East 11st bar

http://maps.google.com/?q=510+East+11th+St,+New+York+City&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=510+E+11th+St,+New+York,+10009&ll=40.729104,-73.98085&spn=0.005236,0.009559&z=17

Sometimes only one road will do.

So staying in Cleveland one more night turned out to be a damn good choice. With a massive storm coming up the coast I missed riding through it by delaying departure. The road which seem to be the best selection was route 322. Running from Cleveland to Philadelphia. I got into Clarion Pa that evening from leaving Cleveland around noon. It turn out the college town had a carnival that night and that brought on the strange looks as I came riding through. Not feeling there was going to be a spot to camp out at, I was once more on the bike in search of a spot. I came upon a spot in a town called Corsica Pa. Now at this point I've gotten pretty good at setting up the tent in the dark. And since it was quite chilly out I was in the sleeping bag and sleeping by 21:00. The next day I was on the road early, I had 310 miles to go and knew it would take most of the day. Just outside of State College I had my first scary moment of the trip. Now I ran out of the gallon of two stroke oil I started with and bought a quart of two stroke oil you find in a car parts store. Mixing two different oils isn't really that good. The second oil takes some time to lubricate the parts. While I was coming down a hill the back wheel locked up and I started to fish tail left an right before I grabbed the clutch and coasted to a stop. With the amount of weight on the bike, I'm amazed I didn't crash. I change the gearbox oil giving the bike time to cool down. Kicked over the bike and a sign of relief came over me. So once more I was back on the road and with in a few miles the back wheel lock up again. I thought let me get to State College and I'll let it cool down for 90 minutes. After the bike sat for a bit, I thought, am I really going to make Philly today? So once more the bike started up and I roded in a bit of tension the rest of the way. Riding through 322 from State College to Harrisburg was a major highway and the thought of "don't be breaking down on me now" came in my head more then once. Got into Philly around 21:00. After riding for 10 hours I was pooped. But there was a rally tonight, no time for being tired. So I met up with a friend and loaded more things on the bike. And Jordana and I were riding to a friend of a friends place to crash. But not before we headed to New Jersey. So heading through Philly and taking a wrong turn can land you on the Ben Franklin bridge and $4.00 cheaper. New Jersey will let you in for nothing, but it gonna cost yea to leave. So after that journey we made it to our place to stay. But then it was rally time.

Cleveland Cleveland Cleveland

While staying in Cleveland at my friend Bill's place, I got to paint a mansion of a house. Now getting on ladders 20 or so feet high is quite nerve racking and great at the same time. But a few days of rain, stop me from helping to get the last 25% of the house finished. Saw the Gentleman Jessie and His Men band at Now That's Class, which is a great dive bar. There where two other bands that were playing Natural Child and Strange Boys. Both were pretty great to see live. But the Strange Boys drew me in. The lead singer voice is so raw and emotional, you can't but be sucked in. There's a great little coffee shop in the Tremont area called The Loop. The things that cool about this place is they sell vinyl and cd's upstairs and a some down on the main floor. Over the 24th-26th of September was Ingenuity Fest. It's held below the Superior bridge. It use to be where the trollys would operate back in the day. Lots of music, art, and invented ideas that tackled things like energy use and better ways to use them. Met a lot of great folks while in Cleveland. Kinda hard leave, but another rally laid ahead in Philadelphia.

You can't really go far without fuel.

After bit of time I was gassed up and I was back on the road heading for Cleveland. Heading up route 3 with a few hours of daylight left, I knew I'd be in for a night ride. And riding back roads at night can be filled with all sorts of unknowns. Like Mr groundhog. Most of the ride was nice, passing by a Halloween cemetery, I knew I had to stop and go back to take some photos. A lot of time went into it and it wouldn't be right not to stop and check it out. The sun was setting and once more I made one of those countless stops on the side of the rode to take more photos. It hard not to watch the sky when it's that beautiful. Feeling that it was time to refill the gastank I stopped at the nearest gas station. Pull out the spare tank and as with most stops, I have the curious driver pullup next to me and say " you riding on that thing". After saying I'm riding for world peace, they start asking more question. Ok I've really haven't been telling people that, but I wonder what they say if I did. So I'm all filled up an take off when my Vespa suddenly stops. What the f-ers is racing through my head. I look down and gasoline is spilling out onto the road. Turn the gas lever to the off position and look inside the carb to find the gas line had come slighty off. I get the line connected and back on the road. After few miles I start thinking, did I connect that line really good? After crossing a pair road tracks going 50 mph told me no, you didn't fix that gas line right. So I was once more stopping to fix that gas line. Things get a lot easier, when you do them more then once. Start the bike and those railroad tracks knock more then the gas line loose. One of the wires connectors that make the lights work had come apart. Easy fix and the last 30 miles were pretty damn chilly.

