Fishing for Toys with Friends

It’s Sunday morning and my phone alarm goes off at precisely 6am. Last night I had received a voice mail from Alan, letting me know they would be at my door precisely at 9am for our day’s journeys. I didn’t call back because it was too late and Alan had left enough info. I bounced out of bed (well sorta, my knees always hurt first thing so bounce might be an exaggeration), plug in the coffee and log onto email. Alan had sent me an email just in case the voice mail did not get listened to, saying they would be there at 9. Quick check to NOAA and the weather looks spectacular, however I suspect the roads and more specifically the leaves will be wet, hence caution is the key word for the day. Wet leaves, two wheels, twisties and stop signs means things could be slippery.

With my coffee in hand (it’s really in the cup and my hand is on the cup), I open MapSource to create a route for today’s travels. Alan and Jan are going to visit a library in Western Connecticut to view some artist’s pictures. Jan showed me a brochure, so I was torn on whether we (Me and MeAsWe) will view the paintings with them or travel south for other treasures. No need to make a decision now, but having a plan (and yes I do plan some things Jan, if you are reading this) would be a good thing.

MeAsWe arises out of her sleep around 7 (well I really woke her up), so that we can be ready for 9. I finish up the plan, creating 3 alternative routes for the day. First stop is the Norfolk Public Library in Connecticut where the exhibit is being held, then Toymakers Café (Ken and Steve if you read this, yes I am still gathering points) and then off to Bridgeport for the Fish Church, then to one of the ferries in CT and a pass thru Willimantic for the frog on the a spool and home. All in all, somewhere around 320 miles. The other potential routes cuts off Bridgeport and heads across the mid section of Connecticut picking up some National Landmarks and home. Yeah I said 3 routes, T2 is just a more direct root to Bridgeport, using major roads in case we are running out of time (which we always seem to do).

MeAsWe is Bejeweling and drinking her coffee and I tell her I am headed outside to get ready, plus I need gas. I ask her if she can bring down my jacket, if she comes down before I go back up. Precisely at 9am, Alan and Jan arrive (actually I think they were a tad early), pull up and dismount. Alan thanks me for calling at 7am confirming that we (Me and MeAsWe) will be ready, Alan indicates they were still in bed, which Jan says well at least one of us wasn’t up and there was some discussion about Baroque music (or some music that starts with a B), blah blah blah. Jan says she is antsy, of course I ask her why, and she said if I knew that, I wouldn’t be antsy, to which we had a general debate about one could be antsy and know why they are antsy and remain antsy versus if one knows the reason they are antsy, that simple fact is the cure for being antsy or maybe it morphs into an other human infliction. (so have I lost you the reader yet), but I digress (as usual)(but is is my blog after all, so I can digress all I want)

I asked Alan if he has a route planned, he does, so I said we would follow them. I have to say Alan found great roads across Connecticut. If they had followed me, I would have had a far less scenic route and we probably would have stopped 20 or more times for a picture of a soldier, mural or bridge. It was nice to just ride and take in the view.

Remember I said something about wet leaves and two wheels. Well there was this one stop sign that I pulled up next to Alan and Jan, put my left foot down, which proceeded to slip forward on the wet leaves, which caused the 680 pound FJR nose to begin its left arching motion to the ground, and by the grace of some external force, enabled me to reestablish a firm grip on the ground and pull the FJR back to a upright position. No sounds of crunching plastic, no domino effect of the us falling into Jan and Alan, which no doubt they would have also toppled, no expletives from all 4 of us and the day wasn't ruined. For the rest of the day I never pulled up next to them at a stop again.

We meandered thru the back roads hitting Thompson Ct, thru Stafford Springs onto Ruby Rd making our way to Enfield CT to cross the Connecticut River. From there it’s thru Barkhamstead, Winsted and finally arriving at the Norfolk Public Library.

Since this is a way marking category, I tell Alan and Jan I am gonna take some pictures, plus the Norfolk library is a neat building (I gotta see if this place is also on the National Register of Historic Places too).


From Norfolk, it's my turn to lead and we head to the Toymakers Café in Village Falls, an OSJ treasure hunt location worth 2,000 points. Arriving here somewhere around 12:30 or so, we all decide to grab a bit to eat.


This is a picture of our meal. Oh it must have been ok, it's all gone

Alan, Jan and MeAsWe plotting something

Who is that masked woman...It's FJRLoneRangeress...

