A Little of This, and A Little of That

We haven't been riding much, actually not at all the last month really. Why? Well, the weather has sucked, but the bigger reason is a bike outage - Bryon's stator went out. Oh sure, we can push start the awesome carbureted Evo and get the potato potato sound going, but the battery won't charge, so it won't run for long. Anyway, we're fixing that (at least it went out during poor riding weather).

In other news, I took a few friends to the annual breakfast and fundraiser held by the Tri-County V-Twin Cruisers. That not only was a huge, delicious breakfast, but raised funds to help out one of their members who is dealing with a bad heart and out of work in the meantime. It was held at the American Legion Post in Sebring, Ohio. The event raised $2300, so a big success and a huge help for the Lease family. My friends and I walked away with Chinese auction prizes.

Bryon went to the Yankee Lake Swap Meet with some friends. He found original manuals for is 88 Harley-Davidson Springer Softail, and a cover plate for that thing on the side of the bike somewhere (Okay, I suck at part names, so here is a photo!).

Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming, so in the way of work, we will be working at the store 7 days a week with our expanded hours on Sundays from 11am to 4pm. We open like this every year for the holidays. Our last open Sunday will be December 24th. 

When the snow comes, don't be sad, for it's a time to stay merry and happy with family and friends. Spring will return!

~ Stitchblade 

Do Good For Others, It's The Right Thing

As a business, we don't have the opportunity to do the big events like other groups and dealerships (ha, not yet!), but we do the little things that make a big difference anyway.

So, we were notified of a post on Facebook where a woman was reaching out to the biker community to see if someone could help her: she wanted to inspire her husband's moral as he went through therapy at a nursing home to help with his Parkinson's Disease. He used to ride motorcycles, for a good thirty years at least, we learned. We contacted Pam and let her know we could help with her request for someone with a trike to take her husband for a ride!

Rallying our close group of riding friends, including John who has a Goldwing trike, we planned to surprise Ken on Sunday, October 1st, and boy did we! As he stood outside the nursing home entrance with his wife and boys, we pulled in with six bikes and the trike. He was so moved, and cried, and it was a moment that makes the Live To Ride, Ride To Live statement ever so true. And necessary.

After introductions, Chuck loaned his leather jacket to Ken as it was a sunny but chilly day. Pictures taken, we boarded the bikes and took off up Gypsy Lane to Belmont and headed north. As we left, Sandy told us Ken shot his fist into the air as in saying "yeah man"! He hadn't been in the wind for over five years due to the PD, balance and control too impaired.

But a trike, man, that is a literal life saver. For some, inspiration.

Bryon lead us up 193 to Rt. 88, and we turned west making our turnaround point at Mosquito Lake. A brief rest and some bullshitting on the causeway made for time to get to know each other.

We headed back east. And as usual on motorcycles, you say, oh, just an hour ride will be fine and three hours later you just accept that fact that time doesn't rule you on a motorcycle. Yet, we did make a pit stop at Truck World where Ken decided that he had a great ride but was done. We all went over to Waffle House for some lunch, and then parted ways.

Good days. Good times. Good friends. And good deeds. None of it goes unnoticed nor forgotten.

Hale Farm and Village, A Nice Motorcycle Ride

On Sunday, August 27, 2017, I lead a group ride from Hubbard to the Hale Farm and Village located in Bath, Ohio. It's an old farm with some of the original buildings plus others that replicate pioneer farm and town life. I was there almost 40 years ago with my grandma and sister, and now as an adult who rides, it seemed like a nice place to take my biker friends. 

There is a newer building that houses the welcome center, a gift shop, and a food shop. It begins with a little of the history, then you walk out back into the village. We didn't see everything; it's a self-guided walking tour, so be prepared.

Our first stop was at the house that is an original from another Ohio location, but represents what an original house on the Hale farm would have been like. Low wood beam ceilings, a huge hearth, and even a bed. The bed, we learned, has a rope "box spring" base that the bedding lays on, and has to be tightened. Watchdog is shown here using the big wood key that turned the rope for tightening. The phrase "sleep tight" comes from this history.

