day 9 - Warren, Pennsylvania to Orange, New Jersey
 

 

the winners circle!

owen medd, twist n' go class, my beloved, kick-ass class (manual-modified) and ashrat, manual class. this picture is missing the maxi-class winner, stan obal. he got tired of waiting for everyone to come in and went back to the hotel.

End of the Road, Day 9

my drive from pennsylvania to new jersey was really nice. beautiful country, i have to say. some pretty weird sides though...

 

absolutely my favorite sign of the entire trip! i was simultaneously going north on 66 (having previously split off from route 666 - and i SWEAR i am not making that up, just driving too fast to stop and back up for a picture) AND going south on 948

 
enforcement of what?
i encountered a great deal of art along the way. some of it recognizable...
some not....
there were also some generally interesting sites. things we don't have with the urban sprawl of california
amusingly enough, i encountered a town my good friend mike tanner could feel at home in...

lucky for me, or maybe unlucky for me, depends on your perspective, i encountered an outlet mall just before getting to new jersey! it had some interesting stores...

 
is that rightous? is that even fathomable? a bible factory outlet? are these factory irregulars? are there 15 commandments instead of 10? are there 12 disciples instead of...um, how many were there again? did josh (see 'lamb: the gossip according to biff christ's childhood pal' by christopher moore for insight into why i call him josh) deck judus after he kissed infront of the solders? this was as close as i got to the building since i knew they would start screaming 'sinner!' if i actually went into the store (i have pink hair people, for lots of people pink hair = sinner)
look! new jersey!
just before entering new jersey, or maybe just as i drove over the state line, i saw this sign...and i still don't get it

the kind people at scooter originali and the local new jersey/new york scooter clubs welcome the cannonballers to the finishline

 

what i got left is a bunch of shots of the gang waiting for everyone to come in at scooters originali. not real meaningful if you didn't just spend 9 days with these folks, but they tell a story...

 

adi had wanted to win pretty bad. he had some technical difficulties that put him out of the running early on. but he made a good show...
ashrat and her boyfriend who, thankfully, convinced her to ship her bike back to LA instead of ride it.
funny story about ashrat's bike. if you look at the picture to the right, you see no cowl on the left side. what happened to ashrat's cowl? so on the last day, patrick is riding along and sees ashrat go one way and rocket go another. he goes straight. then suddenly ashrat and rocket are behind patrick. much hilarity insues. then they decide to ride the rest of the day together. at one point, they stop at a stop sign and rocket looks down and says 'hey ashrat, where's your cowl?'. ashrat looks down and replies 'shit'. so if you see a black, left side cowl for a p200 somewhere in eastern pennsylvania or western new jersey, please send it to her.
you would think, after 9 days of nothing but scooters, the gang would want to talk about something else. apparently not...
here we have the maxi-class winner, stan. he looks abit tired. i can see how, but the time it got dark he wanted to go to sleep...
though the majority of the riders were in at an entirely reasonable hour every day. there were a few long days, both because of the course or bike trouble. and just coming down from all that adreniline poops people out! so we had some nappers...
i call this, the lion sleeps...
other than that, people just hung around waiting for everyone to ride in...

at the far left of the picture, uh, to the left, you see mike haytens. he was last year's winner forced to drop out on day 3 due to multiple organ, i mean, part failure on his p. but he'll be back in 2008, don't you worry...
hey look! it's et4 mike!
yeah kieran! slow but steady...well...finishes the race.
of course, not everyone rode in on the bike they left oregon on...
earl arrives all neat and tidy!
some general mingling as we await other riders...
noe and baxter arrive! remember, noe rode from texas to oregon first...
noe looks relieved
why such a hurry heather? oh, yeah, you need to sign in before those other riders right behind you sign in! go heather, go!
just some photographic goofing off....rich didn't really like having his picture taken.

sarah approaches...and she arrives! yeah!
and here we have scott davis!
man, it seems like we are missing someone....

BAGEL!

and so, it is the end, or back to the beginning, depending on how you think of it. many started, almost all finished. a great time was had by all. can't wait until 2008!

 

p.s. WE ARE THE WOMEN OF SUPPORT! HEAR US ROAR!