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Rides
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Links
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Other Stuff
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4/17 -- Hurray! My IBET package has arrived. Let the Riding begin.
4/19 -- After hours of scheming, I decided to go for a ride after work today, IBET hunting. 30 minutes of fighting downtown Baltimore traffic (Orioles Game) found me south on Ritchie Hwy and across Rotue 10 Looking for the Pasaden Post Office. Just off the end of 100, where it meets 177. This is my first stop, so there's a bit of tension and anticipation.
I have borrowed a 20 year old Polaroid camera wich seems to still work and I have fresh film for use. I wheel onto the lot and set everything up the best I can. Snap. I take another picture - closer this time and one for the website. Whew, only 49 more to go.
I decide to ride across 100 to 32 to grab Dayton. 2/3 of the way to 95, I remember Waterloo! Quickly south on US-1 to the Waterloo State Police Barracks. Eventually, the cops will start asking people what's going on, but they leave me untouched for now.
South on 1 to 32 onto Dayton. According to the maps, it's between Clarksville and I-70. Like Baltimore County, Howard County Maryland has no incorporated municipalities, so these little places are basically a crap shoot. The sign at the blinker on 32 says Dayton, with a big arrow left, so left I turn and immediately come to a stop sign at a "T". Gee I hope this isn't Dayton. I've got a 50-50 shot, so I head right and see what's up this way. About a mile later, a small, white unassuming building goes by on the left- the Dayton, Post Office.
Feeling pretty good about my first IBET trip, I head on home.
4/21 -- Boy, I have a long IBET day planned. 500+/- miles and it's raining. First stop, Vicksburg near Hollidaysburg, PA. I tool around Vicksburg - Town Hall, First Baptist Church, First, Second, and Main Streets. No Vicksburg sign, no PO, no cops. Damn! Well, onto Winslow, just before Punxatawney.
I find the Winslow General Store and nothing else. Damn. Well, onto Alaska above I-80 by Brookville. Alaska exists, but th esigns disapperaed about 15 years ago. Damn, now I'm 0-3. Onto Nebraska in Forest County. All that's leftis the Nebraska Bridge and some hunting camps, despite having "reliable" information that the "Nebraska" town sign is still there. OK, that's 0-4. Well Reno is on the map at least, so I head over hill and dale to Oil City and Reno. Snap. Damn this Polaroid is lame- the picture's all washed out, but good enough. I had to stand across the highway in front of the Wolf's Head plant to get a good angle.
Again, I have "reliable" information that the sign for the Village of Idaho is still there; the town itself is long gone. This would be very coolm, as Idaho is only listed as a "possible on the Team Strange website and only shows up on my DeLorme paper map. I head south on 210, east on 156. Damn, there it is. On the side of a friggin hill, on a blind corner to boot, with soft narrow shoulders and it's raining. I figure out a way to position Benny and get the shot without dropping the bike or getting hit by cars. Wow, now I'm pissed at this camera, really washed out photo, but hey it's 20 years old. A quick snap with the point n shoot for security- click-whirrrrrr as it rewinds. Damn, I hope that comes out.
Oklahoma bound, about a mile from my college roommate's place in Apollo and where I intend to spend the night. Nice big green new sign.
4/22 -- Last evening, I bought a brand new Polaroid One Step camera - the test photo. Wow! They're suppossed to look like this? It's GFIR for COG today in Latrobe. Thought I'd grab Kingston while I'm in the neighborhood. Hey, it's on the map. Another remanent town of when stell ruled. Found the old post office, but the signs are gone- Damn. I head back up the road to Latrobe and the pre-designated Wendy's.
4/24 -- Don from the LD List let me know that Knoxville, MD is not confirmed despite the Team Strange IBET page's saying so. I had a long lunch available, so I headed out to Knoxville, southwest of Frederick to confirm Don was right. See Team Strange was taken his pretty seriously, so to question their confirmations requires a bit of work. Don was. I did locate the old post office via an older gentleman. Yup, it's an old post office right down to the "postal police" badges but there are no signs. Damn, another strike out.
I decide to check the side streets, just in case one had a sign on the "wrong side" of the 340 bypass. Nada. Dejected, I head back to work.
4/30 -- I still had some work to do on the Mason Dixon 20-20 rally in Hagerstown, so I thought I'd grab a few IBETs. Monterey, PA is one of 6 possibles in PA alone, and it's a bust. So I took a flock of back roads to get around Gettysburg and Hanover. Just east of Spring Run is the town of Nashville. The shoulder is very narrow here.
