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I have to apologize for not blogging for the past 2 weeks. Life has been busy and I have not been riding. My career has been keeping me at work late and I have had road trips the past two weekends by cage. We have been through 8 states on some very scenic Interstates but I have to say the foliage although enjoyable is a little drab. Rainy and cloudy weather has not helped in making the trips all they could be but we enjoy traveling anyway; even by car or van. On our trip to Massachusetts for a family wedding we saw bright yellows, especially in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. On our trip to Canton, Ohio for HOG^® State Rally Training we caught a lot of Autumn color in Pennsylvania but today on the way back taking Rt 70 from Ohio through West Virginia and Pennsylvania and into Maryland it seemed like the mountains were nothing but burnt sienna, dark orange and brown. The bright reds and oranges one hopes for are not out there. Although mountains are always pretty, the foliage itself was not spectacular. Spent at least 16 hours in the drivers seat last weekend and then again this weekend. We got to see the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I’m Glad to be home.

Tags: 2012 MD/DE HOG® Rally, Trips & Places To Go by Jay Green
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Just past St. Michael’s on Maryland’s eastern shore is a gem of a destination known as Tilghman Island. Diana and I were introduced to Tilghman Island in 2008 when friends took us on a ride to Harrison’s Chesapeake House for crabs. Harrison’s Chesapeake House is awesome and we have always wanted to return and stay overnight. The chance to return arrived… Diana organized an overnight trip for our H.O.G. chapter this past Labor Day and we were happy to discover that Harrison’s has a special celebration called Buddyfest every Labor Day weekend. One week previous to our trip Hurricane Irene swept up the east coast damaging coastal properties from North Carolina up to New England. Although half the roof was taken off the deck bar and restaurant at Harrison’s, Buddyfest was still on! We were told that Buddyfest usually attracts a much bigger crowd but many people (not us) canceled their Buddyfest visit to the shore.

Diana led our trip with sixteen First State members on eleven Harley-Davidson motorcycles followed by one mini SUV. We arrived at Harrison’s mid afternoon on a warm sunny day. We parked our motorcycle in the unpaved lot in front of Harrison’s among pick ups, cars and other motorcycles. We checked into the friendly establishment who had set us up with a block of hotel rooms near the swimming pool with a spectacular view of the Chesapeake Bay.

Diana immediately set up shop at the deck bar and restaurant and ordered crabs with pitchers of Yuengling beer. We commadeered two picnic tables and placed them end to end. We ate and drank while another group of bikers wearing cuts featuring a one piece RC patch took over the dance floor and bar. There was a live band and everyone was having a good time including a native Indian man who looked as out of place among the bikers, tourists and locals as a black sheep. Some of our friends decided to enjoy the buffet inside at the more formal restaurant.

After gorging ourselves with a seafood feast from the Chesapeake waters we put on our bathing suits and regrouped at the swimming pool. Summer was basically over and it was just warm enough to enjoy a sunset swim while sharing pitchers of Yuengling and chatting about riding. From the pool in front of our cottage like rooms we had a great view of the bay and the festivities at Harrison’s. It was a perfect evening but still early.

We put on dry clothes and regrouped again at the inside bar where I made the mistake of getting involved with several shots of Jack. The bartender at Harrison’s was a nice women but what she considered a shot was more like a small drink in most bars. Definitely the biggest shots I have ever seen. We sang karaoke, danced and laughed for several hours before calling it a night. I do wish I called it a night before the shots.

If you like fancy motels on crowded touristy beaches then Tilghman Island is not for you. But if you like a low key laid back festive atmosphere where you can put on a bathing suit & sandals and hang out in a comfortable picnic-like setting then I highly recommend you stay the night at Harrison’s Chesapeake House. Make sure to say “Hi” to Captain Buddy Harrison and make plans to be at the next Buddyfest!

Click here to see all the pictures.

Tags: HOG®, Trips & Places To Go by Jay Green
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The last weekend of July 2011 attracted HOG members from Delaware and Maryland to Salisbury, Maryland for the 2011 State Rally. The 2012 Maryland/Delaware State HOG Rally will be Father’s Day Weekend in Deep Creek Lake which is a resort area in Garrett County, Maryland. Diana and I took a weekend long scouting mission to check it out.

