"Life is the great adventure ride. Twist the throttle hard."

July 26

Fallon came out to DC to spend a couple days with Sam seeing the sights and giving him a break from 24/7 dad.

At the Air and Space Museum, we saw the Gemini space capsule that the Harley rider we met says he recovered.

Â

We took two days off in DC and did lots of the classic DC sights. Atlington, Smithsonian, Thw Wall, Jefferson Memorial, National Archives, Hard Rock Cafe…

 

{Sam} fallon has some crazy notion that she is the princess of the world and we had to stop and see the ruby slippers which without suprise she has a set of her own.

July 28

We got Fallon off to the airport at 5:30am, and then headed north towards Atlantic City. We changed our trip plan to get in a little sailing with Aunt Karen. She keeps her boat in NJ right in Atlantic city.  When we started this Harley trip, I never would have guessed that our biggest challenge would be running aground at low tide  🙂

Leaving DC with the sun rising, and riding through the hills around  Annapolis in the morning was very nice. Once the heat and humidity hit, we were glad to get on the Ferry to NJ. We made it to the boat 9 minutes before is sailed for the 1-hour crossing of the Delewar Bay to NJ.

{Sam} the 1 hour crossing was really boring

when we got to atlantic city aunt karen took us for a ride on her sail boat. and at first appearance you would assume that she knows what she is doing behind the helm of a sail boat…her 1st mistake for the day was putting me behind the wheel.

but having some punk 18yr old kid behind the wheel was not the problem, just like with cars its the woman behind the wheel. just kidding but despite what aunt karen might say she did get the boat stuck on a sand and we did get to meet a really helpful man driving a yellow boat with flashing lights

i even managed to get evidence of aunt Karen threatening me while i take photos of her with her new best friend. aunt penny and i also came up with the notion that once atlantic city found out Karen would be sailing here they specially build the coastguard and sea tow buildings…

July 29

We got a late start, leaving for Mark Myers’ house (Chris Myers’ brother) about 120 miles from Atlantic City around 11am. Its nice to be heading West for the first time! After running into horrible traffic in Philadelphia, and a number of thunder showers, we got to his place around 3:15. He had lunch waiting for us when we got there. What service! We took a break and watched his son Kevin play in a water-polo match.

We headed for Aunt Karen’s house in Northern PA around 5:00, and ran into a couple storms and one lightning storm with more flashes than I think I’ve ever seen. We had to pull over for 45 minutes to let this one pass.

We got into Hemlock Creek at 8:30 as the sun went down, and Penny and Karen had dinner waiting for us. We sure like this Pennsylvania hospitality!

July 23

We left Atlanta this morning, after breakfast with Tim at a Waffle Houses. We headed north into the Appalachians, and about an hour later started cruising an epic motorcycling road that wound up into the mountains.

At 4000ft, we crossed the Appalachian Trail, and stopped at an outfitting post frequented by folks who hike the trail.

We really could not get pictures that did justice to this day, but it was by far the most fun riding we had had. Great scenery, very very green lush forests, cool weather, good roads, and little traffic. It just doesn’t get better. This picture of the GPS shows just how cool the road is:

We planned on camping tonight, but the only local campground was more for RVs, so we hit a hotel. One of these nights we gotta use all this camping gear we dragged along.

July 24

With rain in the forecast, we spent most of the day riding on bigger (straighter) highways. It drizzled on and off all day, with the temperatures in the 60’s. Stayed dry most of the time, but we did stop and get Sam a pair of fancy waterproof riding gloves. I hit Lowes and got some warm glove inserts from the garden section for $4.

At a gas stop, we ran into a fella on a Harley even more loaded that we were. He had his wife riding behind him, and a kennel on the back of the bike with two Jack Russells riding in it, all while pulling a huge trailer with camping gear. He told us to check out the Gemini capsules at the Air and Space museum in DC. He was on the crew that recovered the one on the left as we go into the Museum.

We finally pulled into a small hotel in the mountains around 7:00pm after covering only 300 wet miles.Â

July 25

We woke to a down-pour this morning. I tracked the storm on an internet weather site Chris Whyley told me about, and after about 90 minutes, the radar showed we had a small window to get out of it, so we took off. Had to ride in the drizzle for 45 minutes, but after that, the day was nice. With warm cloths, waterproof jackets and pants, and full helmets, we are perfectly dry and happy riding in the rain, as long as it is not so heavy we could not see well. It’s a very strange feeling, and I’m sure everyone in cars who saw us thought we were miserable.

We hopped off the highway and into the mountains again, riding up into the Shenandoah national park. There is a Blue Ridge Highway and a Sunrise Highway that travel across the mountain ridge. The afternoon riding was spectacular, and with the rain the previous night, the highway was perfectly clean making it even nicer.

We rolled into Washington DC around 4:00 today.  Did a quick stop in to the NRA’s National Firearm Museum and then over to the hotel.  Uschi got us reservations at an awesome hotel in Georgetown.  It’s sure nice to have a couple days in a 4-star when most of our hotels stuggled to keep the one star they had.  The bell-guys had a good laugh at us when they saw how much luggage we were carrying on the two bikes.Â

We walked down to the National Mall tonight, and visited the Wall.  Another great experience, and a very moving place to see.

July 21

We left the little town of Opp Georgia this morning and decided to just run full-speed ahead to Atlanta, taking the super-slab most of the way. On the highway, I’m in my happy zone at 70MPH, but Sam isn’t into his happy grove till about 80+ so we are still working on finding the happy medium. After a couple stops at antique markets and a Harley dealer, we rolled into my brother Tim’s place in Atlanta around 4:00. He’s an avid guitar player (12-string and electric).

Â

Here’s an MP3 of one of his songs (8MB) Uncle Tim’s Music

Another good reason to take this America Ride — I finally got to take my son to a baseball game. After a dinner at Tim’s place, we went down to Turner Field to watch the Braves pummel the Cardinals. Our luck, the game was sold-out (all-time record attendance), so we bought tickets from a guy out front the park. Lots of action and a fun game (it was 3 to 14 in the 4^th inning). Its also amazing how here in the south they mix NASCAR with baseball. They held a NARSAR race around the perimeter of the field as they played the ballgame 🙂Â

We took the train home that night, and contrary to the rumors Sam spread, I didn’t hand my Harley keys to a homeless guy who was asking for spare change. (it was a dang close call though)

July 22, 2007

We slept in till 11:00 today (really only 10:00 cause we lost an hour going east). Felt great. We went to an Atlanta history museum, with displays on local history, Civil war,  Benjamin Franklin, and golfing. Here’s a pic of a collection of Cival War canon projectiles.

For weeks I’ve been awaiting a dinner of Southern Barbeque, so Tim took us to a very local BBQ place with ribs the size of your arm. They were awesome. The choice was either order 1 or 2 ribs. I’m thinking, only 2 ribs?? In the end, I couldn’t finish the second one they were so huge.

The trip is about half-over. We’re still having a great time, but we miss everyone back in California. Thanks to everyone back home for the support!