Featured on The Web’s Original Travel BlogCheck this out. Ride with Joe was featured on the travelpod.com website’s blog. They featured it in a section called Patriotic Locations in the US. They featured one of the pictures I took at the US Airforce Academy in Colorado.They are about 9 months late featuring it but I’ll take it anyway.

Well here it is…… the re-launch of the Ride with Joe website. It is still much a work in progress but I think those of you that had followed my adventure last year will find this much easier to navigate and follow. I learned a lot about what was good and also what wasn’t so good about the last site. I’ve also been researching blogs and “social networking” quite a bit. I’ve built in some pretty nifty functionality. into this site so I hope everyone enjoys it. 

Some current features:

• No need to create an account to post comments
• Sidebar map showing Joe’s last reported locations. If you click the map it shows a larger map with a trail.
• Geotagged pictures. This means all the pictures appear in a google map showing where the photo was taken.
• Share links at the bottoms of each post to make it easier to share individual posts with friends.
• Posts are sorted by categories to make it easier to seach and find the ones you like.
• RSS feed support so that you can get updates of posts without haveing emails being sent constantly.
• Twitter integration so you can “tweet” Joe

The original site was hosted at travelpod.com. It is still there but I have migrated every entry and photo to this site. You can read (or re-read) those entries by clicking the Ride with Joe 2008 link on the top menubar. I’ve Geotagged all the pictures and they get overlayed on Google Maps like all the new entries will going forward.

 Starting out it will be just me here for the most part. I am open to expanding the Blog to other interested contributors. If you are interested, drop me a line on my Contact page. If there are events, products or other interesting items you would like me to feature, feel free to let me know as well. This is just the start of something much bigger that I have planned. Stay tuned!

Rock on!

Joe

Well I made it back safe and sound. This is rewrite of the final entry for this adventure. I actually wrote this once before but somehow it got lost deleted or something happened. I had several followers tell me that they never saw the last post. I am actually posting this several months later. This is good because I can give you a current status as to what has transpired since I got back anyway.The final ride leg of the journey was probably the longest of all of them. Not so much in time or distance, it just felt that way. Weather was OK until I hit Florida then it started to rain. I pulled over and put on my rain gear and managed to lay the jacket over the pipes and burn a big hole in them. Not so good for keeping dry. Plus it smelled horrible as the gunk burned on the pipes as I was riding. Just as I got a few miles from home the rain quit. It was very strange but nice to finally be home after such a long adventure. I was ready to come home but really have a burning desire to do it again. All in total I rode 9756 miles. Total money donated was around $300.00 and thank you to all who donated. This was forwarded on to the charity.
So now what happened next? Well I spent several weeks finishing building a patio and screen room on the house, which is where I now sit writing this entry. In late October  I met a young lady by the name of Johanna. She was visiting from Atlanta. We hit it off and I spent time traveling back and forth to Atlanta. Johanna relocated with me to Tampa in January and we are quite happy. She loves to ride (as a passenger) so the next adventure we will be able to do together. As you can imagine, Ride with Joe took a back seat to all of the life issues. I launched a new business (www.st6.com) and am building that at the moment while riding in my spare time. The site (travelpod.com) where I posted all of my travels and this final entry was very useful, however, I have been evaluating many alternatives with all of the things that I have learned from this ride and doing technology reasearch since coming back. I am in the process of transposing this entire adventure to a new site that will be more of a personal blog site where I can stay in touch with all of my dedicated followers. I am also heavily integrating into the social networking scene with Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and the like. Stay tuned for more information on that as I complete the finishing touches on the New Improved Ride with Joe. I still have big plans and intend on doing more and more trips both smaller and larger than this one. I hope everyone has enjoyed following me as much as I have enjoyed sharing my adventure. It certainly has been a life altering experince and I can only hope that everyone has the opportunity to experience something of this magitude in their lives.

God Bless and keep the shiny side up!

