So, what the hell is a MP3? Good question. There are so few of them in the U.S. the owners decided to start a rally to get them together once and year and that was so much fun it grew to twice a year. Being a strange thing MP3's came and went but the owners enjoyed the get together so much they continued the gathering, with or without a MP3. So now there are motorcycles, scooters, and yes, a MP3 or two.
So, I am off to the Dauthat State Park in the hills of Virginia. Never heard of the place but it is a little north of Roanoke and we have a cabin rented for the Oyster Guys.
But before I start, my good friend Newton passed and I have to say this.
Every trip starts the same, either Howard Franklin Bridge across Tampa Bay to the Suncoast Parkway or the traffic chocked US19N. I chose the Howard Franklin route and was on the road by 7. Same stuff you have seen before but here it is again.
Maybe I have been bored or maybe I have destination oriented to much on some recent rides and I have heard from my fans. My writing is what it is but today I was inspired to return to the old Ken Wilson, scooter rider. For the mind set, I have decided a U turn and a photo are required in the first thirty minutes or destination-etis sets in. So the first photo I wanted was actually a railroad bridge that ran over the small road I was on, but living was more important as there was a logging truck on my ass and nowhere to pull off. So, I waited until I saw interesting church and a U turn brought the picture to you.
From there I was supposed to go to tour the York Town aircraft carrier on display in Mt. Pleasant. I did not enter it into the GPS as it is huge and I was sure there would be lots of signage. The only sign I saw was at the light covered by a bush that said turn left which was three lanes from me. There were no U turns until you crossed the bridge to Charleston and I did not think it worth the effort to return plus it saves me something for future dates and I continued on to the Johns Island Marina to meet George. We. visited for awhile but then he was off to the dentist. Shortly Louise was home and George was back and we were off to Foley Beach to meet George's best friend from New Your City. George and Yancy had been firemen together in New York with George being Yancy's boss. There are many Yancy stories and are told often. The best one is when they had a lieutenant on temporary duty and Yancy showed up for roll call in a bra and panties. The lieutenant did not bat a eye and Yancy wore the outfit around without geting the attention he hoped for when the fire alarm went off. Yancy pulled his jacket over the bra and off they went. At the fire Yancy and the lieutenant were up the ladder when Yancy opened his jacket and told the lieutenant “my bra is killing me can you unsnap it.” Not batting a eye the lieutenant reached up and undid the bra. Watching this by accident was one of the many vice chiefs who immediately left the scene. George also owned a pretty renowned bar in NY that everybody from the editor of the NY times to the great Donald Trump who he has nothing good to say about, hung out. Oh yea, and Yancy tried to kiss Mayor Koch when he gave George and Yancy a medal for bravery.
So, I am off to the Dauthat State Park in the hills of Virginia. Never heard of the place but it is a little north of Roanoke and we have a cabin rented for the Oyster Guys.
But before I start, my good friend Newton passed and I have to say this.
My Friend
Newton
I
am pretty sure I have never written a note about a pet that has
passed, but Newton was a special friend. When I met Newt about 15 or
so years ago he was timid and afraid from having been abused by his
last owner. Over time we became great friends. I was as eager to see
him as he was to see me when he would come running up the sidewalk
dragging Bill behind. As Bill and I sat in the rockers and told
tales, Newton searched out the little bits of treat I would give
him. Over the years he got a little gray in the muzzle as did Bill,
and Newt started bringing Barbara by to say hello. Every morning I
would know that he had been by because my paper would be leaning
against the door at 5:30. I would see him walking Barbara a couple of
times a day and every time he passed I would see him from my window,
stop and stare, waiting for me to come say hello. Often I did, but
now that he is gone I wish I had done it more. Lively and hungry one
day and sadly gone the next. Newton had a special place in my heart,
as do Bill and Barbara. I will dearly miss him staring up at my door
from the sidewalk, but when I look that way I will always see him.
Day 1 May 16
Every trip starts the same, either Howard Franklin Bridge across Tampa Bay to the Suncoast Parkway or the traffic chocked US19N. I chose the Howard Franklin route and was on the road by 7. Same stuff you have seen before but here it is again.
I stopped in Hernando to pick up Jim. His wife served me a pancake with berries from her own garden and maple syrup from their friends trees in New York. He followed me up to Live Oak where we had lunch and he turned south back home. On the way up I showed him the grave of Bo Diddley
Like many small towns the only thing in Abbeville is the old court house and a new sign.