 Watchdog tightening the bed

Next we stopped to see the blacksmith working on decorative leaf posts. There is a video of him working on our YouTube channel.

 The Blacksmith

 Bonehead watching the blacksmith

As we kept walking, we happened upon the barn where brooms were made. Nobody was there, but you could see all the steps it takes. 

 Broom barn

 The Broom barn and other buildings across the yard

I missed getting a photo of the potter and the kiln, but they make all kinds of pottery there, which is then sold in the gift shop. I got a nice mug. The same goes for the glass blower, this time it was a young woman who learned her skills at Kent State University. When I was there as a kid, it was a man doing the work. There is a video of the glassblowing on our YouTube channel too, here. 

In one large house were three women demonstrating fiber arts - weaving, spinning, and dying - of wool. Since I've done those things, it was interesting to me. There is also a house where they demonstrate beeswax candlemaking. 

Then we just hung out, by the fences, took breaks on the benches, and all around had a nice time. The weather was perfect! It was 160 miles round trip for us. We had lunch at Fisher's in the town of Peninsula (great chocolate milkshakes).

~ Switchblade

Gettysburg, PA - 3 Days

We had a bigger vacation planned for this summer, but our stupid car and van had to throw tantrums - in other words, they needed serious repairs. That left us with a little less money so we opted for a 3 day trip to Gettysburg (we went there last year too). Here we are at our first break just north of Apollo, PA.

Over the hills, but not quite through the woods, we finally got onto Rt. 30, the Lincoln Highway, and made our way east. It was my first time riding those winding mountain roads on my own bike, and I did just fine. The last mountain on the downside is no joke, fun, but to be respected.

Here is a video on our Youtube channel of Bryon in the lead, then me, and our friend Goldilocks taking a video from behind us.

We stayed in town this time, which was so much better. Our motel was literally amidst shops and restaurants, and right at the edge of the battlefields and a national cemetery. The land was marked with gravestones of old and new, and of those who could not be identified. It was a beautiful place.

Unknown Soldier Markers

Site of the Gettysburg Address

In town we found souvenirs, even Gettysburg patches, so those were installed on our vests the day after we got home. Watchdog and Tiny had an undercover moment on some benches (maybe they're secret agents!). 

We did the standard ride over to Battlefield Harley-Davidson to get unique shirts, including those with rebel flags on them - the store can make them, but they can't have the Harley-Davidson name on them due to being "offensive". 

Got caught in the rain at Starbucks

Tuesday morning we started our day at McDonald's for breakfast and took a ride through the battlefields. 

It was a longer day home, about 15 hours because we stopped a lot, and detoured north to visit DuBoise Harley-Davidson. By then we were whooped, but went across the street to the DuBoise Diner to eat. The long ride home along Rt. 322 was made intense when Bryon's headlight went out and he was almost hit head-on by a big truck. He lead the pack home as usual with the use of his hi-beam light, surviving dashing critters and fog on Scrubgrass road. Safe and sound. We're ready to go again!

~ Holly, a.k.a. Switchblade

Groundhog Day - in July

We went groundhog hunting, kind of. It was our 2nd annual sunrise ride, when we get up at 3 am to be at breakfast by 4:30am, and hit the road at 5am to ride into a sunrise instead of the usual sunset. Yeah, right. We're talking about bikers in the wee hours - some move fast, others not so much!

But we hit the road at 5:30 heading east out of West Middlesex, PA on Route 62. Riding out to Mercer, we snuck behind the courthouse to catch Scrubgrass Road (Bryon's favorite because it feels like you went through a time warp to get closer to Franklin, PA compared to 62 and 956). We stopped at the Sheetz in Franklin as usual, bullshitting under the new sun.

Our destination was Punxsutawney, PA, the old stomping grounds for our friend Tiny's dad. We caught Route 322 east at Franklin, and that is a nice road for riding. Through Clarion and some other small towns, we made it to Route 36 South, turned right on that, and made it to groundhog country.

