Sunday, November 15, 2009

Another "last day of the season"

"Toll bridge ahead?? No problem, I have the EZ Pass."
The toll collector guy pictured there said I was in the "cash only" lane.
Dingman's Bridge, on Dingman's Turnpike, in Dingman's Ferry, PA. The bridge has a wooden roadway.

On the NJ side of the Gap, about 20 minutes South of Dingman's Bridge on Old Mine Road, passing motorcyclists were giving me the "slow down" hand gesture. Around the next curve, some hippies had stopped their car in the middle of the road to take pictures of this guy (or girl, maybe). He (or she) was only about 30' back off the road, and seemed content to pose for pics: sniffing, rolling around, pawing at the ground. One of the hippies had a tripod and a zoom lens about 2' long - bet he (or she) got some good pics.

Friday, November 06, 2009

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Quote of note

The burning question...

Friday, October 9, 2009 4:04 PM
From:
View contact details
To:
steve68steve@yahoo.com

"Am I on fire?"

Will your new bike be ready for touring this weekend? How's Monday looking?

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Kentventure v1.5: The Red Menace

Dr. Strangebike dismounts. Where could we be?

Hmmm... lots of concrete and steel plate.

It's a batting cage in Richboro, PA. But wait, it used to b a Nike missile site - specifically, Nike site PH07A

Here's what it used to look like: the elevator leads to an underground complex. According to Wikipedia, Nikes were SAMs located in a small batteries around cities/ targets to defend against Russian bombers in the 50's and 60's. PH07A was one of several batteries that defended Philadelphia.

It's not obvious why someone chose to put a fence around just a section of each elevator.

The site now sits in the center of a suburban sports complex. You can't fling a dead cat in any direction without biffing a soccer mom, her mini van, or her screeching progeny.

HIT THE BUTTON!!! SOMEBODY, HIT THE BUTTON!!!! LAUNCH, LAUNCH, LAUNCH!!!

The ride home involved getting stuck in New Hope traffic and an accidental incursion into New Jersey.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

The shiny pilgrimage: York

A Suzuki V-Strom looked REALLY out of place in this parking lot... more on that later.

A nice display in the tour/ visitor center following a fender thru the different stages of production: forming/ stamping, trimming, cutting holes, polishing, and about 100 painting steps. By comparison, the Vee's fenders are squirted out of an injection molder... done.

Another cool display showing how the sub-assemblies come together. At each "J-hook" (that's what the tour guy called them), another piece of bike is stuck on.

I don't know... a seemingly random assortment of bike guts...

One of the company's most interesting (to me, anyway) products was sitting in the parking lot when I left. The tank and fenders looked to be unpainted stainless steel. I speak enough Harley to know this is a "V Rod."

As I was gearing up, some of my tour mates were milling around their bikes (HD's), and one felt it very important to tell me that he "was at [some place] and saw the Suzukis LOSE the other day!" I really had no clue what he was talking about, and it must have been obvious because he felt the need to say it again - much louder and slower, emphasizing the "lose." I'm not sure what reaction he was expecting, but he got a shrug and a wave. They rode off... feet down and wobbly, in their protective T-shirts and bandannas. I wonder if the Suzuki lost to a Harley.

As I rode out, my hands were getting hot and glanced down to notice that some doo-ragger had cranked the controls on my newly installed grip heaters. I guess I had it coming, what with not buying a shiny cruiser that weighs double, costs triple, and makes less hp than my rice-burner. I imagine if I screwed with some Harley dude's bike while he was away from it, that he'd be ok with it and laugh it off.

Sunday, September 06, 2009

Kentventure, Centralia

A view of what used to be Centralia from the South hill face....

.... where the pavement ends.

On the facing ridge (to the northwest): the Centralia Wind Farm.

Fitzer tours the old Greek Orthodox cemetery.

The marker at 40"48' 00.00N 76"20' 36.00W


... Mr. Adventurepants in quiet contemplation. In the background what looks like a mountain is presumably mining spoil.

Railroad Avenue ends in a blockade, around which a motorcycle can be squeezed. This is as far as the FZ6R could go... silly little street bike. The Strom went a little further up the hill in the background before getting stuck, almost dropped, and turned around...

... to be admired in awe.

Supermoto Boy made it back to the barricade before I could get the camera out to capture a one-week old FZ6R with less than 200 miles on it riding this terrain.

Kent squeezes around barricade; the camera rightly decides the leaf is more interesting.

"Street bike," indeed.

