It’s Thursday, Day 6, and I’m at the Holiday Inn in Kulpsville, PA where I’m staying for the rally. Things get started this evening with a fireside meet-and-greet and continues Friday and Saturday.  I plan on leaving Sunday for the ride back home.

The weather for the past three days has been perfect for riding; upper 50’s in the morning and barely 80 by late afternoon, low humidity and that rare delight of the East coast, robins’ egg blue skies. It looks like the rally will have perfect weather.

Yesterday was day 5 of the ride. The previous night, after I slapped the Zumo “up side the head” and it started to work again, I plugged it into the laptop to charge it’s battery. When I disconnected it and turned it off, once again, it took a dirt nap and refused to power back on. Oh well, now that I found the option to keep the iPhone in portrait mode and prevent it from rotating the screen, it’s been working reliably. But, being paranoid at times, I wrote down some directions in case the iPhone goes on strike and I need to figure out where I’m going for the day’s ride.

A Cool Morning and a Dead Garmin Zumo-Oh Well Steve Jobs to the Rescue 🙂

I wasn’t looking forward to Wednesday’s ride as it’s on I-70 and then I-76, aka, The Pennsylvania Turnpike. Exits are few and far between, but there are gas stations in the rest plaza’s, all Sunoco stations. I wonder how much it cost Sunoco to get that monopoly?

Pennsylvania Turnpike Rest Stop

And, it’s a toll road.  It cost me over $40.00 to ride 200 miles or so. That was a bit of a shock. The good news is I’m not using it on the return ride as I’m going to go more southerly and pick up US-50.

I got off the turnpike for awhile to take advantage of an interesting coincidence: Denver, Reamstown, Honey Brook and Stevens are all within a few miles of each other. Since I live in metropolitan Denver, my last name is Reams and my first name is Brook–and I’m such a sweet guy (Quiet Rochelle!!) :-)–and my daughter-in-law is a Stephens (well that spelling is close enough), I wanted to visit them all. It broke up the unpleasant, multi-hundred mile drone of riding the Pennsylvania super-slab with the unrelaxed, constant attention I had to pay to the herds of lumbering 18 wheelers.

Reamstown and Denver Are Close Together

Reamstown Fire Department

Reamstown Fire Department

Gonzo and I Just Missed The Reamstown Days Celebration

Welcome To Denver, My Home Town Back East 🙂

Welcome to Honey Brook, Brook

Stevens Road in Stevens, PA

I stopped by to meet Randy Long, of Long’s Mechanical Services, who just finished rebuilding the heads for my 1983 RS/RT project. This is the fourth set of airhead heads he has rebuilt for me. When he called to tell me he was shipping the heads back to me a few weeks ago, I let him know I was heading to the rally. He graciously extended an invitation to come by and meet him.

This is an indication of the number of heads he rebuilds: quite a collection of old valve seats from BMW, Harley, Triumph and all the UJM brands.

Have a Few Old Valve Seats

I took the back roads to his house and along the way, I spied a horse drawn wagon reminding me I’m in Amish country. And, what a delight to get back on a windy, two-lane road on a sunny 75 degree day with clear blue skies. This ride rejuvenated me from the sour mood my long slog along the Pennsylvania Turnpike had induced. 🙂

I’m In Amish Country

Now, That’s What I’m Talk’en About-A Nice Road and A Great Day For A Motorcycle Ride 🙂

After I left Randy’s shop, I swung by to say see Tom Cutter, proprietor of Rubber Chicken Racing Garage, who is going to the rally and will be speaking. He invited me to drop by, spend the night, get some laundry washed, and then we could ride together to the rally on Thursday afternoon. And of course, Tom has a GS. So Gonzo had the opportunity to get to know the kind of airhead bikes he will be surrounded by this weekend. 🙂

Gonzo Getting To Know His New R100GS Friend

Tom and I took the leisurely route through the back roads for an hour and then we parted company as he is staying at the VIP hotel, and I’m in “other hotel”.  When I got to the Holiday Inn, I parked Gonzo next to another R100GS, but this time so they could talk to each other 🙂

Gonzo Chatting With R100GS From Detroit