Friday, July 20, 2012
20_DAY TWENTY FRII - Whitesville, WV
OK, the trip is winding up now this may be my last great story. Last night my destination was Whitesville, WV the home of the fabulous dancing whites of Whitesville. Here is the link to the video:
The Whites of Whitesville and you just have to watch the full video on YouTube to get the real picture.
In typical Hughesbaby fashion I decide to enter Whitesville by going over the mountain following my GPS. I had the GPS set on "no dirt roads", but I guess that doesn't me "no half dirt roads"!
I've been scared in my life on the road but I'm not sure I've been this scared before.
The Scene: RURAL West Virginia in the mountains
The Time: 9:30 pm eastern or dark thirty
The Fuel: 1/4 tank
The Cell Signal: Zero, barely a Satellite signal
The Weather: Cold
The Roads: 1/2 dirt / 1/2 pavement, no lights, holes!
That said, I'm committed. I can make it to Whitesville and spend the night. In route all I can think of the entire time was the Whites could run me off the side of the mountain and steal everything I have and I'd never be found! I never saw a single car! Anything could have come out of those woods and eat me, killed me, robbed me, and I couldn't see them or the police would never find me!
Have you ever regretted a decision you've made and then gotten so mad at yourself you would kill yourself if you had a gun? That was my state of affairs. I couldn't believe I'd gotten myself in this mess so late at night. Hell, there wasn't going to be a gas station for miles and if I found one I know it was going to be closed! I'm creeping along and it's now 11:00pm. I've now seen a car and the road actually has lines separating the lanes!
Without warning I come off of the mountain to a main road, left is Charleston, and right is Whitesville. I know Charleston has gas, hotels, food, and police. I turn right! I ain't going to quit now! Low and behold a mile down on the right is a Chevron or Marathon station and it's open!!! I get gas and tell the young girl I'm headed to Whitesville is there anyplace to stay there? With 29 teeth she says, "I'd let you stay with me but I don't get off till 7:00am". "I think there's a hotel in Whitesville right downtown called the JKLM Motel"! Lord have mercy!
I ride on to Whitesville... About 3/4 of the way through downtown I catch a glimpse of a K on the building. I turn around and sure enough it's the JKLM Motel and there's an old man inside! Yes! He buzzes me in and I ask if he has a room with internet and tv, he says, "we have tv with a couple channels, but no internet". I said, "thats ok I can get internet from my phone". He says, "boy you didn't know it but you've arrived smack dab in the middle of hell. We have no cell phone service up here"! He goes on to say, "you better not get hungry either cause the only restaurant in town is closed down! That was the old man accross the streets only means of food!" "They went on vacation and left us here to starve!"
I laughed my ass off for about twenty minutes chatting it up with the old man before deciding to head back to Charleston for a real hotel. I regret not staying cause I didn't get to meet the Whites!
Wandering...
The Whites of Whitesville and you just have to watch the full video on YouTube to get the real picture.
In typical Hughesbaby fashion I decide to enter Whitesville by going over the mountain following my GPS. I had the GPS set on "no dirt roads", but I guess that doesn't me "no half dirt roads"!
I've been scared in my life on the road but I'm not sure I've been this scared before.
The Scene: RURAL West Virginia in the mountainsThe Time: 9:30 pm eastern or dark thirty
The Fuel: 1/4 tank
The Cell Signal: Zero, barely a Satellite signal
The Weather: Cold
The Roads: 1/2 dirt / 1/2 pavement, no lights, holes!
That said, I'm committed. I can make it to Whitesville and spend the night. In route all I can think of the entire time was the Whites could run me off the side of the mountain and steal everything I have and I'd never be found! I never saw a single car! Anything could have come out of those woods and eat me, killed me, robbed me, and I couldn't see them or the police would never find me!