I had started at 6 in the morning but by 4 I was still ready to ride a little furth's er, but the next decent hotel on the route was abut 2 hours away so I called it a day in Hawkensville. You really don't need to come here.
Day 2
Today was not pretty. The forecast for heavy rain overnight did not come true but the forecast for rain all day did. Last night there was NO RAIN in the forecast for Asheville, NC my destination today, but like last night, they were wrong. There was rain all over the mountains so I decided to stay on the direct route in the lowlands. It was not raining when I saddled and headed out at 7, but it started shortly after and some type of moisture was falling for 80% of the ride. From a few drops to heavy downpours. I stopped a Peggy's for a late breakfast and a chance to dry out. Actually I did not get very wet wrapped Frog Toggs and hiding behind the windscreen but it was time for a stop.
About 1:30 I stopped in Newberry SC for gas and a think. I was up for traveling further as it had not rained for the last 30 miles. But two things ended that. First, there were no decent hotels with rooms down the road and I did not want to repeat last night. And, as I had just stored my rain jacket, it started to pour. So, Google told me that one block away was the Newberry Hampton Inn-Opera House. That sounded like a dry heaven to me and I was there lic-ady-split and Amanda had me checked in promptly.
The camera battery was dead and I had no desire to dig into the bag in the rain looking for another one so not many pictures. That and it is hard to ride in the rain and take pictures. I chose life over pictures, but I got a few.
The radar looked like this most of the day:
So, the rain abated and I went out to explore Newberry. First stop of course is the Newberry Opera House. It was built in the mid 1800's as a Opera and city hall. Over the next century it went through a lot of changes. By 1996 it was in great disrepair and the city and local citizens decided to save. A massive investment was made to bring it back as a theater and now is fairly successful. They have opera to country music in theater.
Next I walked around the six block downtown area. Most stores are active and there are three high priced restaurants, with entrees in the $25 to $62. A very well stocked wine, cheese, and butcher shop.
To find out how all this came about I stopped in the Chamber of Commerce and visited with it's Executive Director Michelle Long. She said that the come back of downtown that had suffered badly after the "big box stores", i.e. WalMart, came to town was all based around the infrastructure investment in the restoration of the Opera House. The town also started a penny tax for capital improvements and used that to help store owners downtown restore their facade's.
She also told me the biggest employer, 2,900 jobs, is the Kraft bacon turkey plant. There are other much smaller employers, in the 200 to 300 range, in the area. Caterpillar recently shut their plants but the 250 employees quickly found work in the other companies as there is here, as many places I visit, a shortage of workers.
Amanda presents me with deodorant that I am sure I need
Day 3
It was a fair morning in Newberry and
after a couple of cups of coffee we were on the road headed for just
north of Charlotte North Carolina to the town of Spencer and the
North Carolina Transportation Museum. The t temperature was in the
upper 60's but as the morning progressed the temperature fell to a
humid and chilly 62.
I was meeting Capt. Gary at the museum
and we are going to throw Big Red into to his trailer with his new
scooter and drive on up to the gathering. He rolled in from Alabama a
little after high noon and after we loaded the scooter I went to
visit the museum while he sat in the parking lot. The museum is
“transportation” but the big item is trains. It is housed in
the old large train round houses with a very large collection of
trains. They also have a large train restoration operation housed
in the round house.
After viewing history we were in the
truck headed for the world famous Lexington BBQ. This place has been
in business and since 1947 and featured on dozens of food shows.
Despite having grown up in NC and driving past it for many years I
had never eaten here as every time I came by the line was out the
door. Today we arrived after the lunch hour and were seated pretty
quickly. I was surprised that it was as small as it is. The menu is
limited and we both ordered a BBQ which they must have them setting
ready to go as we barely had time to sweetin' the tea before the
plates were in front of us. Chopped pork, red cold slaw, and hush
puppy's. Glad we had it, don't have to go back.
never seen elect a corner on CSI on TV
all I wanted was gas, not a full blown load ad and baseball roundups
here is a good idea, block both lanes during rush hour to pick up some steel plates that made no difference until 10
capt gary's vespa taxi service
Back on the highway we began making
overnight plans. Our cabin in the Douthat State Park was not
available until the next day so we started looking around. My
brothers lake house on Smith Mountain Lake south of Roanoke looked
like a perfect destination so I called him worked out the deal.
