A Little About Us

A Little About Us
INTRODUCTION: First, allow me to introduce the members of this group...I'm Mike riding my 2003 Heritage Softail Springer...my wife Juju is on her 2015 Freewheeler...and Ed and Nancy are on their 2009 Heritage Softail. For the purposes of this trip we are referring to ourselves as H.A.R.P. HARP is a made-up name and it simply stands for Hogs And Retired People...and all that means is that we are members of HOG (Harley Owners Group) and we are...you guessed it...retired! The name came about when seven of us made a trip out west, but just the four of us this time. I've done blogs before, and this one will be for the same reason...to refresh our memories in our "Golden Years" (they say the memory is the second thing to go...and I can't remember what the first thing was). What is different this time is the blog is being shared by THUNDER ROADS PENNSYLVANIA MAGAZINE...Truly, an honor. This journey will be a round trip from, and to our home town of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The plan is to travel to the Atlantic coast at Ocean City, Maryland for the "Official" start on U.S. Route 50. We will follow U.S. 50 west for over 3,000 miles to its terminus in Sacramento, California. From Sacramento, we will head a bit further west to the Pacific Ocean before we begin to travel south. California Highway 1 and U.S. Route 101, better known as the Pacific Coast Highway, will be the route for about 500 miles to Santa Monica. At the world famous Santa Monica Pier, we hop on Route 66...The "Mother Road". Travelling about 2,500 miles to the north east, we'll arrive at the end of 66 in Chicago, Illinois. The "Official" end of our journey. From Chicago, it's just another 450 miles and we're back in Pittsburgh. We've made very few lodging reservations, thus eliminating the pressure of trying to get somewhere by some deadline. The whole purpose of this ride to see this country and whatever piques our interest along the way...and we will be looking for that giant ball of yarn! So we invite you to ride along with us. We hope you will find it both entertaining and informative. Please feel free to leave your comments and share this with anyone you feel would have an interest.

Monday, September 7, 2015

Final Thoughts from Nancy

We have all heard bikers say "It's all about the f**king experience".  Well that was certainly the case with this trip. 

I wasn't sure that I even wanted to make this trip.  Six weeks on a motorcycle???  My non-biker friends were taking bets as to how long it would take before I booked a flight home. Well I not only surprised them, but I surprised myself as well. 

This trip was more than I could have ever imagined...jaw dropping scenery, mouth watering local food, and local people who made you proud to be an American.

The experiences taught me that I am one tough grandma.  I can not only survive extreme heat, sleet, high altitudes and "numb bum", I can laugh about them over a beer with my friends that evening.  It doesn't matter if I have dirt on my face, or if I wear the same clothes for 3 days (underwear does not apply!).

Things I should have left at home...

  1. curling iron
  2. makeup (what in the world was I thinking???)
  3. tennis shoes
  4. white sweatshirt (never came clean)

I am really disappointed that our trip came to an early end because of our accident. I am, however, really grateful that our injuries were not more serious.

Thank you Mike & Judy for sharing all of this with us.
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1 comment:

  1. UnknownSeptember 8, 2015 at 5:06 PM

    A curling iron? At least you didn't have to use it as a weapon either.

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