Thursday, July 21, 2011
I eat crow ......
All my trepidations were for naught. The rally is going fine. I last heard that there are about 460 registered participants and over 300 bikes. I think the club DID rent the whole resort as I’ve seen no indication that there are any non-participants walking about in a too-much-noise-what-are-all-these-bikers-doing-here-daze. Everyone seems to be having fun and I’ve heard no complaints about the RV camping. RV’ers are parking all over the resort in just about anyplace they can fit their rigs and dry-camping or making do with limited water and electricity. I’m not involved with the rally in any capacity so if there are complaints I wouldn’t hear them anyway. We decided several times over the last few days that our decision to come down here to the Rip Van Winkle RV Park was right for us though as we really like the quiet and seclusion. Some of our friends at the rally site said the partying got pretty rowdy and noisy the last couple of days and went deep into the night. And the resort put on a firework show last Tuesday and the puppies HATE fireworks, so they were said they were happy to be here also.
The day before yesterday we drove down to Saugerties and went out to the old Lighthouse. It was neat and interesting that a lighthouse was needed so far inland. Take a look at the seed pods we found. We Googled “Sharp Thorn Seed Pods” and we think they are from Water Chestnut Trees. Those things are brutal! They are had as rocks and sharp and needles. They would do serious damage to an un-shod foot or hoof! We also took a few photos of a pretty, old church, “Our Lady of the Snow.” We’ve never seen a church that had a cemetery completely surrounding it. Some of the grave markers go back to the early 1800’s and some are as recent as the 1990’s. Yesterday the rally had the “concourse” bike show. About 300 bikes were on display and they were everything from old beaters to beyond belief beautiful works of art.
We’ve decided to not go on the bus trip into New York City on Friday as we just don’t feel up to a 15 hour day (7AM meeting to 10PM return). We will donate our tickets for someone else to use. I haven’t looked at the schedule for today so other than the major banquet tonight I have no plans. It may turn out to be a day of local sightseeing.
That’s it. Enjoy the photos, and if it posts, the video.
Frank
The day before yesterday we drove down to Saugerties and went out to the old Lighthouse. It was neat and interesting that a lighthouse was needed so far inland. Take a look at the seed pods we found. We Googled “Sharp Thorn Seed Pods” and we think they are from Water Chestnut Trees. Those things are brutal! They are had as rocks and sharp and needles. They would do serious damage to an un-shod foot or hoof! We also took a few photos of a pretty, old church, “Our Lady of the Snow.” We’ve never seen a church that had a cemetery completely surrounding it. Some of the grave markers go back to the early 1800’s and some are as recent as the 1990’s. Yesterday the rally had the “concourse” bike show. About 300 bikes were on display and they were everything from old beaters to beyond belief beautiful works of art.
We’ve decided to not go on the bus trip into New York City on Friday as we just don’t feel up to a 15 hour day (7AM meeting to 10PM return). We will donate our tickets for someone else to use. I haven’t looked at the schedule for today so other than the major banquet tonight I have no plans. It may turn out to be a day of local sightseeing.
That’s it. Enjoy the photos, and if it posts, the video.
Frank
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Bike Show Day
Cheryl: Frank took off for Blackthorn this morning with a backpack full of polishing stuff and the sign describing the bike. He'll enter Starship Snoopy in the show and have fun all day talking bikes. I'll drive over tonight in the truck for the BBQ and music by Tower Suite, a blues and rock band.
Since I've got the day to myself, I took advantage of a cooler morning with less humidity to take the dogs for a long walk. I stumbled on to the creek I've been trying to locate since we got here. I wanted to find the "swimmin' hole" mentioned on the map of the campground. The dogs and I walked for a couple of miles along the creek and found the beach. I eventually walked my way to the very back of the campground where the group areas are located, so we left the creek and followed the EXIT signs back to the trailer. I fed the dogs when we got home, and they've been peacefully sleeping since (of course that's what they do most of the time anyway).
