Road Trip!

Last week, Grace and I decided to pack up the Harley and take a 'quick' 1400 mile trip down south. Well, at least south of the Mason Dixon Line! This was the longest bike trip we have taken since we started riding a few years ago. We have done a few over-nighters, but always tried to plan them around good weather and those that were fairly-close-to-home jaunts. This trip required us to brave the elements, although we made a significant investment (lots of money) for rain gear for each of us. The purchased worked, as it fended off the rain!

We left early last Thursday morning and as we maneuvered our way south to Port Jervis through Route 209 in PA, the temperature rose to over 100 degrees. We quickly found out that no matter how fast you go on a motorcycle, it doesn't get any cooler. Picture riding headlong into a giant hair dryer for about 8 hours. But, through frequent stops and much water refreshment, we made it to York without issue.

While in PA we made a tour of the Harley-Davidson plant.
It was my second go-around and saw many different areas and production locations than previous. It was a great tour and while I would love to have my name associated with the building of these bikes, I do not envy those plant workers who have to endure such extreme conditions. It was incredibly loud and the temperatures in the plant approached the high 90s. They earn their pay!

We left there and headed off down the street to Gettysburg and spent the afternoon experiencing the horrors of that 3-day event back in 1863. We took a guided bus tour and I think we learned more in that afternoon than we did when we studied this in school.

The next leg of our trip took us to Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. Here, we made a stop at the Skyline Caverns - where we saw one of the only places in the world to have clusters of shimmering white calcium carbonate crystals called anthodites. They are now a protected by the federal government.



Then it was off to Sky Line Drive and then south to the Blue Ridge
Parkway. We experienced some spectacular sights and these were made more eventful being on the Harley - no 'cage' around us to diminish the experience! Climbing to over 3800 feet we saw sights that have to be seen to believe. Hundreds of miles of constant 'twisties' and elevation changes kept the ride a challenge, but what a blast we had making the run.

We closed our trip with an overnight stay in Grantville PA and an afternoon for Grace to make use of the pool. The trip home went well as we stayed ahead of the raindrops.

Milestones

Not a lot going on at SEM Street, but we thought we would report on a few milestones of recent weeks.

On July 20th, I celebrated 30 years with Travelers (actually Premier, which is part of the Saint Paul Travelers Company). Not a bad run since I originally thought that when I started this job back in 1976, that this job was going to be a 1 year gig! A genuine plastic desk decoration and a certificate was my reward (sarcasm emphasized). A week after that event, and much to my surprise, I was promoted to Claim Manager. While not the president of the company - a position which is not near or dear to me – I was pleased with the recognition and ready to take on the new role. For those that know me, I have this penchant for changing jobs every 22 months (yes, I do track it), so it was time anyway.

Grace and I just celebrated 20 years in Douglas! Wow, time flies and with Patrick and Kristen off doing there things, this has become a very big house. No plans to change, we are just figuring out what we need to do around here to spruce the place up… besides buying more Harley’s!

While not as significant as the above, my Beetle
just passed 150,000 miles. I have never been
an advocate of buying a car every three years or so. First, I could never afford it and second, we have enough vehicles around here so I have a choice to swap around in the event that I get bored with the Bug. Even so, I am thinking that as long as I continue to get almost 50 miles per gallon with this little diesel, I may see if I can get to 300,000 miles. Oh, and I did pull over to take this photo (for Patrick).

Finally a Rain Free Weekend!

For what seems to be the first time in months, we are having great weather at SEM Street. Grace and I took full advantage of it, too. She spent the better part of the morning and early afternoon on Chico rustling around in the woods. She came home with a bouquet of horse scent and with lots of bug bites. I equate this to the bug hits I get while riding the Harley - it is all part of the charm of riding.

I spent the morning doing some errands, hair cut and then the gym. After Grace's rendezvous with her steed, we took of on the 'barc-o-bike' for a few hour ride and then stopped for a late afternoon lunch. All-in-all, I can’t think of a better way to spend the day. Now, for some yard work.

With all of the recent hype over fuel prices, hybrids, and fuel sucking SUVs, I thought I would offer my nickels worth on this topic.

For those that know me, I have always had an eclectic taste in motor vehicles. My dad worked for Ford Motor Company for 50 years, so I guess I developed my addiction to all things motor driven from him. He was always coming home with cool cars and rarely had a car longer than 6 months. Back in the late 60’s through the early 70’s his homecomings frequently involved hi-performance Mustangs, Torinos, Panteras and such. How about a 1968 Shelby GT 500 convertible, red with a saddle interior, with a 428 – dual quad with a 4peed! Oh to have that car today, I could retire. In fact at one time we had matching 1966 Mustangs – one was mom’s the other was dad’s company car. My friends always thought my dad was cool because of his ability to get these cars. It was, after all, the heyday of the muscle car era.