After lunch I just have fish on my mind and this place eluded me for so long and we are so close, I tell Alan and Jan we are headed for Bridgeport versus taking in the exhibit back in Norfolk. MeAsWe asks me if we will be home by 6 and with an sheepish grin on my face I say “probably not”.


We part company as Alan and Jan head for more cultural endeavors. I decide we are going to use route T1, which has us winding south on RT 7. RT 7 is a beautiful road no matter what the season and is probably a nice even if you are not on a cycle. Of course, our route is not direct and we hang a right onto RT 45 to hit Warren for some pictures of police stations, town halls and plus it is a President town worth 500 points.



Out of Warren to Washington, which yields us a bonii for a President Town and WM's for a town hall and post office.

Thru Roxbury, picking up a library photo and off to Monroe CT for another Presidential town. We are almost to Bridgeport, where we will finally head back to home.



What's so special about Roxbury. Really nothing,but it does have a library!!!

While we were taking pictures at the Monroe Police station, it must have been a shift change for the officers. The officers were all over the lot. Of course one of them sees us snapping away so he askes us if we are planning to bomb the place, are we members of Al qaeda, or do we plan any other type of mayhem on Monroe. MeAsWe handled the questions as I snapped away on the camera.



We are only 15 miles from the Fish Church on Bedford St. Most of the travel from Monroe to Bridgeport is via 4 lane highway, so we make good time. We arrive at where the Fish Church is suppose to be and I am turning my head right then left and then right, shrugging my shoulders. MeAsWe says I don’t see any churches. What a let down, something is wrong, I spot 2 neighborhood folks, so I drive up to them.

“Excuse me" I say, to which they ignore me. Being the persistent person I am, "Excuse me, can you help me. There is suppose to be a church around here with a door way that looks like a whale tale."

They give me this look that first of all I don’t belong in this ‘hood and why are you bothering me with these really stupid questions. After a brief uncomfortable moment, the guy steps between us and his wife and son, creating a protective barrier between us and them and says. "There ain’t no church like that around here." Of course I say "are you sure." (why would I question his answer doh!!). He reaches for his pocket and out comes a phone…I say "ah you got internet access, try google use fish church Bridgeport Ct." He says, "nope no fish church" I said, "it should be one of the first five hits." "Nope", reaffirming his first answer. I say "thanks" and we part, with me thinking this guy is an idiot.

We find ourselves at Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana and I starting making calls. Tavana no answer, Steve no answer. MeAsWe says AJ should be home, so I hand her the phone. "AJ google Fish Church." To which AJ replies "1101 Bedford St in Stamford CT." We are in the wrong friggin town. Sigh, I waypointed it all wrong. I really do need to apologize to that guy, don't I?

I turn to MeAsWe and say "What do you think?." She lets out this heavy sigh; there is confirmation to her question back at Toymakers that we are not going to make it home by 6pm, while we still have sunlight and warmth from said sun. I say, "Its only another 25 miles south, I just can’t let this one go and oh do you want to grab dinner in NYC because we won’t really be that far way", with the most sympathic (or is that pathetic) lil boy look on my face.

Plug in the address and we head out for Stamford. This time when the GPS said we were there, we were there.

Out of Stamford, we discuss having dinner at Louis Lunch in New Haven on the way home. I inform her she can not have ketchup on her burger, to which she says I don't have ketchup on burgers, to which I say that includes mustard, she says how come, and I tell MeAsWe that that is just the way it is at Louis. A quick call to find out they are closed. I said there is suppose to be some really good pizza places in New Haven, I could call EasyEd, he will know. We decide to just high tail it home.

The GPS selects the Merritt Parkway as the preferred road to Hartford. This is a very scenic road and today was no different. I point out that each bridge was designed individually by the architect. The sun is darting in and out flashing bits of light on the road and tree tops as it was setting on the horizon. As I looked in the rear view mirror, I could see the sky with a deep blue hue, streaked with purples and yellows as the sun reflecting of the bottoms of the clouds. The sun was illuminating the the tops of the trees as if they were electrified in glows of bright oranges, yellows and reds from the autumn turn. I reached for the camera to capture this surreal moment. By the time I get the camera out, charged up and pointed, I missed the photo op and that scene will just have to be one window to a memory. I placed the camera back in the tag bag and throttled up for home.

