Still Waiting

Well, I am setting in St. Pete while my good friend Big Red is in the Vespa Hospital in Charlotte, NC. There was no obvious sign of why he just shut down, but they are continuing to exam him. Unfortunately, as I understand it, there is only one employee at Charlotte Vespa and he twisted his ankle yesterday and did not work. He is back today and keeping me posted on what is happening. Hopefully, Big Red will be well by this weekend and I can go bring him home.

Big Red coasts down the hill to a full stop

FRIDAY MAY 24

Big Red and me rolled down the road about 8.  We had been visiting Mom for a few days and now where continuing down hill to home in St. Pete. I had been able to get over to Angie's Restaurant for one more heart clogging breakfast before we left. Angie is one of those small town success stories. A waitress all her life someone  gave her a chance to run her own restaurant and it is a huge success.  It was a beautiful day for riding, temperatures in the 70's and dry air. Travelling through Fayetteville was easy as all the lights were well timed and light traffic. Well, except for all the drivers texting and driving all over the road. Seemed to be more here than other places and all where adults.

 I stopped outside Raeford to visit with cousin James. We sat on the front porch of his home that used to be his mothers home. She was my favorite Aunt as whenever I visited her, if just for a few hours, she made biscuits from scratch just for me. I probably could have sat there in the country all day but Red and I had to make some headway towards home. We passed through all the old towns, Laurinburg, McColl, Bennettsville, Society Hill.  These towns have old big mansions. Some in great repair and some about to fall down. 

 this one was in bad shape. the picture does not show it well but everything was falling down including the balcony over the front door and someone is still living in it. see the lamp on just to the right of the front door?

 volunteers collecting for the fire department

It was a great riding day and even took a few detours just to get away from the "painted highways".

In Hartsville, SC we stopped to have a Gucci coffee. It was a nice break and good coffee. Back on the road, I was thinking of a fine dinner at one of the two great restaurants in downtown Statesboro, our planned over night, when Big Red ran out of down hill steam.  He just quit. I coasted off the road in front a boiled peanut stand.  I took a few minutes to think about and walk around looking at him.  I finally dove in to the problem. I tired all the known problems, spark plug wire, kill switch, fuses, gas, etc.  There is not a whole lot you can do on the side of the road in the middle of know where. If you do find a problem then what do you do. I walked around again and attacked the problem again to no avail. Finally, I threw in the towel and called for a tow. This process took almost two hours.  Meanwhile I got to know Robert, the owner of the peanut and fruit stand, and his buddy Paul, well.  They are just good nice people.  They collect old coins and showed me some of the ones they had with them. Robert said he closes his stand at 7 and offered to do anything for me after that.  Load the scooter on his trailer and take it anywhere I wanted or drive me anywhere. Paul wanted to go too, but his wife was having minor surgery late in the day. The boys just wanted a excuse for a road trip. But I told them the tow truck would take care of it. I felt a little quality declining their offer as they were both so egar  to help.

It is now after 4 p.m. and no tow truck.  They are going to take me to Charlotte  NC, the nearest Vespa dealer. The problem is that it closes at 5:30 p.m. being a holiday weekend and it is more than 100 miles to the dealer. When Cox towing showed up, he had been told 5 miles north of Hartsville instead of south, we had to figure out what we were going to do.  He and Progressive insurance decided that Cox would store it over the holiday and then take it to Charlotte on Tuesday. Paul had left, but I thanked Robert for his kindness and climbed into cab of the tow truck and we headed down the road. I hope to pass this way again.

 there was nothing in either direction on US15 so i was really, really lucky to roll to a halt at robert's (on the table) peanut stand. i can not thank these guys enough. they offered me everything from boiled peanuts to tomatoe sandwich to drinks to rides. robert is just one great guy and i will be go by to see him again in the future.

Shelton, proprietor of Cox towing, took me to Florence to find a hotel and then some type of transportation out of town. Courtney had tried to talk to me on the phone but has laryngitis and said to just ask for her when I got to the hotel. She gave me a nice quite room and when I asked her about a place to eat and get a beer she had to resort to hand gestures and notes. This note says I have to cross the highway and "be very careful".  I thought that was a very kind gesture.

After a cold beer and some food I now had to work on plan B. I was afraid getting out of Florence was going to be a big pain in the ass. I fly for free but it is bad enough on a regular days getting on a airplane on standby and a holiday just makes it harder. I called Avis about a one way rental to Jacksonville, FL. One way rentals to another state are usually ridiculously  expensive and I was expecting some cost prohibiting number, but I was amazed at the $51 price they gave to drop it in Jacksonville, FL where Vicki is for the weekend. So, tomorrow I am in the car and on my way. I hope that some time next week I can recover Big Red and finish the journey. 

I will keep you posted.

