Yearly trip to Pennsylvania

[Charlie G]

I'm enjoying your write up. I haven't been in that part of the country in over 40 years. I hope to next year. Nice pictures.

cg

[dorkburger]

Thanks Charlie, im glad you're enjoying it. I sometimes wonder if people enjoy the personal narrative part, but I like reading others', so i chose to write it that way. Whats your plan for next year?

Pilot, thanks for your earlier comments. Im typically the yougest rider (at 43) on these rides, and we ride not to impress, but to enjoy, so things stay mostly calm -save for the oocassional outburst

[Charlie G]

It looks like I will retire in February and I have a handful of states I haven't been to, so I'd like to try to complete the lower 48. My grandfather's family farm is in Western PA and it's a must to visit with cousins. I may only make it to the great lakes but we'll see?

cg

[dorkburger]

Charlie, I finally looked up where you live. That would be an epic ride for sure. Good luck with the retirement plans, etc.

[dorkburger]

Kickin back on Sunday night. We didnt stay in the Inn proper, but the apartment behind. Some of my cousins things are still in there. I was sitting on a seat from A 1940 Ford- a car thats been in their family since my uncle and his friend hot rodded it in the 60s. Currently in long term restoration / suspended animation. The foot rest is obvious- a used, but in decent shape GS gas tank. ( no gas smell whatsoever).

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[dorkburger]

Monday

The trip home is my least favorite day of the weekend. Its almost buisness like and with a deadline of trying to beat afternoon rush hour. It kills the joy of freeriding and exploring. I would prefer a Friday - Sunday, but my cousins days off are Sunday- Monday, so we accomadate his schedule so he can join us, and he rides partway back with us on Monday.

It was cool- 45 degrees when we woke up. I lodaed the bike in the chilly air, and gave it quick going over. I find that on long trips, i seem to lose a bit of juice from the battery, so i carry distilled water and top it off. In this case it was very minimal, but i topped it off anyway.

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When you can see your bikes exhaust, its a good idea to layer up....

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Every year, my cousin tries to hide this on my bike or in my gear. I returned the favor and stuck it in his backpack, but he found it as well.



I was put back in leader mode for the ride back. i tried to choose a semi direct route, yet avoid the interstate. Being Monday, we ended up stuck behind a tractor trailer on a small state highway. Forever. There were no safe spots to pass with one bike, let alone three. Just when our pain was about to end, i looked in the mirror, and Frank and Phill were nowhere to be seen.....Sh1t.... I found a safe spot to pull over and waited for a couple of cars to pass...Still nothing...Sh1t.
I turned around and found them pulled over about a half mile down, with the Ducatis side panel off. There was an awful racket coming from the front head area. He smartly chose to call it, and called his father, who would come pick him up.

Two thumbs down....A long standing joke from years gone by when something breaks. Someone has a pic of me doing the same when my stator cooked years ago in Maryland.

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When thing settled, my cousin more or less kicked us out, knowing we still had a long ride ahead and were now sure to hit traffic. We said goodbyes and Frank and me continued on. It was a good/ bad timing situation. Phill left his phone at the Inn earlier and didnt feel like going back to get it. If he broke down 5 or 6 miles later, it would have been after we stopped for lunch then split up and he wouldnt have had a phone....

The rest of the ride was uneventfuland not particularly exciting. A wrong exit in Wilkes Barre put us on 309 buisness instead of the bypass. In my typical stubborn make no u trun ways, this took us farther south and west then necessary and put us on the boring part of Rt 80. Once we passed the Poconos region,traffic and the number of annoying, incompetent drivers increased.

NJ rush hour(S) is a pick your poision prospect- big highways = a lot of traffic. small highways/ state roads= less traffic, but on a smaller road. Both have become fairly equal timewise. We chose the smaller road and jumped off of 78 and headed down Rt 31 and made our way home while hitting intermittent sprinkles. the sun never came out during the entire day.

Overall, it was a great trip with some excellent riding, and good time spent with friends and family. Turns out that i did leave my atlas up there 2 years ago and its now back in my possesion. I didnt get full details yet, but Phill's Duc had a problem with its timing belt idler pulley, and it didnt seem to cause any major chaos thankfully.

Ive yet to finish unpacking... I backed the bike into the garage when i got home, unpacked the necessary items, and thats about it.....Saddlebags are on the floor, my jacket and pants are on my workbench..... im lacking motivation.....

Hopefully, next year i will add to this trip log.....fingers crossed.

