Ride with a Flag

At some point in the last couple of weeks, Dad and Sandi were talking about a ride to carry a flag (I’m hoping that’s the right program…it looks right) from the Harley dealership in Orange, VA to the Harley dealership in Roanoke, VA. I thought that’s kind of cool, so I asked Dad about it. He wasn’t sure he was going to go, but he told me some of the details. As it got closer, I kept asking if he was going to go. As it turned out, Thursday was really hot (they were calling for heat indices in the 100s) and he had a lot to do and ended up not going. I told Sandi I’d ride up to the Harley dealership on Thursday morning and see how I felt.

Thursday came and I rode up to Waugh’s (the Harley dealership in Orange). It was already horribly hot and disgusting outside, but once I was moving on my bike, it wasn’t too bad. It seemed like such a fun trip that I couldn’t stand to tell her I wasn’t going. As it turned out, there were only four of us who went (the two biggest factors, I imagine, were the middle of the week schedule and the extreme forecast).

Although it was hot, it was a pretty ride. It’s about three hours from Orange to Roanoke, so there was plenty of time to enjoy the scenery. You can’t really see the people I was riding with, but they’re up there (Sandi was always in the back, though)!

I don’t really know why, but nearer Roanoke, it was really oppressive. Even the wind wasn’t cooling us much anymore. We all appreciated the little patches of shade as we passed through them.

The flag made most of the trip rolled up to keep it from flying off the bike. The ride down 29 is at least 60 for most of the way.

At the end of the trip (the last mile or so), the flag was released from its ties to wave freely. At speeds of around 35, it looked pretty good. Of course, the only time I was close enough for a picture, we were at a stoplight.

I thought the entrance to the Roanoke Harley dealership was pretty cool, so I’m including it as the closing picture (there aren’t any more pictures from the ride in the album). Enjoy your (hopefully cooler than 100º) day!

Bike Show Pictures from Waugh

Waugh posted pictures on their website too, if you want to see more. I didn’t think the pictures at the top of the page were quite as good as the ones at the bottom of the page, so you may want to start towards the bottom (although the wrestling pictures are down there – no blood).  Dad’s in this one, helping tell people about the motorcycle school we work at.

Waugh’s Bike Show

We stayed at Tony’s parents’ house on the way back from Maryland. This morning, I rode down to Waugh Harley Davidson to hang out with Dad, who was asked to help out with the Central Virginia Motorcycle School tent (the same place he and I work). There were a *lot* of bikes out and about today. There were even some going the same direction as me. When a group of six bikes from Maryland invited me to ride along with them for a while, I did. I was bummed when they turned off, but continued anyway.

At Waugh’s they had the Fairfax motorcycle cops doing demonstrations. It was amazing they thing they could do. Here, there are three of them doing figure eights at the same time. There was one rider (there’s a picture of him in the album) who was riding around the cones at *very* low speeds (nearly a stop) and never put his foot down. Dad and I were both standing there wishing we were good enough to do the same.

We didn’t really do much work. The most we did was stand in line for a really long time (I didn’t watch the clock, but it felt like forever) to get food, only to find that most of what we wanted was sold out by the time we got to the window. *sigh*

The rest of the pictures can be found here.

Baltimore Sailabration

Tony had another meeting in Laurel, MD. I went with him and took the MARC to Baltimore (like I did last time).

 

Once I got to Baltimore, I knew I wanted to hang around the Inner Harbor, but what particularly I wanted to do, I wasn’t yet sure. While I was sitting on a bench looking up a few of my options, a woman came over and told me that the aquarium was going to be having a flag ceremony and asked if I’d like to come. What’s the harm, right? As it turned out, not much.

It wasn’t terribly interesting. There wasn’t much other than putting up the flags for the first time in years (apparently, they just got their new flagpoles). And that’s the new aquarium flag on the far left. Pretty cool, huh?

 

Sailabration was this week, so, while I had considered going to the train museum, I thought Sailabration would be a better choice. They had what they call “tall ships” (above) in the harbor, as well as “grey-hulled” ships (below) to help celebrate the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. The ship above was international (I forget which country and I have no idea whose the flag is).

  

I took the water taxi to Fort McHenry after watching the flag ceremony. I figured it was a good way to see the ships as well as giving me a destination to explore. I have to say that I didn’t think Fort McHenry itself was that interesting. But the Blue Angels practicing over Fort McHenry were really cool (they have two shows this weekend)!

   

 Finally, I got this shot on the way back to the Inner Harbor. There’s something about the contrast between the building and the motorcycle that I really like.

 For more pictures, see the Maryland album (but be warned that there are at least three trips’ worth of pictures in that album).