The big Vee gets a photo op from the barricade...

... and is expertly piloted thru the breach in the obstacle.

Mad skills...

Taking motorcycles stupid places works up one's appetite. A random pizza shop in Ashland, PA, where they takes they's Nittany Lions for real-reals.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Waymart - Bruced by 60 seconds.


After the Waymart, PA wind farm tag sat for 4 or 5 days, I decided to head out and get it. I posted to the ADV thread at 8:27am, rode 200-ish miles, then got home to post this Bruce shot at 2:09pm. The guy who got the tag posted it at... 8:27am.

Had I left 60 seconds later, I would have saved myself the trip - but missed out on a nice ride.

After studying the tag photo, finding it in google maps and then google Earth, it was actually kind of neat to approach this one and see it in person. So many things in the photos don't make sense until you see them in person.

The last post (Google Earth) is a satellite photo of this location, a few hundred feet above the bike. If you look at it and this one, you can see the red-roofed barns, the trail on which the windmills lie, the smokestack from Waymart SCI prison, etc.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Google Earth, Waymart, PA

GE is amazing. This is a shot of the Waymart wind farm tag.

Sunday, August 09, 2009

Schukill Haven


The Keystoker "factory" in Schukill Haven, where I met Mark (seen at left side of the pic) for the trip to Lackawaxan.

Saturday, August 08, 2009

New tag


Lackawaxan, PA - the Roebling Delaware aquaduct.

I dropped the new tag here with Mark from klr650.net. The plan was to keep it as far north and east as possible so as to skunk the Philly and central PA guys. After winning the tag at "the cup" in Phoenixville at 8AM, I met Mark in Schukill Haven, from whence we took 61N to 81N to 84E to this tag. Came home via 33, Mark split off at 512.

It was a 325 mile day - 2 gas stops. Ironically, I was talked to my neighbor this evening who was proud of his 200 mile day to Port Jervis, which is only a few miles from Lackawaxan. We both rode 100-ish miles to locations only a few miles apart.

That's almost as freaky was when we ran into our neighbors in Las Vegas.

The Tag-o-Rama thread had been mentioning cheesesteaks for a while - the Philly guys want the tag back locally, and the close-to-Philly guys want an excuse to ride to Philly for a steak. In their honor, I stopped for this (lousy) cheesesteak in Palmer township.


ADV tag grabbed


"The Cup". It's in Phoenixville, I think - don't remember. Posted at 1AM, and I found it first thing Saturday morning.. and only 30 minutes from home. Note the big Givi screen on the bike, on loan from a fellow Stromtrooper from West Chester.

Monday, July 27, 2009

ADV tag drop

The advrider tag drop: Emmaus Moravian Church. Built in 1747, only a few blocks from home.


One big bee hive on the right side of the pediment...
One above the center window up in the steeple.

Fracis Walter dam - Tag grabbed!


...yet another in a long string of pointless pictures of my bike in places dictated by the advrider PA tag-o-rama game.

Did I say "pointless"?! I won this tag and so get to do the next drop.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Bruced again

I thought since rain was predicted I'd have a shot at this one. I also thought if I did get Bruced, it would be because of how long the ride home was for me. I was beaten fair-n-square on this one: a fellow rider had already posted the tag at 10:59AM... and another Bruced at 12:08PM. So, while I was jerking around trying to get the pic uploaded, the winner was already on his way to the next drop; and another rider was posting HIS Bruce shot.

Promised Land State Park - the shoreline mooring area of the upper lake.

Friday, July 10, 2009

advrider tag

After winning the tag from Martin Guitar in Nazareth, PA, I moved it to this favorite riding spot: the boat launch at Leaser Lake.
The thread at advrider.com

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Recent missed tags

The Yuengling Brewery in Pottsville, PA - America's oldest continuously operating brewery. Supposedly the name translates to "young man." The lager is the only beer I drink on purpose.


Muhammad Ali's training camp in Deer Park, PA. Never knew this existed until the tag. Built by Ali in the 1970's to train away from the media in a private, isolated location. The compound comprises 18 log structures and was visited by lots of famous people when Ali was still boxing and living here.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

advrider tag

Cell phone photo and I still got Bruced.

This is a movie theater in Phoenixville, PA, made famous in the movie "The Blob." The scene in which the blob attacks a movie theater was filmed here and apparently they routinely have "The Blob" screenings. Must be weird to watch a movie in which the monster attacks the actual movie theater you're watching the movie in.