No officer it's not a moped, it's a scooter!

So my time in Chicago came to an end and I off to Columbus. I had to wait for the rain to stop so I had a late start to the day, (1:30). And Chicago didn't make it easy for me to leave. On one turn the wind almost knock me off the Vespa . So heading on the Lincoln highway I got about 50 or so miles when I caught up to some light rain. I was thinking maybe its time to fine a spot and set the tent up and let the crappy weather pass. So just outside of Grovertown Indiana I thought I found a good spot to setup camp. After finding wet firewood and not having any chance in hell of lighten it, yes I did have two gallons of gasoline, but thought why waste it. By then the rain stopped, well until I started riding again and that fine mist was back. I rode till I got to Warsaw Indiana and found a park on the map and made my way to it. Upon arriving I discovered this park had motor homes are ready there. I thought man this might not work. But I managed to get the tent up in a wind storm. Surprising no one came over and ask me to leave. The sign did say no overnight campers, but I saw that after setting up. The winds that night made it hard to sleep and not till 2 in the morning when they died down I was able to sleep soundly. Was up quite early, still had over 200 miles to go. So while traveling on route 30 I had the pleasure of getting pulled over by Fort Wayne's finest, officer Cook. Was still 20 some miles from Fort Wayne so don't know why he was so far out. So he come up and says " mopeds are not allowed on the highway". Officer this is a scooter.
"No it isn't".
I knew right then I would have an rocky experience with the law. So after showing the officer the manual for the "moped", he took it back to the car and studied it for a good 10 minutes. He came back from study time and handed me a paper of warning. Failure to have a triangle on the back of the "moped" to warn other vehicle of a slow moving vehicle. Before he pull me over he trailed me and said I was only going 47 mph in a 60 mph road. I was doing 53-55, so bs on that. If you know the law, you must be no slow then 15 mph below the post maximum speed limit. Which even in his estimate I was above. And the other warning was cause of the trophy I had strapped to the back was obscuring the license plate, bullllll shnikes. He also said I would have to ride on the shoulder or he would arrest me and throw me in jail. He was so concerned with my safety he though riding over roadkill,glass, blown tires was better for me then cars passing me in the passing lane. I was quite dumbfounded. So with the threat of jail time I had to find a detour around Fort Wayne. Made my way around and go to route 33 via route 9 and 224. 33 was the route I was going to get on in Fort Wayne, which I got on in Decatur. From here it was a straight shot to Columbus. Now 33 turned into the same four lane highway as route 30. I'm some would have gotten off and found a two lane road, but I had no time for that and plus I was in Ohio at this point so no jail time from officer moped. When I ran out of gas I was greeted with another officer. Oh boy not this again I thought. So I shook my spare gas tank in the air and said I'm just refueling. But since there's a lot of trouble makers out there he still ask for id. "Can't be too careful" he said as I ask why I needed to be checked out. He never asked if my "moped" could do the speed limit. So with a full tank I made it to Columbus by 5 o'clock. It was time for Scoot a Que Zombie prom rally. Friday night activies was hanging out at Capitol City Scooters. Beer was provided by the cutters which quite nice of them. End up skipping the movie and hungout at a bar for a bit with the dc crew. After getting some late night pizza and eating it in the lobby of the Hyatt I was getting spent and was looking forward to some needed sleep. Saturday was kinda a late start and got to the North Market just in time for a quick breakfast before the afternoon ride. The day was gorgeous for riding the 40 mile ride. At one point it seemed like we were riding the same parts of roads. We stopped at a shopping center. The bbq wasn't quite ready for us so someone suggest we head over to the only bar in the shopping center. Now I wish I could of seen the bartender face when told that 80 or so scooterist we be in shortly for drinks. I'm sure she didn't mind after the tips made in a short time. After a refreshing beverage it was time to head to the bbq. After a little tire burnouts from Phil Waters (he made the anarchy A symbol on the parking lot) we took off. The bbq was your choices of pizza,pasta,or sloppy Joe's, sides and desserts. I decided on sloppy Joe's,nachos and salsa with vanilla ice cream. Awards were giving out after dinner. Thinking I should have another furthest distance award in the bag, they decided to give that one later at the zombie prom. Had a well needed nap and was woken up with 3 zombies girls in the room. I'd better get into zombie form. Getting to the night venue in bare feet was part of my getup. Everyone thought I wouldn't get in without shoes on, but to borrow a line from the Shawsank Redemption "how often do you really look at a mans shoes"? It wasn't till the end of the night that my bare feet got noticed by the staff. Like with any prom it wouldn't be right not to break any rules. So Mr.B and I headed to the bathroom for a drink of whiskey he brought in with him. There was a photographer taking photos of anyone that want their photo taken. To view the photos go to collages.net under events type zombie for username and 18426 for the password. The cutters gave the furthest distance award to a guy that rode from DC to Columbus. Kinda felt snubbed. I'd ridden over 1600 miles at that point. Guess I'll have to ride 3000 next year!!! Now it was time for the raffling of the rally bike. Which it won by Mary of the cutters. It was off to a afterparty then we headed back to the hotel for sleep. Sunday brunch was at bar Louie. After farewells it was time to head to Cleveland. And I'll pick up from there in a few days.

