Skyline Drive or Last Place?

Today was the River City Open. I could drive down and play a morning round from the Dorey long tees and the afternoon round at The Village. Scoring a cornucopia of bogeys, double bogeys & triple bogeys.

Or....

I could take a ride up to Skyline drive on perfect day for a road trip.

I chose the latter and I'm pretty sure I made the right choice.

I didn't leave The 'Burg til 11am and took off toward Waugh's in Orange to take a break and check out the latest stuff.

Then it was off to Skyline. It had been almost a year since my last ride up there. The skies were clear and blue the air was warm but not hot and the Sporty was running great. As I head west on 33 and getting closer to the mountains a dark rain cloud was parked directly in front of me. But I kept on going.

When I got up to the entrance the temp had dropped at least 10 degrees and was actually pretty cold. I had to put on my jacket after buying my season pass. I headed north on Skyline in spite of possible rain.

By the time I got a few miles the skies began to clear and the light traffic made the drive sweet. The park was still very green from all the rain this summer. The wildlife was out and about too. Many deer and their fawns and even a black bear with her cub ran across the road in front of me.

The only bummer of the day was that The Stable is now the Family Restaurant and wasn't open. So I had to settle for an Italian BMT from subway.

Rolling Thunder 25

Rolling Thunder has been changing over the last few years. It's as it the National Parks Service is doing everything they can to fuck it up for the riders coming in to D.C.

My first year back in '02 I parked on the side of Constitution right next to Thunder Alley. A few years later we parked in the grass next to the Washington Monument. In '09 & '10 Ken & I parked over by the Memorial bridge right next to the Lincoln Memeorial. Last year that area was blocked off and this year everything was blocked off. I didn't see one area for bike parking anywhere near the parade area.

We ended up parking on 5th & Pennsylvania about 3 blocks away which made all the extra walking hell on our feet.

The other thing was in the past it was an actual constant rumbling of thousands of Harleys rolling down Constitution. THis year they were spaced apart in groups and they ended up spreading out making it seem like Kinda Thunder instead of Rolling Thunder.

And as last year we could not find a way in to the parade route so we could ride to the end lot and make it out of D.C. Instead we had to ride an extra 10 miles in 90° snarling traffic to make it out.

I'm seriously considering riding somewhere else next year.

I was the luckiest fucker in D.C. today....

On the way back to where we parked our bikes I realize I don't have my key on me. Either it's still in the ignition or it fell out of my pocket somewhere on the National Mall. Either way I could be totally fucked. I parked on the open end of our space and anyone walking by could easily see the key and my helmet hanging on the bars. My Sporty was just begging anyone to "Please jump on and take me for a ride".

But luckily for me when we get back to our bikes the Sporty is still there with the key in the ignition.

Don "Hoss" Waugh

Perfect day for riding. New tires mounted yesterday. T-shirt swap with Kevin in Maine so I rode down to Waugh's HD to get his shirt & my HD Tour Stamp.

As usual Don "Hoss" Waugh was there to greet everyone.

Step 3 complete...

Day three of ridin' is complete. Headed down to Orang for a visit to Waugh's HD to pick up my reward points card & a new wallet.