Now that I'm caught up on my emails and have had a nap, I'll process some pictures to post here. We went to visit a lighthouse yesterday and took a driving tour of the sweet little town of Saugerties (sog-er-tees). We also watched the field events at the rally site - the slow race to see who can go the slowest on a motorcycle, the toss-the-little-airplane-through-the-hoop to test the passenger's aim and the rider's ability to control the bike while someone on the back is wiggling around trying to get a good shot in, and many more safe and fun events. In the bad old days, Frank and I participated in the beer can toss, and we have the picture on the wall at home to prove it. Hey, we were young once! After the events, we had another great m/c ride on the Norton back to our campground for dinner and then back to the rally site in the truck for social hour where we located our friend, Jim Comstock, and his family. If you haven't guessed by now, there's a lot of standing around shooting the breeze involved in these national rallies.
Tomorrow during the day this group of 400 Norton enthusiasts will get together for a group photo and then a big, loud blast as all those Norton's fire up for a group ride. In the evening the awards from the bike show will be presented during a banquet along with other awards for fun things like longest distance traveled to get here, oldest rider, youngest rider, and well, you get the idea. There are 14 guys here from the UK and 7 shipped their bikes over. Also, we've heard there are riders from Australia, Spain, Norway, and France! This truly has lived up to its promise of being the first truly international rally of the INOA. That's really impressive! The club has 1400 members now. Frank really started something BIG back in 1975!
Happily, my sweaty, but smiling husband just rolled in from the bike show. Looks like I'll have company on the drive over to the BBQ tonight. Cool! I love my guy.
Pictures coming soon!
Love from Rip Van Winkle and the sleepy three
Since I've got the day to myself, I took advantage of a cooler morning with less humidity to take the dogs for a long walk. I stumbled on to the creek I've been trying to locate since we got here. I wanted to find the "swimmin' hole" mentioned on the map of the campground. The dogs and I walked for a couple of miles along the creek and found the beach. I eventually walked my way to the very back of the campground where the group areas are located, so we left the creek and followed the EXIT signs back to the trailer. I fed the dogs when we got home, and they've been peacefully sleeping since (of course that's what they do most of the time anyway).
Now that I'm caught up on my emails and have had a nap, I'll process some pictures to post here. We went to visit a lighthouse yesterday and took a driving tour of the sweet little town of Saugerties (sog-er-tees). We also watched the field events at the rally site - the slow race to see who can go the slowest on a motorcycle, the toss-the-little-airplane-through-the-hoop to test the passenger's aim and the rider's ability to control the bike while someone on the back is wiggling around trying to get a good shot in, and many more safe and fun events. In the bad old days, Frank and I participated in the beer can toss, and we have the picture on the wall at home to prove it. Hey, we were young once! After the events, we had another great m/c ride on the Norton back to our campground for dinner and then back to the rally site in the truck for social hour where we located our friend, Jim Comstock, and his family. If you haven't guessed by now, there's a lot of standing around shooting the breeze involved in these national rallies.
Tomorrow during the day this group of 400 Norton enthusiasts will get together for a group photo and then a big, loud blast as all those Norton's fire up for a group ride. In the evening the awards from the bike show will be presented during a banquet along with other awards for fun things like longest distance traveled to get here, oldest rider, youngest rider, and well, you get the idea. There are 14 guys here from the UK and 7 shipped their bikes over. Also, we've heard there are riders from Australia, Spain, Norway, and France! This truly has lived up to its promise of being the first truly international rally of the INOA. That's really impressive! The club has 1400 members now. Frank really started something BIG back in 1975!
Happily, my sweaty, but smiling husband just rolled in from the bike show. Looks like I'll have company on the drive over to the BBQ tonight. Cool! I love my guy.
Pictures coming soon!
Love from Rip Van Winkle and the sleepy three
Sunday, July 17, 2011
News from the Emerald City - Blackthorn, NY
Frank: We are firmly ensconced in the Rip Van Winkle RV Park. We did a two day evaluation of the available parks in the area and this is by far the nicest. The drawback is that it is 23 miles from the Blackthorn, so it is a commute to the rally activities. It was built in the 60’s and is completely wooded with nice spaces not too close together. It has full hook-ups and good Internet access. Since we are in a thickly wooded area, I felt confident enough to put up the trailer’s awning in the hope that the trees will subdue any big winds that might hit the area while we are away. Winds and awnings are a bad mix.
