales person comes over and starts chatting. Performance sells Yamahas as well. We are comparing the Nomad to some Yamaha. Buzz says well the Nomad has hydraulic lifters (like I really know what that is) and they are self adjusting thus the maintenance on the Nomad should be cheaper. Some more technical stuff is talked about, that really doesn't matter one way or another. All of a sudden I found myself saying do you have one in stock. Answer Yes. Can't get any money off, but Buzz throws in $400 of accessories if I buy today (and probably would have thrown the 4 the next day and the next day and the next day). I said LET'S DO THIS. Woo hoo I am gonna own my second motorcycle that belongs only to me. I put the deposit on it and said can I pick it up tomorrow. Buzz says, "we have to assemble the bike and I don't think we can get it done by tomorrow, but maybe by the middle of the week next week. I already made the decision, I was not gonna let this small twist, change any thing.

The BEGINNINGS started with the purchase of the 2005 Kawasaki Nomad. I never could call it a Vulcan. I am just starting the 4th year of riding of my 3rd biking life, have over 50,000 miles from the last three years, have one SaddleSore 1000 from the IBA, been to a million places (well maybe not that many) I would have never gone to if it were not for the bike, suffer PMS (Parked Motorcycle Syndrome) during the winter, reads maps instead of books, love treasure hunts (more on that later), and other great stuff that I will expand upon. LIFE IS GOOD.