Ford Model "T"
The original Kenneddy car
Some early motorcycles
The town center
Driven from southern Chile to Dearborn, Michigan
The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village are well worth the trip. The museum complex houses some of the rarest and best collection of cars, planes, inventions and memorabilia from the days of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and the Wright brothers and beyond. Things you will see nowhere else. An incredible collection from all over.
I'm trying something new on the Blog, Video! With the release of the new iPhone 3G S, and now the phones ability to record video, I thought I would attach the phone to the bike on my trip to Pennsylvania and see what it would do. I shot some video on Route 184 just to see how well the phone records video. Other than some unexplained waviness at times on the screen, I think it takes a fairly good video, given the constraints of the phone. I've uploaded the video to You Tube and you can see it by going here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBP3gncTUi4 Don't expect too much! Remember, it's only a test.
My guide, Pauline
Bill Piper's silver Cub and far left, his Buick convertible
My visit to the Piper Museum was exceptional. Since the small town of Lock Haven , Pennsylvania was having a parade down on Main Street for some reason, I had the entire museum to myself and the person in charge had the time to give me a personally guided tour. My tour guide was Pauline, a very pleasant woman who it turns out was a personal friend of the Piper family, and so, had a great deal of personal information to share. The museum is small, but has a great display of the history of the Piper Aircraft Company as well as a small hangar with some of the most beautifully restored Piper aircraft I have ever seen. There is also one of Bill Piper's own personal J2 Piper Cub and his Buick Convertible among others. I had to ask Pauline, why the Piper Cub owned by Bill Piper was silver and not "Cub yellow"? She explained that, that particular model was built before Bill's father, William Piper, chose the now famous color yellow for the Piper Cub. Seems the first Piper Cubs were silver. For more pictures, go to the "Photo Gallery".
The rain Gods were against me today! I left the house this morning at 10:30 and I didn't get twenty minutes away before the rain started. I pulled into the gas station in Elba, NY and waited for the rain to pass, then continued on. As I got south of Batavia on route 63, the sky got uglier and uglier, until again drops started to fall, so I turned around and returned home. By 4:00pm in the afternoon, the skies where sunny and warm, so I dicided to take off again. This time, by the time I reached the area near of Mt. Morris on Route 390 south, I had to put on my rain suit as I would ride in and out of rain showers for the next three hours. Nearing the Pennsylvania border, I rode out of the band of rain that was traveling west to east, and the sky became sunny again.
The ride thru Pensylvania was very nice, especially an area on PA. Route 284. Turning off of Route 15 south onto Route 284 near Buttonwood, PA, the road tuns into a narrow two lane road that winds thru the valley and along side a small stream. The road is a joy to ride since it winds thru a forested hilly area. Great fun on a bike! Four hours after leaving home, I arrived in Lock Haven.
Route to Lock Haven, Pa.
Piper Twin Comanche
The weather for this week end is looking good, so it looks like I will be pointing the bike toward Lock Haven, Pa., and the home of the Piper Aircraft Museum. Piper Aircraft has been responsible for building some very good planes over the years, and probably none more famous than the legendary Piper Cub. My Dad had a Piper Twin Comanche that we flew to Santiago, Chile and back, in August of 1968. A trip that took us to ten countries in four weeks.Dearborn, Michigan is one of the destinations that Sharon and I will be heading to. We plan to visit the Henry Ford Museum there. http://www.thehenryford.org/ Another weekend trip I plan to make will take me to the Piper Aviation Museum in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. http://www.pipermuseum.com/ And of course the Big Daddy of them all....EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. "The Worlds Greatest Aviation Celebration". http://www.airventure.org/
This year will see the worlds largest passenger airliner, the Airbus A-380, make its debute in North America at AirVenture. This is the worlds only true double decker airliner with a passenger capacity of 525 in mixed seating. See the first A-380 to land at London Heathrow here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvR1Oe6CfoQ
Day 5....the finished product
Progress being made
Day four of the deck project and it is looking like a real deck. The railings are promised for tomorrow, and hopefully we will have all the decking installed by then. Boy, am I sore!Scenic Overlook On The Way Down
My Grand Kids, Michael and Sarah
My helpers, Tom and Michael
Michael drilling into the concrete
Well, we sure picked a bad week to build a deck in North Carolina. We started on the project today, and we had to work around the downpours all day. Even though it rained on and off all day, we got a lot accomplished. We made good progress.This coming Thursday, I will be riding the K1200LT to my son Michael's house outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. The purpose of this trip is to build a deck on the new house he had built a couple of years ago. This is the second such project, as I built a deck on the first home he built some years ago, that he still owns and rents. And on another note, I just pulled the trigger on the airfare for next years trip to South America. I will be leaving on Jan. 6 and returning on Feb. 24, 2010. It's never too early to start planning for the next adventure. Other trips I have planned for this summer are, a trip to the Henry Ford museum in Michigan in July and as always, the yearly trip to EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin at the end of July. I would also like to take a ride to the Piper Aircraft museum in Pennsylvania.
