Ice Cream ride with KSU

There seems to be one thing all motorcycle groups have in common - they ride to eat! I started riding with Kickstands Up last summer and especially enjoy the rides Ramona organizes. Her rides meet within a 10 mile radius from home. Another nice thing about this group is they limit the number of riders - max of 12 bikes per ride. As with any other riding group, they are a very diverse group ... all ages - and I'm not the only one with gray hair!

Ten riders met at Panera Bread in Trooper at 10:00 a.m. with kickstands up at 10:15. The ride was over 4 hours of some incredible back roads covering approximately 150 miles with tons of great curves and turns. The highlight of the ride was the destination for ice cream lovers! This ice cream place had 24 flavors of soft serve ice cream plus good diner-like food for those not interested in ice cream. Yes, there were 3 gentlemen who did not have ice cream! Of course, I couldn't pass up black cherry ice cream.

On this ride, I met an old Blue Comet acquaintance - Don. He remembered Bill and I and filled me in on the "new" Blue comets. It seems to be a very difference club since we were members. I guess it can't be too bad, he's still a member!

After the ice cream, I left the group and headed back so I could stop at Jerry and Billy's since I was coming down Rt. 29. Jerry & Anita were busy in the backyard trying to beat the overhead storm clouds. Billy & Bonnie were relaxing in the motor home with Colleen, RC, Rachel and Scott. We got my bike in the garage just in time ... the storm clouds turned to rain so I waited out the rain with them. Billy gave me the information I would need to work at the Friends of the Forgotten Road Ride registration table next Sunday. He is in charge of the registration but will not be there. They were going to Lake Tahoe to support Rachel on her "Century Ride Around Lake Tahoe" to raise money for L&L Society.

Chestertown, MD

On May 24th, the Maryland Motor Maids had a scheduled event to ride to the Chestertown Tea Party Festival. Nancy and I had made plans to meet Cheryl and Kelly at Baker’s Restaurant on Rte. 213 in Elkton, and ride into the Chestertown.

The day started out uneventful. I met Nancy at our usual meeting place off I-95 and we were on the road by 8:50 as planned. It was a beautiful day for riding - some late day isolated thunderstorms were predicted but never came. Surprising enough, there was very little traffic considering it was Memorial Day weekend. We were ahead of our scheduled meeting time … but that didn’t last.

We were traveling about 45 mph along Rte. 40 in the left lane when low and behold a bouncing black object appears on the road in front of me. My first thought was a tire – wrong. It was Nancy’s run away side bag! Both myself and the car behind us missed the bag. We were able to safely pull over and do some back tracking – one on foot, one on the motorcycle. Nancy found the bag tucked in the high grass on the side of the road. Unfortunately, there was one tragedy - the “biscotti” never survived the fall! All that was left were thousands of crumbs in the bag … mixed with some “emergency quarters”! After we bungeed the damaged bag on my bike and, for peace of mind, bungeed the surviving bag on Nancy’s bike, we continued on our way.

All four of us arrived at Baker’s at the same time and continued the ride into Chestertown. Chestertown is located on the banks of the Chester River. The town offers a blend of history, arts and shopping. The Tea Party festivities were held at the park on the river along with vendors, crafts, and all day events.

Cheryl and Kelly had given Nancy a bag of Maryland "token" goodies - crab flavored chips, bay seasoning and some chocolate cookies (I forget the name) - because she is always sharing goodies from the Dining Car; i.e. above referenced biscotti!!!! Nancy was able to find room in her one remaining side bag to transport the goodies back home - which they did make in one piece!

After a short walk through the town, we stopped at the Imperial Hotel for lunch. That was the first time I had “Crab Cake Eggs Benedict” which was delicious. After lunch and another short walk through the town, we decided to head for home to be in front of the thunderstorms – just in case!

We had a great day with great friends.

Spaghetti Dinner and Poker Run

Our annual spaghetti dinner and poker run was held at the Lebanon Valley MC Club and was a great success, considering the weather does not always cooperate. This is the only fund raiser our district holds and there is a lot of time, work and effort goes into making it a success.

Paperwork is filed with the AMA and District 6 and listed in the AMA National magazine and the District 6 events booklet. Raffle prizes are requested from local businesses both motorcycle and non-motorcycle related. The raffle prizes have been a very lucrative part of our fundraiser. As for the poker run itself, the day of the event, someone must lay out the route and mark it with "lime". The lime marks indicate turns: 1 - right turn; 2 - left turn; 3 - slow down; line across road - pull over. Last year was quite interesting when a policeman stopped Helen, Patsy, and Sue and asked what the white powder was that they were dumping on the road. Luckily, he understood and no citations were given out. So, if you come across "white powder marks" on the side of the road, follow them - guaranteed to be a nice ride through country roads!

The highlight of the day is always the delicious spaghetti and meatballs prepared by Mary Ellen - and served by anyone available for kitchen duty - as well as the wonderful desserts from Nancy's "The Dining Car Restaurant & Bakery" in Philadelphia.

There were a total of 72 entries for the poker run, 16 of them were Motor Maids. The MM "Best Hand Award" went to Lois Hendershot. Activity points given for the top three MM hands went to: 1st - Lois Hendershot; 2nd - Pat DeSpirito; 3rd - Teresa Forcia.

"Corrected" awards were given to Sue Goff and Pat DeSpirito. There were a couple "award glitches" from the Wellsboro Banquet that were corrected.

And then the clean-up begins. While Helen and I completed the paperwork to be sent back to the AMA, other ladies were working at putting the clubhouse back to its original condition. It was a lot of work but a fun successful event!