It's Time To Move On - A BugsOnMyFace Global Sidecar Adventure

Thanks Chris - we are definitely having a blast. It's hard not to enjoy this...

Our pleasure!

Haha - yeah, it sounds a little odd but it turns out the stock shocks on the 1200 GSA are a bit too soft for our application. You wouldn't believe how much better it's handling now and we will actually NEED them in the future...

Quite an offer! Thank you...

Consider it done!

I was wondering if you were an ADVer! So nice to meet you and the fam. As we walked into Walmart, we were talking about how friendly everyone is around Newberry. I appreciate your offers - I wish I would have seen them before now! We're headed to Charleston in the morning. Hopefully we'll run into you again sometime...

I promise...last thing we post about NYC.

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Alright guys and gals. Hold on to your butts. We're several weeks behind and tonight we get caught up. No more slacking off and enjoying my evenings. From now on, I'll be slaving away to get posts up.

...but seriously, I really will because I love it (and because I keep getting nasty emails.)



Philly.
Rolling into town was an adventure of its own. We nearly got crushed by a semi that was driving WAY too fast on skinny highways. Always have to keep your head on a swivel...

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If I was a betting man (which I’m not because I am literally the worst poker player in the history of gambling) I would have never put my money on Kristen even remotely liking Philadelphia.
I should say, however, that I knew very little about the city before we showed up. I knew that they housed the Liberty Bell and that Benjamin Franklin lived there at some point, but in a trend that we’re beginning to see, there is a vibrant life to these places we’re visiting that didn’t come through in history books, TV shows or movies.

Kristen LOVES art of all kinds. She has a special affinity for street art which Philadelphia has no lack of...


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In another trend that is beginning to rear its rather glorious head, I’m
learning that Kristen knows more than she lets on. About pretty much
everything. While I was left thinking that Philly was a city full of historical significance (and that’s about it), she knew that it was a place
exploding with artistic creativity.

So, after checking in to our accomodations, which I’ll get to in a minute, we immediately headed for the Magic Gardens. Essentially, this is a place to showcase the mosaic work of Isaiah Zagar. Isaiah has transformed much of the surrounding area (his work can be seen on 100 public walls around the city) and is seen as spearheading a thriving city beautification movement. More importantly, Kristen completely fell in love with what he’s done. Like head over heals, sweaty palms, and perfume in love.



And now it comes to this - we literally just thought this was a cool wall. We had no idea what I was staring into until we put the picture on the computer...


We laughed a lot. Kristen snorted hot coffee. Good times.

Something great about Philly is its catering to motorcycles in the old part of the city. There are dedicated parking spots everywhere. And yet, there are also police officers everywhere so we ended up getting a ticket for an expired meter...but whatever. It's still convenient.


Because of the convenience, we literally rode the bike all over instead of walking. The only bad part of that plan are some of the old roads that are much worse than having no road at all:


Finding a place to stay in the right area was really a task. We did a bunch of research before we headed into Philly and were getting pretty frustrated until we ran into the Pisces. I randomly came across a website that was offering a house boat for rent. It was way out of our budget, but I emailed anyway and offered what I could. I couldn’t believe it when we got an email in return that agreed to our offer. Bonus! I love the shoulder tourist season...



It was small but was in a great location, had a nice view of the bridge...


...and even had parking next to a police outpost:


Seeing that Philly is the location of some of the most important historical
moments in US history, we spent a bit of time paying our respects and
remembering that our freedom came at a cost.



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I would say that if you were going to go to one museum, the National Constitution Center is really great. There are several exhibits and we really enjoyed the “We the People” performance.



The Reading Terminal Market.
If you only take one thing away from this post, remember the
Reading Terminal Market. It will change your culinary life.
For those of you that don’t know (I didn’t) this place is like an amusement park for foodies. I am not a picky eater, in fact Kristen and I will eat just about anything, but I may be after my experience at the RTM.



