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17 March, 2009

Father-Son Motorcycle Time

So my Dad and I are planning a week long motorcycle trip down to South Carolina in mid-May to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway, Cherohala Skyway, Deal's Gap...etc. For those of you who don't know him, my dad is legally a Motorcyclaholic. Seriously. I think he has the world record for most miles on a motorcycle in one year for someone who was working full-time (it is going to be WAY higher this year now that he is retired!). To put this into perspective: You could blindfold my dad and drive him out to the middle of NoWhere, Michigan and within 5 seconds of taking his blindfold off I am quite confident that he could tell you where the nearest gas station is, where the bathrooms are inside of the gas station, the road with the best scenery and most curves to get there, and where you will most likely see a police officer waiting to catch you speeding. THIS IS NOT AN EXAGGERATION!!!

Anyway, my dad wanted to take me on a long ride to see how long I can stand on a motorcycle in one day to better help him plan our trip. I made it from just after sun-up (8:00AM-ish) to just before dark (8:00PM-ish) and I was still having a great time and could have easily done more... I think I passed the test!






We had a great ride and saw some really nice places. We stopped at a nice historical covered bridge in Ada, stopped in a really nice town called Rockford, drove through Sparta (and yes I did yell "THIS IS SPARTA!" ala the movie 300 in my helmet), and ended up at our destination in Muskegon where we got to walk through the USS Silversides WWII submarine (see image above) and the USS McLane WWII Coast Guard ship. It was especially neat for me because my dad used to be an officer on a ship and I got to see what that part of his life was like. In fact, the ship he was an officer on, the "Dar Pomorza" (see image below), is now at the Polish Maritime Museum in Gdansk and I am planning on going to check it out while we are in Europe next year!












All-in-all I had a wonderful day with my Dad and am looking forward to our trip to South Carolina in May!

~Daniel
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2 comments:

  1. Melissa NelsonMarch 19, 2009 at 9:30 AM

    And ***WHO*** happens to live at the edge of the blue ridge mountains???? coincidence??? The mountains are gorgeous, I'm sure you can't wait!

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  2. CRayMarch 31, 2009 at 7:18 PM

    Hey Daniel,
    This is Chelsea, a friend of Marlayna's. Jason, my husband, and I actually rode the Blue Ridge for our honeymoon. It was at the end of April 2 years ago. Make sure you bring warm clothes because as you go up in elevation the temperature goes down, and I imagine that you will be up riding early. It was a great trip, beautiful sights. It is funny that you mention riding through Sparta, MI because my bike actually broke down in Sparta, NC on the trip. Long story but anyways, it was the end of our trip, so it didn't really matter, and we had trailored our bikes down to Raleigh to start the trip. If you happen to stop in Sparta and by coincidence run into the old sheriff tell him I say hi; he helped Jason and I out with my bike. It is a great story that I will always treasure.
    Have a great trip. I am sure that you are really looking forward to it.
    Take care,
    Chelsea Ray

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