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OK, so I am a little slow posting my return that just happened to be Aug 3,4,and 5. I rode from Mom's house to Parker church just out side of Raeford, NC. This is a small church and originally was in a rural farming community in my youth.  It is now part of the urban sprawl created around Ft. Bragg by the defense industrial complex that Gen. Dwight Eisenhower had warned us about.

It was great to see old family friends, but Scoot and me left a little early as we had places to go and things to see.  The today's route was the same one I had come up on, but there was a lot more traffic on this Saturday. We overnighted in Orangeburg, SC.

lots of people commented on how much tobacco seems to be grown this year.

At about 3 a.m. I was awoke by a very clinical female voice calling my name, "Kenneth".  It brought me to a full awake condition. I laid there trying to get back to sleep and contemplating what it meant. Was that some one in the after life calling me or trying to alert me to dangers on the ride.

I finally fell back to sleep and was awake bright and early to hit the road.  The "dream" still was very predominate in my mind. I had a nice conversation in the parking lot with a couple of retired professors who were traveling  and then Scoot and me headed south.

This morning the traffic was much different. US301 is, for the most part, a four lane highway and there was no one on it.  About 45 minutes into the ride a beautiful red tail hawk came gliding to a landing on the white line in front of me. The most amazing thing was it's red tail feathers.  They were like a beacon drawing my attention to them.  I slowed down and as I got close he made a very leisurely departure with full wings slowly flapping and the those red tail feathers still shining in the morning light. This encounter just put me into to deeper thought.  Was the "voice" and the hawk a warning not to go this way? 

Grocery-gas-buffet...pretty much covers it all

yep, prisoners are a industrial complex in america

This was on my mind the rest of the day. In Sylvania, Georgia I took a right and headed for Douglas, Ga. home of the WWII Flight Training museum and aircraft restoration. I had stumbled on this rural hanger several years earlier on a ride with Scoot.  I was amazed at the WWII aircraft that they had and were restoring here in "nowhere" Georgia. They do some amazing work all under the working supervision of Tom Reilly. At present their main projects are P-82, a twin airframe P-51 and a B-17.  Their flying B-17 caught on fire and burnt up after a emergency landing in 2011. Tom had spent years lovingly restoring the aircraft and is reported to have cried when he saw it burning.  He had  spent many years of his life working on that project.

http://xp-82twinmustangproject.blogspot.com/p/about-tom-reilly.html

tom rielly

In Vidalia onion territory I came across the Georgia Olive Farm. I have never seen olive's planted in such high density. There was no one around to talk to, so later I went on line to their website.  They think a lot of the olive oil at $32 for 500ml.

From Douglas we cruised the back roads of America to Cheifland, Fl. I am sad to report that Chiefland is in a dry county on Sunday's and I really wanted a beer.  Just one. 

The next day we rode to New Port Richey were we had a 10 am meeting and from the there home.  I was a little concerned about riding US19, but all went well.

As usual, Vicki and a nice bottle of Champagne and a po-po platter waiting for me.  I am a lucky guy.

Scoot and me reunite on the road

I had to make a trip to N.C. for business and a family reunion. Vicki was not going, so I could not use her car and mine was not up to the trip. That's easy to fix. I will buy a new car. Well, the dealer and I could not come to agreement on what a new car is worth. So, plan B is the train but the train tickets are so expensive now that it would make a airline executive blush with envy. Plan C is a airplane, but as you know I would rather take a beating than ride for free on the airline. 

That left the scooters. Scoot and me had not been on a road trip since Big Red came to the garage and I decided to "dance with the one that brought me" to where I am. Scoot took me on my first trip through the south and my first trip across America and back and it was time for us to hit the road together again.

