Traveling to Savannah

I'll be on the road to Savannah, GA for the 2009 Ride to Remember. I don't leave until Wednesday morning, May 13th. But wanted to put up a map that should (if all works right) track me as I travel down and back. The map should keep updating until I return on Sunday (or Monday, depending on weather/traffic)

Stories and fun stuff when I return!

You'll probably have to refresh to see the latest map. Again, nothing will appear until Wednesday morning (EDT). Those who I know off the blog, I'll be sending you to a more detailed place to see more maps and information, I'll probably send that out late Tuesday afternoon. If you don't get the email, and want that info, shoot me an email.

This map is basically a Google Map, you can zoom in, pan around, etc.

Updates soon!

This past weekend has been extremely busy. I was in Omaha for the recent Ride to Remember with the Jewish Motorcyclists Alliance. The experience was incredible; the way Omaha, Lincoln, and Nebraska in general welcomed us was astonishing, totally beating out DC, TN, and NY. I'm working on a write up, but it'll take a while. (I'll probably have to do it in a few chunks).

Then the day after I returned home, I got my new (to me) motorcycle. Whoo hoo. I just got it registered. I have to get it inspected (it's only 8 months old, shouldn't be a problem) and I'm ready to roll!

So long...

I accomplished part A of my plans to get a new bike, selling my old one. I put an ad in the Concours Owners Group forum, and got a few hits. The first person tried to negotiate the price of the bike down from my asking price (and I had already knocked about 1/3 of the price off the Blue Book value because I knew of, and was honest about the damage). I told him thanks, but I'll see if others are interested. The next day I received a very excited email from a person in Tennessee. We conversed by email a few times, then he left TN Saturday night, drove up all the way here and got here Sunday morning. He checked the bike out, rode it for about a minute, came back and told me I had a deal. I signed the title over to him, he paid me in cash, and we loaded the bike up in his truck. Oy, I've only loaded my bike onto my (pretty low) trailer (see here for an example). Getting it all the way up the ramp onto the truck was hard work! But we got it done. Whew! I took one last picture just before he left.


I tried to keep away any anthropomorphic feelings. The bike worked well for 10 years, but after the drop I had last year, I realized I wanted to get a bike that was lower to the ground. Now I get to do some serious shopping! :-)

However, I will probably not be riding to the Ride to Remember this year. When I do get a new (or new to me) bike, I want to take the time to get the know and get comfortable with the bike. Starting off with a 2,500 round trip journey seems like a rush. I will be there though, just via airplane.

Dougies is coming to Baltimore!

And I thought Subway's was exciting news...

I received some great news just before Yom Kippur. By reading Presence (specifically this post) I learned that Dougies is coming to Baltimore, at least as a mobile restaurant. For those who aren't familiar with it, Dougies is a great kosher BBQ restaurant. My wife (at the time my girlfriend) took me to the Dougies in Manhattan for my birthday, since I had mentioned that I like BBQ beef ribs. The ribs there were incredible. After we got married, we ate at the Brooklyn Dougies a few times when visiting her family in Boro Park. And when we did the Ride to Remember, Salute to Israel Parade out of Teaneck, we hit the Teaneck Dougies with my parents. The BBQ beef sub was so stuffed with beef that even as delicious as it was, I couldn't finish it! Right around when we got married, Laya asked the (manager? owner?) of Dougies if he'd open up a shop in DC or Baltimore. He just said something like "we'll see, some day maybe."
I guess we'll have to make visits to Baltimore a full day event now, lunch at Subways, and dinner at Dougies (or at least take out and bring home with us)!

I e-mailed the contact person for Dougies, and he said that after they get their business going, they want to add a second truck to hit the Rockville / Silver Spring area, which is a good bit closer to me.

This news didn't make my fast any easier, but it's certainly worth it! :-)

Wild and Wonderful West (by G-d) Virginia

Last week I stayed overnight at the Concours Owners Group (COG) rally in Davis, WV. To get there I had to cross the Eastern Continental Divide. Up, up, up, and then Down Down DOWN!!! Because 1) They were predicting thunderstorms, and 2) I planned to go back to work the next morning, I decided to take the van, rather than ride my bike there. Those mountain roads are sometimes nerve wracking on a bike. They didn't seem much better in the van!! Oy. In fact, by the time I got back into VA, I could feel and hear (if I turned off the radio) the brakes grinding. I just had them checked... Yep, once again, I have completely worn out the brake pads and was grinding the calipers directly onto the brake rotors. I need to carry hearing people in my van more often. (or teach Tikvah and Ahava when to alert us to various audio problems) The last time I did this was about 7 years ago in my old car. I went to a Midas near my old office in Arlington and they fixed it up for me. This time I went to the Midas near my new office (a town over from Arlington). Turns out the manager moved and was at this shop and remembered me!

But besides the brake issue, I had a great time seeing folks from COG at the rally. They had a BBQ banquet that night. It smelled delicious. No, really, I enjoyed my peanut butter and jelly sandwich very much! ;-) They also had doorprizes that night. Lots of good things, gift certificates, parts, clothing, and the grand prize, a Zumo 550 GPS. Me... nothing. Oh well, I still enjoyed it all anyway. Hopefully in a few years I'll be able to go again and spend more than one night. But still, in all honesty, I feel more connected with people at the Jewish Motorcyclists Alliance's Ride to Remembers.

I don't remember if I mentioned it here or not, but next year's ride will be to Ohmaha Nebraska. "What the heck is in Ohmaha?" is what most people ask me. The National Holocaust Endowment Fund. Education and rememberance for folks out in Nebraska.

I'm still here, and sneek preview

It's been a while since I posted. I was away several days for the Jewish Motorcyclist Alliance's Ride to Remember, then when I got home, I was slammed with work (they actually wanted things done!), and busy at home as well. We moved Ahava into Tikva's room. My wife wanted to try having the girls share a room since when they were separated, there were various things that would set them off crying. Also, when they were with my parents during the Ride to Remember, they shared a room, and my parents thought they got along fine. Pretty soon I'll post some pictures and write ups from the ride itself, but I'll just quickly say here that it was great. We had over 100 Jews on Motorcycles crossing over the GW Bridge into Manhattan, they actually shut down the top deck, so we made the crossing by ourselves. It was a really cool feeling! Here's one photo of the crossing:


More of a write up and photos to come.