Just a beautiful riding day, so I kept off the slab til the last 15 miles or so of my ride. From Nashville, I headed south on 216 to Glen Rock, a true railroad town. The shoulder on the north end is very narrow, making Nashville's look like a Walmart parking lot, so I head to the south end of town looking for more room.
From Glen Rock and onto another "possible" location, Black Rock, PA. Given my luck with these "unconfirmed" locations, I didn't have high hopes. DeLorme shows it as not even a cross roads. Wrong! Just north of Lineboro, on North Church Street, the Village of Black Rock. Son of a gun.
5/6 -- Had some more work on the Mason Dixon 20-20, this time route work. I found myself in Wheeling, WV. From there, I headed up to Toronto along the west side of the Ohio River between East Liverpool and Stuebenville. It's a gem of a town.
From Toronto, it's up over the hill to Knoxville. Yea, finally got it.
I plan to stop back in Stuebenville to call Jean, no phones at the exit, damn. But I did get to cross the new 22 bridge over the Ohio- way cool. My goal is to catch Buffalo on my way to Washington. It's listed as a possible so getting it would be neat and another feather in my IBET cap with Idaho. I turn away from the River towards Washington on 27. Cross over into PA, and there it is. Son of a gun, Buffalo Village. The shoulder is narrow and sloped funny on the west side, so I figure I'll just grab the eastern one. Ooops, not there, so I double back to the west end and park opposite the sign, hoping to get the angle for the shot. Oh well.
Washington, PA is just along the way here about 6 miles or so. An easy one right? It's a county seat afterall. Friggin PA and it's shoulders- thanks PennDot. Another "distant shot", this is the worst so far.
I stopped just short of the I-70 interchange to call home. Jean says "Catherine is in Pittsburgh, you know" so off I went. I had looked at my IBET map; Houston and Boston are on the way to the in-laws in Blawnox. Two quick exits up 79 and there's Houston.
OK, now I'm on a roll. 5 for 5 today alone, almost makes up for that dismal start a few weeks ago. Can my luck hold. I bail th eslab and head across PA 136- what a great ROAD. Cross the Yough and continue north on 51, then 48 towards Monroeville. Boston sists on the south side of McKeesport. As I descend into the river valley, Boston!
I arrive a the in-laws about an hour later and we chit chat about the IBET and Pittsburgh signs. It turns out on this side of town they are few and far between. So this might be a bust, despite being PA's second largest city. To top things off, the Pittsburgh Marathon is in th emornign which virtually closes downtown, making the main Post Office or Police Station out of reach- bummer.
5/7 -- I decide to grab the Blawnox Post Office after so effective scouting by my father-in-law. It says Pittsburgh. From here I head straight home.
5/13 -- Today is the "Slate Run for Buns" ride. I can't wait. I was up early to make sure I made it to Mechanicsburg by 8am so the group could make the trek. Seven showed up, one 2-up, everyone else missed the best buns around, again. Smart ass Rick Shirk decides he has to have a "shot" of the group as we go zipping by, but forgot to tell us. When he slows down to set up the camera, every slows down too. He's probably got a bunch of pictures of surprised looks, rather than motorcycle riders trying to set up for the high speed , reverse camber left turn. oops. Rick, next time, have some one else take the picture. Anywaym to make matters interesting, Rick is now behinds us and he's the only oine who has the general concept of how we are getting to Slate Run. Not to worry, Russell knows his way around and there is only one paved road into Slate Run. To compound the issue, we turned left and Rick went straight at an intersection. oops again.
Eventually, our paths cross again. He had this tale about the throttle cable sticking on his finely tuned and crafted German road machine. I believe the Germans have a phrase for this, it goes something like "Scheisse!" Anyway, Rick took back over the lead and we headed up thru Jersey Shore (Straight at the light, OK). Like I mentioned before, there is only one paved road into Slate Run as the northern end of that road changes to dirt (currently the big iron bridge is closed along that stretch). From the south, you can only get in two ways, one goes through Waterville.
From here, it's onto Slate Run for a great sandwich. Then up over the ridge to Hyner Overlook State Park, 1000 feet above the River below. What a great view. A few hours later, Rick and I try to outrun a line of very violent thundershowers that are crossing the state. At some moments Rick and I are in a deluge and others sunshine. I barely make it home before the line hits Baltimore and the power goes out.
6/4 -- The last few weeks saw little IBET action.
The Mason Dixon 20-20 pre-ride got me
Davenport, WV
The LD List has had stories on Nebraska, PA (the other one) & Ottawa. Go to swing up there for them soon.
This morning I headed out to JT Motorsports and the annual BRR Charity Ride; Wimp laid out the route, so I couldn't resist. It also gave me a chance to push the MD2020 Rally. I paid my $10 and cased the lot for people I hadn't seen in a bit. Pat Sprague (#104) had shown up with his nekkid 76 GoldWing, a GL1000. It was very cool. Anyway, he tried to pick up the Knoxville IBET on his way by: Wrong!
