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The 25 motorcycles from First State HOG took to the road for the return trip to Delaware Sunday morning May 18, 2008. We departed from the Brookville, PA Days Inn shortly after 9:00am

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We thought that we had seen everything Mother Nature was going to throw at us, but we were wrong! She took one last dip into her wicked bag of tricks to try our metal once again. The first leg of our Sunday return trip from the mountains of Pennsylvania would be a final test of our fortitude.

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I declined to take the lead position as I didn’t feel my best but agreed to ride wing. Al took the lead and off we went. It was raining miserably and the temperature was below 50! My boots were soaked immediately. The plastic trash bags I wrapped around my wool socks didn’t work. The wool hiking socks felt like they had been dipped in a bucket of ice water and soaked it all up like a sponge. If my feet weren’t so damn cold I might be complaining about my hands being cold, but my feet were ten times worse! Route 322 meandered through small mountain villages twisting and turning, dipping and climbing. As we entered a small town the bank sign read 47 degree’s and someone said it was warming up! The constant up, down, twist and turns through small towns in the slippery rain was stressful.  I think we got less than an hour of riding in before everyone was ready to stop at a gas station. We all ran in dripping wet and frozen looking for hot coffee or cocoa. We were so miserable it was funny. Yes our fingers and toes were numb but the only thing we could do was laugh and laugh we did! It seemed no one wanted to mount back up, we just wanted to huddle and wait for the sun to come out and dry things up. Finally everyone had used the one bathroom and it was time to leave. Wet and freezing the mighty First State HOGs mounted their trusty iron steeds and rode forth for the final skirmish with Mother Nature.

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Tags: Trips & Places To Go by Jay Green
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OK everyone here is the story of day 2. I used up my creative juices on the Day 1 story and will try to make Day 3 a post to remember. This may be on the dry side (poor choice of words). I will try to make up for it in pictures.

On Saturday morning forty members from First State HOG awoke like children on Christmas morning in Mansfield, PA. We eagerly peeked out our motel windows to see if Santa brought us good riding weather. What would it be like? Would it be another miserable rainy day or something better? To our pleasant surprise the sun was rising and it looked like a great day to ride!

Excitement was in the air! Men were wiping down motorcycles and women were taking pictures. Bikes were heading back and forth from the closest gas station. Everyone headed over to West’s Restaurant for an excellent breakfast at half the price we are used to paying back home. We packed up our stuff and checked out of West’s Deluxe Motel, then headed across the street to Cox’s Northern Tier Harley Davidson. It was shopping time!

Rebecca Dunbar and the rest of the excellent staff at Cox’s helped us with our purchasing needs as our excited crew relished in the prospect of a fun vacation after all. T-Shirts and souvenirs were purchased by all. We love Cox’s Northern Tier Harley Davidson, it’s a great dealership! It’s like a warm cozy cabin in the mountains with a big deck and Adirondack chairs to rest in.

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Tags: Trips & Places To Go by Jay Green
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Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty & well preserved body…but rather to skid in sideways, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, champagne & strawberries in hand, loudly proclaiming “Wow–What a ride!”

On Friday May 16th, 2008 forty die hard Harley Davidson Enthusiasts from the First State HOG chapter in Delaware embarked on an adventure that will be remembered for a lifetime.  We experienced rain, sleet, fog and cold temperatures. Like Marines training for amphibious assault missions we endured everything Mother Nature threw at us and kept to our mission. The wetter we got the more we laughed. The colder we got the more we huddled together in defiance. We were determined to enjoy our two wheeled vacation!

I was surprised that everyone showed up Friday morning at the Prices Corner Boston Market.  It was drizzling and everyone one was wearing their raingear. All twenty six First State HOG riders and their passengers left at 0900 hrs as scheduled.  Darrel Willis decided that he was going to pass on the trip, but he was present to see us off.

