Day 3: Hershey, PA Chocolate Day

Firstly, Richard . . .  I am having computer problems.  An ultrabook i5 running win 8.1   Took 3 tries to boot up.   Everytime with a blue screen, sort of like it had no video card.  Now tonight I had to boot up 2 times and lost the screen with all the apps.  The other night Windows Live Mail stopped working and I had some drive errors,  missing the cabinet.dll files but it came back to life with a disk scan and somehow it repaired itself.  This is a new computer which I bought at Christmas but never used until 2 weeks ago

Today was a relaxing day and it started at  8am as usual with a small breakfast then we headed on the road

to Chocolate World in Hershey PA.

We took the quick tour of the factory

where we sat in cars which sped along to different areas of the chocolate production

It was an audio visual presentation with narrative

we are moving along self propelled tracks.  Sure was nice to be able to sit down after the long walk from the parking lot, under the hot, humid sun

The cars snaked along the curved track  .  .  . with singing animated animals along the way

and when the tour was finished it brought you back to their retail store

where they had lots of branded clothes and chocolate for sale

It was hard to buy any chocolate to bring home, unless you wanted a melted glob, since it would be too hot in our trunk

World's largest chocolate bar in the background.   Only $40.

Later we drove up the hill.   That's the Hershey complex at the bottom

We drove around the town.  It seemed old and historic

I have never been to a Bass Pro shop before

They sell lots of firearms and hunting equipment here.  In my youth I used to have an archery set so I wanted to hold this compound bow

Only window shopping today.  I left empty handed.

There was an interesting motorcycle display in the mall.   We had lots of showers today but it cleared for the time we were in Hershey so we decided to stay close to our hotel

Day 2: Amish Country, Pennsylvania

I missed the Amish last year so we headed out to the Roots Market

It seems that many people don't work on Tuesdays.

It was hot even thought the temperatures didn't seem that high as numbers would indicate

There was lots of produce

but there was lots of other stuff for sale too

I've never seen Amish before so I tried to capture "fast" photos.

Then we headed over to Intercourse PA

where I saw some of my first Amish Buggies

They sure make their horses run fast in this heat

They have a few different style of buggies.   Here is the sporty convertible model

After a while we started getting used to seeing them

They seem to shop in groups

and many of them wear colourful clothes

Then we spent a few hours driving around the Lancaster area

Day 1: arrival in Harrisburg, PA

It's been a long day.  We woke up at 3am, got ready and called the Taxi to take us to the airport.  Public transit doesn't get up this early

Our flight took off around 6am.   We're tired, it's been a long day so this will be mostly photos

There's not much to do when you are traveling around 500 mph and this is what you see

and lucky you have a map to see your progress

What can I say,  we're on vacation

We were on an Airbus A321 and this is Wasaga Beach,  I think

In Toronto we had to change to this small 2 prop 18 seater for our final leg into Harrisburg, PA

It was very narrow.  Narrower than your car.  I was hitting both sides as I walked down the aisle

Here is a view of the cockpit

It's hard to snap a photo through the dark windows, but that's the Toronto skyline

We finally make it to our destination for the week.  We are here until Sunday morning, sightseeing and generally relaxing before the next gruelling ride towards Bowling Green, Kentucky

We are taking the FREE shuttle to our hotel and the traffic is gridlocked

At our hotel we are being welcomed by these Pennsylvania cows

Meet Dave.  Without him we may not have been able to ship our cars here.  We had some logistical problems and shipping a car to a destination where you don't know anyone,  is a big problem.  He is also a well known Corvette guy who used to race

Here's the first time we have seen our cars since they were shipped a couple of weeks ago.   They were parked in a secured facility and moved outside for us to claim them.   Dave kindly drove all of us from Harrisburg to Carlisle to pick them up

We are warming up our engines getting ready for take off back to our Hotel.  I got lost as I missed a signal light and never saw where the rest of the group went but I eventually got back on track

Tomorrow we drive into Amish Country and visit the Roots Market, which was suggested by Toadmama .   This Market is only open on Tuesdays and guess what ?   Tomorrow is Tuesday

Saturday is errand day

Two years ago I knew that this would be a short,    very short,    riding year.   In fact, so short that I previously decided to not insure my BMW R1200R this year.  It was not worth paying insurance on two bikes so my Beemer has been sitting since I came back from my trip last year.  I have not started it since last September, 2013.

Since I did not ride my Vstrom much since last Spring and I knew I was going to be away last year on my Beemer, the insurance lapsed last June 2013   This Spring I insured my Vstrom but with the rain and the hot weather it also has been parked more than being ridden.  I have only ridden to work a handful of times and taken no pleasure rides.  I also don't like to tempt fate when I am on the verge of another long trip but on 4 wheels this year, so it too has been parked.   Since the insurance ran out last Friday (yesterday) I decided to put both bikes away for the season.   Fresh fuel stabilizer has been put into my Vstrom but I had not started the engine to circulate it through the system.   I also decided to start my Beemer and bring it up to operating temperature.   It took a couple of cranks and the tappets made such a racket since they were devoid of oil.  After a few minutes all seemed okay and the engine started to rev smoothly

Since we are not going to be around it was better to hibernate both of them and put them inside my secure and alarmed parking spot with battery maintainers connected



This was my shortest riding season ever.  We are only half way through Summer and here I am with no insurance on either bike and our Corvette is in Pennsylvania waiting for us . . .   Some one asked a question as to how I managed to get photos of our car in PA.   We managed to find a trustworthy person to receive our cars and park them somewhere secure until we arrived.   He snapped the photos when the cars were unloaded to show us that they arrived undamaged

