Hanover

Day 27
Destination: Hanover, MA
Route: Highway 95 through New York, New Haven, Providence, Highway 93 (Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Massachusetts)
Miles Ridden: 310    Total Miles: 6,486

Points of Interest:

• Holy frijoles, Batman! Where did all this traffic come from?
• Scituate Harbor

Downtown Philidelphia has some of the most magnificent buildings imaginable. From the churches, to the museums, to the government buildings, it was a pleasure seeing these buildings. On a motorcycle trip like this, your time is limited. You see what you can, and then have to keep moving.

For the first time in 26 days, we put our jackets on. Instead of being 95 degrees, the temperature was only expected to reach 70, so it was rather cool this morning. Jackets on and we were off through a series of turns trying to find Highway 95. As you would expect, we encountered congested traffic. We had time, therefore, to view the Manhattan skyline from the New Jersey highway, and took special notice of the missing towers. But when we got to the George Washington Bridge entering New York, the traffic was unbelievable. It took 90 minutes to enter and cross the bridge. If the traffic was normal for NY, it would explain the hostility New Yorkers are famous for, and they are masters at profanity. They just pushed us out of the way if they wanted the lane, and did the same with other motorists. I (Ralph) felt like the ball in a pinball machine! But survived we did.

We arrived at Hanover, and met up with Tommy and Jody. They took us to a resort area at Scituate, MA, which is a beautiful area surrounded by water, a lighthouse and small, beautiful vacation cottages. We had dinner at the Mill Wharf, which is a great restaurant which specializes in seafood. A long day, but a great day on the road. The lighthouse goes back to 1800, and in 1810 the daughters of the caretaker were given credit for stopping a British invasion by banging on their drums.

Philadelphia

Day 26
Destination: Philidelphia, PA
Route: Highway 13, 495, 95
Miles Ridden: 295    Total Miles: 6,129

Points of Interest:

• Constitutional Hall

Our anticipated trip was to take us to Washington DC. We decided to get to Boston one day early, and had to adjust our trip. Since we had been in DC several times before, we decided to visit Philidelphia. The most important place to visit is Constitutional Hall where the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were argued and signed. It is the birthplace of the United States, and a place every citizen should visit. Even though President Obama finds no need for the Constitution, most people disagree and believe that the Constitution should be protected at all cost. Looking at the room where these great men met and created such a document, one could only imagine the risk they took in signing the Declaration of Independence. The signors must have been considered rather extreme in their day, since modern historians believe that only 1/3 of the colonists actually supported independence. If they followed polls, like the current administration likes to do, the colonists would have been peacefully sipping the tea which was dumped into the harbor in Boston. How different our world would have been.

Virginia Beach

Day 25
Destination: Virginia Beach, VA
Route: Highway 17
Miles Ridden: 177   Total Miles: 5,834
Points Of Interest:

• Bridge across the Neuse Inlet
• Two lane roads through farm land
• Great Dismal Swamp
• Hall and Oates Concert
• Virginia Beach

The ride out of New Bern was very nice. As you leave town, you drive over a very large, recently built bridge over the Neuse inlet. It is a wide, sweeping bridge that, like so many bridges we have encountered in the south, makes the trip over waterways a pleasure. Once over the bridge, we traveled over 60 miles on a very nice two lane road through farms. It seems the primary crop in the area is corn and blueberries, both of which are in abundance. The farm houses are almost always two or more stories, set off by themselves on the back of very large lots. The grounds in front are green, and obviously mowed often using these cool riding mowers which can turn on a dime. The other things in abundance are water, forests, and beautiful blue skies.
 

 
Our luck continues to hold, and we have experienced only light rain and some cross winds. When we crossed into Virginia, we went through a portion of the Great Dismal Swamp. We made our way to Virginia Beach, and upon arrival learned that Hall and Oates was to perform a live concert on the beach. We found a hotel close enough to enable us to hear the concert, but we could not resist walking down to the free concert. Virginia Beach itself is an amazing beach. It was crowded with tourists, but not unbearably so. The water is about 500 feet from a boardwalk, separated by sand volleyball courts. The water was great, about 75 degrees, and the sand hot and pure white in color. A tourist's dream come true. No wonder it is a favorite spot for northerners looking for a place to enjoy the water and sand. On this particular weekend, Virginia Beach was celebrating its Patriotic Festival, something you're not likely to see in California. It was a USO event, well attended by the military. The South loves its God and Country.

When we left Virginia beach, we went across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge which is 21 miles in length and considered to be one of the engineering wonders of the United States.  A must see!

Jacksonville/ New Bern

Day 24
Destination: Jacksonville, New Bern, NC
Route: Highway 17
Miles Ridden: 177    Total Miles: 177

Points of Interest:

• Historic Buildings of New Bern

Before leaving for Jacksonville, NC, we took a walk along the beach of Myrtle Beach, SC. Myrtle Beach runs north and south for miles, so we only got a glimpse of the beach. We snapped a few pictures, loaded up, and off we went. The ride to Jacksonville was pretty congested, but there where spots were traffic eased and we were able to push the speed to 50-55. We had learned that Myrtle Beach had a city ordinance which required everyone to wear a helmet, even though state law did not require helmets if you are over 21 years old. When we got to Jacksonville, we began looking for lighter, legal helmets, since we were also told that the local popo would write you a citation if wearing the peanut helmets two of us were wearing. As we found the helmets, but we were met with rain. Our mojo was beginning to run thin.