Day 4
No dinner to speak of last night so we
stopped a Carl's, a nice country dinner for breakfast. Some grits
and we hit the road. Unable to check in till late afternoon we
unloaded the scooters and toured the beautiful little back roads of
Allegheny County. By the time we got back the other riders had
arrived and checked in.
gary got hungry so we had two choices for lunch....
he chose the all you could eat Chinese. I chose to pass.
dinner with the gang at the local pup
Day 5&6
We spent the next days riding, telling
lies and hiding from the rain. Gary and I road separate from the
group which gave me a chance to visit the C&O RR museum.
Interesting stuff, friendly people. Douthat State Park was built in the 30's by the CCC and we stayed in one of the original cabins.
The first day the group went off on a ride and Gary and I did our own ride. The weather and the roads were great. Just enough sun and just enough curves to make it fun.
breakfast at the dinner
a train house in the middle of nowhere
we were not fishing but we found one in the road
there was a great little train museum
Saturday
We had a delay till about 10. The group headed out for road riding and I went out to find adventure. It started at the RR museum as I could get a cell signal which is a rare find in this part of the world. They let me drive the train and blow the horn.
While working on the phone Stewart came up and had a set. As often happens to me he started to tell me his story. He started with the C&O RR in 1964 and retired in 2006 and he told me about every year between. At times a little long but if you set and listen to people you hear some great stories and his was pretty good. He was not a driver but radio repair man and had spent most of his career right here. Then he got into his entire day at the doctors. This was not as interesting and fortunately Jake came up and it gave me a chance to move on.
I road over the mountain to Covington and found a great fast pitch softball game of 18 year old girls. It was the tournament. There were some amazing players. Two pitchers were amazing. One was a bulldog and one was a tall lanky thrower. I asked the coach, who happened to be the father, about the bulldog and he said she could throw that hard the whole game. She had great control. The tall one had fair control and a great wind up and delivery. The disappointing part is there were not a lot of parents there to watch the play offs.
not many parents
I rode back over the mountain on a twisty narrow road with beautiful scenery. On the back side of Clifton Forge there was a large RR yard. They were shifting coal cars and I stopped to talk to them. I did not take pictures at the train as I had left the camera on the scooter.
I agree. Lets start with the NRA terrorist
The day ended with a group BBQ in the rain. George, owner of Scooterparts in Charleston, supplied and cooked some great steaks.
Sunday
Everyone headed for the different points of the compass and their homes. I headed for the Hogan Rd B&B. The ride was chilly under threatening skies but it was a great ride with a lot of country roads and some four lanes when needed. Fortunately, my brother had just come back from the beach and we had great fresh fish for dinner.
Day 8
I was going to move on but the low temperatures and threat of rain kept me put, especially when it is going to clear and 80 tomorrow.
jake givin me help
DAY 9
What a better day. Blue skies and 54
when we rolled out of the Harley/KTM hanger at the end of Hogan Farm
Road at 8 in the morning. Traffic was light in my direction and
steady in the other direction as people made their way to work. The
route today was planned around the name of the towns and a visit to
the Airborne and Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville. Some town
names were food based like Barbecue and Fork. Others were Tar Heel,
Hemingway and Elrod.
Maybe I have been bored or maybe I have destination oriented to much on some recent rides and I have heard from my fans. My writing is what it is but today I was inspired to return to the old Ken Wilson, scooter rider. For the mind set, I have decided a U turn and a photo are required in the first thirty minutes or destination-etis sets in. So the first photo I wanted was actually a railroad bridge that ran over the small road I was on, but living was more important as there was a logging truck on my ass and nowhere to pull off. So, I waited until I saw interesting church and a U turn brought the picture to you.
hey ken, slow down and take the picture
Fayetteville traffic was rough but I
rolled into the Airborne and Special Operations and the NC Veterans
Memorial right at opening time at 10 am. I walked the Memorial first.
Lots of flags are out for the up coming Memorial Day. I do not know
why, and I think I wrote about this a year or so ago, the public's
lack of knowledge about Memorial Day piss's me off. Maybe it is old
age, maybe I am tired of these NRA right wing nuts that want us to
“carpet bomb” egad on by phony patriotic politicians. Do not
thank me for my service on Memorial Day. Memorial Day, I remind you
again, is about those soldiers and their families that gave the
ultimate sacrifice..... their lives.
does the NRA know about no guns here?
there was a very small corner for the "triple nickels" the black paratroopers.
The museum is very well done. A little
lose with the facts but most things are. It is free and I spent about
one and a half hours in it. There are two five minute “simulator”
shows. They show simulated military missions on a big screen out of
focus. The seats are like a Disney ride except the programmer thought
that if you just keep jerking the audience around violently that
would be cool. Some of this was supposed to be a helicopter trip and
I can tell you if that I flew like that I would have been run out of
the Army.