Joe

Every day draws closer to the final ride home. This past weekend has been a continuation of the weekend before.  The Rally was a lot of fun and I met a lot of great new friends. Friday and Saturday were a challenge due to rain again. I have seen more rain since I’ve been in PA than I did on the whole trip prior. It has been fun though. I even got invited up on stage by the band to talk about my ride and fundraising efforts. I was soaking wet and the microphone cut out on me but it was cool for them to let me do it and I appreciated it. This time of year up here is really pleasant. Based on the hurricanes in FL, I’m better off not being there anyway. Hopefully my house is still in one piece.

One new friend I met, Jason Farr, needed some help with his phone and computer. Being the bike riding geek that I am, I helped him get it working. In exchange he invited me up to his place in Scranton so that he could help me fix the dent in my gas tank and repaint the tank and fenders. That is a major job and it was really great for him to offer so I took him up on it. We packed up Sunday and said goodbye to Daniel and Christine and headed to Scranton, PA. Growing up in PA, I have been to Philadelphia and Pittsburg but never to the northeast part of PA very much. This works out well because I get to see a nice part of the state that I have never seen before. I haven’t had a chance to update the blog until now because Internet access is sparse up here and we have been spending the past few

days working on the bike. I have it in more pieces than I ever expected on the trip. I’m pretty sure I can get it back together again, otherwise  I will be coming home on a new bike or a plane. I’m not too worried though. I’ve had more complicated projects before.
I know things are slowing down for my ride and it will be coming to a close in about another week. I do hope everyone remembers the cause I’m riding for . The Paypal link is still active. If you haven’t contributed yet, please  do so If you can. Just click the support my travels link and remember everything I collect is going to the Wounded Warrior Project.

After my last entry we headed to Atlantic City. I have been to Vegas a few time but never Atlantic City. We rolled in and parked at Bally’s. One thing I noticed is that in Vegas there is “The Strip” which is lit up with a billion lights and it feels like a party is going on everywhere all the time. Atlantic city is large hotels separated by regular businesses and thing are not nearly as lit up. What you do have is a big boardwalk connecting everything. Even that was not “happening” like I would have expected. Granted, it was a Tuesday night and the high season is over. Even so, I expected more. Anyway, we went in and Jason charmed the girl at the desk and got us upgraded to a big suite. We drug our stuff up to it and parked out bikes and went to explore the casino. Wasn’t much happening so we walked around and hit the boardwalk to walk down to the Tropicana . I got some pictures of Bally’s Wild West on the way out. We walked through a few casinos but none of them really had anything going on. Jason picked a craps table and won enough money to cover our hotel bill, so we quit while we were ahead and stopped at the lobby 

bar in Bally’s which was the only thing open. After a drink or two we went to the cafe’ and got a sandwich and called it a night.
In the morning we packed up and headed out. There was a Korean War Memorial next to Bally’s so I stopped and got some pictures. It was nice. There was a wall with all of the fallen soldier’s names but they didn’t come out good in the picture. On the way out of town we stopped at Maria’s Luncheonette to get some breakfast. I got a photo with Maria’ herself and our waitress Anastasia who was a student visiting for the summer from Belarus which is a small country bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine

to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north. She’s heading back in October to go back to school. The food was great and so was the service. I recommend stopping by and telling Maria that Joe sent you. We then jumped up on the expressway and headed to Philadelphia. No trip across the US can be complete without visiting Independence Hall and the Liberty  bell. I’ve been to Philly before and am  not a big fan of the traffic but for the sake of my blog fans, I decided to make it happen. We parked on the sidewalk in front of a big hotel and slipped the doorman a few bucks to watch them for us and walk to Liberty park. They moved the Liberty Bell since the last time I was here as a kid. It’s now in

a secured building. It happens that they close and  4:45 PM. We arrived at 4:50. What a bummer. We talked to the park ranger and explained what I was doing and they were nice enough to escort me in to get a picture. That was very cool for them to do and I really appreciated it. I also got a picture of Independence Hall, the original Congress Hall and the Old City Hall. Doing all of this worked up a good appetite so we had to get a Philly Cheesesteak. We went to the home of the Cheesesteak, Geno’s. There are actually two places that claim to have the best cheeseteaks. Geno’s and Pat’s. They are directly across from each other so we decide to get

one from each and see what we thought. Although they were both very good, after careful consideration, both Jason and I agree that Geno’s is the best cheesesteak. I am declaring Geno’s to be the Official Cheesesteak of Ride with Joe. I even got a picture of Geno’s Harleys that he had in a display window across the street. By now it was getting late and we decide it was time to get on the road and head back to the campground for the next phase of Rally on the River. Summer is definitely coming to an end. It was a cold ride back to Sunbury. Time to start thinking about heading south soon.