Ah Chi-town I say farewell

So I've been in Chicago for three week now, staying at my best mate (Connor)apt. And its time to get back on the road. I'm quite excited to be doing so. I had a minor break down coming back from the Slaughterhouse prom Saturday night. Took a bit to figure out what went wrong. Just a pin that came undone in the gear selector arm. Took another furtherest travel award. So 2 for 2 in that department. I've also been doing jobs from craigslist to make some money. Mostly helping people move. So far I've put on 1350 miles. Other then that pin, the scoot has been running fine. So it's 330 miles to Columbus and I figure I be there Thursday. And it's another prom, but it's a zombie prom. So yeah to getting dressed up as the undead. Just gotta to find a ridiculous suit and some blood....

Heading north can be a pain

So made it to St. Louis on Thursday the 19th around 6 o'clock. Found out later that some parts of East St. Louis I went through were pretty dangerous. Didn't seem like it. So I had to waste some time, Tim was at work and wouldn't be off till 10:00 and we were going to meet around 10:30. So I rode around took some photos and had dinner. Had some really good General Tso chicken, maybe the best I ever had. Yeah it was that good. I decide to head over to where I'll meet Tim at and took off to find a coffee shop to hangout at. Well coming upon Grand St. I found lots of eatery and shop figure this would do. Parked the scoot and the patron eating suhsi on the sidewalk patio stared as I just came from another world. After walking for a couple blocks I couldn't find a coffee shop so I decided to look at the Google maps and 6 or so blocks from where I parked there was Mocabees. After two hours and two Italian sodas and countless smokes it was time to meet up with Tim. Parked the scoot at Tim's friends shop and we headed to his house. We then headed out to The Royale. Had a few drinks and went to another bar and drank Stag beer. Cheap and good beer makes any long trip well worth the ride. So three whole days and 4 hours of one day of riding and I finally got to one of the four rally cities. Next morning I woke up and me and Tim went to the shop. Tim welded a piece of metal to a bracket so it would hold my cdi box to the engine properly. Thanks, it is still holding up. So by Friday I started getting the sniffy and sneezes. Friday night Amy and Paul got in to town. Then it was off to more of The Royale and check in for the rally. Rain was on the menu that night with a interesting light show through out the evening. When we left the rain decided that we had enough and stop briefly for us to ride back to Tim's. Saturday got worse for me as that sniffling turn into a mild fever and felt like crap through out the day. By the time we got to the ride meet up the next morning, we held everyone up an hour. Hey it called scooter-time for a reason!!! The weather was sunny and a bit warm, but that's all the better for a 80 mile ride. Tim had the duty of leading the ride. Stopped at a wildlife area and walked to where the Missouri and Mississippi meet outlook. After that stop, the ride headed to Alton Il. where these hugh caves were. Sadly you couldn't enter them, for slabs of rocks were coming off the ceiling. The last leg of the ride was to a bbq in Carondelet park. It was good eatin and drinking, but I was still feeling the wrath of that bug. Had a go at the slow race, (which is to go as slow as possible on the scooter without a foot touching the ground). Sadly my form was off and failed to even come close. At the beginning I though just to go as fast as possible and lose, but at last second I tried to win. After the slow race the gymkhana was held. Now this involves some skills, not that every ride has. This one starts out weaving through 4 cones. Then grabbing a gun that shoot darts and hitting a sign, that pretty tricky there. Off to a door, which the rider had to balance them self on top of for 5 long seconds. Hitting the see saw, around a cone, and lastly ride onto a 10 ft by 4 inch wide block of wood. Which had a 45 degree cut in the beginning and then off to the finish line. Raffle raffle raffle time. The time when you hope to at least get something that you can use for you scoot. There were lots of that I could of used, but looking at the beer brewing set, I wondered, how am I going to transporting that not only to Tim's, but to Chicago and the rest of the trip? But it would of been great to brew 13% beer I