It has been a great day of riding, lunch with friends, cature of treasures and WM's and of course the company of MeAsWe. Oh we pulled in around 8:45, not really that far off 6pm, well at least in my book

One for the Money, Two for the Show...Go Cat Go

Coming out of Arkansas, Me and We find ourselves making miles toward Memphis, TN. Having to make up some time lost in New Orleans with the flat, there was one spot I just wanted to hit and of course it is a National Landmark.

Sun Records was founded in 1952 by Sam Phillips renting a place on Union Street. Sun Records covered the full range of artists for the period, including gospel, blues, country and boogie. In 1954 a star in the making called Elvis wandered into Sam's place and the world of music changed. Following Elvis, came Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Charlie Rich and Conway Twitty.

Now the above picture was taken with me standing in the street with We saying, "Hey can't you read". This isn't the first time I have ignored signs like that and it will not be the last time.

As I write, my feet are a tappin away.

Netflix Comes to Life - It is a Hard Hit

As MeAsWe and Me meandered our way from Vicksburg heading for Arkansas Post this treasure chest popped up on the GPS. Treasure chests are the various National Landmarks that I had downloaded to the unit as part of the routes and waypoints for our trip. Not really knowing what this particular LM was, I hit the find button, found it in the list and routed ourselves to this spot via the shortest route.

We found ourselves out in the middle of no-where on the back country dirt roads of Arkansas. The roads were packed dirt road with some loose gravel on top; I kept saying (to myself of course) how much I prefer black topped roads. The views were mostly rural and low crops.

About 125 miles from Vicksburg, we find ourselves making a left off AR RT1. I stop because the unpaved road goes up and over a set of rail road tracks. We have come this far out of the way, I was not turning back. I release the clutch, apply some throttle and we climb up and over the tracks and down to the road leading to what seemed like the middle of a farm field. The road on the other side of the tracks is comprised of dusty dirt with larger size gravel mixed in. Not deep gravel, but deep enough that it gives me some concern. I even thought about turning back, but we were almost there, well at least I thought we were. The road was straight to a spot surrounded by trees about ½ miles away.

We arrive and dismount; I still don’t know what this site is all about. I push my thru the line of trees to …

A bit closer...

It hits me where we are and it hits hard. Just before we left we watched a movie from Netflix, American Pastime, about a American Japanese family who were dislodged (my words) from their home in Los Angeles to one of several internment camps in the US during WWII. It must have been fate to have watched that movie (and I didn't fall asleep during it either, a common thing for me ), otherwise I would not have know the significance of this site. That night in the hotel, one of the first things I did was log onto the pute and look up info about Rohwer.

Here are some more pictures followed by a brief history from Wikipedia

From Wikipedia

The Rohwer War Relocation Center was a World War II Japanese American internment camp located in rural southeastern Arkansas, in Desha County. It was in operation from September 18, 1942 until November 30, 1944, and held as many as 8,475 Japanese Americans forcibly evacuated from California.[citation needed] The Rohwer War Relocation Center Cemetery is located here, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1992.

Rohwer Relocation Camp was constructed in the late summer and early fall of 1942 as a result of Executive Order 9066 (February 19, 1942). Under this order, over 110,000 Japanese Americans and their immigrant parents were forcibly removed from the three Pacific Coast States—California, Oregon, and Washington. In all, ten camps were established in desolate sites, all chosen for their distance from the Pacific Coast. Over 10,000 evacuees passed through Rohwer during its existence, and over two thirds of these were American citizens. The monuments found within the camp's cemetery are perhaps the most poignant record of this time.

For a more complete description CLICK HERE

Loop de Loops with the Wright Brothers - Day Three

Edenton, NC was picked to stay at, not because it was a great stopping place. Edenton has 3 National Landmarks that we can pick up before we really get on the road. Well as it turns out we got 2 of the 3 landmarks, because one of them was behind closed gates.

The agenda for the day is Wrights National Monument at Kill Devils Hills and then a ride down Cape Hatteras, picking up INK, lighthouses and just enjoying the views. Getting to Cape Hat was pretty breezy at times and the Connie got shoved around a little. I even considered not going down the cape, but heck I know I would have been sorry if I didn’t ride the outer banks.

