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AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days

On our way to the AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days at Mid-Ohio Race Track we had the chance to go through a little bit of Amish country (we did see one horse and buggy in Pennsylvania). Today we saw families outside of their farm, kids driving the horse and buggy to town, and even saw a beautiful Clydesdale next to his red barn. Another beautiful drive through perfectly green farmland. My one surprise was seeing an Amish couple (I assumed) get into a car at the gas station while I was filling up. Later someone told me they might be Mennonite.

The plan for the group was to arrive together and get staged for a lap around the race track in between the regularly scheduled races. I did not know that. I assumed that we would be in a parking lot, and I would unhook the trailer before going on the track. When we got there, they led us directly to the gate and they lined us all up at the front of the “false grid”, I think they called it. Then a whole bunch of other bikes and riders start swarming around us and we get packed in. So, I guess this was happening now! When it was time, they then lined us up on the grid area, and with a pace car in front of us we all got to do 2 laps around the track. Makayla took video and Spencer took photos, and they said that was a lot of fun.

Some other highlights of the day: the kids got to watch part of a live race (we watch Motot GP on TV all the time, but they have never been to a race before). The most exciting thing was to see the Wall of Death, where motorcyclist ride a bike around a small wooden “bowl”. Both kids thought that was awesome. We walked around and got a lot of great photos of old bikes.

Today was considered a “easy rest day”, so by 1:30 we were done looking around and headed to our next stop for the night, Lima, OH.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that on the way to the hotel there was a super strong headwind, and I got horrible gas mileage. I hit reserve at only 58 mi on the odometer. I was in a section that did not have any gas stations for quite a bit…so I was crossing my fingers to make it to the next gas station. Well my luck ran out and it died about a mile before the exit. Not the best scenario but I was prepared! We had placed a small plastic gas can ( can I call it a can if it is plastic?) in the trailer, so I poured the emergency gas into the tank and got to the station. Not fun, but we survived.

To view more photos, click here: (more…)

Jul 11 2016

Springfield, MA to Sayre, PA

Jul 08 2016

The first real day of riding started with a quick trip to the tire place to get the lug nuts tightened before I took off. If you are ever in Springfield MA, the guys at Tire Warehouse are great! I then realized that the only GPS route that was not loaded was today’s route, even after I spent so much time the night before checking everything. So it took me a while to get out of the Springfield area. I may or may not have take a few wrong turns going through some traffic circles. My GPS and I were[…]

Sister’s Centennial Ride

Jul 06 2016

Many thanks to our friend Wayne, and fellow LABiker, for driving out our sidecar rig from California, and picking us up at the airport in Connecticut. We took the red eye on Sun July 3rd, and landed in CT at 5:30am. We were lucky to have breakfast followed by a 3 hour nap at Waynes’ house. Then we drove up to Springfield Massachusetts to check in for the Sister’s Centennial Ride. We had a riders meeting and got to meet all the riders who would be going all the way to California. Some had some amazing stories to tell, and[…]

May 22 2016

“…Lovely watching the elegant yellow Tug negotiate said twisties with precious cargo aboard, while squids launch themselves over guardrails failing at same test. This I will never forget….” George B. My husband grew up on a cattle ranch in the sand hills of Northeast Nebraska, where they grow their own corn, soy, and alfalfa to feed their cattle. He states that the best steak he has ever had is at Jocko’s Steak House in Nipomo, CA. Our motorcycle club, LABikers, tries to get up to Jocko’s once a year, and we make a 2 day trip out of[…]

Mar 04 2016

So today was my first day taking the land barge on the 405 freeway. The plan was to get to Champion Sidecar in Garden Grove CA, to get some new parts. We wanted to get a new windscreen that was tinted, and replace the rubber weather stripping, some snaps and other miscellaneous small parts. I was just going to pick up some parts and bring them home for Frank and I do do the install ourselves. The ride down was uneventful, I did not have any problems. But on the way back, I definitely had a moment where I was[…]

Feb 13 2016

Today was an interesting day. I had my wisdom teeth pulled out, and we bought a motorcycle and sidecar. Not your typical Valentines weekend, that’s for sure! Here is the back story: The reason we were in the market for a motorcycle and sidecar was I was planning on doing the Sister’s Centennial Ride. I heard about the Sister’s Centennial Ride from a friend on Facebook. It is a cross country trip that commemorates the 100 year anniversary of the Van Buren sisters, Augusta and Adeline, riding their motorcycles across the country in 1916. These 2 sisters wanted to show[…]

Category - sidecar

AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days

Springfield, MA to Sayre, PA

Sister’s Centennial Ride

Ride for Steak at Jocko’s!

Field Trip to Champion Sidecar in Garden Grove

Less teeth, more wheels!