I’m still out here. It’s been a slow several days. I haven’t done much riding and have been pretty much in one area. Let me give you the rundown on the past few days.
After my last entry it was time to prepare for Rally on the River, the bike event that Daniel is catering. He convinced me it is worth hanging around and attending it so I said “OK”. Most of the stuff was packed so we headed out toward Sunbury PA to Splash Magic Campground, where the event was to be held. About 3 miles up the road I realized I forgot something so I had to turn around and go back. Daniel was driving his truck towing the Hot Dog Cart so I figured I’d be able to go faster than he was and catch up. I was right. We pulled in as it was getting dusk. Most everything was set up,

including the tents.Daniel’s neighbor, Wayne, came up the night before and set everything up. We set up the rest and spent the majority of the night around the pool. Most everyone arrived Friday and I met a few folks. Saturday sucked. It rained all day. All the bike events were changed and most of the day was spent doing biker contests on bicycles. That was funny but not what we would have liked.
Sunday everyone left so we just hung out and Daniel packed to go back to Harrisburg to work a few days until next weekend’s continuation of the festivities. I met another biker, Jason Farr, doing a raffle of a motorcycle for handicapped lawyers. He was looking for someone to ride to New Jersey with him to help him move a boat he sold so I told him I’d go. I haven’t been to New Jersey in awhile. We rode down Monday afternoon. On the way we passed through Delaware Water gap where there is a mountain that is shaped like an Indian Head. Unfortunately we couldn’t see it well because of the heavy overgrowth. We did stop at Hotdog Johnny’s. It is a famous local hot dog joint. The specialized in deep fried hot dogs and buttermilk. Now I don’t know about you but I have never been able to do buttermilk, with or without hotdogs. I did opt for the birch beer. That is something I haven’t had in years. It’s similar to root beer.

After Hotdog  Johnnies, we continued on to NJ. We stopped in Perth Amboy to visit Jason’s cousin who was a mechanic at a Getty Station. He was supposed to come help us with the boat later on. He was going to meet us at the beach house where the boat was docked. This was also where we intended to spend the night. The house is actually owned by a local magician who is a friend of Jason’s father that runs a magic shop.We were only there briefly then continued to the beach house in Forked River, NJ. It’s a great place and happens to be for sale so if you are interested, let me know. We checked on the boat and ordered a pizza while we waited for his cousin to show up. He never showed but that was OK. We hung out, ate pizza and chatted then called it a night.
We woke up today to a nasty looking sky. The radar showed crappy weather moving in so that  was not promising for any kind of boating activity. In any event we went and killed enough time eating breakfast to let the rain really get going. No sense in doing this the easy way. We jumped in the boat anyway after taking all the extrastuff off of it so it didn’t go with the boat.to the new owner. We tossed off the mooring lines and shoved off. We jetted around the bay for 30 minutes or so and started toward the marina where we needed to dock. On the way in, one of the twin inboard engines overheated so we shut it down. One engine was more than enough to get us to the dock which was

about 1/2 mile away. On the way in, the sound from the one functional motor changed and we started to smell something burning. This was a concern because we also saw smoke coming from the back of the boat. Now, remember when I said that we took off all the extra stuff from the boat? Some of that extra stuff was things like, life jackets, flair gun and, yes, you guessed it…… the fire extinguisher. Oh and id I mention that the radio didn’t work so we really couldn’t call for help other than using our cell phones. Thankfully we were close enough that they worked. We didn’t need then though. We shut the engine down, opened the hatch and realized that the engine overheated and melted an exhaust hose. This was the reason for the smoke but there was no fire. I jumped into the captain’s chair and fired up the other engine that had given us problems earlier and we used that to get us to the marina and dock the boat with no further incident…. other than the rain starting again.
That task finished, we went back to the beach house and chilled out for awhile, waiting for teh rain to quit. It finally did and we went and grabbed some food at a chinese buffet that was really pretty good. Now as I write this we are packing out bikes to head down to Atlantic City to try our luck down there for the evening.

