Hi Pat. Lynn and Jim are officially chiming in. Thanks for a superb Rally. (Jane too!
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3,583 miles, 9 states, 15 days motorsickling.
We arrived home Saturday September 30 round 5pm. Lynn and I started our ride towards home from the Rally on Sunday. Leaving the Lafayette motel around 10:30 or 11am, we headed East along 5&20 trying to avoid the rain. Although the rain had mostly cleared by then. As we turned right on NY rt 14 we visited several wineries and bought 5 bottles of grape squeezins 3 of which we shleped to Florida. Talk about loaded down. Anyway we stayed on 14 into PA and picked up US15 at Trout Run. We slipped over the Susquehanna River at Sunbury for a most enjoyable, scenic ride along her (197) East bank making our way along dell and glen to the quaint Pennsylvania borough of Millersburg. Monday had us taking our leave at 10:30 on our way south to Silver Spring Maryland. We rolled along the Susquehanna until we reached the Harvey Taylor bridge in Harrisburg. Ever get a chance to motorcycle along the eastern shore of the Susquehanna, do it!
OK I can see where this is going, and we all have not the time so in synopsis, we visited relatives in Maryland, and in Virginia before we tried to ride the Blue Ridge on Wednesday. Rain thwarted our efforts and we hastened for the tobacco and linen ghost town of Danville VA. My word. Tobacco row in VA is dead. Hundreds of acres of beautiful brick warehouses, of the Dan river corporation tell the tales of second hand smoke and cheap child labor. Breaks my heart to see the once powerful Dibrell Brothers going the way of dial telephones...
If every you get a chance to roll Danville's main street at the crack of dawn, again, do it. An eclectic mixture of architecture awaits you as the long shadows play well with the era gone by. A trip back into time if every I have witnessed such a critter.
We said arrivederci to Danville round 11a.m. and made our way to yes, a testament to all southern boys, Darlington! There we called my bro who happened to be in Florence. We stayed the evening with him and the next day at the Santee river we finally got rolling on the cage slab and made our way home. Ah. The green green grass of home.
Our ride was most enjoyable as we rode ridiculously small amounts of miles and took in the scenery, the ambiance of the townships we rolled through. Lynn sleeping in each morn gave me the opportunity to ride in sleepy towns way before the hustle and bustle of each dawning day.
What more can I say? I can speak at length of our adventures during our return trip. The Red Rose Motel for one. No this trip we were not asked to leave any motels early, just change rooms...
There are those that ask about the Fall colors? Our reply is always, we used to in October, Canandaigua is just too cold during October and we would not give up the Rally, seeing our friends and riding with the bestest folks around, to have the time in October to see the colors.