Forty minutes later we pulled into the Wawa in Gap, PA soaking wet for our first pit stop. I announced that this would be a good time for anyone who wanted to abandon the mission. No one was backing out. It was clear that we were all dedicated, or just insane. So far we had been assaulted by killer rain drops that were accumulating in tree branches and waiting for us to ride by. They nailed us in the face, often times right between the eyes. Those trees have taken sniper training, I know it! We regrouped and initiated our invasion into the Amish farmlands of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

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Tags: The way I roll: Stories, Trips & Places To Go by Jay Green
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Diana purchased a bottle of Doc Bailey’s Leather Black a long time ago and it was sitting in the shop unopened. As our Soggy Hog Trip approached my thoughts drifted to waterproofing our gloves and boots.

I sprayed my work boots with a cheap aerosol water proofer from K-Mart. The brand was Texas Steer and it didn’t work. even though I sprayed several coats on my boots. Oh well, who needs warm dry feet?

Back to the Doc Bailey’s Leather Black which is sold at many motorcycle shops and by J&P Cycles. This leather treatment is made special for black leather. It’s great for motorcycle jackets, motorcycle chaps, motorcycle boots, motorcycle gloves, motorcycle seats and almost anything that starts with motorcycle. It’s like goopy shoe polish. The treatment promises to clean, nourish, restore color and waterproof. Doc Baily’s proudly advertises “Developed in Canada for extreme conditions”. I treated our leather gloves, Diana’s River Road boots and my motorcycle seat. It definitiely made the boots and gloves cleaner and softer. Diana’s boots looked like new. For these benefits it worked well and gets an A+. For waterproofing to endure ”extreme conditions” it did not work. A big fat F! Thirty minutes into the trip my gloves were soaked. Oh well, who needs warm dry hands?

The bottle of Doc Bailey’s Leather Black came with an application sponge that you use to apply the goopy black substance. This is something you should apply with latex gloves on. I think there was more of this inky black stuff in my skin than in the leathers. The good news is that I work at a printing company and we have special cleansers for pressmen that takes ink off. It did a good job but didn’t get it all off. Oh well, who needs clean hands?

Do you have any suggestions for good leather treatment or waterproofing products?

Tags: Product Reviews by Jay Green
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Diana and I are back from our adventure into the Pennsylvania mountains with our HOG chapter! When asked on Thursday night if the trip was going to be canceled due to inclimate weather, I said “Screw It, Let’s Ride!”. I lead 40 dedicated Harley Davidson Enthusiasts on a trip that will be remembered for a life time. It was a wet wet wet weekend. We felt more like ducks then HOGs. We have a lot to write about and a lot of pictures. We tested a lot of products, experienced adverse weather conditions, visited great dealerships and have new philosophies and insights to ponder.

Make sure to check back regularly as we post new stories, reviews and adventures as a result of our trip. For now I leave you with this…

Tags: News & Announcements by Jay Green
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To be patched as a Road Captain is a great honor. The Road Captain can make an ordinary ride into a spectacular ride. The Road Captain leads his club and they follow knowing full well that their Captain will lead them as safely as he can. His focus is to lead the group safely and make the trip enjoyable. Just like a Captain at the helm of a ship, he is going to guide you through the adversity that is the open road.

For the prospective Road Captain eager to learn the ways of the road you can only hope to find a willing mentor. Some of you may be fortunate and join clubs with well established Road Captain programs. Others may not be so lucky. Maybe you are trying to start your own club from scratch. Maybe you live in some distant corner of the planet far away from Milwaukee where there are no other motorcycle clubs to model yourselves after. You may feel lost like Luke Skywalker seeking out instruction from Obi Wan and Yoda.

You can take the Riders Edge Experienced Rider Course. You can watch the Ride Like A Pro DVD series. You can watch the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s group riding video. You can get yourself some good books on riding proficiently. But where I ask… “Where is a Road Captain manual?”

Does your club have it’s own manual?

Do you know of a manual that is available to the public?

Is there a reason that this manual may not exist?

If you have one, can you mail it to me or tell me where I can get one?

Tags: Road Captain Stuff by Jay Green
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