Stator, The GSR travelling mascot.

[dpep]

Am Awaiting the further story of you on scooter with fuzzy teddy bear at Sturgis during bike week.
.

Nobody so much as batted an eye. You have to realize that almost all of the other riders there are themselves in costume. Think Mardi Gras, not Wild Ones. And except for their incredible rudeness and lack of consideration on the noise issue, they are about as nice and polite a group of folks as you are ever likely to meet.
...

 

[dpep]

Stator has moved on

Stator has moved on

Stator is now en route to Allie via UPS. She should have him tomorrow. He left here Wednesday, the 20th, two months to the day from when I received him in June. I already miss the little fella.

I believe his next stop after Allie will be Ohio? There probably won't be enough time between now and then, but I am leaving for Cranbrook BC on Sept 5th and would be willing to pick him up along the way and deliver him there. Another plan to consider would be for him to attend the Dave Davis memorial rally in Missouri on Sept 11-14, the same days as Cranbrook. There look to be a lot of GSR members who will be in attendance there including some coming from (RageZro) or through (JonR) Ohio.
...

 

[Allie]

Stator is now en route to Allie via UPS. She should have him tomorrow. He left here Wednesday, the 20th, two months to the day from when I received him in June. I already miss the little fella.

I believe his next stop after Allie will be Ohio? There probably won't be enough time between now and then, but I am leaving for Cranbrook BC on Sept 5th and would be willing to pick him up along the way and deliver him there. Another plan to consider would be for him to attend the Dave Davis memorial rally in Missouri on Sept 11-14, the same days as Cranbrook. There look to be a lot of GSR members who will be in attendance there including some coming from (RageZro) or through (JonR) Ohio.
...

I didn't plan to keep Stator for any more than 2 weeks anyway, so it would be just fine if you stopped by en route to pick him up. You had him most of the summer but you also covered a l-o-o-o-t of miles with him. My area of travel will be much smaller and less ambitious, due to demands on my time. Still, if you leave the 5th that would put you here the 6th or 7th? That gives me about 2 weeks, and at a good 2 1/2 weekends with him. This coming week I'm off work on Monday and Wednesday, and plan to do some riding with my son. The weekend after that will be a long one too... I've got some cool sights for Stator to see in that time.

I think Stator might be convinced to save you a muffin or three for your trip, I'm pretty sure he likes you. If you have a favorite variety of muffin we might even be persuaded to whup a custom batch up for your arrival.

 

[dorkburger]

Allie, what are your NJ plans for Stator? High Point might be a cool photo op....

 

[dpep]

I didn't plan to keep Stator for any more than 2 weeks anyway, so it would be just fine if you stopped by en route to pick him up.

As much as I am drawn by the scent of fresh muffins I am afraid that NJ would be a little too far off my path. It is over 2800 miles from Jacksonville to Cranbrook by the most direct route. Via your location would add over seven hundred miles and 12 hours of road time alone which would not work in the time window I have. Please postpone my muffin order until my next trip up to New England; that route takes me by your general neighborhood. It will be the incentive for me to veer off and ride that Delaware Water Gap that I keep vowing to do but always skip. Maybe that could be one of the places you show Stator?

He would have to be a little further west, at least Indiana or Illinois, for it to work for me which is why I said there probably isn't the time for him to make it into position. I suspect the people in Ohio if that is where he goes next will want at least a few days with him. For him to make the ride in Missouri (which is the same weekend as the Cranbrook ride, Sept 11-14) seems more realistic.
...

 

[Allie]

Stator is now en route to Allie via UPS. She should have him tomorrow. He left here Wednesday, the 20th, two months to the day from when I received him in June. I already miss the little fella.

I believe his next stop after Allie will be Ohio? There probably won't be enough time between now and then, but I am leaving for Cranbrook BC on Sept 5th and would be willing to pick him up along the way and deliver him there. Another plan to consider would be for him to attend the Dave Davis memorial rally in Missouri on Sept 11-14, the same days as Cranbrook. There look to be a lot of GSR members who will be in attendance there including some coming from (RageZro) or through (JonR) Ohio.
...

I guess you meant pick him up from Ohio, not NJ... No I'd say there wouldn't be enough time.

High Point is a definite maybe, if the weather is nice the weekend after labor day, but I won't go up there until after labor day. I also want to move him along in about 2 weeks, so the 6th/7th is probably the latest.

Mr. Steve might be interested in muffi - I mean, picking Stator up, hoping we can hammer out a deal.