We took off on our motorcycles on a Friday evening immediately after I got off from work. We jumped on Intersate 95 South just a little ways before hopping off onto backroads taking us across Maryland to Frederick. We got into Frederick, Maryland at 9:00pm and stayed at Motel 6 for the low price of $61.03 including tax. After riding and kickstands are down for the night it’s always fun to find a restaurant that serves cold tall Yuengling draft like The Outback.

We walked back to the motel and took a few pictures at K-mart.

The next day we took off on our motorcycles again heading west. I had read about a great over look in Road Runner magazine that inspired George Washington to expand the United States westwardly. Panorama view on Rt 9 in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia is among the best views in the country.

Diana took me on a fantastic bunch of backroads into Garrett County Maryland dumping us out in Deep Creek Lake across from the Fort where we got lunch at the Black Bear Tavern. Then we took pictures of all the amusements available at the Fort shopping center in Deep Creek Lake.

After lunch at the Black Bear Tavern we headed to Swallow Falls State Park to take pictures of Maryland’s tallest waterfall: Muddy Creek Falls.

After hiking through the park and taking a bunch of pictures we got back on our motorcycles and headed to Oakland, Maryland where we stayed at the Oak-Mar Motel Restaurant. This is a nice place to stay just outside Deep Creek Lake close to the West Virginia border on Rt 219. Restaurant on site, clean rooms and affordable rates. We paid $87.69 including tax. The phone number is 301-334-3965. We got beer and pizza for dinner at the Pizza Hut down the street and called it a night.

The next morning we got up, had breakfast at the Oak-Mar Restaurant and gassed up and hit the road. We were surprised how cool it was up here in the mountains and we had to pull over to put more clothes on.  In order to get home in a timely manner we did get in some highway and man was it hot when we were cruising I-68 and I-70.

We had a great little trip and took lots of pictures. Click here to see them all.

Tags: 2012 MD/DE HOG® Rally, Deep Creek Lake & Garrett County MD, Trips & Places To Go by Jay Green
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150 years ago our country was ripped apart by civil war. Two years into a horrible bloody war where Americans fought each other the Union soldier’s morale was at an all time low. General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate Army took 75,000 of his men and attacked the 97,000-strong Army of the Potomac in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania hoping to conquer and move on northern occupied strongholds such as Washington, DC and Philadelphia, PA. It was a grueling bloody battle fought both in the city and in the fields but despite the effort of the Confederate’s the battle was won by the North! The South never won another battle throughout the remaining two years of the war. Gettysburg was the turning point and an important historic milestone in the shaping our young country. The Union’s victory over the south defined the importance and sincerity of our belief as Americans in the right to freedom!

I’m no history buff and I have to credit Rebecca L. Rhoads of AAA World magazine July/August 2011 issue for the information paraphrased above from her article Ghost Fields. Although 2011 is the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, as a Delmarva area biker I’m sorry to say I was more excited about the 10th Anniversary Gettysburg Bike Week than the milestone in our nation’s history! I mean come on! This is the 10th year of this fantastic bike week event! There are tattoo contests, bike games and a burnout competition followed by live bands and fireworks!

For the past nine years Gettysburg Bike Week was centered on the Eisenhower Hotel and All-star Sports Complex. This campus provided the perfect location for the vendor village, bike games and live entertainment all within walking distance of a great hotel on the same property. Although the largish rooms are a little dated the Eisenhower features great amenities including an indoor pool under a retractable roof! The plumbing gets a huge A+ with strong water pressure and hot water always ready to shower off the road grime after a long day in the saddle. There is a restaurant and lounge on the premises. Last year was my first introduction to GBW even though I stayed at the Super 8 in Thurmont, Maryland. For the money the Super 8 was a great place to stay! I enthusiastically planned to return in 2011 for the anniversary event and I was excited about staying at the Eisenhower and being within walking distance of all the activity!

As you can tell I have an appreciation for a good hot shower, thus the idea of camping does not appeal to me. I’m sure the concept of a camping bike rally is a successful one as is demonstrated by the huge success of campgrounds at Sturgis. I for one felt it was a turn for the worse when I found out GBW had been relocated to the Granite Hill Campground. Although many hard core bikers may prefer the camping rally, I was not in the mood to ride all day in the July heat with sunscreen on and then apply bug spray on top of that in the evening without the creature comforts afforded by a clean largish hotel room with air conditioning and running water! So I stayed at the Eisenhower and rode over to the activities held at the campground.

