Monday, June 6

Breakfast at 8 and then off to the Grand Canyon of PA traveling all country roads. GPS set for no highways and no unpaved roads and found some beautiful roads with twists and turns, uphill and down, riding beside rivers and streams or mountain drop-offs with flowers blooming and the air sweet with their smell. As we approached our last mountain climb for the canyon we made a left turn onto a small, blacktopped road when suddenly up ahead I saw it turned to gravel. Now this girl doesn’t like gravel – twice I’ve turned the bike over on gravel and broken my ankle one of those times. Bernie has told me I have a phobia which I need to get over. I hit the brakes and the bike began to fish-tail, smoke streaming from the back tire which was screaming her resistance. I wasn’t going to get stopped before the gravel so I released the brakes and prepared to hit the gravel at a faster speed than I wanted to. I heard Glenn on the CB behind me saying to ride it out and don’t use the front brake. I have learned not to use the front brake on gravel but I kept reminding myself as the bike slowed to a manageable speed for gravel. I heard Don say 2.7 miles of this road with curves and uphill climbs. I didn’t think I could turn around so I kept going. I heard Andy and Bernie say something about meeting me at the other end so I thought only Glenn had followed me. We proceeded on weaving past pot holes working the clutch and the back brake to maintain just the right speed. It seemed like 20 miles but finally I saw the end and a blacktop road but it was going to require a sharp, hairpin turn to the right and I had not positioned myself as far to the left as I should have. I carefully walked Abigail around the turn and not wanting to turn the wheel too sharp while still on the gravel which was piled pretty heavy at the end, I got the bike within a hair of the left side of the road which was facing on-coming traffic if any came over the hill and on the very edge of a deep drop over the side of the mountain. Glenn said I made his heart stop – it didn’t do much for mine either – but obviously I made it. We headed up the hill to the park entrance of the Grand Canyon. I could hear very little of anyone else on the CB but I did hear Don asking if someone had dropped their bike. No one came up the hill so Glenn turned around and went back. He radioed up that Bernie had dropped his bike. Don came up to get me on his bike and I left mine at the park. Shirley was sitting up on the ground with Bonnie, our nurse, holding her. The ambulance had been called and arrived in just a couple of minutes. We all traveled to the hospital in Wellsboro where it was determined she had broken her shoulder in two places and was going to have to go home because it required surgery. The remainder of the day was spend finding a U-Haul for Bernie, loading the bike and his trailer, getting our girl out of the hospital and doing all the necessary stuff to make her as comfortable as possible. They planned to head home tomorrow.

Sunday, June 5, 2001

Breakfast was our first order of business. Andy and Bonnie had gone to Lewisburg yesterday and lead us to a great place on Water Street. A huge building that had once been a textile factory but the machines were silent now and the dust had been swept from the floors. Now there was a nice homey restaurant surrounded by 125 consignment shops selling handcrafts, vintage clothing, books, antiques, furniture, you get the idea. We spend an hour or so wondering the multi-levels of this old building serving a modern need. We ladies thought making another trip up in a van or trucks would be a wonderful idea (for some reason the men didn’t agree). I got an old spinning top with a closed flower inside that opens to reveal a bumblebee when you spin it for Zoey and a Teach Me Bear for Todd with buttons, zippers, belts and shoe strings to work on.

Last night a group of 8 people touring the area on vintage bikes stopped at the campground. This morning Don was checking the bikes and talking to the owner of the bikes and leader of the tour. He told us about Bill’s Old Bike Barn just 30 miles from here. According to him and the website Bill has collected a little of everything you can imagine so we decided to head to Bloomsburg and find it. We were not disappointed. The ride was nice on secondary roads and we were overwhelmed with everything to see. Bill has even created a little town “Billsville” inside with various stores and even a tavern with a complete bar from the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. We spend a couple hours and still didn’t see everything.

Check out the website at http://www.billsbikebarn.com/

A stop for lunch and then back to the campground where Bernie proceeded to build a fire (we have dubbed him the fire maker) and I began the fixings for homemade ice cream. Bernie cooked hot dogs over an open fire, Andy did the second batch while everyone kept telling him to stop placing them directly on the burning logs. Glenn chopped some wood (really playing with the hatchet) and after our dogs and chips we began making smores. Bonnie prepared the crackers and chocolate while the guys roasted the marshmallows. Bonnie took the first turn cranking the ice cream freezer and then the guys took over and within a few minutes we had orange ice. The cards were dealt out and the quarter knock games began until it was getting too dark to see.