Have you ever regretted a decision you've made and then gotten so mad at yourself you would kill yourself if you had a gun? That was my state of affairs. I couldn't believe I'd gotten myself in this mess so late at night. Hell, there wasn't going to be a gas station for miles and if I found one I know it was going to be closed! I'm creeping along and it's now 11:00pm. I've now seen a car and the road actually has lines separating the lanes!
Without warning I come off of the mountain to a main road, left is Charleston, and right is Whitesville. I know Charleston has gas, hotels, food, and police. I turn right! I ain't going to quit now! Low and behold a mile down on the right is a Chevron or Marathon station and it's open!!! I get gas and tell the young girl I'm headed to Whitesville is there anyplace to stay there? With 29 teeth she says, "I'd let you stay with me but I don't get off till 7:00am". "I think there's a hotel in Whitesville right downtown called the JKLM Motel"! Lord have mercy!
I ride on to Whitesville... About 3/4 of the way through downtown I catch a glimpse of a K on the building. I turn around and sure enough it's the JKLM Motel and there's an old man inside! Yes! He buzzes me in and I ask if he has a room with internet and tv, he says, "we have tv with a couple channels, but no internet". I said, "thats ok I can get internet from my phone". He says, "boy you didn't know it but you've arrived smack dab in the middle of hell. We have no cell phone service up here"! He goes on to say, "you better not get hungry either cause the only restaurant in town is closed down! That was the old man accross the streets only means of food!" "They went on vacation and left us here to starve!"
I laughed my ass off for about twenty minutes chatting it up with the old man before deciding to head back to Charleston for a real hotel. I regret not staying cause I didn't get to meet the Whites!
Wandering...
19_DAY NINETEEN FRII - Millersburg, OH
I was to arrive late in the evening last night just in time for supper. I checked into the Millersburg Hotel an OLD hotel in the center of downtown. I went to my small 10 x 10 room, dropped my bags and off to a steak dinner at the hotel restaurant. That was Saturday night...
Sunday Morning...I wish I could have been here on a Monday. I think the experience of shopping in the stores and really engaging in the Amish way of life would have been more fruitful. Instead I was simply on a Sunday afternoon stroll.
I'm not sure how to say this without saying "those people" so I will say the Amish. The Amish people are reclusive, very nice, simple people who deal with life on life's terms without mechanical help. They don't have air conditioning in their homes so it is very common to see them out on the front porch fanning themselves on a hot Sunday afternoon.
In driving through the countryside I pulled over to check the GPS and did so underneath a shade tree. The family was on the front porch so I said, "mind if I borrow your shade tree for a moment"? The father said, "help yourself". I later met an elderly couple on a stroll in their buggy and ask them where I could get an old fashioned Amish dinner. They said, "nowhere on Sunday, everything's closed"! Nice people. A handful would surely be useful in case of a nuclear bomb for rebuilding the country.
Wandering...
Sunday Morning...I wish I could have been here on a Monday. I think the experience of shopping in the stores and really engaging in the Amish way of life would have been more fruitful. Instead I was simply on a Sunday afternoon stroll.
I'm not sure how to say this without saying "those people" so I will say the Amish. The Amish people are reclusive, very nice, simple people who deal with life on life's terms without mechanical help. They don't have air conditioning in their homes so it is very common to see them out on the front porch fanning themselves on a hot Sunday afternoon.
In driving through the countryside I pulled over to check the GPS and did so underneath a shade tree. The family was on the front porch so I said, "mind if I borrow your shade tree for a moment"? The father said, "help yourself". I later met an elderly couple on a stroll in their buggy and ask them where I could get an old fashioned Amish dinner. They said, "nowhere on Sunday, everything's closed"! Nice people. A handful would surely be useful in case of a nuclear bomb for rebuilding the country.
Wandering...