You can’t rewrite history but you can reinvent your Gettysburg Bike Week experience every year! The event covers the entire town, not just the happenings at the GBW campus! Although you pay event admission to enter the event campus where the vendor village, games and entertainment take place the event itself includes off campus festivities at: Battlefield Harley-Davidson, Bay City Restaurant, Ventura’s Restaurant, The Pike and Sharpshooters. Vendors set themselves up in parking lots around town and all the local businesses are glad to open their doors to the visiting bikers. Last year I spent all my time checking out the vendors, watching the bands and the fireworks on Saturday and then enjoyed touring the historical battlefields on my Harley-Davidson motorcycle on Sunday. This year was totally different! We spent less time at the vendors and didn’t catch the evening entertainment at all. Instead we took in the sights on Steinwehr Avenue. We had dinner at The Avenue Restaurant on both evenings and felt right at home with the super friendly service and old fashioned country style diner food. We strolled along the brick sidewalks and visited the gift shops and civil war reenactment outfitters. The Regimental Quartermaster sells really cool period authentic guns and swords!

The weekend flew right by leaving dozens of things for us to do on our next visit to Gettysburg. Next year I will go on a ghost tour and check out some of the museums. I would like to see The Lincoln Train Museum and the American Civil War Wax Museum & Gift Center.  You don’t have to wait until next year’s bike week to plan a trip to Gettysburg, but as a biker it always feels a little more exciting when thousands of like minded two wheeled riders thunder into town knowing we are invited guests of the city.

On Saturday we finished checking out the games, stunt show and vendor village at 4:00pm. We grabbed dinner at the vendor village and killed about an hour or so. The sun was blazing and shady spots were few and far between. I wasn’t going to claim a hay-bail and sit in the hot sweltering sun for two or more hours waiting for the bands to take stage. So I missed the live entertainment and the fireworks! Yes, I gave up and rode back to the comfort of my hotel room even though it was the allure of the bright explosions bursting in the sky that probably attracted me in the first place. Even though I was disappointed in the change of venue I would tell you ten times over that GBW is a great rally! I encourage you to visit Gettysburg during Gettysburg Bike Week. Ride the rolling back country roads through meandering hills and farmland. Explore museums, gift shops and local taverns. Ride through the battlefields where our own country men fought each other and thousands died shaping our country’s dedication to what it means to be free and to be an American!

Click here to see all the pictures we took.

Tags: Trips & Places To Go by Jay Green
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Last year Diana and I went to Gettysburg Bike Week by ourselves to cover the event for Fast Lane Biker Delmarva. We enjoyed the event on Saturday and rode through the self guided tours of the historical battlefields on Sunday. This year we went with some members of our HOG Chapter and spent less time at the event grounds. We spent Friday and Saturday evening strolling along Steinwehr Ave. There is so much to do along Stenwehr that Gettysburg has a whole travel brochure and website dedicated to just Steinwehr Ave. Check out www.EnjoyGettysburg.com

We enjoyed dinner at a friendly diner on Steinwehr called The Avenue Restaurant on both Friday and Saturday evenings. The food was good, prices fair with great service and a smile. They made us feel welcome and I ate so much I thought I was going to explode!

Steinwehr is a convenient straight shot in from our motel; the Eisenhower on Business Route 15 Emmitsburg Road. Emmitsburg Rd goes through some of the battlefield before arriving in town where it becomes Steinwehr Ave. Here are some pics Diana took while riding on the back of my bike into town to meet up with our friends for dinner.

I enjoyed the Eisenhower. The rooms were large, the plumbing was awesome and the indoor pool had a retractable roof like the Astrodome! The powerful hot shower was the best of any I have ever enjoyed. I didn’t want to come out of the shower. Their toilets had Sloan flushing devices in them that could suck a golf ball through a garden hose! I kept playing with the flusher which sounded like a jet rocket taking off! WHOOOSH!!! I didn’t want to leave the bathroom. My wife is going to kill me for telling the world about my obsession with the plumbing. Click here to check out the Sloan FlushMate.

