Outtie

OK, we're outta here! 7:00 and time to head for breakfast and meet Mom and Dad.

Goal for today is Brattleboro, VT or as close as we can get. The catch is, we're going by way of Rhode Island. It's a long day, but it won't be a big deal if we don't quite get that far.

On The Road Again

Kev and Donna are about to set off on a ride up through Maine and down the St. Lawrence River, finishing with a loop around Lake Ontario. Along the way, we'll visit every New England state, take a ferry across the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and hit the major Canadian cities on the way to Niagara Falls. There, we will have a romantic pause for a night (that's what you do in Niagara Falls, right?) before threading through the Finger Lakes on the way home. There's a lot of cool stuff planned, but you'll have to check back to find out.

Kevin has for years taken an annual 9-day road trip to somewhere, blogged for the world to see (link at right,) but this time is very different. It will again be journaled as we go, but this time, it's going to be the two of us sharing in the adventure together, as opposed to a solo ride. Also, Kevin's mom and dad are riding along, and they are actually going to have their honeymoon in Niagara Falls - 43 years late! We are all very excited about this ride, and we can't wait to hit the road. Kevin and Donna doing what we do best. It's about time.

With that said, there won't be as much down time in the evenings as in trips past. And, the itinerary calls for a lot of long days in the saddle this time. So, no guarantees on how frequent or detailed this will be, but we'll do our best to let y'all know where we are as often as possible. What do you want for free?

Lastly, this blog has been written by Kevin exclusively to this point, and it will probably continue that way with very few exceptions. So, I think I will dispense with the third-person narrative and relate what I see and think, which is much more personal and much easier. Maybe I'll make Donna post in pink typeface or something.

It's Thursday night, and I have a TON of stuff to do before that kickstand goes up. Gotta go. Wish us luck and good weather!

Bel Alton, MD

The ride home was under sunny skies, broken up by a stay at the luxurious Bel Alton Motel in, uh, Bel Alton, MD. Before that, we found ourselves getting water at Robert Taylor's Tires, Laundrymat, and General Store in Snow Hill, NC, where we were fortunate enough to be regaled with tales of adventure and skill by none other than Robert Taylor himself. He had two old black men in the store with him, who had clearly heard all these stories before, and who wavered randomly from corroborating them to outright calling bullshit. One of them thought Donna had a nice butt. After a little break, it was up I-95 out of the Carolinas and through Richmond.

The Bel Alton was a slab motel straight out of 1959, neon and all, but was really cool and well-kept (except for the 20 stinky cats that lived in the office.) This was a little bit of synchronicity, as we were trying to get another 15-20 miles up the road when we spied what looked like a cool biker bar just after passing the motel. We discussed the possibility of checking out the Bel Alton and if it was nice, throwing the gear in the room and heading up for a burger and beer.

Which is exactly what we did. And it was not only a cool biker bar (the locally-famous "Apehangers" as it turns out) but they happened to have a band every Saturday night. Wouldn't you know it, it was Saturday night! So we went back to the hotel for a dip in the pool (and a quick power nap) and then rode the 1/4 mile back up 301 for a little boot stomping. What a cool place that was. We stayed up too late and probably should have stopped 1 or 2 beers sooner, but it was a great time. How often the most memorable part of a trip ends up being not something planned in great detail, but something that just comes down the road at you.

New Bern, NC

Day 2, and we leave with the suits on again just in case, but it kept getting warmer and sunnier and we ended up taking them off as we entered Virginia on the southern tip of the peninsula and headed for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. We decided to plan for lunch in Virginia Beach and have some friends meet us in North Carolina for dinner. But when you factor in Klinger time, dinner ended up being 8:00, and we were barely staying dry all the way down to New Bern. We spent way too much $$$ eating a fancy dinner al fresco dressed like Hell's Angels, and then the rainsuit failed. Failed in a BIG way.

Just as we paid the check, the sky started to flash. Then came the rain, light at first. By now, it's pitch black, and I know what's coming next. We have no hotel, saw none in town, and have only the faintest idea where we are. Karen and [the other] Kevin are 3 hours from home, and we all are about to ride aimlessly in the dark, in the rain, unable to see anything but distorted starbursts of light refracted through our wet eyewear.

Sure enough, it was pouring by the time we got our gear on. We waited through what we hoped was the heaviest part, and took off in the rain, parting with our friends within a few blocks. Think of the most fun you ever had... think, think...