Next thing you know, we're heading up to PA for Nashville and the two Rocks. After nabbing Black Rock, we headed south thru Westminster continuing on 32 for Louisville. The LD List had a note about Louisville being a loser, so my hopes weren't real high. Shortly after Gamber, heasing east on 32, Louisville. Pat quickly pulls his Wing onto the shoulder (all grass) and I head to the other end of town hoping for abetter shoulder. That one has a nice flat spot, but it looks even more dicey than the grass. So back I head to the grass ditch to find Pat waving me in. I pull up on the outside of Pat and the sign, pose for my picture (thanks Pat). I then grab the camera and take my web version
Just about then, a lady comes out of a house about 100 feet away, dog in tow. She yells 'Excuse me, Excuse me" from about 80 feet. Pat and I are both wearing earplugs and our helmets, and we've been putting our gear away to get back on the road. "This is my front yard you know." We both motion like we can't hear her- well bearly - and continue to gear up. We are all of 10' off the paved surface.
Pat and I head our separate ways about 20 minutes later. We'll be IBET hunting at the National in July.
6/7 -- A quick trip from work to grab the Jacksonville IBET. Up 83 and over Warren Road to Jarretsville Pike. Five minutes later, I got my pic, over Beaver Dam Road and back down 83 to home
6/10 -- Mason Dixon 20-20 Rally Day. Leon Begeman and I had agreed to get Nebraska, about 10 miles off the Route. The catch was, Leon had planned to meet at the first International Ninja 250 Owners Group in Binghamton, Exit 3 on I-81. Although he's giving away about 60 horses and a couple pints of displacement, the John Deere 250's got a 500+ mile range and can handle the twisties way better than Benny and the rider (me). By the time I exit the twisties, I figure Leon is a good hour and a half ahead of me. [later I find out it was only an hour]. When I exit onto OH-11, I do some quick mental calcs- yup, I gots boogying to do to make 10pm in Binghamton. My throttle lock had died on the trip out to Hagerstown the previous day and I had to hope my throttle hand could hang in there for the trip across 86. At Corning, I stopped for fuel and recalced the time line- yes, I can catch Leon by 10. Minutes later I am watching my speeds in the "speed enforcement zones" along NY-17 short of Binghamton. Quickly south on I81 to Exit 3, and there sits Leon and the remainder of the International Ninja 250 Owners Group with 10 minutes to spare.
After a brief stop, Leon and I head south on 81 in search of US-6 and the Jermyn exit. Following the directions that Bill Kramer provided, we turn left, left again, go a few stop signs there it is- Damn!
Leon and I finish the Rally about 3 hours later.
8/25 -- OK, I've been really really bad about my journal. Well, I've been busy. You can find my details on the interim locations by persuing the Barney Pages and the Barney Burner Gold pages, OK. That's about all I got until this weekend.
My plan was to confirm the previously unconfirmed Alaska and Colorado PA near Shamokin while on my way to Berwick and 8/26's High Iron COG Ride. I met George Fetsko, from SW PA, near Halifax for the last little bit of the day. Well, both were busts. Not too worry, I got about a dozen good potential MD 20-20 boni in the process.
After we left the back roads for the slab of I-81, we bolted up to the Wilkes Barre exits to bag Kingston- easy right? Well, dipshit here, missed the turn and wound up on the wrong side of the River. That cost us a good half hour. Once we got on the west side of the Susquehanna, where Kingston is BTW, we finally located a sign. I stopped to set up from my photo, as George supervised. All of the sudden he's running towards his bike yelling (I'm totally oblivious, given the earplugs and the task at hand). Turns out some local boob had just backed over his bike- which was legally parked in a space- speaking of dipshits, geez!
We survey the damage, I shoot a couple nice Polaroids for him- mostly cosmetic, prolly around $1k total- that sucks, big time. George and I
decide, now would be a good time to start drinking, so we head to Berwick and accomplish that goal.
The rush is on to get to 50, that magic number. With 31 bagged, one of which is very questionable, I'm sticking to "confirmed" only for the duration. There are 7 on the way to GitD, a 24 hour IBA rally in Chicagoland. Four "locals" leaving just under 10 needed for insurance purposes.
Well, the best laid plans don't necessarily work out. Glow in the Dark didn't cooperate as well as I had hoped and consequently, I'm mailing out my favorite 30 for the "close but no cigar" IBET pin. More details of the IBET shut out is at my GitD writeup- by the way, I'm glad it busted.