Today was a step back in time. I woke up… strapped my flux capacitor on the motorcycle and was off. I decided that it would be a good day to explore some places I haven’t been for a very long time and share those with everyone.  Before I got started I stopped by mzinga and visited a good friend of mine, Brian Stone.  Brian and I worked together and became friends about 12 years ago. I’ve only seen him a few time in the last 10 years. I thought it would be great to catch up. We hung out and talked shop a bit then I was off on my ride. First I rode up by the Camp Hill mall. I got a picture of Boscov’s, one of the anchor stores there. It’s just like any other store but I remember when they first built it back in the 80′s they filmed some scenes from the movie mannequin there before it opened. Just a little factoid that I remembered so I thought I’d share. I then traveled down Trindle Rd which runs next to the mall toward the center of Mechanicsburg.  I took a picture of Trindle Bowl.  It’s basically like any other bowling alley except they have the honor of having employed me while  I was in high school. I remember when they built that Garage on the right side to

house the owner’s big RV bus. Geeze that was a long time ago. Somewhere along the way I seemed to have gotten old.  Anyway, after that I rode out Walnut Street in Mechanicsburg  towards Rt 11 and boy has that who l area changed. There used to be a drive in theater and a racetrack fro sprint cars. That is all gone and now there is a Target and a bunch of other stores there. The wheels of progress just keep on turning.  I shot a picture of the old Phico insurance building. They aren’t in there anymore. It looks like some construction is going on there for something now. Not sure what. My sister may know…. She can share that with us later. Anyway, two interesting things about this building are that it has a copper roof. It looked funny when they built it but over time it turned green…. Just like cheap jewelry does to your finger or an old penny left outside. What makes this interesting for me is that Daniel’s dad won an award for designing the forms that they used to make the concrete staircases. It was said that it couldn’t be done as it was designed. I guess he showed them. Every time I see this building it reminds me of him. He was an amazing carpenter.
Time travel made me hungry so I stopped over at the Silver Spring Diner across the street. This place was new to me so I thought I’d

 check it out. It was OK. I took a picture for the sake of the blog. It wasn’t Denny’s, after all.
Moving on, I rode down past my high school, Cumberland Valley. I only recognized it by the characteristic dome over the gym. They redesigned and rebuilt the whole thing at some point in the past few years. Looks good but it’s not my school any more. I snapped a few quick photos and was off again. I decided to pass by my elementary school. I took the route that used to run over an old iron bridge that I always thought was cool as a kid. The bridge ran over the
Conodoguinet Creek. They replaced it with a  concrete bridge. I took a photo of the bridge and the creek running underneath. A few miles down the road was Middlesex Elementary, where I attended so many years ago. Well, it’s not even there any longer. There is a school with the same name but nothing remains of the original building and the site is completely different. No picture here because I couldn’t easily get a good shot. Didn’t figure it was worth the effort. Turning right at the end of the road I headed toward my old home. Whoever owns the place trashed it pretty good. But I snapped a picture from out front. You

can’t see the house off to the left because it is hidden by a bunch of trees. Even moving to the side I couldn’t see it because it’s so overgrown. The barn was visible, as you can see. I spent a lot of time there as a kid. The still use the edge of the property as a bus stop. We never had such a fancy little shed when I was standing there in the rain an snow.
Turning around and heading “up the mountain” I decided to ride through Perry County. Perry county is one of the largest counties in PA and has the reputation of being a bit “redneck”.  They have no traffic lights in Perry County and are proud of that.  Topping the mountain I hit the county line and snapped a pic of the sign at the top. Continuing on via Rt 34 I noticed that there is a lot more up here than there used to be. That whole traffic light thing will have to be rethought in the near future.  I grabbed a pic of what used to be a great ice cream shop called Twin Kiss….. Then it became TK’s now its just a diner.  A few miles more brought me to New Bloomfield, the county seat. I got some pics of the square and the courthouse. There is also a big military academy up here for unruly youth to get the discipline they need.  .  None of the shops I remember are here, however, nothing is abandoned either. Passing through New Bloomfield took me to the next