Nolan N-103 N-Com
Nolan Modular Helmet
Internal Sun Visor like the helmet of a Fighter Pilot. Very cool feature!
Wired for sound with custom built in speakers
Just plug the iPod into the built in 
After riding thru five days of constant 50-60 mile per hour winds in Argentina, this past January and February, wind that was constantly trying to remove my helmet with my head still in it, I decided I needed a better fitting helmet. Since I have been so satisfied with the two Nolan N-103 N-Com helmets that I bought here in the States for my K1200LT, I decided to order a Nolan for the R1200GS in Chile. Nolan has made some nice improvements since I bought the first two helmets a few years ago. Two of the best improvements are, the built in sun visor that can be operated by a slide lever on the side of the helmet. The other is the integration of the plugs for the sound system. The female plugs are now built into the side of the helmet, and not a wire hanging down, as they were before. The helmet fits snugly and is very comfortable. Another feature found only on the Nolan helmet, is the seat belt type chin strap. It operates much like a seat belt buckle found in a car or airplane. It's visible in the bottom picture above. Very easy to get on and off! For more info on Nolan helmets, go to: http://www.nolanhelmets.com/Volcano Llaima April 2009
Llaima Volcano Feb. 2009
SANTIAGO, April 4 (Reuters) - Chile's Llaima volcano, one of South America's most active, spewed a more-than-1,000 metre (1,094 yard) flow of lava on Saturday in a fresh eruption, the country's National Emergency Office (ONEMI) said.Llaima, which lies in Chile's picturesque lake region about 435 miles (700 km) south of the capital Santiago, erupted on Jan. 1, 2008 and has spewed pyroclastic rock and ash sporadically since."There are permanent explosions that reach 600 metres above the crater. Falling ash is visible and ... a flow of lava of more than 1,000 metres has been observed," ONEMI said on its website.It said experts were evaluating the possible evacuation of 17 people in the area surrounding the volcano.Chile's chain of some 2,000 volcanoes is the world's second-largest after Indonesia. Around 50 to 60 are recorded to have erupted, while 500 are deemed potentially active.The 10,253-foot (3,127-metre) Llaima was the second to erupt in the past year.The Chaiten volcano, 760 miles (1,222 km) south of Santiago in the Patagonia region, erupted last May for the first time in thousands of years, spewing ash, gas and molten rock and prompting the evacuation of thousands of people.Ash from Chaiten soared 20 miles into the atmosphere, swelled rivers and caused floods that damaged dozens of houses and destroyed much of the nearby town of the same name.Chaiten erupted again in February, prompting a fresh evacuation of residents who had rejected a government plan to abandon the town and rebuild it a few miles away. (Writing by Simon Gardner; Editing by Paul Simao)
The Wild Bunch Hideout in Argentina
The Wild Bunch
Since spring is just around the corner, I'm starting to think about future bike rides. One of the future rides I'm considering (for next year) is a ride to follow Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to their hideout in Argentina. I hinted at this possibility when I planned this past years ride in Chile and Argentina, but while in Argentina, I questioned people in the town of San Carlos De Bariloche about the ledgend of the two gringo outlaws and, although they had heard of the ledgend, nobody could give me any specific information. Well, now I have some. I have found a location for the "Wild Bunch's Ranch" in Argentina. Actually, three very rustic buildings in the Patagonia of Argentina just as they where in 1905. It's on the eastern edge of the Andes Mountains near a large lake south of the famous Route 40 near the town of Cholita, Argentina. This will be the theme for next years adventure in South America. Now starts the investigation.
Back in the U.S.A. at JFK International Airport
Once again, Chile and Argentina will host the 2010 Dakar Rally, after the success of the most recent edition of the event. Chilean government spokesman Francisco Vidal announced on Tuesday. For the whole story go here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iTXo3nYPmU6e7WU1nMsJhT4io3-g
ALL my posts during my trip to Chile this year, will be at my "Short Way Down" Web Site!! See you there. Also, if you want to contact me by eMail, please send all eMail to thebmwrider@live.com Hasta luego!
A Small Part Of Santiago, Chile
Yesterday, Dec. 18,2008, the central part of Chile, including the capital city of Santiago, as well as the countries main port city of Valparaiso was shaken by an earthquake magnitude 6.3 on the Richter scale. The initial earthquake was followed by a second quake of 5.8 Richter degrees, according to the USGS. After shocks continued today with smaller quakes being felt in Santiago this morning. Head of the Chilean Emergency Office (ONEMI) Carmen Fernandez said that "there are no reports of damages due to the quake. It's part of a normal seismic activity."