The most dangerous part of any trip to me is leaving and returning to the Tampa Bay area. In recent years I have left via the expressways, but that is on Big Red that can run highway speeds.
Scoot can not run that fast but I thought it would be safer to use the expressway than stop and go traffic with a lot more cars aiming for me. The only actual worrisome part is the 16 miles or so it takes to cross the Howard Franklin Bridge on I-275 to the Veterans/Suncoast expressway where there is almost no traffic.  Leaving at 6:30 on Sunday morning put us on the road with few cars. The biggest problem is doing 20 mph less than the other traffic and the chance of someone coming on you a lot faster than they realize and run over you. We made it with no problem. 

The rest of the ride up was a usual fun ride. So much fun, we got to Garner a day earlier than we had planned.

 The jackass had that dog on about a 2 foot chain. If I could have caught I would called the police though I doubt that would have got much response in rural Georgia.

 South Carolina's finest wines

He wants to be me

Armie Hammer, better known as The Long Ranger, wants to grow up and be just like me.
(he tells  you at 1:30 minutes in the interview)

Tuna can

So what is in the tuna can you ask........

...the Veuve Clicquit, the champagne of the old black and white movies. It was the drink of choice in Casablanca and many other movies and mine for great celebrations. This was actually given to Vicki for her birthday, but was kind enough to use it for my home coming.  

On the road again

Saturday June 8



I caught the 8:30 flight from Tampa to Charlotte and a taxi to Vespa Charlotte on W. Worthington Ave. and all went smoothly. I am glad it did as the morning did not start that way. When I rolled out of bed at 5 a.m., it collapsed   This in itself is not catastrophic.  However, those of you who know the Princess know that disturbing her sleep is like poking a lioness with a den full of cubs.  The cat and I bolted for the living room and hide behind the furniture. When there were no roars and no expletives, well may one or two, I went back into the bedroom to deal with the problem. Which meant leaving her with it and leaving town asap.

Big Red was standing proud in Worthington as I got out of the taxi. Rodney was on the curb talking to a customer.  This a very nice Vespa dealer even though the store is small. Rodney and I discussed Big Red's repair and the Vespa community in general.  I found out the the owner of the shop and I grew up just a few blocks from each other, though we have never met.

rodney the vespa doctor

Big Red and I saddled up and hit the road. The plan was to fight our way through urban traffic south to Rock Hill, SC. I was going to avoid the faster routes as I did not want to be broke down again beside the road on a heavily traveled highway, but after a few miles I was very confident in the Vespa of Charlotte repairs and we jumped on the interstate and headed south into South Carolina.

The ride now is more about the destination than the journey, so there will probably not be a lot of stories. We are headed for Richland, GA home of Wanda and Sara, my niece and her daughter, but it is too far today so we stopped in Thomsen, GA for the evening.

Sunday June 9

We hit the road and continued on a southwest tack. I stopped and saved a few turtles, but it got to where I was never going to make Richland at this rate so I had to institute a new turtle rule. If they are not over the white line, then they are just sight seeing and do not need to be rescued.

On my very first Scooter adventure 2008, I spent a night in McCormick, SC at Fannie Kates B&B. It was the first night it was reopened after a extended closure with a new owner. The next year I stayed in it on the last night it was open.  I am glad to see that the absentee owner is still keeping it up. I really enjoyed staying there and look forward to the day it opens again. I sat in the rocking chairs in the shade for a little while and then moved on.

We moved on down the road.

 I stopped here thinking that there might be a story. Other than way overpriced gas, there was not.

 I could not determine if anyone lived here but they were patriotic.

another one of GPS gladys' shortcuts

In Saluda, GA we stopped in front of the "steps". There were 6 guys sitting on the steps, but only these would sit for the photo. When I asked what was going on in Saluda they all pointed up the main street and said that the empty stores pretty much said it all.

When my father retired from the Army in the 60's he had several offers for jobs. He chose one in Raleigh, NC. One was in Milledgeville  GA and as I approached the town I wondered how my life might have been different if he had chosen that one. But after seeing the monument to the town as it being the first Rotary Peace City in the U.S., I figured it might have been all right.