[Charlie G]

Thanks for reminding me to check the water in my battery. Once a year does it for me. Nice little banter going on with the copper wire & hidden package. Seems like your cousin might need to grow his own set and get a GS. Cheers!

cg

[dorkburger]

The wire holds on my sidepanel.....
My cousin has an 1150es that he pieced together from a rolling chassis and rode it for a few years. Its seen little use since he got the Ducati. He said hes been thinking about pulling it out and getting it running. When I asked, he said it was simply parked. No fuel stabilizer, fuel draining, etc.....
For a while the GS sickness ran strong. I had mine, my cousin who is in NJ (Phills brother) had the same bike as mine, and Phill had his. We never got all 3 together though. The twin to mine was totalled in a pretty bad wreck. My local cousin gave up riding for a couple of years, then eased back into it by buying a Ducati 996....2015090595004042-1-1.jpg

[dorkburger]

Phills and my ESs from several years ago.

[GSXR7ED]

Glen, what is that wrapped around with the wire? Too funny.

Your write-ups are great narratives with paragraphs and everything! I look for transitions between each paragraph to keep the reader interested. (My Contemporary Composition teacher drilled us in these points). Keep to one topic per paragraph and support it with 3-5 sentences.

Also, you gotta end with a clincher...summarizing your narrative. I'm critiquing your passage, letting you know what I look for. A+ for you!!!


Ed

[dorkburger]

minor update

I heard from my cousin regarding the Ducati. After mulitple baths of PB Blaster and an extraction kit purchased for the ocassion, the sheared bolt was liberated from the engine, much to his relief.

Also, I had commented on my curiosity of fuel mileage with the recent carb work.... I have no real numbers. I typically reset the trip meter on the first ride of a given year and count the pitifully low miles ridden per season (approx 1500 this year). I couldn't be bothered tracking numbers, but made some observations. 75-85 mph on the highway its still pretty thirsty. I assume I can thank the jet kit for that. At 55-65 on the smaller roads however, it seemed to do much better on fuel then in years past.

[WolfworksCustoms]

Hay...if yer ever in NE Pennsy...shoot me a PM....Im just a 1/2 hr from Milford....

[Zagg]

I was curious when you mentioned PA... Cedar Run sounded familiar so I googled it to check the location and sure enough it's 9 miles from Slate Run. I live in central PA, but we have backpacked the Black Forest Trail a few times very near your families' Inn. Wolfe's general store was the stopping point on a couple trail adventures to get some much needed real food after days of granola bars and instant mashed potatoes.

I have not done any riding up there (rehabbing my first bike now), but it is BEAUTIFUL country and there are countless options from 78 / 81 / 322 to work your way there. There are so many mountain / small town / creek roads. Most of my adventures in my 20's came with a backpack on but you end up on a road trip as well trying to navigate to your trail head. I can't wait to find these roads again on my bike.

Thank you for your story. Don't question your methods. Just like the pics, it's the details that make your adventure ours. They paint a picture for us that we couldn't see clearly without sagging book shelves, breakfast sandwiches, and the spirits of those that were with you.

[dorkburger]

Hey Zagg. I actually looked up you're area when you joined.... There's an Old Navy truck in the Google image.....

We spent 2 weeks every summer growing up in Slate Run. When I was young Wolfe's was a tiny store, a fraction of what it is now. Same owners still. We used to ride our bicycles on parts of the Black Forest trail.
As a kid up there we had to entertain ourselves... the place we stayed had no phone or tv (Hotel Manor payphone is what the parents used if needed). I think that's why I'm not a huge amusement park fan where everything is engineered and laid out for the consumers entertainment... minimal thought process is needed, and the fun of exploration and discovery is all but removed.

My father took me on my first motorcycle ride up there on a mid 70s Suzuki 250 enduro.

Good memories up there. Its so cool to see that the Bald Eagles have made a comeback in the valley.

[dorkburger]

....... so goes another good fellow.

Recieved word this morning that Bill passed. Cancer takes another.....

I didn't know Bill that well, but knew him enough to know he was a heck of a nice guy, and I enjoyed riding with him on our trips. He was good friends with Frank. Childhood friends who lost contact, then met up by chance later in life. The two of them rode together tens of thousands miles in the years after that chance meeting. He was the type of rider who would ride with anyone, any time, to anywhere....it was about the ride for him. He will be missed.

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I think as motorcyclists, we more then most, have an intimate knowlede of fickle nature of life. Such is the reality of our passion, in which a simple ride could end devastatingly. When we were on our trip I made a comment in a gallows humor nature. I noted that if this ride continues as the years pass, me being the youngest by 20 or so years, could conceivably be going it alone..... unless that fickle points at me sooner.


From 2012 I think. Crappy picture of a rainy foggy ride. Bill is in the orange rainsuit.
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Bill is on the left..
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