We decided to keep traveling north, and made our way to New Bern. New Bern is a great town. It was founded in 1710, and was the original state capital. We saw some beautiful homes and buildings dating back to 1800. We met the clerk of the US District Court, who told us of the "War of Northern Aggression" (we call it the Civil War, and he refered to us as "Yankees" for doing so), and pointed out holes in a church steeple from the Union soldiers' muskets who had captured the town during the war. We had dinner at Morgan's Tavern and grill. The food was excellent, and the service even better.
 

New Bern is also the birthplace of Pepsi Cola, which was invented by a Pharmacist in 1898, who called it "Brad's Drink".

Myrtle Beach

Day 23

Destination: Myrtle Beach

Route: Highway 17

Miles Ridden: 126    Total Miles: 5,480

Points of Interest:

• Historic Homes in Charleston
• Fort Sumter National Monument
• Myrtle Beach

We lost one of our core riders today when Bob decided to ride to Virginia to meet with his wife. We wished him a safe ride. We will be meeting up with Bob again in Boston.

Before leaving this morning, we decided to visit the Fort Sumter National Monument. The first fatality of the Civil War was at Fort Sumter on April 14, 1861. A short distance from the monument is the oldest neighborhood which is a must see for any visitor to Charleston. The homes were built at the turn of the 19th century, with homes built in 1802, 1806 and 1810. Beautiful homes which have been restored and on the historic registry.

After our stroll through history, off we went to Myrtle Beach. Myrtle Beach has one main street along the coast which has an almost countless number of hotels. We found it interesting that this same street had few restaurants. The restaurants were found several blocks away. But the weather was good, it was not raining, and the humidly acceptable.
 

Charleston

Day 22
Destination: Charleston, SC
Route: Highway 17, to 95, to 17
Miles Ridden: 106       Total Miles: 5,354

Points of Interest:

• Swamps and marshes in northern Georgia, southern South Carolina
• Historical district around Meeting Street
• Bocci's Restaurant

With 106 miles to our destination, and spending the night at the fabulous Olde Harbour Inn, we were not in a hurry to leave, so we didn't hit the highway until 10:00 a.m. We began our trip on Highway 17.

After a short distance, Georgia became South Carolina. We pulled over and ditched the helmets for the freedom of riding in much lighter head gear. Except for a short time on Highway 95, the trip was casual in terms of the speed and traffic. For the most part, the trip was on a tree lined, two lane highway. Like Georgia, this part of South Carolina is flat, green, and covered by water. When we arrived, we found a historic hotel on Meeting Street, which is in the heart of the district. It was surrounded by 100 year old + homes and commercial buildings. When dinner came around, we met at Bocci's on Church Street. We had the pleasure of meeting Jason, the bartender, and Rachael Porter the hostess. Both were exceptional, and made us feel welcome to be in their restaurant.

In traveling through the South, one has to be impressed with the number of community based churches. Faith is obviously important in the South, and we found many churches, including some dating back into the 1700's.

Savannah

Day 21

Destination: Savannah, GA

Miles Ridden: 230     Total Miles: 5,248

Route: Highways 95, 16, 17

Points of Interest:

• River Street
• Kevin Barry's Irish Pub
• Bernie's Pub
• Olde Harbor Inn

The threat of thunder storms was once again before us as we loaded up in Daytona and started to Savannah, GA. We started out in T-shirts, in fact, none of us has worn a jacket since the first day of the trip, 21 days ago. It was already warm and humid at 8:30 a.m. Our first stop was Daytona HD, which is a magnificent dealership. It is the largest in the country, two stories, and boasts a cafe, plus a restaurant and bar called Destination in a building separate from the dealership. It truly was a destination, and had a windshield screw that the previous six dealerships did not have. We got what we "needed," and we were off again.

 

We encountered light rain only as we rode north on 95. Past Jacksonville, Florida, we began to cross bridges which ran over and through waterways and marshes, and only periodically could you see the Atlantic Ocean to our right. As we crossed into Georgia, we had to stop and put the helmets on. Bud had long since lost his peanut helmet to the ride god, and had to put on his Aria helmet. A little hot and humid for a 3/4 helmet.

 

When we arrived in Savannah, we went directly to the Historical District. Savannah was an important city in both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, and is rich with history. We went to the railway museum, a site where the colonials first took on the British (and lost). We then made our way to a restaurant called the Distillery, which had the most amazing crab soup, then down to River Street. Riding a motorcycle on River Street, with its huge, uneven cobblestones and raised trolley tracks was, to say the least, interesting. But its a great area not to be missed, and rich with history. The first commissioned colonial warship, the Liberty, left from here.  An excellent day for us travelers.