Since I only had my commuter car I decided to go down to Granville Island

and after a bit of friendly interaction I was able to get my VIP badge from  Make Vancouver.  (info here) 

I get all of my T-shirts printed here.   They have a DTP: Direct to Print garment printer.  Actually they have two, one for dark and one for white T-shirts.  I don't like those iron-on print transfers as they feel like cardboard.   Here the ink is printed directly onto the material and is, more or less, permanent.  I bring my PSD files and they can tweek it a bit for you and even do a test print on a sample to confirm what the colours are like before they actually use a real T-shirt.   I know the girls down here but since I had not been around for a few months I thought I would visit, and as it turned out, I also ended up buying something too.  Sometimes the people I know are scheduled for different days so now I have a VIP badge and will continue to get my discounted price by flashing my "badge"

    Phaedra and Leah

Yes, Phaedra is the same as in the Nancy Sinatra song "some velvet morning", and we were recently rocking to Roy Orbison's Leah not long ago.  There is a video floating around somewhere of all of us singing  . . .

I find it a very pleasant place to visit and they are great people to deal with

   I'm the happy one on the right

If you come to Vancouver, make sure to visit Granville Island and to go the Make Vancouver store.

Two more sleeps . . .   next post will come to you live from Harrisburg, PA.   You should be able to follow our GPS tracks.  I have already put the link on the right sidebar under "current trip" but I need to get there to install new batteries first.

A Short Walk on the Waterfront & Excitement is Building

Yesterday I took a vacation day and took the bus downtown

I got off the bus and had to cross the bike lanes to get to the intersection so I could cross the street.  Bike lanes are frustrating the drivers who pay taxes and insurance to drive their cars, while bikes get a free ride and get to use these new facilities for FREE.   Yet another lane taken away for bikes while traffic gets gridlocked in rush hour traffic.  This is a two lane highway for pedal power, one lane in each direction

It's still raining, not the best day to go for a walk

Here's our rectractible roofed stadium.  Not very busy for a Wednesday

Walking under the Cambie Street Bridge I get a little refuge from the falling rain

They seem to have statues all over town in strategic spots.  Here we have a mushroom or a space ship as I walk along water here down at False Creek.   This was the site of the former World's Fair, our Expo '86

Farther along I spot some paddleboarders, I wonder if they had also taken a day away from work, or perhaps they don't have to work.  Do you ever wonder how many people are out and enjoying the day and think whether they phoned in sick, or took some vacation time ?

While the City is money hungry and you have to stuff our parking meters every day, 7 days a week from 9am to 10pm each day, how they also manage to give motorcycles a break with free parking in selected spots around the city

We are in Quayside (pronounced Key Side) Marina down in yuppie Yaletown.  This used to be in our warehouse district but it is now home to expensive, upscale condos for young professionals.   I have lived many years in the downtown area, but now I seldom come down here, mainly due to lack of affordable parking

I'm hungry and I haven't had anytbing to eat yet.  I would have preferred to sit outside and enjoy the summer by having a meal outside on the patio, but today isn't the day

I then go across the street over to Urban Fare to grab a quick bite but it wasn't enjoyable due to the screaming baby who just wouldn't stop.  It was irritating to my sensitive ears.  This is the second time in recent weeks that this has happened.  I don't know what new parents are thinking and have no regard for the peaceful co-existance of others and general lack of courtesy.   This has nothing to do with Urban Fare as my meal was delicious the portion was so large that I had to leave some behind, and I am not usually a wasteful person

This store is well stocked and you can find most things to your desire.  This product gave me wandering thoughts . . . and it didn't take long for my tongue to salivate

As I walk around I noticed this sign.   FREE is good so I went inside

And here we see a restored Locomotive, CPR engine # 374  which was the first train to make it to Vancouveer on the newly completed rail line across Canada

You have to be careful where you walk and keep to your correct side.  The bikes are quiet and the riders go fairly fast.  I nearly got run over the last time I was here

I am guessing that this is a dog walker.  I mean how can anyone own so many dogs ?  I am not so sure it is good for a dog to have to walk on concrete all the time and be confined to a small condo or apartment in the city without a back yard to be able to roam free


Not many more sleeps until we embark on our new Adventure .  My vacation starts after I leave work tomorrow.  I have to thank my friend Nigel for proposing this idea 2 years ago and for all his help in getting my car roadworthy and ready for this long trip

In the previous post  Here ,    I posted photos of my car being shipped to Harrisburg, PA

And this morning they arrived

Here is our Trailer in Harrisburg, PA being unloaded this morning

What a relief to see them just as we loaded them

One more thing off our minds.    They have arrived just "as planned", exactly as we imagined.   We did have some logistical problems which were thankfully, overcome and for a while we thought that we would not have our cars there on time

So here are our four cars, waiting for us to claim them next Monday.  Excitement is building . . .

EDIT:   Addendum:

Richard has an interesting comment so I'll explain that there are 15 Corvettes heading to Bowling Green, Kentucky from our Corvette Club.   11 are driving to Bowling Green, while the 4 of us have shipped our cars to Harrisburg, PA instead.   We will sightsee for 4 or 5 days and attend the Corvettes at Carlisle event.  Then we join up with the New Jersey Corvette Caravan and follow them for 4 days as we drive with 200 Corvettes to Bowling Green where we will rendezvous with the rest of our group and stay at the same hotel.  We are basically buying time and making our vacation a bit more relaxing,  rather than having to drive long days and be tired when we arrive at our destination (Bowling Green)

Here's the link to our itinerary for the first week or so.  We are traveling with the New Jersey Caravan

Link    click here