Sunday, 7/28 - So much for that theory!

It rained Saturday night, but by Sunday morning the rain had stopped and the ground was simply wet. Since there was still a "chance" of rain, we put on our gators and rain pants - surely this would be all that we would need to convince Mother Nature that it didn't need to rain on our parade! We said goodbye to Grace and Ken and by 7:30 were on our way to Canaan Valley, West Virginia. Not five minutes away from their house, it began to rain. And the rain stayed with us for about an hour. The good news is that we survived!

I must admit, we really did see some magnificent scenery on our journey from Pennsylvania to West Virginia.  A couple of rest stops along the way, another stop on the side of the road to switch headsets with Vaughn since my headset stopped working and I couldn't hear the Garmin, and a stop to get "groceries" at Walmart and we were on our way to the cabin.



The owners of the cabin clearly said DON'T FOLLOW YOUR GPS SYSTEM. And I knew I was going to be turning onto a gravel road. Not following their directions, I turned where the Garmin said turn - wrong gravel road. Try it again. I turned where the Garmin said turn - wrong gravel road again! This time Vaughn took lead and found the road we were supposed to turn on - clearly marked with the name of the road. Of course!

The cabin was adorable with great views from every side.  So quaint and cute!  If it weren't for this whole needing to work thing, I think I could quite happily wake up to these views each morning.


The plan was to have dinner with our friends, Kate and Katie. But we were exhausted after riding all day. They kindly came to pick us up. Dinner was great! Kate is an amazing cook! We had a wonderful time. They drove us back to the cabin with the plan to catch up tomorrow to go hiking.

Saturday, 7/27 - Playing catch up

Grace and Ken were the best hostess and host! They thought of all kinds of options of things we could do while we were there. We started the breakfast at the Shady Maple Smorgasbord. Although they said the prices had gone up, we found them to be quite reasonable - compared to the you-live-near-DC prices we pay for meals. The buffet had about everything you can imagine. Some of the food I haven't had since I was a kid, and now that I know enough abut what is in it, refuse to eat as an adult - scrapple. However, there are members of my family who do enjoy it, so this pic's for you.

After that we went to the Daniel Boone homestead, a fascinating place to visit with some great photo opps. According to the informational video, Daniel Boone left the Birdsboro area because he wanted more "elbow room". Given the size of the property NOW and understanding it was much larger THEN, I can't imagine, how much more elbow room he could have needed.

The day ended sitting on their front porch listening to the sounds of the great outdoors, talking, and

laughing.   Laughing is a great way to spend an evening and there was plenty of it!  Their cats, Miss Maudie and Dill (did I mention that they are both retired English teachers?) kept us company. The only thing that disturbed our evening was the four cars (yes, we counted - 4!) that drove down the road in front of their house.  It was the quietest road we'd ever been one!
    

Friday, 7/26 - Oh, puck it!

The first stop on yesterday’s trip began with a stop at the Exton Harley Davidson store.  I forgot to pack my “hockey puck”.  For those of you who don’t know, this is a round plastic disk that is placed under the kickstand when you park on asphalt in very high temperatures.  We have also found it to be helpful when parking on gravel.  ­Mission accomplished, so now this is stored within easy access on my bike.

It was short trip to get the Grace and Ken’s.  Their home is on a beautiful wooded lot, but the driveway is almost a complete 90-degree turn straight up hill. Grace and Vaughn were high school classmates.  We visited them on our first trip and they were kind enough to invite us to spend a few days with them.  

 

After relaxing outside next to their beautiful pool, we went to visit the Reading Pagoda.  Given the incline of the drive and the hairpin turns to get there, I was grateful that Ken drove and that we didn’t have to ride our bikes!

The evening’s entertainment was a riot.  We went into the “game room” to play on vintage arcade games and a bowling game.  After that was a game of pool.  In spite Grace’s claim that she didn’t play pool, she and Ken easily beat us.

Thursday 7/25 - And we're off!

I will apologize in advance because I am running a day behind.

OK, so we got started a little bit later than we planned to yesterday. Who knew that after not being used for two years our Garmin would lose it's connection to my Bluetooth headset?  So we grabbed the manual for the headsets, connected the Garmin and left 20 minutes late.

The first stop was at Hearne Hardwoods, in Oxford, PA. If you ever want to see a REAL lumber yard with AMAZING wood, you have to go here.  It was HUGE - barns stacked with lumber (all carefully labelled).  We were both in awe of the size of the place.  And the equipment was mammoth, too.  These pictures will put the size into perspective.

The next stop was at Cumberland Cemetery to visit Mom and Dad.  It had been a while since we'd been up.  We were glad to see that the family plot continues to be well maintained. 

This day's journey ended with a visit with Neha and Shantanu.   Neha made us some wonderful Indian tea.  I definitely need the recipe for this one.  They are expecting their first child in a few weeks.  They are a lovely couple with whom we enjoy spending time.

Oh, along the way we did pass three Harley dealerships.  We stopped at the first one to buy gators (no, not the kind Brint plays with!).  These are rain "boots" designed to cover the top of our boots when its raining.  Although we have our rain suits with us - the pants don't prevent water from seeping into the boot through  the laces.  In MY mind, buying these will be like bringing an umbrella when you think it is going to rain - that is to say, because we are prepared for rain, it won't!  Although right now the weather forecast isn't looking like it's supporting my theory too much...

Lesson learned - pay attention to where you book your reservations!  It was impossible to check into the Hampton Inn ... because I made my reservations with the Fairfield Inn across the street.

It’s the 3rd annual…

OK, so we missed a year last year, but we are at it again – our 3^rd Annual Motorcycle Extravaganza!  This trip will be shorter in distance than the others, but this simply gives us more time to relax.  This will be the Friendship Tour as we will be visiting with friends at each stop along the way.

We start out tomorrow.  Since we won’t have to leave before the sun comes up this time, this will give us time to figure out – how exactly do we get all of this luggage on those bikes??  And due to weather and schedules (oh yeah, and finishing the renovation of the bathroom!!), we haven’t had much time for riding.  So this is going to be what we call an ADVENTURE!  

Home again, Home again, Jiggity jig!

Cody's doo-rag is falling off...

 

We arrived home today around 2:00.  Although sad that our trip is over, it is good to be home.  Cody was glad to see us, but he was well-taken care of by Valerie while we were gone.

We've already started the monumental task of going through ALL the mail and starting the laundry.  Most of our riding clothes are "wicking" and I had been washing them in the sink once we got into the hotel for the night and they would (usually) be dry in the morning.  But honestly, I am quite content to let the washing machine do the job tonight.

Vaughn has offered to wash and wax my bike for me since I did the laundry on the trip.  I think I am definitely getting the better deal on this one because our bikes are DIRTY, especially the whitewalls!!  I think I may have to take before and after pictures of our bikes. 

If you are receiving this message….

We clearly did not win at the casino last night.  We are on our way home, on the last leg of a wonderful trip and time together.  These are the things we learned on our trip:

·         You can never have enough licorice

·         Bad tasting hotel water can contaminate the Camelbak for days.

·         Canada really is expensive.

·         Canadians are friendly – we got waves from nearly every rider.

·         There is no such thing as a motorcycle seat that is too soft or comfortable.

·         Headsets and GPS are worth their weight in gold.

·         Never underestimate the power of a cellphone.

·         Help comes from unexpected sources.

·         Good times really make you appreciate the rest of life.

Short entry today. Just know that we are already planning for next year’s motorcycle extravaganza!