Tags: Cool Video & Pics, Trips & Places To Go by Jay Green
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If you have been following this story you know that a small band of First State Chapter members traveled west from Newark, DE to Hagerstown, MD skirting the Mason-Dixon line using only backroads through rolling farm country. We arrived in Hagerstown in time to have a fun dinner at Barefoot Bernies and a few drinks at the Cancun Cantina West before returning to our rooms at the Clarion. On Sunday we woke up eager to get back on the road and continue with the Smell The Flowers II trip. We grabbed breakfast at the hotel which was a big disappointment. Ithought the Clarion would have a nice spread but I have had much better at Best Westerns, Days Inn and Super 8. After checking out Diana lead us on a 8 mile backway from Hagerstown to Williamsport. Still no highways for us!

We pulled into the back lot of Williamsport Harley-Davidson, parked and registered for the Williamsport HOG Chapter River Rat Poker Run. I think we were the only HOG Chapter to participate. That is a shame because the roads out here are great! A rider from Williamsport HOG Chapter lead us through their poker run route running through historic areas along the Potomac River such as Antietam and Harpers Ferry. They switched the direction of the route from last year making it much safer. Last year every card stop was a left turn across the oncoming lane. Right turns are better! We enjoyed the ride, the scenery and were happy to take home awards for both furthest distance traveled and organization with most particpants! Diana won a t-shirt and Erin tied for 3rd best hand in the poker run! We were the first bikes out and it seemed like we waited forever for the last bikes out to come in so we could claim our prizes, but it was worth it! For the record I would like to mention First State Chapter won Most Particpants last year and Furthest Distance the year before. We rock!

Click here to see all the pictures from this trip.

After claiming our prizes it was time to saddle up and head home. For the trip home we would hit I70 and do some highway riding.  We got off in Sykesville and Diana took us to lunch at E.W. Beck’s not far from the exit we got off at. Beck’s is a great tavern! Diana took me there on  a date once before we were hitched.

The rest of the way home was backroads and we finally arrived at our final gas stop. It was such a great weekend and we all enjoyed riding together that as is sometimes the case we felt a saddend to say goodbye. It was another 50 miles to Newark, DE and as we got closer home different members of our party peeled off and honked and waved as they separated from the group. Everyone arrived home safely and another successful trip is now in the history books of First State Chapter. Diana did a kick ass job of planning the trip and leading the ride. My wife is awesome!

From Clarion in Hagerstown to Williamsport H-D - 8 miles

Right onto Rt 40 .2 miles

Right on Eastern Blvd .5 miles

Right on memorial Blvd 1.2 miles

Roundabout 4th exit Virginia Ave 4.3 miles

Left Governor LaneBlvd 1.3 miles

Right into back entrance Williamsport H-D

From Williamsport H-D to E.W. Beck’s - 63 miles

From back lot take a right on Governor Lane Blvd .7 miles

Left on lappens rd Rt 68 2 miles

Left on Downsville Pike Rt 632 1.4 miles

Right on Rench Rd 2 miles

Left on Sharpsburg Pike Rt 65 .5 miles

Gas Stop If Needed

Sharpsburg Pike Toward I70 .2 miles

Left Ramp to I70 East 50 miles

Exit 80 Rt 32 towards Sykesville

Left at bottom of ramp on Sykesville Rd Rt 32 4.7 miles

Left on Sandosky Rd .4 miles

Right into the back parking lot of E.W. Beck’s

From Sykesville to Belair

From back lot left on Sandosky Rd

Gas Stop If Needed

Left on Sykesville Rd Rt 32

Right on gamber Rd Rt 91

Right on Baltimore Blvd Rt 140

Left on Butler Rd/Worthington Ave Rt 128

Left on Tufton Rd/Shawan Rd

Right on York Rd Rt 45

Left Ashland Rd Rt 145

Left on Green Rd

Left on Baldwin Mill Rd Rt 165

Right on East West Highway Rt 23

Right on Hoagie Dr

Left in back of Wawa parking lot

This is the “Goodbye” Stop

Belair, MD to Newark, DE - 50 miles

Get on Rt 1 East and merge with Rt 273 East

The End

Tags: Trips & Places To Go by Jay Green
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