thought. Paul had won three times, lucky bastards. So now it was on to the awards, up was best scooters. The time when if you been rebuilding that Lambretta, Paul won this one, or Veapa, you hope your hard work pays off. Or if you have that I don't really care if the scooter hits that rock there's a best pos bike, but none was awarded here. Then then there's the furthest traveled. It's a rare breed of scooterist to travel a couple of hundredth of miles or even thousands just to get to a rally. Be it for any reasons. They do it just because it just great to be on the road. Testing these machine to their limits. Sometime the machine test the riders to their limits. Seeing the side of the country not too many people ever get to see. This was my first furthest traveled award and don't you just know it, cue that song by Huey Piano Smith. That the award is a trophy that stand over 3 ft. Oh why couldn't I won that brew set as well? So a few rules were set in order. 1. I had to haul this back home, oh sure I'll throw it in the glove box!!! 2. At the next band camp it gets awarded to the furthest traveled. So we headed back to Tim's to try to get a bit of rest, but there wasn't much time. And a quick change of clothes and shower, ok a 5 minute rest and it was off to see Murder City Players and The Who Band at Blueberry Hill. Missed the MCP, but The Who Band were pretty good. Sunday I woke up feeling slightly better. Had a nice $17.00 brunch at the Three Monkeys. Yikes it was quite costly. But when there is prime rib and you had your share you say to yourself, well I only ate $10.56 worth, let me try some of it. Aw my belly was filling like a turkey on Thanksgiving. Well it was time when ever scooterist hate, the rally coming to an end and time to head home. But not me it was time for a lazy day at Tim's. So I stay an extra night at Tim's and had dinner with the family. Mighty nice of them, thanks. So Monday came around and it was time to leave, but not after catch the Liverpool match at The Royale. Crap result. Blah. So I left St. Louis at 5 p.m. and figuring i could get 100 miles at least before dark. Well i headed north on 267 to Jacksonville not quite 100 miles. It has to be one of the worst roads in all of Illinois. It was riding over bumps and cracks every 20 feet which one would be every second going 50 mph. Clump clump,clump clump is all i endured for what seemed like 30 miles. Got to Jacksonville and camped out in the community park. Now it's one thing to have a wake up call in a hotel or motel or whatever place you decide to stay at. But in a park your wake up call is the people that carry guns and handcuffs. So after what has become a routine line that I've gotten down. I tell the officer what I'm doing. Then the officers ask for the license. Got to be careful these days, there a lot of crazies out there causing trouble and getting away on them scooooters, I thought. So I have an early rise and pack up and on my way to Havana. More of that clump clump and this road has to go. I didn't really stop in Havana, but to fix that pesky ht coil wire. I decide to head to Liverpool for another photo then off to Cuba for a photo and then headed north for Peru. I don't know why but Illinois like those foreign countries for town names. Making it as the sun was setting. I pass a Chinese buffet. I stopped and turn around. Time to have dinner. At this point I'm feeling better, but still have this cough and it's a tough one to shake. So I camp out in a park called Sunset park. Nice bathroom and a took me awhile but did find an outlet for the phone. After a saying good night to the misses, it was time for sleep. But then I could here a noise from a car. I peek out and only see it's the police. Dammit, don't come over please. I've already taken the NyQuil. So I fall asleep and no bother. But the next morning, yep I get that early wake up call. Give the blah blah blah line of what I'm doing and he checks the id and off I am by 8 o'clock. Am I going to have one day that I can sleep in? Maybe when I camp in the middle of nowhere! So Chi-town only laid 90 miles away. Made it up in 3 hours with a few stops. The speedo stopped working outside Naperville. So I'm at about 1,200 miles so far. It weird to think you are doing 40 on the speedometer and it says 53 on the radar machine. Well I'm parked in Chicago for awhile. I'll do a bit of riding through out Chicagoland. And hopefully this cough will bugger off.

Turnout to be a Marriott, boo.

That arch thingy