Heading Out to Steel Steeds

Pulled out at 6AM and joined everyone at the bank parking lot and headed north by 7AM. Had a great ride with a few extra miles since I changed my mind and the GPS settings in mid stream. Oh well - we were out for the ride and it was fun. Stopped for lunch at 1PM and while eating another biker came in and wanted to join us heading for Steel Steeds for the BON rally. The more the merrier. Arriving at the campground we eased our way down the gravel driveway to our trailers. Not bad trailers either - miniature models of home. Well not exactly but they are nice campers. The guys immediately set about gathering wood to build a fire - thank goodness Bob the owner of the campgrounds brought us two loads and soon a roaring fire was going. Just like survivors LOL. The campground was providing a BBQ so we ate here and then sat around the campsite and the guys played their first game of quarter knock. Just after turning out the lights for night the sky began to light up and thunder rolled. Glad we had good weather while riding.

Scouting Trip to Galax Virginia

Every year we send a small scouting party to our rally location to find a hotel and set up a block of rooms at the best rate possible. This year I was able to be a part of this fun activity. The plan was to ride straight down on Thursday, spend Friday and maybe Saturday checking hotels and restaurants and then ride straight home on Sunday. Galax is about 430 some miles or so from home so riding straight through was going to be tiring I knew.

We packed light for only 4 days and stuffed everything in the two trunks of Bessie. Don had the ice chest filled with bottled water strapped to the little slide-in and one last leather bag with my sneakers strapped to the back seat. We pulled out of our drive at 5:45 AM bound and determined to beat Bernie and Shirley to the meeting location in Templeville. One hour later we joined George Hires at McDonalds on Kent Island and headed west around the Washington Beltway to Front Royal and then south down I-81. The cooler so carefully strapped to the slide-in on the back of Bessie came loose as we travelled 65 mph around the beltway. I wonder if that thing bouncing down the highway caused any accidents.

Weatherman was calling for rain and we had a couple of slight periods of rain where we would stop and put the rain gear on and then take it off and then put it on again. Then just 8.9 miles from Hillsville we stopped. It was beginning to rain and Don had just hear on the radio a warning of an approaching storm with 1 inch hail, heavy rains and 65 mph winds coming right for us. We pulled into a truck stop just in time! Grabbing the GPS and covering the CB we ran inside and watched out the windows as more and more bikers pull in as lightening flashed and thunder rolled and the hail began to bounce off the pavement. Three times the rain let up and we walked outside only to have the storm circle back around and start again. Mountains surrounded us and the storm was bouncing off of them like a ball in a pinball machine. After spending 2 hours in the truck stop we, like the other bikers, decided we were going to mount up and go; the lightening had stopped and the rain had slacked. No more than a mile down the road the rain came again in buckets. By the time we traveled the 8.9 miles we were all wet and poor Bernie had packed their clothes in a small bag and strapped it to the top of his bike's trunk and had not covered it with anything water proof! Every stitch of clothing they had on them and with them were soaked. Dripping water all over the counter of the Super 8 we signed in and headed to the nearest restaurant for dinner 13 hours after leaving the McDonalds on Kent Island.

Friday George talked to the manager at the Super 8 about the rally and got prices for our group to stay there. Then we went to the Quality Inn to see what our chances were of getting a reasonable rate and to our surprise the manager offered us a fantastic rate at this fairly new hotel with great amenities. Okay hotel choices selected now to find a banquet location. The manager of the Super 8 had suggested the Countryseat Restaurant right across the street for dinner so we discussed the idea of a banquet with the manager. Not a problem and within a few minutes everything was discussed and the room surveyed.

Mid morning - now what to do? Well lets ride to Galax and find the Rex theater and a short walk down the historic district brought us to The Galax Smokehouse, winners of the "Best of the Best BBQ Restaurant Award" from the National Barbeque Association for 8 years in a row. It wasn't lunch time yet so we decided to leave the tasting until the rally.
Heading out of Galax we wondered some of the best back roads with our destination being Mt. Airy (Andy Griffith's hometown) for lunch at Snappy Lunch where Don and George had the famous pork chop sandwich for $4 and I enjoyed a cheeseburger for $2. I was riding on the back of Bessie but I've made a mental note of the roads and how I found them and this is going to be the ride I lead during the rally. One of the roads was very much like Snake Road when we were on the 2009 rally at Smith Mountain Virginia.