18_DAY EiGHTEEN - Akron, OH
I didn't share with you because I was dumbfounded by Gettysburg that I arrived in Happy Valley last night just in time to make it to the Berkey Street Creamery and have some dark chocolate ice cream!Today I woke up to a beautiful day in Happy Valley. I drove around the campus and took pictures on the shrine Nittany Lion and admired a very beautiful campus. The one thing I regret was not looking up Joe Paterno's address in the phonebook and driving by to see him.
In case I didn't tell you I'm on my way to the largest cohabitation of Amish people in the country and perhaps anywhere. Millersburg, OH. On my way I stopped in Akron to check off some AA history.
This was a cool day! As I arrived in Akron I drove down to the original Central Office where the door is made out of two Big Books. It was closed so I didn't get to go inside. That's ok, check it off the list.Then I headed down Dr. Bob's Way towards his old house and it was amazing to see that the neighborhood had taken such great care of the place even though there was no source of funding! All you had to do was look lost and they would say Dr. Bob's house is over there!
Next I wanted to take in a meeting and without thinking I headed to one at the local hospital, ring any bells? The local hospital? Me either until I walked in and was directed to the basement and down a hall I passed the chapel of Sister Ignatious! Wow, I was freaked to see all of the plaques on the wall and the chapel of the very lady who helped so many alcoholics and their families! Now it hit me, I was in THAT hospital! The one where the "man on the bed sat"! I continued down the hall to the last room on the block, ha. This is where the meeting was being held. Great meeting, ordinary alcoholics!
I usually stay after the meeting to check out what the locals have to say about the surroundings and today I was running out of daylight. It was after seven on a cloudy day so darkness was approaching and that means cold! Well a guy (who I judged and didn't like) was trying to tell me to go to the phone booth? I didn't listen until he finally said you will miss the entire Akron experience is you don't go down to the Mayflower hotel and see the phone booth!
Here's the story of the phone booth: Bill Wilson, the co-founder of AA, had been working with a psychiatrist named Dr. Silkworth, trying to get sober. Dr. Silkworth explained the 3-fold disease of alcoholism how to work with others inflicted. Well Bill was sober just a little while we he arrived in Akron for a business venture. He checked into the Mayflower hotel in downtown Akron and went to his business meeting. The meeting was unsuccessful, so Bill heads back to the hotel to check out. He has no money to pay the hotel bill, and is standing in the 2nd floor foyer a bar to his left with laughter...a payphone to his right. He says to himself, "I could head into the bar strike up some conversations and find some way to cure these blues and get some money to pay the bill OR I could call the church directory and see if they have another alcoholic in the area I can talk to. He chose the payphone, found Dr. Bob, and the rest is history!!!! AA was formed at the moment he and Bob got together and then added Number 3 from the hospital!
So I've been told that the Mayflower is now "sort of " a housing project and you have to be buzzed in to get inside and see the restored 2nd floor. Wow! I have an adventure a mission! I take off downtown to find out that the roads are blocked off because of a minor league baseball game going on. I ride through the barricade and down to where the policemen are. The cop says, "can't you see the barricades"? I told him my story about the Mayflower and he said, "go ahead". The experience was amazing! You have to go see the Mayflower whether you're an alcoholic or not!
Bundled up for the cold I head out to Amish land...
Wandering...
Thursday, July 19, 2012
17_DAY SEVENTEEN FRII - Gettysburg, PA
16_DAY SIXTEEN FRII - West Point, NY
Sad to leave my beloved Southbury behind the pain was made easier by the fact that my so called friends were inhospitable to say the least. No one to stay with and no one to play with was the story of this 2nd day in Southbury. Oh well off to West Pointe!
Motorcycling in the spring up in New England is wet! You want to know something, there isn't one manual spray car wash in the city of Southbury or surrounding areas. I know cause I looked. I ended up having to give my motorcycle to a guy at the service station who charged me $35.00 to wash and wax it while I ate at the cool little diner across the street.
