New England Trip 2015 Pt 2 Richmond to Philly

In June we left the Richmond area of Virginia after our grandson's wedding and continued our trek northwards towards New England making our first stop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to visit Independence Park. We parked our bike in underground parking near the park and walked around downtown Philly.

The Liberty Bell

Independence Hall

First stop was the Liberty Bell. Yep, it's still cracked. Nearly lost my little pocket knife to a guard at security but fortunately I had cleared the small item with the supervisor before entering the scan area. After a short exchange, the supervisor convinced the guy that she had OKed the item since I declared it first.
We did not go into the Hall due to limited time and we really wanted to see the Reading Market. It is something to see. It covers an entire city block and has just about every kind of shop you can think of when it comes to eats.

Reading Market

We walked around this place for over an hour and probably still didn't see it all. Amazing. If I ever get back I'm going to try an original Philly Cheese-steak  sandwich. Would have spent more time there but we had to get on to our hotel for the night to get checked in and ready for our trip to NYC the next day. Need to go back to the city of Brotherly Love and spend more time exploring.

Reading Market

As you can see from these few pictures that there is more things to eat here than you can possibly sample in a day's visit. Not just food in the place but mostly food. There were some boutiques and flower shops as well. Quite an adventure there.

Reading Market

New England Trip 2015 Pt 1 Arkansas to Virginia

In May and June of 2015 we had an adventurous trip that started with a trip to Harrison, Arkansas for the GWRRA Arkansas District Rally. The first stop was Texarkana. It was a great time seeing many of our friends and enjoying the activities at the rally. We left Texarkana in the rain but were out of it in less than 100 miles. We had a great ride with plans of taking the famous Pig Trail (23) up towards Harrison. We did not know until we crossed I 40 on 23 that the road was closed due to a big mud slide and wash out on up the mountain so we had to detour over to Russellville and take Scenic 7 again. 

The Cliff House overlooking the Arkansas Grand Canyon

We had a great rally with the Arkansas members.

Mary Jo and Arlene were lit up for the bike light show too!

The theme was Mash. The whole rally was a lot of fun but the Theme Competition was a blast. The District Team went all out and Director Klinger took the prize. What a fun time.

They were great!

From there we took the Peal Ferry into Missouri and went to the Lake of the Ozarks for a couple of nights before heading on out to Indianapolis Indiana.

And a little relaxing when the bike is covered for the night. 

We took a nice ride in Missouri through the country the second day before heading out. to our stop in Indianapolis for a night and then on the Ohio to the Dayton area where I was stationed from 1970 until 1971. We toured the United States Air Force Museum. Here are a few of the hundreds of pictures I took inside. Awesome place that is on my list of re-does.

 

The famous "Black bird" SR 71 but known to us on Okinawa as the Habu or snake in Japanese. 

General Robin Olds

Triple Ace from WWII to Viet Nam.

 Then into West Virginia for 4 days of wonderful riding on some of the best motorcycle roads in the country. We like it so much that we came back in October with our daughter and son-in-law for another 4 days of riding.

State Capitol in Charleston

Kanawha Falls

Kanawha Falls

New River Gorge Bridge

On the Fayette Station Bridge

Cathedral Falls near Gauley

New River from Hawk's Nest overlook.

Hawk's Nest State Park 

Good pizza and beer!