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We spent several hours over two days at the RTM and sampled a lot of food. This place is daunting. There are a ton of different restaurants that you must fight through hordes of hungry customers to get to. But it’s worth it. I promise. Follow my directions, however crazy they may sound, and you will be rewarded with a palate-wrecking-tastebud-bodyslam.



1. Go directly to Miller’s Twist and get a hot, plain pretzel. It is covered with butter and salt. Do NOT get two, however tempted you may be. Share with a partner.



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2. Go to the Flyingmonkey Bakery. It doesn’t ever really matter what flavor you get, but order 2 cupcakes and ask that they are warmed up.



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3. Make your final stop at Hershel’s. Dinic’s is apparently the standard but trust us, we’ve had both. Order a pastrami on rye. Don’t ruin it with a bunch of fluff. Share it with your culinary sidekick. Try not to drool.



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So there you have it. There are so many different ways you can go with so many nationalities being represented, but if you follow the above steps you will leave with a happy stomach. Kristen and I had that exact meal and wandered around the rest of the day dazed and slightly dizzy. As we ate, we were literally speechless, which is a feat in itself.
Note: those of you who have been to Reading Terminal and disagree with my methods, well, I just have one thing to say to you:
You’re wrong. I'm sorry, but you're just wrong. This is a well thought out and practiced attack. It's perfect.



Perhaps the main reason Kristen wanted to go to Philly is due to the work of a street artist named ESPO. He has created at collection of pieces called
“A Loveletter for You” throughout the city on the sides of buildings that run the length an elevated train in west Philadelphia. Most of them reside in an area of town that is far from the pristine look of the old city, but they are a really lovely addition and worth the drive to see.



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So there you have it. Philly is a city full of culture, art, and cuisine. Kristen even let me know that she thought she could live there, which is really saying something. We enjoyed our time immensly, there is no doubt. Maybe we’ll be walking its cobblestone streets once again in the future.

On our way out of Philly, we stopped by Longwood Gardens, the former home of Pierre du Pont. It’s essentially over 1000 acres of gardens and is pretty spectacular. Seeing as Kristen and I have a bit of a brown thumb, we can appreciate the effort they put into keeping it maintained for the public.
Kristen took some very cool macro shots while I just wandered around wishing that I lived in a treehouse:



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Next up: Middleburg, PA... one last time.​

From Philly, we headed back to Middleburg,PA one last time (!!) to have our shocks upgraded on the bike. It turns out that the stock shocks that BMW uses on their 1200 GSA models are a bit too soft for our application and setup. So, we bit the bullet and upgraded to a set of Ohlins now that will hopefully help the overall ride of the rig, will perform better when we do get to worse roads outside of the US, they can be rebuilt if something does happen to them, Claude Stanley believes in them and they are yellow. Bright yellow.



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While the team at CSM was getting our bike ready (which they did in one day by the way - major kudos to those guys for working within our schedule. I seriously can't say enough good things about them), we did a little laundry which was on the verge of being an emergency due to my substantial foot odor:


And Kristen got a flu shot, which promptly made her sick. I, on the other hand, believe that in the future a super virus is going to wipe out the majority of the population and therefore refuse to take flu shots. Plus, I don't like needles.


While there, my parents also sent me a gift for our travels:


Those little furry creatures on my phalanges, my friends, are a genuine pair of Swedish rabbit gloves. And let me tell you, they not only make me look like a Yeti but they are also unbelievably warm. Thank you, to both the bunnies of Switzerland and to my folks.

Not a bad time in the Middleburg area...

Next up: Rehoboth Beach to Asheville, NC​

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After spending a good amount of time in the very large cities of NYC and Philly and then spending another good chunk of time in small town Pennsylvania, we decided we were due for a visit to the beach. We loaded up BigBoy and headed to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware at the recommendation of our friend, Mackenzie. It was a good decision...



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We sampled the local cuisine to great reviews from Kristen:


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Go beard, go. And no, those are not frosted tips from 1992. That is blonde.


