Motorcycle Rides With Unexpected Things Seen

[carolinarider09]

This may not be  something you are all interested in but, as I have been riding since 2001 and taking real trips since 2004, I have seen many things that I did not expect to see while on the road. 

The beginning was February 2004.

I started planning some long rides ( well 1,500 miles or more round trip) for some of the people I worked with and some of their friends. 

The first ride was with three riders and myself.  From there it expanded to 10 or more and then it returned to "three" of my closest riding friends, from about 2009 on. 

Each trip is documented via photos and movies.  And, after 2006 or so, each trip is documented via the route proposed from Microsoft Streets and Trips and a Garmin GPS.

But the trip is not specifically what this thread should be about.  I suggest that we talk about the things we found, saw, or experienced that we did not at all expected. 

Most of those things I will post here are sort of simple things but things that surprised me none the less. 

Key West, March 2004

The first trip and the first unexpected thing I saw was on our trip to Key West in March of 2004.  I sort of knew about Key West but had never heard of the "Hogs Breath Salon" (0:49 at the ink below).

And of course I knew that US 1 ended in Key West, Florida, but I did not expect to see the "0" mile marker sign (1:00 at the link below).

And yes I still have my T-shirt from the Hogs Breath Saloon. 

Oh, I am the guy on the left at the beginning of the video linked below.

https://rumble.com/v70c7fe-trip-to-key-west-our-first-march-2004.html

[carolinarider09]

Trip to Key West 2007 (Our Third)

https://rumble.com/v70c7uk-2007-trip-to-key-west.html

Truck Stop at time 1:44  Cafe 27 US 27 north of Miami, FL

Trip to Maine  August 2007

https://rumble.com/v5qdnlh-2007-trip-to-maine-via-canada.html

The Blue Bird Dinner - (Andy Griffin Show) 0:16

New York - Watkins Glen 2:05

Ontario Canada - Days Inn Emergency Exit (what about snow) 3:03

Seymore Lake Market 4:42 (the reason Billy was grinning at time 4:44 is because of what you can see at time 4:45)

Princeton University 7:18

Grave Digger 8:28

[carolinarider09]

In September of 2017 we went to Nova Scotia for a third time (fourth for my wife and I).   We wanted to do another tour of the Cabot Trail.


The trip was to taken 13 days and would cover 4,355 miles.  

Our plans were to spend days nine and ten in Sydney, NS and explore the Cabot Trail and Cape Breton Highlands National Park. 

The route we had planned.



However, it was a very rainy day on day one of our stop in Sydney  and we looked for another alternative “tour”.  I checked stuff on my laptop (which I always look with me on trips) and found the Cape Breton Miners' Museum in Glace Bay Nova Scotia, Canada.

So, we rented a car (why ride in the rain for a tour of an underground coal mine).  And that is what we found.  We were not only underground but it was also under the Atlantic Ocean.

Miners Museum Cape Breton

https://www.minersmuseum.com/

Think of that, touring a coal mine under.a body of water……..  It was real and I do have one picture. 



I believe Billy, my riding partner, is the tall man directly in front and to the right in the image.

I forget what we did on Day Two of our stay.  I think we just toured Sydney.  It was a nice place and we were not totally upset we missed the Cabot Trail ride.   And, in truth, we were not totally disappointed. 

[carolinarider09]

Back in Time (a little) to August 2006 - Trip to Mena, AR

This trip was all about riding the Talimena Scenic Drive.  I wanted to ride that because it was something I had never heard of.  And there was also the song Tobey Kieth sang.  It was about his life.  The song was Honkytonk U (see link below). 


In that song Toby sang about his grandmother who owned a Night Club on the Arkansas Oklahoma line. He would go there in the summer time to work in cleaning up the bottles and stuff in the bar.  But, at night, he got to sit in with the band. 

I wanted to see if I could find that spot. I looked (it was 2006 so things were not as easy to find as today) and could not find the Night Club (see Note 1 below).  But I did see the Talimena Scenic Drive. Sort of like the Blue Ridge Parkway, but in Oklahoma. 

So, I designed a trip to visit and ride the Talimena Scenic Drive.  Our route took us through Rich Mountain, AR.  As we arrived in the area, it was close to lunch time and, just by chance, we found the Rich Mountain Country Store. 

Here is the list of things that I did not expect to see on this trip.
 

Referenced  the video linked below in “Drop Box”.

Warning: there is nothing really bad in this video but there are some “suggestive” things we encountered at the Rich Mountain Country Store.  Some might be considered “R” rated.

