…and spend two nights in Exton so as to take the day and visit downtown Philly. More to follow in their Day 30 Road Report tomorrow…
Monthly Archive for July, 2008
Motoring through the battlefields of Gettysburg, PA.
After an early-morning interview with Charlie Sherman, a radio host out of New England, we were off to Gettysburg and its attendant battlefield with mixed feelings about the site being an appropriate venue for loud mufflers and Budweiser — it was Bike Week. Harleys were predominant and the tone and tenor of our prior encounters with diehard fans of The Motor Company continued: unlike our previous BMWs, Sophia and Marchello are big hits with the Big Twin crowd. Waves and thumbs-up were the standard greeting throughout the Gettysburg streets and countryside. This was something new for us — as was Bob’s consideration of a leather-fringed vest to go with those new chinos. Jeanne would never allow a tattoo.
Continue reading ‘Day 29 Road Report: Fayetteville to Exton, PA’
McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania. The MP3s did not overheat.
On a 75-degree blue-sky day, we left the mom-and-pop Shawnee Motel, saying goodbye to owner Bill Triplett. Whenever possible, Bob and I prefer to avoid chains and this country-like motel just outside Schellsburg fits the bill. (Ask for a room in the back.) We headed in the wrong direction — west — intentionally so we could repeat the last segment of yesterday’s ride — a perfectly-paved, banked and gracefully-curved road to Lookout Point of Mt. Ararat in the Laurel Highlands section of the Alleghenies. We climbed to the 2,464-foot vista point and beyond that to the Bald Mt. summit at 2,906 feet. OK, so it’s not the 18,340-foot pass I rode ten years ago in the Himalayas — the worlds highest motorable road, it wouldn’t exactly meet our definition of a “road.” Nevertheless, in the Alleghenies it’s flat-out fun on the MP3; a quick ticket to biker heaven. We were never troubled by having to pass cars, as there simply weren’t any Restauranteurs are telling us business is hurting; gas prices are taking their toll. Probably because of our preoccupation with the road, we were unsuccessful in finding the ashes of the old S.S. Grandview Ship Hotel. If not for scheduled commitments we would have turned around and repeated this section yet again. The road-hugging MP3 was as at home here as it was in downtown Pittsburgh. Once a road establishes a rhythm, as this section of the Lincoln Highway does, you don’t want the dance to stop.
Continue reading ‘Day 28 Road Report: Schellsburg, PA to Gettysburg, PA’
Day 27 - Pittsburgh, PA to East Schellsburg, PA
You know it’s a media day when Bob shows up to breakfast in his very best wash and wear shirt. There I was in my ragged polyester T-shirt, left to rely solely on my wits to squeeze by. My real edge was that all important one-year difference in our age.
Continue reading ‘Day 27 Road Report: Pittsburgh to East Schellsburg, PA’
Buddy & Bob have called in from tonight’s overnight in Schellsburg, PA, and are wrapping up their photo and road report update…to run Thursday morning as soon as Piaggio Ground Control can map it. More to follow…