 

[Allie]

As much as I am drawn by the scent of fresh muffins I am afraid that NJ would be a little too far off my path. It is over 2800 miles from Jacksonville to Cranbrook by the most direct route. Via your location would add over seven hundred miles and 12 hours of road time alone which would not work in the time window I have. Please postpone my muffin order until my next trip up to New England; that route takes me by your general neighborhood. It will be the incentive for me to veer off and ride that Delaware Water Gap that I keep vowing to do but always skip. Maybe that could be one of the places you show Stator?

He would have to be a little further west, at least Indiana or Illinois, for it to work for me which is why I said there probably isn't the time for him to make it into position. I suspect the people in Ohio if that is where he goes next will want at least a few days with him. For him to make the ride in Missouri (which is the same weekend as the Cranbrook ride, Sept 11-14) seems more realistic.
...

After you ride the water gap I should think that that alone would be sufficient incentive for minor veerage. However, a muffin stop is open ended, I would be pleased to oblige when you have the opportunity.

And, you bet your cotton pickin' gizzard Stator will hit the water gap.

 

[Allie]

Stator lands in NJ!

Stator lands in NJ!

I went down to practice some piano after my last post, and my seat hadn't yet hit the bench when there came a soft knock knock on my door. There was Stator, snug in his sedan chair! He came with a log book and a suit case with more swag than you could shake a stick at (or arrange in a photo).

I let him stretch out a bit at the piano.



A little closer up: still feeling and looking fresh for all the miles he's traveled.



He complained that the keys were too high for him to reach so I found him something a little more suitable to play.



Our first stop will be picking my son up from camp tomorrow morning, and we'll go from there!

I was skeptical that I'd find interesting photo ops for Stator but he's a ham, and seems to take to any situation with ease. I don't think we'll have any problems.

 

[Guest]

He climbs on thing too.

And watch him. He run as fast as he can climb.

 

[Allie]

Well Stator didn't get his first ride with us until Monday. We had him out again today, managed to see a few sights and snap a few photos. I went to upload them from my phone and realized I left the usb cable at work. I'll pick it up tomorrow, and try to get a pics up by the weekend. We've got some more riding to do too...

 

[storm 64]

Sounds like he's having fun, sounds like you're having fun. Keep us posted.

 

[Allie]

Sounds like he's having fun, sounds like you're having fun. Keep us posted.

He's been having fun... he's been hounding me for muffins!

 

[Guest]

He's been having fun... he's been hounding me for muffins!

Send him to me, I'll make Stator my famous red chile enchiladas with a fried egg on top, mine are the flat not those silly rolled up ones.

 

[Allie]

Oookay so it's time to post some pics of Stators travels. I'm not entirely satisfied with how it's going so far, I think I'm trying to cram too many attractions into each ride, and I'm ending up not doing them enough justice. Time to change strategy a little. Nonetheless we've had a little fun and seen a cool thing of three.

One of our first things was to hit the infamous Shades of Death Road, which has all sorts of ghost stories attached to it.

They had to start using these one piece sign posts a few years ago due to people continually stealing the conventional signs.

We went up Rt. 46 along the Delaware River (very scenic, and hard to believe it's the same road that goes through Paterson and Hackensack) and stopped for hot dogs at a popular stand, 'Hot Dog Johnnie's.




After that we got a bit lost in PA, and it took us forever to get to the next destination. We were kinda hot and tired, and Don wanted to go home, so the trip petered out. We were at Walpack Center when this decision was made, It's a tiny old town that was abandoned in the 70s when the Army Core of Engineers wanted to flood the Delaware Valley at Tock's Island and kicked everybody in the area off their land. A lot of houses are scattered throughout the area that are dilapidated, but the town of Walpack is maintained as a historical site. I didn't have the heart to drag Don around taking a bunch of pictures but we got the post office where we stopped to rest.



There were hopes of putting the post office back into operation in recent years, but fat chance of that under this administration as you can see here. Dig the wanted posters barely visible on the right.



I love the statistics in the Wiki article on Walpack Township, they take 16 people and divide them up in hundreds of crazy ways, including "for every 100.00 women there are 100.00 men'... population 16, folks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walpack_Township,_New_Jersey

And read this write up for some good history:

http://www.nj.com/news/mustsee/index.ssf/2011/01/jersey_state_of_mind_the_town.html

Crazy stuff! This is the NJ I love!

That's it for the first day, Thursday's pics will go up tomorrow.

 

[steve murdoch]

French fries and buttermilk? Yikes!
Back road exploring is always a fun ride.

 

[Allie]

Hah. I always get birch beer.

