Our Nations Capital

For those who weren't here 

last time, allow me to add a link 

to my original pages. The links will be up soon. try clicking on the bike and see what happens

If the above link worked then so should the rest. Hopefully they will all open into new windows so that you can browse at your convenience.

My first trip started during the summer of 2000. Many people seemed to enjoy the stories I told so I try to keep up the tradition. Find all the emails from years past you didn't get or forgot about here, then here.

A page or two, or three here that I can't fit in elsewhere.

Some pictures from the first trip are found here and here.

My second trip was out East to visit my younger brother and sister. I also wanted to make it to Florida but got side tracked in Myrtle Beach.

Several pages here, here, and here.

The next trip was what I call the Big Circle. I went from Chicago to San Diego, up the coast to Canada, then East to New Hampshire for my sister's wedding. It was a long trip.

Along the way I also stopped to volunteer on the AidsRide, from Minnesota back to Chicago.

finally last year I tried to rest a bit and stayed home most of the summer. Near the end of the summer I went to Sturgis with some friends. That story is here. With some more pictures here.

These are some more opening pages I have used for my various trips. They will add to the story and also repeat some links inside. 2003 Sturgis, California 2002.

Three I hope that gets everyone up to date. Come back every couple of days to keep up, or just wait until the end for the final edit. If you would like to be added to the email list let me know I'll try to put you on it. I bought a new lap top with WiFi so hopefully I should be able to stop at most Starbucks or something like that and get a fast internet connection. This should allow me to keep the web page more current and cleaner. Yeah right.

Brendan

Finally, if you like to hear a good story guaranteed to have a happy ending try this

I left the last web page with the right story, but I didn't have all the pictures put into the computer yet. so here are some of the pictures from Northern New York, Vermont and New Hampshire. First there is my old jacket that I retired. Then there is Laconia. Then I got tired of starting at the anti-smoking ad on the Canadian cigarettes I also loved the gas station I stopped at for coffee in the morning. I had so I figured you would like to see it. Finally, the drawbridge I was stopped at. 

I tried to get into the gay pride parade in Providence, RI, but I kept just missing the opportunity to get into it. I mean if I could have gotten the bike to a spot on the street in front of the parade I don't think they would have noticed or cared if I joined. The problem was I had no clue where the parade was going to so I had to guess. I got stopped by cops twice just before getting onto the parade route. However, in the end I didn't make it. 

The next morning I decided to skip the brunch with transsexual divas. I grabbed my new jacket and headed south on I-95. I made a reservation online for a ferry just before leaving the hotel and I figured I had two and a half hours to make it about 60 miles. I forgot my computer was still on central time so I drove up to the ferry just a few minutes before the ferry started loading. 

This was an older and much slower ferry, but the seas were calm and we sailed for an hour and a half to get to Long Island. Again there were a bunch of bikes on the ferry, but most of these guys were locals coming back from Laconia. There were even three trailers on the ferry. When the ferry docked I did the same thing I did after the last ferry. I just took the first road going in my direction and followed it. 

Eventually I made it to New York, though it took a lot longer than I thought it would. I did manage to make a pit stop at a winery, maybe that is why it took so long. When I got close to New York I jumped on the freeway and followed it towards the city. I had no clue where I was going really, but I wanted to visit the twin towers and I knew they were downtown. Eventually the freeway dumped me on 2nd Ave with a sign pointing towards downtown. And the road went on and on and on and on. I've been in downtown Chicago and downtown L.A. but really New York is different it is much bigger. Henry says the island is 13 miles long and I think every inch of it is covered with buildings at least 5 stories tall. You can't see squat and I had no clue where I was going and I was wondering when the stupid island was ever going to end so I could see something. Eventually though 2nd street stopped going one way and I was forced to turn so I asked some directions. The first cab driver had no idea what the twin towers were. I looked at him like he was stupid and he closed his window and drove away. 

I asked some more people for directions and they got me close, then I asked for more directions and they gave me bad directions. I ended up getting lost and driving around in circles for a while when all of a sudden I drove down a side street and there I was at the front door. 

The WTC isn't as solemn as it seems in the pictures these days. They have put up a big fence and then behind the fence is a screen that you can see through, but makes it difficult to take pictures through. It was Sunday so no one was working, but it looks like they are beginning to start some work on whatever memorial they are putting up. I'm to sure they didn't really have any information on what was happening. 

I thought it would be nice to visit the Statue of Liberty too, but it was already after six and closed. So I jumped on the I-95 South and called my sister and her husband. She was only about 200 miles so I headed down.

I-95 is really a sucky road. First I'm on the Jersey Turnpike not only do they charge $4.75 to ride the road, but at one section the road goes from 8 lanes in each direction all the way down to 3. Even on a Sunday night traffic came to complete standstill. Then every new state I came to they wanted me to stop and pay a toll. I think I paid about $20 some odd dollars in tolls from the first bridge into New York all the way into D.C. or almost a dollar a mile. 

What is it about Washington D.C.? I mean this is our nations capital. It should be impressive, awe inspiring, it should take your breath away, but it isn't. I've been hanging around for a few days and I take walks to the Mall area all the time. I love the monuments and the museums and all that stuff, but walking around about all you see in-between all that stuff is snow fences and concrete barriers. It's enough to make a person crazy. 

I did see the president come in on Marine One, and then what was probably the Vice President drive past. Of course it might have been nothing, but considering the police presence it was probably them (look carefully you can see two snipers on the roof of the Whitehouse). I did a lot of walking as I usually do in D.C. and I only got lost once. 

I've been baby sitting my one year old niece. That means I just have to drag a stroller and diapers around with me everywhere I go. It hasn't been too bad, but man you would think that people would actually be a bit courteous to someone trying to push a baby around town. I think everyone here thinks they own the town because they are taxpayers and everyone else is just chopped liver. People cut in front of me at lines when I turn to give the baby a bottle, they walk five abreast down the sidewalk forcing me to take the stroller off road, and just don't care about anything or anyone else. 

We did have some fun, my niece and I. We saw the Washington Monument, ate some sushi, and took a bath the first day. Well she took a bath and I washed her hair. She does like to play with things though, so much of the time she's just waddling around and I'm trying to keep up with her.

I did stop at the Smithsonian Museum of Contemporary American Art. What is it about American art. I saw wicker chairs, folding chairs, dinning room tables, dressers, plastics, and just a bunch of junk you might find in you're grandmothers' house. I love the chairs though, I think one is for a short person with a fat butt and the other is for a tall person, again with a fat butt. 

The security guards though are generally pretty friendly, which is a good thing because there are about thirty at every doorway and then some. I guess these are the thousands of new jobs that W. has created or something. Anyway the sister comes home tomorrow and we will be heading to my brother's house down in Virginia. I won't be riding, but that's ok I rode to his house a few yeas back.