If you've never been there, but maybe to other towns known for animals (like Cincinnati and it's flying pigs), Punxsutawney is marked by giant painted statues of groundhogs. Biker's can be a smart bunch, so I'm not sure why we all kept calling them beavers! Well, of course, our dirty minds kept making beaver jokes, like when we stopped at Lily's restaurant there and Hammerhead noted the footlong weiners on the menu, to which I replied that they were for the giant beavers! LOL, even the waitress laughed and had to walk away.

Lily's food was good. I think we'd all recommend it as a good stop on a ride east. And she has a bakery next door. We learned that Phil the Groundhog (not beaver) resides at the public library in town when not working in February, so there we went. There's a viewer windows on the outside of the building and you can watch Phil eat, play, or apparently what he does most - sleep.

There was this one cool groundhog statue painted like the Statue of Liberty. Really cool. Didn't get pics of the other ones, so I guess you'll have to ride out there yourself. Round trip mileage on the route we took was 240 miles. Maybe you'll have your own sunrise ride and make it out for some good riding, delicious food, and some big brown beavers.

Eat to ride, ride to eat,
Holly

The Ohio Route 164 & Route 9 Loop

As usual, we're busy riding and working and, well, here's a little about a recent ride.

In June, Stitchblade let a 200 mile ride south of Youngstown on Route 164. If you go through Columbiana and Lisbon on state route 164, you'll find a really nice road with sweet curves and sweeps - but respect the 5,000 yellow arrow and speed limit signs, the curves are real!

We followed a nice loop that on Google maps resembled the outline of West Virginia. You stay on Route 164 south until you intersect with Route 9 in Kilgore, Ohio. Follow that North. It will bring you to Route 172 - turn right/East - and go to Mark's Landing at Guilford Lake, that's where we landed.

It was a nice, busy place, and took a few minutes to get parked. It was a Sunday, with poker runs coming through. The food was actually good, so we recommend it as a stop, plus the lake was nice.

We reversed route and went back the same way. Okay, so if you do that, make sure to stop at the only gas station for what seems a million miles that is just up the road from Mark's Landing. We had two guys run out of gas. Reserve fuel was hailed after we found a town with not one, but TWO gas stations!

It was a hot day, humid, sweating even while riding. Lots of red arms and faces were brought back to Hubbard. Seriously, if you have all day, the 164/9/172 loop was a great ride. Next time, I think we'll stay on 164 and see where it goes.

Destination: Cincinnati, Ohio

Oh sure, we've been out on the bikes here an there since January. Usually it's been on the way to eat at a favorite restaurant - some can be mentioned, like Fat Jimmy's BBQ in New Castle, PA, while others will forever remain unnamed because we have friends who are food critics and well, sometimes it's embarrassing and we want to be able to go back again.

I digressed (also called mildly venting). Anyway, way back in 2002, I met a young girl, Felicia, at a school where I was conducting my anthropology thesis work. She was in the fourth grade, and I was 32. She took me on a tour of her neighborhood - which I was fine with being into traveling and culture and all. Now in 2017, Felicia is all grown up and got married the night of May 19, 2017.

Two choices of vehicles were at my disposal: my Jeep, but it needed the brakes replaced, or my motorcycle, Poseidon. Fuck those brakes! I decided to take Poseidon, by myself, first overnight solo trip on my own motorcycle! That's what bad bitches do, folks.

I took the back roads. Routes 164, 9, 4, and 22. Route 22 connects Cincinnati to some place in New Jersey. 22 goes right into the heart of Cincinnati city, but I only had to go to the northeast suburbs.

What a ride!

I had only gotten my motorcycle license endorsement three weeks earlier, but I was ready and I had to get to Felicia. Rt. 164 is a nice road, good conditions, winding, hilly, pretty. Of course I didn't get photos (my hands were busy). Bryon taught me well; I whispered his advice and knowledge to myself constantly. I made it there safe, and I even think my riding was better than when just around home.

Here are a few photos I took when on breaks, and of the beautiful bride. - Switchblade