Time 0:03 - Elvis Presleys Home in Tupelo, MS and his “Front Porch Swing”
Time 0:05 - A car in the Elvis Family garage in Tupelo, MS.
Time 0:25 - Rich Mountain Country Store
Time 0:42 - The “restaurant” inside the Store and the Menu
Time 0:47 - The “Owners” wife who works at the check out counter
Time 0:49 - The “Owners” wife’s greeting us (well we were all just chatting).
Time 0:53 - The “Restrooms” are “Outback” (AKA Outhouses.)
Time 1:01 - The beginning of the “strange” things that happened in the parking lot. 

Here is a summary of those things. 

At 1:01 the owners wife is with a lady who drove up in her pickup truck as we were getting ready to leave.  She is a true “Southern Lady” She is walking barefoot on the black asphalt parking lot in the August heat. 

Now the owner, the gentlemen with the white hair and mustache, is beginning to show us some tricks at time 1:14. The first one, getting a coin (I forget the size) to stick to his forehead.

At time 1:45, he is using a pencil like stick to cause a small propeller to spin.

Now you have to consider what he says at time 1:55 when he talks about a camera that can also take video pictures. 

What is interesting about that is I had my small digital camera with me on the trip to take pictures.  It also has a video feature.  When the gentleman started his “show”, as discretely as possible I shifted my camera to video mode, held it down my my side, and the rest is history. 

At time 2:35, The owners wife (with the other lady standing beside her) tells us how she remembers her shopping list.  The shopping list is

Shampoo
Two Jugs of Milk
And Fantastic

WARNING!!!!!  Her list is "R" Rated but nothing explicit. 

At time 2:53 we finally get to Talimena Scenic Drive. 

At time 3:19 there is a good picture of my Riding Campions.  From left to right Henry then Billy, next Leo and then me on the far right. Leo is now riding free above us all. 


Henry still has his Harley but does not ride. I am not sure if Billy still has his Wing but he does have an RV trailer he and his wife use frequently during the year. 

At time 3:23 we see (from left to right) my 2003 Valkyrie, Henry’s Harley, Leo’s Goldwing, and then Billy’s Goldwing.

At time 3:34 we found Toad Suck Arkansas. 

At time 3:37 we visited Elvis Presley’s home in Memphis, TN.

At time 3:48 we have a group picture in front the the “Wall”.  Billy, Leo, me, and Henry.

I still have the T-shirt and the belt buckle.   They are special and allow me to remember all the miles the four of us have traveled and all the things we saw and encountered and enjoyed. 

Drop Box Video August 2006

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/86veqaa2bzkp9odq1n18e/Menea-AR-2006.mp4?rlkey=f43li75xabilvxnw2lubyv6hz&st=3fe5spup&dl=0


Our route for this trip.




Note 1: In the YouTube Vidoe linked below, the location of the Night Club is identified. It is or “was” in Fort Smith, Arkansas.  Fort Smith was just north of our route we traveled as can be seen in the image above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTqm_LHcSyg&list=RDPTqm_LHcSyg&start_radio=1

Note:  I tired my best to get the times right. I tired to make sure the text is correct. 

In Summary. It was a hot summer trip.  We truly enjoyed the trip.  As you will note, I still go back in time to ride it again.  And, yes, a few years ago my wife  did try and ride the Talimena Scenic Drive.  It was no where near as good as the ride my friends and I did in 2006.  The Rich Mountain "place" was still ther but not open. 

Memories.   Memories. 

If you got this far, thank you for reading and riding with me.   

[Jess from VA]

While not totally unexpected, today was a perfect riding day in cool weather, but I got in 4 road construction backups in the first hour.  The fifth one was backed up to the horizon, so I did a nice tight Uturn (2-lane), and came home.   

Not a total loss, I cleaned up leaves and mowed the lawn.   

[flsix]

Having lived in SW Fl. for 46 years I've ridden to Key West a number of time and spent time a quite a few of the bars down there. Fun times. Thanks for the reminder.

[carolinarider09]

Having lived in SW Fl. for 46 years I've ridden to Key West a number of time and spent time a quite a few of the bars down there. Fun times. Thanks for the reminder.

 

That is also why I decided to do this post, to bring back some of the memories from the fun times the four  of us had.  Great friends and riding companions. 

[Robert]

Well about two hours into the ride at night from Key West, we stopped and my son in law says,

"when do we go over the seven mile bridge". I said only about and hour and half ago and both my son

and me chuckled, but I kept a close eye on him from that point forward. Didn't expect that.