Back on Big Red, I made my way out of
town and down US401 to Raeford, NC home of my Momma and many of the
relatives. I found the Edinbourgh restaurant, “since 1980”,and
had one of those great meat and two. It was brown, but only the
hushpuppies were fried. The meat stew over rice, field peas and okra
and tomatoes was prefect for lunch.
Next stop was Fairmont NC, formally one
of the largest tobacco selling towns now just hanging on. As I was
making my way through town I saw a sign that said “Farmers Museum”
so I made a turn off course and back downtown, all three blocks of
it. It took a little effort but I found the museum in the old train
depot. I walked in and there was a gentleman setting in a chair I
would later learn was Mr. Charles Kemp and not very welcoming. “Glad
to have you in our museum” or anything like that. I asked if this
was the museum and replied in the affirmative and said it was
“through that door”. I headed that way but got a “wait, I
have to turn the lights on”. The museum is small but interesting.
Originally it was named the “Tobacco Museum” as that was the sole
purpose of the train depot. Two local trains companies moved the
tobacco sold in the twenty one warehouses to Winston Salem in the
long past hay days The museum is now about farming and the area. When
I came back out into the small lobby Mr. Kemp was much more open. He
has been Mayor of Fairmont and now is on the council. A slight bit of
prejudice came out when we talked of his defeat for re-election for
mayor. He had taught history in the local high school for thirty
years and retired and then taught ten more years in South Carolina.
He had a strong attachment to the train depot as he grew up swiping
the floors here since he was nine.
this is a tobacco planter. you would fill it with water, drop a plant in, push in the ground and pull the handle. this would place the plant and water it at the same time.
green tobacco would be tied on the stick and hung in a tobacco barn where it would be cured with heat until it was golden brown
this is one of the burners used to cure the tobacco in the barn
Mr. Kemp
Next stop was to meet Roland and his
mother fishing. They had tried three creeks today with no success. We
chatted for awhile about fishing and I move on down the road.
there are a lot of small business started by GI's after WWII still in existence today
We rolled into Georgetown SC about
four. A great time to end a two hundred and thirty mile ride.
Georgetown is a small town on the water with a small downtown and
despite a steel mill and a paper mill right downtown it has a fairly
successful B&B and restaurant business. I chose bed by Hampton at
the marina on the edge of town and had a successful end of ride
evening a Chacons next door on the water. I had a bottle of wine in
my hand as I was leaving and the manager, Tisha, asked “do you have
a wine glass or don't care?” I said I would love to have a wine
glass instead of plastic cup and she handed me one. A great end to a
great day.
the margarita tasted better when served by Brook
my wine glass benefactor
Day 10
The day started with a slow pace as
there was not far to go nor much to do, so I went down town for
coffee and a danish. I walked around town to wear
knock off the Danish but the walk was not long enough for that, but it was a pleasant time. You can see in the
pictures that the now closed steel mill and working lumber mill look
over the town. I met Anita and Lorri who take a morning stroll on the
boardwalk. Lorri cares a 9 iron just in case there is a golf course
close by.
this house was being painted to match the flowers below
Down the four lane highway went to meet
our old and very dear friend Louise and George. Louise at the boat
Felicity that she and Ken the carpenter have been working on for
years. Ken has worked on this boat for over ten years and this is his
second rebuild. The boat is not anything special. It is one of two
built by a no name builder from Maine, but to the owner it is worth
the hundreds of thousands of dollars he has but into it. There is unbelievable workmanship in this boat. Ken and Louise are very talented. They hope
to relaunch this year.
this is Heidi and she is a sweetheart. she loves to play tug with that ball and grab it and fling it about. be careful, she may swing it in your crouch. I know.
From there I was supposed to go to tour the York Town aircraft carrier on display in Mt. Pleasant. I did not enter it into the GPS as it is huge and I was sure there would be lots of signage. The only sign I saw was at the light covered by a bush that said turn left which was three lanes from me. There were no U turns until you crossed the bridge to Charleston and I did not think it worth the effort to return plus it saves me something for future dates and I continued on to the Johns Island Marina to meet George. We. visited for awhile but then he was off to the dentist. Shortly Louise was home and George was back and we were off to Foley Beach to meet George's best friend from New Your City. George and Yancy had been firemen together in New York with George being Yancy's boss. There are many Yancy stories and are told often. The best one is when they had a lieutenant on temporary duty and Yancy showed up for roll call in a bra and panties. The lieutenant did not bat a eye and Yancy wore the outfit around without geting the attention he hoped for when the fire alarm went off. Yancy pulled his jacket over the bra and off they went. At the fire Yancy and the lieutenant were up the ladder when Yancy opened his jacket and told the lieutenant “my bra is killing me can you unsnap it.” Not batting a eye the lieutenant reached up and undid the bra. Watching this by accident was one of the many vice chiefs who immediately left the scene. George also owned a pretty renowned bar in NY that everybody from the editor of the NY times to the great Donald Trump who he has nothing good to say about, hung out. Oh yea, and Yancy tried to kiss Mayor Koch when he gave George and Yancy a medal for bravery.