I bought a printer for this computer yesterday. I have thought of doing so for several years and decided that printing the list of RV parks was enough justification right now. It is a HP DeskJet 2050 Scanner/Printer. It will go on Cheryl’s computer at home so she doesn’t have to print on the printer in my office and then walk across the house to see the results.
Driving around and looking at the RV parks may have been a waste of time, I really don’t know. I didn’t bring any contact information for the local chapter who put this rally together, so I don’t know how many members are coming to the rally in RV’s. If it is just a handful, then they may be able to squeeze into Blackthorn. I decided we wouldn’t stay there anyway because of the lack of Wi-Fi and cable TV, and the few available RV spots are (in my humble opinion) gruesome. Plus it is a “Family Resort,” and we didn’t reserve the whole thing, so there are hundreds of screaming kids all over the place. I don’t do screaming kids. I wonder if we will be able to restrict “public access” to the Rally area.
This is the day before the rally start. Cheryl and I will drive up to the Blackthorn later in the morning and see if we can find the rally folks. I assume they should be there sometime in the early afternoon. Then later in the day we will return here, and I will take the Norton out of the trailer and get him ready for the rally activities.
Cheryl: We spent a very quiet night here in the deep, dark woods. I’m so glad we’re staying here, but it does make a long commute for Frank on the bike. I’ll probably not spend too much time on the back of the bike this year. I think Frank will be more comfortable riding single, although I’ll miss riding the twisty-turnies behind him. I’ve brought many things to do including working on my next novel, which has yet to have one word written. I’ll be happy here at our hideaway in the woods, while he’s out tearing up the roadways.
We found out yesterday when we got online that the rally organizers were able to add another bus to the scheduled tour of New York City. We’ll be on that bus, and I’m excited about the possibility of seeing some of New York since I haven’t been here since the 60s.
Once the rally gets underway there will be old friends to meet and events to watch along with good meals and good conversation. Today will be another relaxing day, and it’s good to see Frank enjoying some down time for a change.
Love and hugs from “the yellow brick road,” The Tin Man, Dorothy, Toto and the Lion
I bought a printer for this computer yesterday. I have thought of doing so for several years and decided that printing the list of RV parks was enough justification right now. It is a HP DeskJet 2050 Scanner/Printer. It will go on Cheryl’s computer at home so she doesn’t have to print on the printer in my office and then walk across the house to see the results.
Driving around and looking at the RV parks may have been a waste of time, I really don’t know. I didn’t bring any contact information for the local chapter who put this rally together, so I don’t know how many members are coming to the rally in RV’s. If it is just a handful, then they may be able to squeeze into Blackthorn. I decided we wouldn’t stay there anyway because of the lack of Wi-Fi and cable TV, and the few available RV spots are (in my humble opinion) gruesome. Plus it is a “Family Resort,” and we didn’t reserve the whole thing, so there are hundreds of screaming kids all over the place. I don’t do screaming kids. I wonder if we will be able to restrict “public access” to the Rally area.
This is the day before the rally start. Cheryl and I will drive up to the Blackthorn later in the morning and see if we can find the rally folks. I assume they should be there sometime in the early afternoon. Then later in the day we will return here, and I will take the Norton out of the trailer and get him ready for the rally activities.
Cheryl: We spent a very quiet night here in the deep, dark woods. I’m so glad we’re staying here, but it does make a long commute for Frank on the bike. I’ll probably not spend too much time on the back of the bike this year. I think Frank will be more comfortable riding single, although I’ll miss riding the twisty-turnies behind him. I’ve brought many things to do including working on my next novel, which has yet to have one word written. I’ll be happy here at our hideaway in the woods, while he’s out tearing up the roadways.
We found out yesterday when we got online that the rally organizers were able to add another bus to the scheduled tour of New York City. We’ll be on that bus, and I’m excited about the possibility of seeing some of New York since I haven’t been here since the 60s.
Once the rally gets underway there will be old friends to meet and events to watch along with good meals and good conversation. Today will be another relaxing day, and it’s good to see Frank enjoying some down time for a change.
Love and hugs from “the yellow brick road,” The Tin Man, Dorothy, Toto and the Lion
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