Got it? Now, imagine the complete 180-degree opposite. That's what this is. Anyway, we get up a ramp onto the only "highway" anywhere near our little burg. Just as we're heading out of town, we find the last exit, which is where all the motels are. It was funny as hell when we pulled over and I told Donna that the Hampton and Courtyard I see will both likely be kind of costly. Let's just say price was not a factor.

Wandering Aimlessly

Time to cross some more states off the list.

We had decided some months ago to block off this weekend for a road trip to be named later. Time for just wandering aimlessly without a plan and seeing where we end up.

When the time came, "where we ended up" was decided entirely by -what else- the weather map. The only shot we remotely had at staying dry was to head south along the coast, so that's where we pointed the handlebars. We ran down Rt. 1, crossed the Annapolis Bay Bridge over to the DelMarVa peninsula, and called it a day in Salisbury, MD. Again, we miraculously got sprinkled on, but never really soaked. In fact, we got tired of taking the suits on and off and sweating in them when it wasn't raining. And again, the skies opened up while we were taking showers. I love that rainsuit.

Our Intrepid Riders

Nothing like a ride through New York City to get the ol' blood pumping...

Kevin has led the Lehigh Valley HOG chapter through the Big Apple on more than one occasion, and is getting to be a pretty good tour guide in his own right. So, when a fellow LVH member announced he was organizing a ride to the Intrepid Musuem, which is an aircraft carrier docked in the city, it immediately was put on our our to-do list. Donna was not at all interested; who the hell would want to get killed riding in NYC? Of all the ways to die...

Well, when she got there it was a totally different story. Riding across I-80 on another drippy, crappy day (like every other friggin weekend this year?) we hit the city via the George Washington Bridge. I might note at this time that this is also part of I-95 - see posts below. Anyway, the way to the museum was pretty uneventful; the NYC chapter had met us in NJ, and they always do a great job taking care of us when we visit. It's a straight shot down the West Side Highway. The museum was really cool, and was time well spent. And then...

Time for a ride through the concrete canyons. Kev invited any interested brave souls to follow him on a route through Times Square, and down to Hogs and Heifers for a shot and a beer. Donna was all adrenaline and all smiles. No longer sorry she agreed to ride, she was totally on her game and having the time of her life. And not a moment too soon, as it would turn out; our ride down Broadway is now impossible to duplicate. The street has been closed to traffic in Times Square.

Incidentally, during this ride was born the Legend of Donna's Lucky Rainsuit. A quick check of the weather showed a menacing green blob headed across Allentown and on a direct collision course with our return path via I-78. For the umpteenth time, that rainsuit would remain dry against all odds. Including Milwaukee, that suit has been hauled probably 3,000 miles under some of the darkest skies imaginable, and has never been wet. We should sell it and make a fortune.

The Scene of the Crime

This is a weekend we have been long looking forward to. We've been away overnight together, and we actually did have the bikes in Atlantic City, but that was a quick blast down the AC Expressway and they stayed parked for the weekend. This weekend is our first real time on the road together - doing what we do best.

We purposely decided to make our first road trip start with a return to what Kevin has been referring to as the scene of the crime: The Super 8 of Cumberland, MD. This is the first motel the group stayed at on the road to Milwaukee, and the place where we began to get to know each other. Of course, no crime, literal or moral, took place then or there. But, we look back to that as the point to which we can trace the first seed of our relationship. We began that trip as strangers, and starting right then, we would return as friends. I guess it's safe to say we made an impression.

Anyway, we visited for posterity's sake, then headed further south thru WV and VA and up into the Appalachains to Skyline Drive. It was crappy, cold, and wet, and we left the Super 8 with our rainsuits on. Somehow, we avoided what showed on the radar as a certain soaking. It did drizzle while we ate lunch at Skytop Lodge, but that was it. Then, the sky turned black as we got closer to our hotel in Front Royal, and we were really doing a quick two-step there at the end to try to beat it to our destination. We checked in, parked the bikes in front of the room, and, no lie, got them unloaded less than 45 seconds before it started to pour. I *love* when that happens.

Supper that night came from the gas station across the street. We scurried over in the rain and ate what we could find. Donna ended up with a well-rounded meal of ice cream, and Kev had some Combos and a quart of Budweiser. We carried the stuff back to the room and pigged out like the wet rats we were. Ahh, ife at it's best!