this guy is cleaning a shark he caught out of his kayak. it was about 38 inches and to big to bring the kayak and had to paddle it back dragging the fish.
george
Yancy and George
We said our goodbyes and I headed for
Beaufort. I pulled out on US17 and headed south and shortly came up
on the road closed in both directions and all cars in my direction
were in the left lane so I joined them. While waiting for the light
to join 17 I saw many police cars flying down the highway with lights
and siriens. The strange thing was the cars being directed left
where not making a U turn so I pulled up to a sheriff car one car in
front of me that was blocking the highway. When he rolled down his
window I asked if the road was closed ahead. He very, very angrly
yelled at me “No, can't you see there is a funeral. What makes you
think you can come up here ask that question”. I was slightly
stunned and apologized for upsetting him. Now, as you know, the
Charleston area police do not have the best reputation at the moment.
A slightly different statement, “like there is a funeral” would
had a whole different out come. One officer has now tainted my
opinion of the whole police of Charleston to that that is on TV.
Maybe they are not wrong this time.
The day ended in Beaufort on the waterfront and a nice evening.
Day 11
On the road I use Google maps a lot for
directions and recommendations for restaurants etc.. Not wanting to
eat the “free breakfast” at the Best Western I googled breakfast
restaurants and found thThe Palm and the Moon Bagel and I headed
their way. Overall it had a good rating but I read the negative one's
also and there were complaints from roaches to poor service to long
waits. I found some of that. It was defiantly not the cleanest place
I have been into and the service was quick but confused. There were
two workers, one seemed experienced and the other a novice. I have
seen more and more of this as summer approaches and summer workers
come on line. Owners tell me they have little choice but hire whoever
will show up to work. Douthat park restaurant was by far the worst.
The waitress's had no idea what they were doing and their was no
adult supervision. A lot of the blame is on the management that does
not take the time train them or as at the park just set them free on
their own on opening night. The end result of all of this is I got a
great cup of Americano, with some instruction from me, and great
everything bagel with dead fish.
Not much to report on the ride to
Brunswick. Savannah was a traffic nightmare. I punched and prodded
like a Panzer division trying to find a weak point in the traffic
that would let me get downtown and through to my destination of
Thunderbolt. In the end Big Red said “screw this” and pointed
himself south. We stopped in Darrien for lunch which of course was a
buffet but I passed on it and had a shrimp basket what with the
shrimp boats right down the street. They were excellent but I am
still thinking about the vegetables on the buffet, butterbeans, fresh
corn, orka and tomatoes and all those great things. They probably put
sugar in though. My waitress said the kitchen had shorted me on
shrimp and brought me about another dozen medium size shrimp.
I had always wanted to stay in
Brunswick and this was my chance. I chose the Manor House B&B
because someone, Rusty, answered the phone. It is a large elegant
old house that has been redone. It just what I wanted. Karma directed
me here I guess. I rode out to St. Simon Island forewarned by Rusty
that the traffic would be no fun. He was right. I meandered about an
hour and then stopped in the marina on the way home for dinner of
oyster and gnocchi appetizers and conversation with the bar tender
Cameron, a very nice fellow.
this was a radio controlled airplane airfield. this guy had airplanes under the shed but chose to cut the grass
no NRA terrorist allowed here
riding st. simon island
these people have a building for nothing but building bridges
great pick up game except everyone shot for the three points
rusty making my requested grits.
Day 12
I made the short ride down to Jacksonville totally uneventful.
Michael is on his way from key west to Montreal. 95 miles down
Day 14
After the weekend with Deb and Vicki and a very weak jazz festival I headed home. Bill led the way to Gainesville where we had breakfast and he went home. I continued on and stopped at Jim's were it in about 45 minutes made a cover for my GPS. Sadly it did not work. I rolled into St. Pete about 4:30 with a little over 2000 miles on Big Rd.