 stop down the road a few more miles to Newport, another small Perry county town where I lived for a time. Again, the square looked similar but I didn’t recognize anything.  Just outside of newport I jumped up on the highway (22/322) and headed back toward West Fairview. I did swing into Red Rabbit with the intention of grabbing a soda and perhaps a bunny burger but was met with a closed sign. They are only open on the weekends. I’ll have to try again later. I did grab a nice picture of the river in Marysville and a sign that describes the railroad bridge that is still used today.
On the way back riding the 20 miles or so, I reflected on my life a bit and the events that tied together in my youth that brought me to where I am today. It’s amazing  how different familiar places look when viewed through the lenses of time and experience. Even if those things haven’t substantially changed. For years I viewed the challenges I encountered in my youth as useless annoyances that got in the way of me being able to grow up and live my life.  Now looking back many years later, I realize that those annoyances, and learning to deal with them, were the  building blocks that helped me form the foundation that has given me the strength and stamina to withstand many things that I doubt I would have handled as well as I have in my adult life. I guess it’s true. Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Now time to get back to the future.
Joe

The weather has been great. I guess this is the payoff for last week.
This is really a beautiful area. Growing up here and seeing it every day made me too used to it. Now living in FL and having traveled as I have done on this ride, gives me a new basis for comparison. The Appalachian mountains as so different than the Rockies but every bit as beautiful in their own way. Started out with breakfast at the Summerdale Diner. Then we rode up along the river. I got to see the statue of Liberty again. Sitting majestically as ever in the middle of the Susquehanna River. I still remember with this mysteriously appeared on the 4th of July many years ago. Nobody knew where it came from or how it got there. Turns out some

creative folks at a manufacturing business on the West Shore side of the river decided to do it and put it in the river in the middle of the night. It became a local landmark. Originally it was made out of old venetian blinds I  think.and then some years back was redone in a more sturdy fashion. I’m glad to see it’s still here. We then continued up through Dauphin to the Dauphin Zoo. Not may people know about the Dauphin Zoo. Being such a small town, you’d think that more folks would know that there is a place to see exotic animals right nearby. Can you say “obsessed”? There is so much in the front yard you can’t see the house.
This next part is especially for Kim R. who’s birthday is tomorrow. Happy Birthday Kim.
We continued our ride up Rt 147 to Halifax and the to Millersburg. Millersburg was founded in 1807 by Daniel Miller. The Millersburg Ferry is the last surviving ferry across the Susquehanna River. According to a sign posted at the ferry dock, a ferry has operated here since 1825. The original ferries were poled across the river. Paddle-wheel boats went into operation in 1873. The current ferries are wooden-stern paddle-wheelers which can carry up to four vehicles or in our case three and two motorcycles.. The

 distance across is about 1 mile and the ferry docs at the Millersburg Ferry campground on the West Shore.The ferry boats were officially listed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 2006. If you are the first to show up in the morning you are supposed to open the door that signals the Captain on the other side that you are waiting to be picked up. High tech… ain’t it.
After we rode the ferry we rode south back toward Summerdale and stopped at Kristi’s Whistle Stop.One of my favorite places to go for ice cream. Kristi, herself, served us. If you ever get here, go visit and say hi for me. Since it was still early we decided to go to Carsonville and see the Carsonville Hotel. Carsonville is located “over the mountain” 7 or 8 miles from Halifax. The hotel has been there for ages. Once I got there I asked how much for a room but apparently they don’t operate as a hotel anymore. However, we had a great burger and a huge plate of fries. We met Tony and Laura. Another biker couple from the area. After a great conversation and a few more cokes for us, we struck out into

the brisk night air to ride back. Neither one of us had our jackets so it was a cold ride back. Don’t tell my Doctor.