We rode under threatening skies all the way to Richland in the  late afternoon.

wanda and sara

Monday June 10

Several phenomenas happened while I was in Richland. Wanda cooked dinner and breakfast. Almost unheard of in modern times. The real chicken eggs tasted great and were just right. Thank you Wanda. 

After breakfast we went to city hall where she works. There are a total of 2 employees in city hall. This is a really small, back-in-time town. That gives some pluses and minuses.  The latest great thing is the Richland Rum factory. I had gotten a tour yesterday and met the owner. Even better I was presented with a bottle of the first bottling. Not being a collector I plan to drink it as soon as I get home

I met Chief Robbie the head of the police department. The first big crime for him to solve today was how to get coffee for city hall. The mayor came and we all talked about what was going on in town and who went to jail over the weekend. There is some fine gentleman criminal still in jail because he called the judge a racist. Not a smart thing to do when you really are guilty as charged.

 Chief Robbie

 i had told robbie goodbye and thought i would not see him again. until wanda and i went on an errand and she locked her keys in the car. robie had us in in two minutes and i now know how to get in to a car quick.

http://richlandrum.com/

We said our goodbyes and hit the road with light rain and threats of more. 

Again I am destination oriented, home. That and the recent heavy rain kept most of the farmers out of the fields today as it was "too wet to plow" and with it raining I did not see much to stop and investigate.  So when I went flying by what looked like a wood shop, we did a quick u-turn. There I met Chris Tucker and a great story. I listened for a good half-hour. Her husband, Ray, was a third generation "dirt farmer", but was not able to make a living on his small farm so he moved to truck driving. He had to give that up when he came down with diabetes and could not pass the physical. He makes the furniture now but at 83 he does not stay out long. Then I got her to talk about herself. She told me about her children. Sadly a daughter and daughter-in-law died within a few years of each other and she had to raise the children. Then a husband ran off and she had another child to raise. She was more bragging than complaining. She said her dad had raised 10 children as a blacksmith and she did the same.  She is a very cheerful and quick to laugh person. We talked about cheap imports and she said she told her relatives that live next door in two houses that if they bought any more cheap imported light bulbs, she was not going to change them anymore.  "I bet I have changed 500 light bulbs in those house in the last year."  Ray, her husband, must be as cheerful.  They got caught up watching a ball game on TV and left two chairs in front of the shop. It was his granddaddy's store, and someone stole them. Chris was mad but Ray said it made him feel good that someone thought the chairs he had made were good enough to steal.

I thought I was covering new territory on this leg but I passed a couple of landmarks and realized I had come this way before. I rolled into Camilla, GA and it was time to eat. I stopped at the fire station to get a recommendation   Capt. Williams directed me to Debbie's. It was what I asked for but one of those dangerous southern buffets. I did stick to veggies and salad.

Back on the road GPS Gladys took us astray. So did the smartass phone. Both were trying to take us down what they they thought was a paved road. It was not. Normally I would have pressed on but with all the rain and the road being all Georgia red dirt, that sticks like glue when wet, I chose a detour of 20 miles to get us on US19, the Georgia Florida Highway.

In years past I had spent the last night on the road, if needed, in Perry, FL. I would go outside of town to Deals restaurant and have oysters and seafood. Then back to the Hampton Inn where they have a managers happy hour and they let me drink as much as I wanted and I did. Last year I stopped in Cedar Key to do some research and decided to stop there again this year as Deal's does not serve beer and it is hard to eat oysters without beer.  It just ain't right. I checked in to Cedar Key, talked Vespas with a local, showered and headed for the oysters. There are none. Seems there is a "season" in Cedar Key for oysters. I explain there is no season on Apalachicola oysters and they do distribute them. I am truly disappointed! But the consolation prize is not bad. I go over to Tony's for what I, and many others, believe is the world's best clam chowder and triple shrimp.

Tuesday June 11

We are heading home. This is a ride we have done many, many times and written about. So, it was a great day to ride and a easy three hour run.

 salvaged motorcycles on their way to maryland

It was a great ride but it is nice to be home!!

Ending mileage 26870