The first ferry is a free one from Hatteras to Oracoke Island. This is to trap you on the island. There is a ferry from Oracoke to Cedar Swamp which is only 14 miles away, but (there is always a but in stories like this) but if you don’t time this right you can get stuck on the island over night. I am sure the inn keepers just love this. Well along with the wind, we had some light to moderate precipitation to add to the drama. Let’s just say when we disembarked; we did not have enough time to make the 2pm ferry within the prescribed speed limits. The route is straight, but there are cars, LEO’s, sand blown onto the RT 12, which kept my speed to under triple numbers. I never asked We if she was at all nervous.

Waiting to board the ferry from Hatteras to Oracoke Island


As we pulled up the gates to the ferry were closed and I saw guys tossing ropes on the ferry. Dang, we just missed it and will have to wait til 5. Sitting at the gates, a guy strolls down from the ferry and says "Go get your ticket", and starts opening the gates for me. So the excess MPH’s didn’t go for naught, because we were gonna be nautical in a few moments.
As we boarded the mates told me that the ride is going to be quite rough in places and I have to stay by the bike to make sure it doesn’t fall over. I complied, but I thought if it is going to be that bad, me standing next to the bike, isn’t going to prevent an 800 pound bike from tipping over.

We resting and hiding from the wind

The trip was choppy, but not so bad, that the bike was ever in danger of tipping. We stayed with me on deck, with the wind whipping thru the car bay, I finally said only one of us should suffer and being the gallant fellow I am, I sent her upstairs to the closed, calm, heated deck room. After we got off the ferry she told me she had taken a nap.


On land we headed out stopping at one of the restaurants from Road Side America,Clawsons. We had dinner here, having the special for the night; Dirigibles (baked potato with stuff all over it). It was 2 for 1 night, so dinner was relatively cheap, but some how no matter what always turns out to be $25.




Dinner consumed, we headed out for Wilmington NC for the night, a mere 100 miles away. Miles for the day was about 300 with an additional 30 miles on ferries.

Playin the Ponies with Cornwallis and McArthur - Day Two

Today we need to make it to the Cape May Ferry to jump over to Delaware and Maryland, so we are up bright and early ( 6am or so ) (only the 2nd day ) but of course there are some places that I just have to get before we go.

Both of these locations are on the National Register of Historic Places

We blast out of Wildwood heading for the ferry. We arrive in plenty of time for a cup of coffee and a Danish while waiting to board the ferry. The couple in this picture was heading for Myrtle Beach for bike week and I sure hope they weren’t disappointed. They were not at ALL friendly and barely responded with any conversation we tried to start up. So much for cycle camaraderie, maybe I just didn’t have the right gear on or the right kind of bike.

The ride on the ferry lasts about for about 80 minutes and cuts off quite abit of road and avoids the Baltimore / DC area. The immediate destination after the ferry is Assateague National Seashore. Here the horses are born into and run wild.

Entrance to Assategue

Wild Horses feeding. Everytime I lifted the camera this guy would wonder behind a dune. I left and came back to catch him off guard. Assateague Lighthouse

We throttle up to visit the last major battle of the Revolutionary War, where Lord Cornwallis surrendered to Washington. Yorktown is part of the Colonial National Park and of course it is an INKING location.

On the way to our final day resting spt we stopped at the McArthur Memorial in Norfolk, VA. This was in the book Road Trip America and a place to chase.

Our final destination for the night is the Super 8 in Edenton, NC arriving sometime after 9pm. Miles for the day was just shy of 400.

Get Ready Get Set Get LANDMARKS

Someplace, somewhere among my blog writings I said I would write about National Landmarks, so not to disappoint myself I offer the following. Landmarks are located in all states plus you will find them in places such as the Federated States of Micronesia, which has 2. The National Park Service not only administers our beautiful parks and monuments, but handles those places that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. National Landmarks are a subset of the NRHP. They are defined as

National Historic Landmarks are nationally significant historic places designated by the Secretary of the Interior because they possess exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States. Today, fewer than 2,500 historic places bear this national distinction. Working with citizens throughout the nation, the National Historic Landmarks Program draws upon the expertise of National Park Service staff who work to nominate new landmarks and provide assistance to existing landmarks.


In New England alone there are 350+ locations. Examples of National Landmarks are the normal places you would think like Bunker Hill Monument or the Old North Church in Boston; however there are some unusual spots, such as Goddard Rocket Launching Site in Auburn, MA or the USS Lion Fish in Fall River, MA.

With this in mind, what better way to see New England than by motorcycling across the byways and byroads visiting these sites, maybe learning something in the process?

The Old Manse



Ralph Waldo Emerson House