Then came the late 70’s and 80’s! Hi-performance was out and emissions and safety became the newspeak of the day. Anything with more than a 6 cylinder engine just seemed to be wrong. Gas lines, 5 mile per hour bumpers, and Pintos were the norm. These factory hot-rods of the 60’s became boat anchors overnight and you couldn’t give them away. Gas was hovering around a dollar a gallon and if you needed more than $5.00 dollars worth and if you were an ‘even calendar day’ car needing gas on an odd calendar day… well, you stayed home or walked.

As is often the case, life tends to run in circles. Here we are some 25 years later dealing with similar fuel shortage issues. The irony here is that we can have our cake and eat it to. You want to be a tree-hugging environmentalist? Cool, go buy a Hybrid or diesel. You need 500 horsepower and still get 20 miles per gallon; you have more choice today than we did 25 years ago. Better yet the cars are cleaner (emissions wise), safer and faster than the vehicles of a quarter century ago!

As mentioned in my earlier blog, we have a 1971 Mustang Mach 1. It has been a project of some 18 years now and has been a labor of love bringing it back to its former factory condition. It is not the fastest car out there. It has no power steering, it has manual drum brakes and you cannot see out the back to save your life. A Subaru WRX could probably dance circles around it. But it has ‘the feel’ of what the muscle cars were about and that is what makes the difference. You have to really drive this car; it is not a get in and point it down the road car.

Besides the Mach 1, the Harleys, Grace’s daily driver (1998 Sable) and a weekend runner (1996 F150), my daily runner is a 2000 Beetle. When I arrived at work the other day, one of my new employees (he is 17) asked me if that was my wife’s car. I looked at him and was probably looking a bit perturbed when I replied, “no, it is mine.” He said with all seriousness, “I never saw a guy drive one of these before”. No, I didn’t pick him up and throw him across the room, but I did tell him about our “fleet’ and that this was my daily driver. When I mentioned to him that it was a diesel and that I averaged 48 miles to the gallon, he suddenly became more interested and wanted to see under the hood.

The point of all of this is that alternative fuels are not a new thing. Diesels and electric cars have been with us in some form or fashion for almost 100 years. While today’s electric cars are certainly more technically proficient than those from the late 80’s, I am not sure if they are the solution to the gas shortage issue (if, in fact there really is an issue, but that is another post for another day). Diesels were originally designed to run on vegetable oil and with a minor conversion, any of today’s diesels can run on the same. The new SMART car from Mercedes is a three cylinder 2 passenger commuter car that purportedly gets in excess of 80 miles to the gallon! Although officially unavailable in the US, they are drifting in from Canada. Grace and I saw one in Acton yesterday and it is tiny.

We have choice and that is what makes living in today’s world such a great thing. I, at times, consider myself to be stuck in the 60’s, but with the technology we have today - I wouldn’t go back for anything

Welcome to SEM Street

No, it is not an abbreviation of Sesame Street, it stands for Southeast Main Street - our humble abode for 21 years. I have never been known to be of the techno-geek type, but Patrick and Kristen (two fabulous kids of ours) have inspired me to create a common link with the rest of the world - as small as it is.

It never ceases to amaze me that as our lives go on - people tend to drift in there own direction. I don't think this is a bad thing, it is just what it is. Change is always in the wind, and this technology can help stay in synch with each other. From time to time, Grace and I will put up some postings as to what is happening in our little end of the world - SEM Street. Most of it is uneventful, some may be inspiring and some postings may be just a way of saying hello. We welcome your input and greetings.

Welcome to New England - The New Flood State
Thankfully, the weather is finally turning for the better as we have been in a perpetual state of rain for weeks. Grace and I will be able to take advantage of this by spending more time on each of our respective rides. Hers a one horse model aka Paso Fino (I think I have that right). While I am more into the mutli-horse models, this is Grace's one-with-the-world escape (that and Yoga). My escape (and Graces too) is the Harley. (We also have a 1971 Mustang Mach 1 - but that will be a later report) .

Since we took up riding 4 years ago, we realized that our Harley Fat Boy, while a valiant and noble machine, just was not the ride for long distance runs. With that, we invested in a pearl white 2006 Harley Davidson Electra Glide Ultra Classic. Fully appointed with all of the features best suited for the long haul, this steed has proven to be a relief for the glutius. We have really only made a few day trips thus far - including a 350 mile day to the Lakes Region in NH - but our planned goal is to make a multi-day run down to the Blue Ridge Trail in August. We are ready!