Yes, I’m still alive. Sorry for the huge delay. It was a long weekend and even longer for me. We made it back last week and as you know it rained for a few days and I was fighting a sinus infection. That really sucked. Apparently what I caught at Sturgis was not just a cold. Anyway, after a 5 day course of antibiotics and forced rest due to the rain, I’m back in action.
Did some riding  and I’ll share those pictures. I’m also working on getting some additional video for the entries. I have had a camera capturing video but doe to technical problems with the software I can’t view or edit it. I’m trying to work through that with the manufacturer so That I can post some additional vide in the entries.  The few videos that I have posted are from my digital camera. It does a pretty good job. I’m impressed.
So as you all know, I’m in my hometown and will be here for a week or so more. While I’m here I’m going to show you around a bit. Before I do that I should give you a bit of background on the area so you can better understand the places I talk about.  The big city here is Harrisburg, PA. Harrisburg is the state capitol and is located in south central PA. There is a river that runs through this part of the state called the Susquehanna River.  It runs into the Chesapeake bay farther south. When people talk about the communities here they refer to the “east shore” and the “west shore”. This refers to which side of the river the community is on.
Harrisburg is on the East shore, directly on the river,  and everything  more or less runs together much like the 5 sections of New York City but not on that scale.  South of Harrisburg is Steelton which is also along the river. Steelton had a large Bethlehem Steel plant in it and was very much a Blue collar town. That plant closed long ago but the little town still exists. North of Harrisburg is Dauphin. Another small town. North of that is Halifax and then Millersburg which I will talk about later. Halifax is not on the river but you go through it to get to Millersburg which is along  the river. East of Harrisburg you have Hershey, Palmyra  and Lebanon. Hershey is the home of Hershey Chocolate and the factory is still there. The whole town smells like chocolate and the street light are shaped like Hershey Kisses. I’ll make a trip through there and get some pictures. There is also a great amusement park there called Hershey Park. It had one of the first looping roller coasters ever created. My today’s standards it isn’t much but back then it was a big deal.
The West Shore directly across from Harrisburg you have Wormleysburg, and moving north you have West Fairview then Enola, Summerdale, Marysville, and then Duncannon. There are other towns on both sides of the river farther north and farther south but then you start getting out of the Harrisburg area. For the most part, I will be talking about these towns as I travel around. I am from the West Shore. The west shore communities that are farther west and not along the river are Camp Hill, Lemoyne, Mechanicsburg,  and Carlisle. I  grew up on the border of Carlisle and Mechanicsburg at the base of one of the Appalachian Mountains. Just for point of reference Carlisle is the home of the Army War college and Dickenson University and the Carlisle  Auto show. 
Another interesting  fact is that there are several major highways that run though this area. If you are a trucker or travel a lot, it is next to impossible to travel this part of the country and not pass through this area. Route 81, 83, 283 and 76 (the PA turnpike) all cross here.
I’ve added a map to make all of this easier to follow.

Remember that chest cold that I got a few weeks back? Well it’s not going away and has added the fun symptom of a sore throat. So I decided to get it checked. After arguing with my insurance company for awhile I found a local walk-in clinic and spent the afternoon there. Everyone was really nice and helpful but camera shy, so I don’;t have any pictures to share. Turns out I have a sinus infection so with some antibiotics and a few days, I should be A-OK. Kind of timely anyway because the remnants of FAY have made their way up the East coast and caught up with us like we expected. The next few days will be rainy and not so good for riding.
So now what?. …. well I think I’m going to take a different direction. Those of you that know me know that this is my home town. Up until now I have gone and seen things that I never saw before. I have shared that with you all on this blog and have enjoyed it. Now I will share with you things that I do know and have seen so that you can experience and see the things that I have talked about over the years. So over the next week I will take you on a tour of my “old stomping grounds” and share with you what’s new and different from my perspective. Let me know what you think.
The week after next is a bike event that I will be going to up here. That should be interesting. Then I will begin to work my way back down toward Florida and bring this Ride with Joe to a close.There are still many sights to see so stay tuned.
There might e a day or two with no entry. We’ll see how the weather acts. Not any point is talking about the rain. Everyone knows all about that, especially in Florida. Keep those donations rolling in. Haven’t had any for a while. Don’t forget about the cause I’m riding for. The folks that are getting assistance from the Wounded Warrior Project most certainly haven’t forgotten.

Joe