I arrived yesterday at Hannums Harley Davidson just a little outside Baltimore MD to meet my contact Tina. I had actually stopped in the day before to purchase a little upgrade for my bike…new, louder exhaust pipes!! I couldn’t help it, they were well priced and sounded tough. So, yesterday I swung in and had them installed. It’s almost as if I have a whole new bike. I have to thank Corey for helping me chose the right pipes and for putting up with me all day. Tina was a very good host and their service department had me in and out in under 2 hours. Hannums is a beautiful dealership and I look forward to visiting again. Thanks guys!

I was lucky enough to enjoy the hospitality of Gail and Robert my step aunt and uncle. They live in a beautiful home outside of Baltimore. I was able to enjoy a home cooked meal and sleep in a nice comfortable bed. They definitely took the rough out of roughing it! But, before I could get there I had to endure mother nature’s wrath yet again.

I had been at the dealership that day and noticed another storm cloud rolling in on the horizon so I decided to saddle up and make a run for Gail and Robert’s home. As I started to ride I watched this cloud engulf the entire western hemisphere to my left and then watched it turn green. Anyone from the Midwest can tell you that if the sky turns any color except blue, grey or black…your in for a treat. Well, this sky went from gray to black, to yellow and then to green within minutes. So, I pulled off the road and called Robert who told me that hail was falling by their house and sure enough not more than 15 minutes later, hail was falling over me. I waited it out, but still had to drive the rest of the distance in the aftermath; which was rain and heavy winds. It was worth it to enjoy their hospitality though…Thanks guys!

I left this morning from the Baltimore area for Washington DC. I have been looking forward to this since I first planned this trip last year and it was everything I’d hoped it would be. I rolled in on the belt line towards my stop in Fort Washington at the Washington DC Harley Davidson and out of nowhere the famous George Washington Memorial came into view. I couldn’t wait to see the sites, but was afraid my short stay would hinder this opportunity.

I came to the dealership…bike still sounding great…And was immediately greeted by Jennifer the GM. She was extremely nice and very supportive. Plus she had a good amount of people waiting for me when I showed up and then to top it off she had lunch on the grill. AND then, on top all this she gave me a full tour of her dealership and introduced me to the rest of her staff. AND THEN, she (and Jim) helped me get my long lost H.O.G Member ID number so I can participate in the 25,000 rider event in Oklahoma City in a couple of weeks. Freakin awesome Jennifer!

I sat outside eating cheeseburgers and hotdogs with DC H.O.G. and some Rolling Thunder members telling and listening to stories from the road. Some of these guys just showed up to meet me before turning back to work. It was a good start to the afternoon and I couldn’t help but feel like they were a pretty tight nit group. If I ever join a specific H.O.G chapter I will look for a similar type group to call my family on the road. To everyone that showed at the dealership thank you, ride safe and I’ll be seeing you again.

It didn’t end there though. Those that remained decided to give this out of towner a scenic tour around DC. Even though rain was coming (AGAIN!!!!) and rush hour traffic was inevitable and they’ve probably seeing it all before we saddled up. I was taken to some of the major sights and even though I’ve seeing these places on TV, it sure doesn’t do them justice. There was one point when we were on…I forget the name of the street sorry guys…stuck in grid lock traffic we decided to pull off and when I got off my bike I was in the middle of two of the most famous structures known to the world. To my right jetted skyward the Washington Memorial; surrounded by American flags and a subtle but defining landscape. Its presence is one of strength as it seems to pierce the sky. The flags surrounding it are crisp and sharp. Even from a little distance I could almost count all 50 stars on each one. This is how our flag was supposed to be flown and it reminded me of all the tattered and torn flags you see outside of businesses, homes, apartments, in the rain, and in the dark. I only wish more people would take the time to respect the flag that binds all Americans to the men and women in our past that sacrificed and died to secure the freedoms we all enjoy today.

As I stared at this monument I realized my visit would not be complete without seeing the greatest house in the Nation. So I turned away from the Washington Monument and asked our leader where it was, he smirked and nodded his head away from me. There, right behind him shining like ivory was the Whitehouse. It took the breath right out of me as I realized I was not watching the History channel but was actually in the presence of some of the most powerful and influential men and women in the world…past and present. I was a little ways away, but the effect was non the less dramatic. Like a good little tourist I got a picture of me in front of it. I wanted to go and ring the doorbell, but my hosts advised against this action. I guess I’ll have lunch with the President some other time!!!

On a sad note, during my visit an older gentleman with a twisted agenda stormed the Holocaust Museum with a firearm and opened up on a couple of security officers. One of these officers didn’t make in; may he rest in peace. The gunman was shot dead.

Tonight I am again at the charity of another friend Gillian and her fiance. They’re putting me up for the night in there very nice new apartment in Bethesda MD which is right outside downtown DC. Plus, as it is raining again….YES IT’S RAINING AGAIN….my bikes in a comfy underground parking space.

Hopefully the rain will disappear as I have a long haul in the morning for Charleston WV. I’m looking at 6-7 hours hard riding. If it’s raining this could double and ruin any chance at an event tomorrow. But, there’s no sense in complaining I have to make it and I will. It would be nice too have some company tomorrow, the loneliness is gripping. It’s hard to explain, but it feels as if I’m on a never ending business trip. The places, faces, stories, roads, states, and days are beginning to bleed into each other. I’m starting to lose my sense of time because as the states change, the towns and roads seem to be the same and at the end of the day I judge the week upon the tour’s schedule. Even the schedule is beginning to slip from my mind. Trying to keep over 54 destinations and their contacts in place is no easy task. I noticed that I was talking aloud to my Tom Tom this morning. This might not be good, but it will be worse if Tom begins to talk back to me!! I might just become a walking advertisement for the Tom Tom people.