 

[Redman]

Thanks for pics, Allie. Entertaining.
I am impressed how you and you son can have a fun day riding.
Good that a picture included your bike.
Maybe some time he can take the picture and include you and the bike.

Good that your pics show that NJ is not all urban (like I had thought until recently).

Have fun with Stator, we are enjoying it.

/

 

[dorkburger]

NJ doesnt suck entirely........we tend to keep that part secret:-#

 

[Allie]

These pics are from Wednesday. We went to Millbrook Village, which I had intended to do Monday. This village dating from the early 1800s was also affected by the Tock's Island fiasco and is now part of the state park system. It's only 'open' for a few weeks out of the year, but you're free to walk around all year round. When it's open there are all sorts of people in period clothing and horses and historical activities and stuff, it's cool and educational. It's usually open in the fall so you get to see a lot of stuff like canning and making applesauce and whatnots... I grew up with that stuff but it's still cool to see people in old clothing do it. There's a grist mill there, a smithy, etc.

http://nj.gov/nj/about/gallery/millbrook_village.shtml

http://www.millbrooknj.com/


We didn't get many pics, and although I like to go there when no one's around and drink in the silence, it would have been cool if it were open for Stator's visit.







We did not make Van Campen Inn, a favorite spot of mine, due to time and I didn't feel like dodging craters in the road all the way there. It's really isolated, but that's why I like it.

After Millbrook we went down the southerly portion of Old Mine Road, which is I believe the oldest commercial road in the country or something like that. This portion is closed in the winter, and indeed the road has seen several closures along various segments due to storm damage, flooding, etc. The road is sandwiched snugly between mountains and the Delaware river, so it can get water from both sides in a bad storm, I've gone down it and had to go around trees in the road, and it's common to see washout at the edges, inviting you to go swimming in the river, clothing, gear, and bike included. On this leg of the road there is crash barrier along the shoulder for a mile or three, cutting it down to one lane that you wait at a timed light to enter. The other shoulder is cut right into the rock of the mountains, it's a pretty snug fit for a car. I'd have taken a pic if there had been a place to pull off. There's a pic in this link though:

http://www.outdoors.org/publications/outdoors/web/cycling-new-jersey.cfm

At the southerly end of the road it dumps you onto.... Rt 80. Yeah I know, what exit... This is the most scenic part of 80 in NJ though, I daresay even picturesque. It's like that across the river in PA too, even more so. We didn't stay on long (though Don likes it when we're on there and I wick it up a bit... he's a good co-pilot, that would make a lot of people nervous). We got off at 94 with another photo op in mind, the weirdly famous Paulinskill Viaduct in Knowlton.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulinskill_Viaduct

I've climbed all around up there, it's bizarre following the arches up via worker ladders and hatches, parts of it are actually inside the concrete, and pitch black. It's not the kind of thing you do alone in case you fall and bust your gizzard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lackawanna_Cut-Off

HOWEVER, the side road leading to it was closed, construction barriers sealing it off. They are apparently replacing a small bridge at that end of the road, and the other entrance would have added too much time. Oh well...

A quick stop at the Blairstown Airport to look at planes:





The yellow plane in the background of the first pic was taxiing, and I waited a bit to see what he would do. He was sitting in the grass at the far end for a bit, so I thought he was going to park with the other planes. Cause, planes take off on the runway right? Not this one, he took off in the grass. I couldn't get the camera back out in time.

Last stop before home was a short rest and a whimsical fuel stop at the Old Stillwater Garage. The shop is in operation but the pump is for entertainment purposes only.




There's a similar vintage pump in front of the general store across the street, all rusty and dilapidated with springs sproinging out of it and all. No this isn't a historical site, just a small town not far from my house, and very close to Swartswood Lake.

Stator kicking back:




http://www.oldstillwatergarage.com/

Today we went to Waterloo Village, which is about 15 minutes from my house but I've never been there before. Figures. I think the picture taking went better, I got quite a few which I have to go through and upload yet. More to come....

 

[dorkburger]

Blairstown.........
Is a dirty word to me...Years ago I was pulled over there on my first GS love. I couldn't produce paperwork so I was given 2 tickets, and had my cycle impounded. The bike was fully legal, but after going thru inspection the week before I slipped my paperwork in my jacket instead of putting it in its usual spot. My friends drove an hour plus to pick me up while I waited at a tavern....This being before I enjoyed an ocassional drink. The next day after bailing the GS out, and 2 miles from home I had another far worse run in with the law....
Allie, congrats on living in what is in my opinion the best part of the state.

My late uncle ocassionally talked about Copper Mine Rd and Sunfish Pond, which if i recall are off of Rt 80 by the Gap.