It is all down hill from here.

Friday May 17

It was another late start for Big Red and me this morning, which has seemed to have become the norm on this trip.
First stop is home of the Little League World Series and their headquarters   The museum was closed but we did get to see the fields and they are beautiful.  From there it was just a nice ride through the country to our destination of Ridgefield Farm in West Virginia.  We did stop for breakfast at the Arrowhead in rural Pennsylvania. I have  written in the past of "the table" that every small town has in the local restaurant where the senior men or the town "geniuses" gather.  The Arrowhead had a table but with a twist.  First thing you noticed is all the men were speaking in a even tone. No loud mouths or experts. No one person tried to dominate the conversation. Then I was told they are all baseball umpires. I overhead some great stories, especially the "bone head calls" they had made and how they got out of them by reversing themselves or just ignoring the call depending on the situation.  They were very friendly and glad to pose for a picture.

 the umpires

here we go again

the great Dr.Beard himself welcomes me to Ridgefield Farm

Sunday May 19

I spent several great days on the farm with Scott and Alan. They had even hog tied me on Friday night and took me to Tuxedo Junction, a fund raiser at Shepard University. I was just a little out of place in my cargo pants and knit shirt among all the black ties and sequins.  But the food was good and the drinks plentiful and I met lots of nice people and got even more interesting stares. In the end Maria, from Sweden and a teacher here, and  I sat outside with her telling how she has become a flightaware.com addict, a website that tracks airplanes, and even tracks the airplanes coming over her house. Around 10pm Scott and I were able to escape the event but Alan, being on the committee, had to stay to the end.

Alan and I had tried to go to Paris this year but schedules just did not work out, so for an "almost to Paris" event we all went to Bistro 112, a nice little French restaurant in Shepardstown and had steak and frites, a great French meal.

Sunday May 19

I had met Al and Scott in DC when we were living on boats on the waterfront downtown many years ago.  Today I packed up and headed south to Haywood, VA where another old friend from the live-aboard boating community in DC now lives. Our dear friend Janet. The weather was a little crappy with light rain and fog, but it was still a great ride through rolling hills and twisting roads. GPS Gladys found a short cut. It was great but unpaved, but I pressed on and it was a beautiful 10 mile ride.  I rolled into Janet's beautiful log cabin in the woods a little after 2 p.m. Alan followed a few hours later.  We sat around and talked of old times and especially about our great friend Mopsy Lovejoy who recently passed away.

I came across roland and gang from the three mile island scooter club in front royal, va.

Tuesday May 21

Alan had returned to Ridgefield Farm and Janet and I had hung out in Culpepper and went to see the movie The Great Gatsby.  Janet does not get to town enough and actually thought there would be a crowd.  Well, there was if you consider 6 people a crowd. I left Janet and Haywood, VA behind about 8 a.m and to the sound of singing Cicadas. We took Seminole Trail (US-29) to The Constitution Road (VA-20) to James Madison Hwy (US-15 VA) to Jefferson Davis Hwy (US-15 NC) to US-1 (with no real name) to Raleigh  After making our way through Charlottesville VA rush hour traffic it became  
a great ride through rural America. Rolling twisting roads of Virginia gave way to straight roads of North Carolina.

this officer was speeding, 30 in a 20, failed to yield to a cross walk, made three turns without signalling and, I am not making this up, turned into Krispy Kreme.

I stopped for breakfast at Lumpkins Restaurant and Motel in Scottsville, VA.  I walked in and sitting at the first table was a older lady neatly dressed as people of that age tend to be. I learned that she is Virginia Lumpkin proprietor of the restaurant and a "feisty old broad". Being south of the Mason Dixon line, I ordered grits, only to be told they had no grits.  I always thought these people were yankees and this proves it. I exchanged barbs with Ms. Virginia about no grits.  She later told me that she served grits but she has turned the kitchen over to her son Hollis. 

The rooster. A local wealthy resident ordered it as a joke and put it on his front lawn. His wife said if that the chicken was not off her property in 48 hours you will be gone and she meant it. When he came to Lumpkins for breakfast he told the story and Hollis said his Mom liked chickens, so he would take it thinking it was about 3 feet tall.  Ms. Virginia said when she drove down on Sunday afternoon the parking lot was full of cars even though the restaurant was closed. As she got closer she saw the big rooster sitting in the grass. It has been there ever since.

 hollis in the kitchen

In Garner, my Mom's home town and where I grew up, I stopped at Angie's for lunch.  It was great pleasure to see Mrs. Hudson and her son Lee.  Hudson's Hardware has been in business since the 50's and at 88 Mrs. Hudson still goes to work every day and bags seeds that people from all over the region come to buy.  She is a inspiration to all and Lee is carrying on the tradition.

Mrs. Hudson and Lee