As I look back to where I’ve been it’s kind of shocking to me that within 2 weeks I have traveled almost 4,000 miles. It seems like a lot when you measure it by distance, but when measured by time it’s a little more than 2 weeks and that’s nothing. 6 weeks left to go…Lets do it.

In my 28 years of existence I can recall maybe one other event that can compare to the experience I had on Sunday in NYC. It was like skydiving, a first kiss, and sitting in the back of a cop car all rolled into one and placed on a motorcycle!! No words, pictures, or half in the bag stories will ever be able to reproduce it as well as I lived it.

Sunday morning I left my extremely over priced (and over rated) hotel room for the dealership in queens. I was running a little late and my head was a little fuzzy from the night before. I came down a one way street where I could see bikes lining up, but it wasn’t until I came to the intersection until I got a view that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up. From my view point I could see about 300 bikes lining the southern side of the block and across the street was about 25-30 bike cops. I sat at the stop sign completely clueless as to what I should do. I couldn’t see any place to park and though I do have some skills I didn’t have the balls to squeeze my bike in between a couple of Hells Angels or Outlaws.
 

So, I went left and coming up to the western side of the dealership I saw the street was closed and there were bikes parked almost 4 deep as far as the eye could see. I thought I was screwed and would have to park far away from the action, but out of nowhere George called out and waved me up onto the sidewalk. I thought this was strange, but then again I was in NYC and because I was on a bike and now associated with what looked like 1,000 other bikers…I was damn near untouchable. George called over to a couple of guys directing bike traffic and pointed at me and gave them a thumbs up. He then made me circle around all the bikes on the closed street and ride the opposite sidewalk all the way to the front of the line! There I was front and center with all my gear piled up and bungeed to the back of my bike. But, who cares I had a front row seat for the loudest site seeing tour in the city! Now I just had to wait for 3 hours.

And what a three hours it was. The sun was blistering hot and the breeze was nowhere to be found. As I was a little fuzzy that morning I wasn’t thinking about what to wear so my attire went a little something like this: Black socks, black boots, heavy carpenter jeans (and boxers), tank top, kidney belt, black long sleeve shirt, black short sleeve shirt, riding coat, black gloves, and a bike black helmet!! I shed the gloves, coat and helmet, but I was still over heating. I drank almost 6 bottles of water and didn’t have to go to the bathroom!!

I made it the 3 hours and it was time to take off. The signal to leave was the police bikes starting up and lighting the cherries. After that I thought I was on pit row at a NASCAR race “GENTLEMEN START YOUR ENGINES!” All around me bikes were firing and revving; it was so loud I could feel it in my chest. It got the blood pumping so I fired mine up and revved along with em. After a couple minutes the lead vehicle appeared in front of me and some guy lifted the barricade… the bikes went nuts and tore out of the gate; somehow I managed to keep up because I wasn’t ready for that kind of rush. And we were off!

The drive was unreal as we drove in and out of Manhattan not having to stop at red lights or worry about traffic because the cops were blocking all ramps and intersections. I took a little guilty pleasure out of seeing the angry New Yorkers stuck behind the cops as they cursed our existence….unfortunately this would come back to haunt me. We rolled through tunnels and the roar of almost 2,500 bikes was almost deafening. What a rush! We finally ended up in a park where the dealership had grills smoking away and a band doing its best to copy AC DC and Guns N Roses. I met some good people and promoted The Patriot Tour and its cause. I want to thank George and the rest of his staff for their hospitality and also thank SSG John Antonetti for his company during the event and the badge he gave me from Bagdad. I will wear this badge with honor.

It was an awesome day, but I decided to leave at about 4pm so I didn’t have to worry about rush hour traffic on Monday morning…this was a grave mistake. As cool as it was to drive through the big city with the cops taking care of that messy traffic, I didn’t realize at the time that we were making things horribly worse. Our little tour backed up everything and created a bad case of gridlock. I found this out the hard way when I decided to take my time getting to New Jersey and told my Tom Tom I wanted to avoid tolls. Like bad karma Tom Tom proceeded to take me back through what we had just come from and it was torture.
 

When I hopped back onto my bike I had all my gear on and drove comfortably for about 1 mile then came to a dead stop. It was stop and go for almost 3 HOURS!!! I actually started to feel the effect from heat exhaustion as I putted less than a mile an hour through the gridlocked city. The sweat was pouring down my face, back, and even my legs (didn’t even know legs could sweat). But finally I got out, barely. My head was light and even more fuzzy. My mouth was so dry I might as well have been chewing on sand. And my limbs felt like iron pipes. Tunnel vision started to set in right as I emerged from the city. All of this on top of an over heating bike which made things even hotter. In fact, the bike became so hot I started to worry about my pants catching fire! Let it be know that I will NEVER EVER drive a motor vehicle through that city again.

I made it all the way through to the New Jersey/Pennsylvania border and stopped at The #$@! Motel. I asked the strange looking desk guy sitting behind bullet proof glass for a room and he said in an almost incomprehensible accent “ROOM $125.” Now if this had been the Hilton and if I had the money then sure…great. But this was anything but the Hilton. It was beat up and nasty looking. I could almost smell the disease coming off the pillow cases. SO I got out of there in a hurry. I went from motel to motel all the rooms were over $120 so I went back the way I cam and found another little gem off the highway. This little beauty had an exotic gentleman’s club attached to it and as an added bonus there were literally crack heads hanging out of the rooms. I know they were crack heads because the nice attendant told me so…right before she told me not to check into her hotel! Another hour of searching and I found a Motel 6 for very cheap and called it home for the night! It was a long day.