My ride to West Pointe was beautiful, poor, fantastic, historic, hot & humid. On the way I passed through Newburgh, NY, a place I thought was rich during my days of business travel to the airport there. Little did I know it was incredibly poor. I'm talking Mexico City poor! Near the poorest part of the city is an old revolutionary war fort. Jonathan Hasbrouck's house in Newburgh, New York where Washington was stationed during the latter stages of the war! It was beautiful! The sign on the fence said, "lock your car and take all your belongings with you"!Riding north and west I come across the Ellison House, which was home to three of Washington's generals during the revolutionary war. The sign said, "Knox's Headquarters", and was where general Jonathon Know set up camp in 1782-83. Read about it it's interesting http://nysparks.com/historic-sites/5/details.aspx
Along that same route there are many OLD (Randy's houses) houses that must have been mansions back in the day, but are almost completely grown over with vines today. Don't you ever wonder how that happens? Why we let a perfectly good house / mansion turn into a weed patch! What were the owners thinking!
The ride along West Point highway takes you through the town of West Point. From there to the gate along the Hudson river is an awesome beautiful ride! You must take that drive even though you can't get into West Point once your there.
Wandering...
14_DAY FOURTEEN FRII - Southbury, CT
Wow what a night last night was in the rain again. My night ended about midnight in a gas station grabbing some dinner before I entered the famous "Wilson House" (named after Bill Wilson of AA) in Vermont. It had rained on my motorcycling for most of the day, I was wet, tired, and hungry, but everything was closed. The innkeeper left the key on the front porch and I entered heading directly to room 6. My room for the evening.
One of the greatest things about riding motorcycles is the places you find along the way. Talking with locals, changing course, and just going without hesitation. I failed to mention that it really helps having the freedom of limitless time to explore! The Wilson House was not on my schedule, I added it! Wow!
I woke up in this 8' x 8' room to the heavy sounds of footsteps heading downstairs to breakfast. Ugh, I did not want to get up yet, sleeeeep! An hour later I managed to move to the community shower and clean up before heading downstairs. I don't usually eat breakfast at breakfast time, so I grabbed some coffee and began to document the experience.
Truthfully, I heard more birds in East Dorsett, VT than I heard in Yellowstone! It was so peaceful and I was proud of the alky's who had purchased and restored the inn for me. You'll have to watch the movie, but I carefully made it through the entire house, the church next store, and the Griffith house where thirteen year old Bill lived with his grandparents during his youth. No I don't remember what happened to his parents? In a nutshell, the property was antique in every way. From the 1st edition books that make up the library to the original marble sidewalks, to the light that has burned 24/7/365 for Bill's spirit in his old room!
I wish I could stay on the subject of the Wilson House the entire post, but my day was so full today I could have relived this day across three days easily. Long distance rock hard motorcycling is not for the faint of heart. Yea you can see really cool stuff but getting there can be interesting as well. Today was a transitional ride ending up in Southbury, CT one of my favorite home towns. Along the way I would see several covered bridges for the first time and thoroughly exploring one that was still open to traffic. I didn't know wood could last that long and be strong!
Once I broke away from the covered bridges I headed straight to Lexington & Concord where I was amazed at the site where the American Revolution began (patriot point?) The town of Lexington is incredible, I could have stayed there for a week! I visited as many cemetaries as I could and was mezmerized by the age of the headstones.
After nearly two weeks of constant rain it decided to finally clear and get hot in Boston. I rode past THE Boston Garden, THE Fenway Park, over that cool bridge and through the tunnels of traffic known in the "big dig". I rode downtown and tried to trace the route of Paul Revere, but got lost in traffic. I stopped in Boston Common and people watched and then road up the St. Charles river with the row boats practicing for the Olympics. Finally I hit Harvard and on the road to Southbury!
My long day now ends in Southbury at my favorite meeting place, St. James Episcopal Church! All of my friends were there too, including my gay road sponsor Sean! The night ended with a grocery store trip and an order of chinese takeout, perfect!
Wandering
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