4th Annual Relay For Life Charity Ride, Stonewall, NC

The 4th Annual Relay For Life Charity Ride in honor of Cancer Survivor, Doug Carey and all other survivors is Saturday, April 17th at Stonewall United Methodist Church...Hwy. 55 in Stonewall. Registration starts at 8:30am and the ride starts at 10am...rain or shine! It's just $25 per bike and that includes lunch and door prizes! All motorcycles welcome! For more information call Doug Carey at 229-1968 or Jeffrey Midyette at 745-3732!

We rode this in 08 and had a great time! See link below.  This is one you don’t want to miss.  Hope to see you there. http://ralphps.blogspot.com/2008/04/2nd-annual-relay-for-life-charity-ride.html

Go to http://www.relayforlife.org/relay/  to learn more about this organization.

Second Annual Save Marshallberg Harbor Motorcycle Ride

We participated in this ride last year with 73 other bikes and were really looking forward to it again. We set out from home at 8:30 on Saturday, made a quick gas stop, and met up with TJ, his wife Pam, their friend Tony and Jack and Cookie at the New Bern Harley shop.  Chad and Lynn were not in attendance since they had a project at home to complete. Concrete work? Sheesh… The fog was fairly thick and it was a little cool starting out but the forecast was for 80 degrees and sunny.  At around 9:00 we headed for Beaufort via Havelock and Hwy 101.  By the time we were near Havelock we saw the vivid Carolina Blue sky breakout with full sunshine.  It was a sign of an excellent day in the works. But boy was the pollen in high quantity!

We arrived at the Cubbies parking lot just before 10:00.  Plenty of time to register, grab some breakfast, browse the lot and be ready to head out at 11:00.

Inside Cubbies…. …and they have great food.  Our thanks to Cubbies for supporting the ride and allowing the use of the space for registration.

Max, the ride organizer and the organizer of last year’s ride, makes last minute preparations with a Carteret County Sheriff Deputy.

Just prior to the ride starting I heard there were 150 bikes.

The ride itself covers about 100 miles.  We were to log just over 200 miles for the day. Point D is close to where we and Jack and Cookie live so we had an extra round trip. TJ and company came in from Trenton so they probably had an extra 30 miles above the 200.

TJ and Pam beside their ‘06 Honda VTX 1300R. Quite impressive custom painted graphics.

Chrome, steel and leather.

Can I borrow some Windex?

Like last year we have a police escort from Beaufort to the Craven County line. Carteret County Sheriff hands us over to Craven County Sheriff and once in Havelock the Havelock PD blocks the intersections for us. Pretty sweet.  You can tell Max has done his homework!

It was fitting that Officer Owen of New Bern PD lead us to our first stop just east of New Bern.  He understands the two wheel mentality. I guess that means he accepts crazy people!

This is the graphic on TJ’s bike. Looks just like him.  That’s pay back for the Harley joke!

After a short stop it’s time to head to DC.  That’s Down in the County to locals, when traveling to Pamlico County.

Testing out the four lane into Pamlico County.

The group arrives at the Minnesott-Cherry Branch ferry. 12254 NC 306 Arapahoe, NC 28510 http://www.ncdot.org/travel/ferryroutes/default.html#

More than a single ferry could carry, we went across the Neuse River in two groups.

As part of group one we wait at the local fire department for the second group to arrive and head down Hwy 101 to Beaufort.

On the North River bridge on Hwy 70 in Carteret County.

It was nearing 3:00 and there was a lot of rumbling, not from the bikes as much as my stomach. Parking in the Post Office lot in Marshallberg.

Fried shrimp, and plenty of them, beans, slaw, hushpuppies and a brownie.  Now these shrimp were very lightly breaded, dusted actually, and that is the way to enjoy them.

Way too full or in Down East terms, I believe I’ve run aground!

Lots of prizes and gift certificates were donated, due in large part to the efforts of Max.

Things were wrapped up by 5:00 or so and our band of travelers head back to New Bern.  Another great ride with great weather and the opportunity to meet and ride with some new friends. Even if TJ does ride a Honda…..

 

Parting Shots

Officer Down Ride, Wilmington, NC

Mike mentioned something about this event several months back and Debbie and I decided to make it a long weekend around the ride.  We frequently checked the extended weather forecast for the week and it started to appear that it just might work out.

The Officer Down Ride helps raise awareness of Police officers and Firefighters who have been injured in the line of duty. http://officerdownride.org

Since the ride started in Wilmington I thought the Summer Sands in Wrightsville Beach would be just the place for our weekend stay.  I have stayed there on numerous occasions but it has always been for business.  I called Don, who also rides a motorcycle, and made reservations. A big plus for the motorcycle traveler is the covered parking and the location is wonderful with most everything within walking distance. http://www.summersandssuites.com/

Trip start time: 11:00AM Friday. Travelling on 17 South from New Bern you first encounter Pollocksville and you need to be aware of the posted speed limit.  There is a good view of the Trent River as you ride across the bridge. As we passed through I saw several bikes at the Trent Restaurant.