Part of the joy of traveling during the shoulder season is the discounts at tourist destinations. On one of the nights that we stayed near Rehoboth Beach, we were literally the only occupants. Needless to say, we were given quite the deal... I'm learning all you have to do is ask.


We then headed out into the cold and unbelievably windy conditions towards Virginia Beach. Kristen's Gerbing jacket had died a week or so earlier, so being the gentleman I am, she was now wearing my jacket while I layered up. At least my hands were warm in the Yeti gloves...



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Our rig is not necessarily something that you would consider aerodynamic. These guys had enough wind to kite board - you can imagine how my arms were feeling by the end of the day.



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I ended up needing a mid-afternoon siesta. It always amazes me how well I can sleep while on a bike trip...


We eventually made our way down to be robbed by the toll necessary to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. $12 for a bike. Crazy.



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We ended up camping at First Landing State Park right off the bridge. We had an awesome site (G31 - it's huge) and easy access to the beach. I would definitely visit again if I could get the same site...



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From Virginia Beach we headed toward Mt. Airy, NC to see some of Kristen's family. We battled a serious rainstorm all day and my iPhone ended up being a casualty. It died on me after getting wet so I put it in a bag of rice. It now is turning on but the screen is barely visible. Crap... at least we got a good, homecooked meal:


We then headed into Asheville and stayed in the Asheville Hostel downtown. It was cheap, in a good location and we had our own bedroom. Not bad...


We really did see and do a bunch while we were there, such as eating at the Mellow Mushroom:


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But I will say that my overall view of the lovely town of Asheville is skewed forever. I say this because I had to spend three of my hours there being tortured by a talkative dentist:


Apparently I grind my teeth when I sleep. Therefore, I cracked one of my fillings and had to have it replaced. It crushed my happiness from me with every turn of his drill. I hate going to the dentist. My jaw hurt all 3 days we were there.

So there you have it! We are officially all caught up and are now in real time! Whew. I'm writing this from the little town of Newberry, SC and we'll be heading into Charleston tomorrow. Goodnight.

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I'm in and riding along! Thank you for sharing, about the loss of a brother. Thank you for sharing your trip and the process of healing. Thank you for the pointing out some incredible things that I did not know existed in the cities I have been working in for the past 10 months. I will look for them when ever I am back on site in Boston, NY or Phillie. This RR & your photography has been excellent, and I look forward to more.

Perhaps we'll meet one day, share a meal, some stories, and if needed a place for you both to rest up for another day's ride. Peace and happiness.

The photography...........just........wow!

You guys rock. Let us know if you make it out to the SF bay area.

Really digging you guy's report.

Subscribed and waiting for the updates. Great photography. I so need to add a hack to the garage, maybe my better half would ride with me more.

Anothr subscriber. And a warm shower and comfy bed if you make it to the Bay Area in Cali. (And you would follow in the Auspicious Foot steps of Aurel and Marion)

This has to be the most beautiful RR I've seen so far. That Halloween vid was awe-inspringly beautiful, both the images and music.

Subscribed!

This is the best ride report I read in my life. Excellent guys.. go on...

Kainos ...

Fabulous. An ending, a beginning. Life is a journey, and what a joy to experience it together.

No visit to Boston? Ah well. But yes, NYC, nothing like it.

If you get to the central coast of California' love today hello. Stay at aceraphs place though, we have no room. We're on our own adventure, but while staying in one place. If you make it here, well introduce you to a local winemaker and tell you about it.

Subscribed, and thank you.

Oz

I will riding along for the trip,great photos thanks.

Best of luck on your adventure. Thanks for sharing with those of us that are stuck in the snow until april. Be safe and enjoy every moment of this incredible opportunity.
-Zip

my wife and i spent this past saturday at longwood gardens....sunny, low 50s. a great place.
try to stay ahead of the weather....<label for="rb_iconid_27"></label>