Back to the hotel and then walked to the Countryseat Restaurant for dinner around 5:30 pm. Ate our fill of a wonderful buffet, sat and talked and laughed and then - it started raining again. Not a soft easy rain but a down pour! We had our only dry clothes on so we sat and talked and laughed some more.

We decided to leave for home at 6:30 am Saturday morning and not take I-81 and fight the trucks or that awful beltway with it's never ending construction and traffic. We would head east on 58 where we traveled through fog on the mountain tops so thick you needed a knife to cut it. Reaching Danville Don, Bernie, Shirley and I headed north on 29 planning to take 33 into Orange and then 301 to the bridge and home; a 12 hour ride but much nicer. George continued on 58 to the Bay Bridge Tunnel and then north on 113 to his home in Salisbury, MD.

Bahamas Cruise

Well this is going to be a one time post covers it all. Whole week without Internet or cell phone. I kept pen and paper close at hand so I could write about each day so here goes.

Day 1 - cannot believe this day has finally arrived. Bags were packed for 3 days. Kids were up to help us with the last minute packing which turned a 2 hour job into 4 hours but I would't have it any other way.

Picked Bernie and Shirley up at 9 AM and headed to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast and then to the ship. Checked the bags and worked our way through the terminal and through the security gates. Alarms started going off as I walked through and realizing it was the pins on my jacket and my belt buckle was a quick fix. Then Bernie started through and again the alarms. Assuming it was also his belt buckle I turned around to see him taking his Gerber tool out of his shoe! I thought for sure they were going to take it at the very least and at the worst we would have to leave without him. But to our surprise they let him keep it - guess he doesn't look like a trouble maker. Boarded the ship, found our cabin and then off to dinner. I had ordered an anniversary cake for dinner as a surprise to Don. After 45 years he deserves something. I had been told the waters in the Chesapeake Bay were pretty rough but we had taken motion sickness pills and nothing was too bad until around mid-night when I woke up to hearing some banging and could feel the ship rocking. The banging turned out to be the drawers on the night stand sliding in and out but after a few minutes everything was fine. Probably was exiting the bay and entering the ocean at that time.

First and second day were spent at sea so visited a few bars, went to a few shows and as the temps warmed even got to lay in the sun.

First stop was Port Canaveral Florida where we did an airboat and alligator hunting.





Had a great time. Back on ship for dinner and Shirley was impressed with the dancing and singing the waiters did to entertain us. I think she fell in love with Feland our waiter.

Next day was Nassau - what a beautiful island and great weather. It was amazing to stand on deck and watch our captain gently guide this massive ship into the harbor, turn it 180 degrees and then back into the dock. I think all 2600 guests exited the ship. Oh forgot to mention - this was spring break for the college kids and who would have guessed college kids could afford a cruise. After taking a tour of the island, visiting a beach for an hour or so Don and I headed out walking to find the straw market about 5 blocks from the ship. What a huge straw market on Nassau and I managed to purchase a few good bargins.

Freeport we took the glass-bottom boat tour and enjoyed the beautiful sea and warm sun. Another straw market and then back to the ship. Today's special drink is in a coconut carved like a monkey's head which is also a bank. Todd is going to love it.



Pulling out of port at 2 PM and heading for another day at sea before reaching Baltimore on Sunday morning. According to the ship's fact sheet which Bernie was so intent on getting, the ship's top speed is 25 knots which is about 30 mph. Heading back we were cruising at 25 knots just about all the time but never hit rough seas.



I love to cruise but I probably will not depart from Baltimore again. You do save the cost of airfare but by flying to Florida or Puerto Rico you get to the warm islands much faster.

Travel to the Bahamas

Well the 2011 travel season is just about to begin. Wow it has been a long cold winter! One more thing being marked off the bucket list - another cruise. We will head for the Bahamas tomorrow. Bernie and Shirley will again be our traveling buddies. Suitcases are all packed. Oh it is also our 45th wedding anniversary. I will not have Internet access so I'm going to handle this the old fashion way and take pencil and paper and then post when I return. See ya then.