The next town is Maysville and again there is a posted limit to be observed. Once out of town a few miles you are on the new four lane to Jacksonville.

Debbie decided on Cracker Barrel for lunch and I’ll have to say it was a good choice.  Since we skipped breakfast we were both a bit hungry.

We stopped at New River HD and Debbie picked up a pair of sunglasses and then we continued on toward Wrightsville Beach.

About half way between Jacksonville and Dixon we noticed a NCHP car heading north.  Just a minute after that a sport bike blew past us heading south.  A minute later and the HP blew past us and had said sport bike on the road side.  What a way to start the holiday weekend.

We hit Wrightsville Beach about 2:30.  The weather had been wonderful the whole trip down with temperatures in the mid to upper 70’s.

We carried the bags to the room and got settled in.  Speaking of bags, we used the T-Bags Dakota model for the trip.  The bag is awesome and perfectly mounts to the the Ultra Classic’s luggage rack. http://www.tbags.com/detail.aspx?ID=77&SelectedCat=4

Just a few hundred feet away lies the beach access path.

Mike called and the crew would meet us at the Summer Sands in the morning at 10:45.  We headed over to Tower 7 for some very good tacos. Tower 7 4 N. Lumina Ave Wrightsville Beach, NC 910.256.8585

Around Wrightsville Beach

7:00AM came around and the alarm sounded.  We got ready and headed over to the the highly recommended Causeway Cafe.  Unbelievable breakfast for both of us.  I had the country ham omelet  and Debbie had eggs over light with hash browns.  If you’re in the area stop by and enjoy some really good food with fast, courteous service.  Free coffee on the porch if you need to wait. 114 Causeway Dr Wrightsville Beach, NC

Off to Carolina Coast HD to start the line up with Mike, Holli, Brett and Justin.  Brett recently acquired a BMW and Justin now owns a Nightster.

We arrived and one group was on the way out and the next was lining up.  Time for us to sign up!

Paperwork in-hand we line up and with a police escort we head to Leland, our first stop.

We had an escort most of the way so we blew through red lights and stop signs.  About 5 miles into the first leg an idiot in a car runs up in the left lane and attempts to break in to the line.  They even cruise through the red lights.

Here is the group at Leland Fire and Rescue.

We’ve been on a lot of poker runs but this was our first dice run.  After the stops the one with the highest total wins.

I had wondered how many miles would be on main highways.  Not to worry, the majority of the run was on the winding back roads away from the main flow of traffic.

The group turns in to the parking lot at Acme-Delco-Riegelwood Fire and Rescue.

Roll the dice, jot down the total and get the official signature.

We mount up and head to the Brunswick County Government Complex. http://www.brunsco.net/

This is the last stop before we arrive at Beach House Harley Davidson in Shallotte.  It’s near 12:30 by now and I hear quite a few mentions of food and drink.

Since the food is on everyone's mind this stop went fairly quickly.

I browsed the Beach House web site but the site can’t do justice to the real thing. http://www.beachhousehd.com/Default.asp

I don’t know how many groups were in the ride but I do know where they ended up.

Plenty of food….

…and live entertainment.

The ride is over and we start to make our way back to the bikes.  Mike suggests we go back to Wilmington by way of Southport and the ferry.  Sounds good to us!

We didn’t quite make the 2:30 ferry so we gas up and check out Southport.  The weather really cooperated on this trip.  A minor threat of rain in the morning never developed and the temperatures were great, in the lower 70’s.

Southport has a nice waterfront park with a great view.

A quick ride from the waterfront and we arrive at the ferry.  We had a short wait since at first it appeared that the ferry was full.  Not to worry. We drove on the ferry for the trip to Fort Fisher.

It was close to 5:00 by the time we returned to Summer Sands. For us, door to door, back to Wrightsville Beach we racked up 142 miles. Sadly we knew the long weekend was almost over and we had to ride back to New Bern tomorrow. Sunday morning came and it’s Easter.  Debbie and I attended service at Port City Community Church in Wilmington.  I thought riding a bike to church may be unique.  Not so.  There were a dozen or more lined up when we arrived.  It was a good service and I was most impressed with both the people and the level of talent that was evident especially during the video productions.  We grabbed lunch at O’Charley’s and left for New Bern at 12:45.  We made a quick stop in Jacksonville, believe it or not, so we could warm up.  A bit cold around the ears after an hour of riding on highway 17 North.  Not quite as warm as Saturday. For us it was an overdue vacation and one that was very enjoyable.  We got a chance to ride for a good cause with our friends down south and spend some time in Wrightsville Beach away from the daily distractions.  The complete trip was one of 355 miles and as usual it came with a flawless performance from the Ultra.  Where to next….?

PARTING SHOTS