Posted on Monday, August 15, 2016 - 07:57 pm: So I’m going through my pictures. Unfortunately, not many came out good, for some reason the autofocus on my camera was having difficulty holding, resulting in many pictures not properly focusing or losing the focus in the middle of the exposure. It pretty much made panoramic photos impossible, but I had some interesting results regardless. As of today I have no focus adjustment at all unless I shake my phone and hope it lands in a better position. I guess I’ll head to the Microsoft store tomorrow to get that swapped.



Anyway, here we go!



Beautiful Scenery all around. Even at a rest stop in PA













I stopped for gas at a Sheetz, and was pleasantly surprised. Surge, in the fridge all nice and cold. I haven’t seen them in the wild since the 90s. Coca-Cola brought it back recently but it was only available on Amazon. Needless to say, I grabbed a few to keep me up after the 2hrs and 42 minutes of sleep I had the night before.











Continuing to truck on, there is a rest stop/observation area in Maryland on I-68. I took a few shots, and the focus issues started to raise its head. I made a panorama, but didn’t notice till after posting it on Facebook that it was blurry.











The rest here came out decent though. Makes me wonder how much dynamite was used to cut the pass in the mountain.





















Getting there!











Almost there. For some reason my technology decided the route I should take is to get off Hwy 50 an exit early, and go down some Uly road. (Cunningham Run Rd and Stewarts Run)













I was at the campsite shortly after. I didn’t even get out my truck and the rest of the gang were already crowding around helping to unload. Got the bike out and the tent setup in short order.













A quick pano pic from the campsite in the early Thursday afternoon. Cloud cover made for some interesting sudden shadow half way through the snap.











That is all the pics for Thursday. We went for a ride the long way to Parkersburg. It was freaking hot out, to the point I thought I was going to pass out. To top it off, my check engine light was coming on and off, so par for the course with a Buell event I suppose. Mark hit a pothole so hard the clock fell out on his tuber. We stopped at Das Rookhaus, which Mark claimed has the best peperoni rolls. We got there, and it was hotter inside the place than it was outside, apparently the AC was broken. I was about to kill Mark as I know I was dehydrated and my gills couldn’t take much more of the blistering heat. The kid working there said the kitchen was even hotter.



We took a quick vote and decided to eat at the Pizza Place (yes that is what it is called) a few blocks down the road. Got there, unsuited again, and ordered up a Sicilian slice with a giant water. The pizza was “fake”, it was like a knockoff Little Caesars, but I like fake pizza anyway.



After relaxing, getting rehydrated, and cooling off in the AC we hit the road back to the campsite. Check engine light still on, and staying on more. I brought my Bluetooth dongle, so I’ll try ECMdroid when I get back to the campsite. After getting back and getting everything setup, I had no dice with getting ECMdroid to work, it would crash after pulling the data. I used two different devices with two different versions, same thing both times. Oh well. I am pretty sure it is a stator issue, so I broke out the multimeter, and sure enough it showed the battery being near dead. I didn’t feel like tearing into it, so I pulled the headlight fuse and threw the battery tender on to bring it back up to par.



Thursday evening calm, just a bunch of us hanging out sharing stories and making inappropriate jokes and comments. Gary and Damnut did some astro photography, one of Damnut’s pictures of the moon was so zoomed in and detailed you could almost see the rovers.



Thursday night sucked though. It was so hot it was difficult to sleep, to top it off it rained hard. Thankfully my tent stayed dry, but it was bad enough that Phillip and Jaclyn bailed and slept in their truck. At some point before the rain, Damnut decided to plug in an extension cord and ended up blowing the circuit. I woke up not long after due to my now powerless fan. After assessing the situation as best as one can at 3AM, I ended up getting my battery operated one out from the truck so I could get some sleep. The next morning Damnut was scooping the water out from his tent with a carbon fiber front fender (which is for sale by the way)



Friday morning came, we decided to drive to get breakfast at the same slow diner in Cairo. It is not their fault that they are slow, it usually just one girl doing everything from serving us to cooking and everything else. Our group alone increased the town’s total population by about 4% for an hour or two. Couple quick pictures from the town































Back at the camp site, you wouldn’t believe it had down poured only hours ago.













Damnut trying to start his bike. It saturated to the point that it wouldn’t start. That is three tubers with problems for those keeping track! Luckily it started after a few minutes of cranking and gunshot loud bangs.











I didn’t really take many pictures after that. Phillip, Jaclyn, Ken and I went to get lunch, we all hopped in Phillip’s truck to go Parkersburg. Buffalo Wild Wings was our destination. After eating, we saw Suicide Squad. It was pretty good. It tried very hard to be like Guardians of the Galaxy, but I found it enjoyable anyway, and it ties in nicely with the other DC movies of late.



Phillip and Jaclyn are on some kind of eating every 2 hours’ schedule, so we ventured off to a Mexican restaurant nearby. I ordered 10 more buffalo wings, figuring it would be great to hold me over. Turns out the wings were gigantic, and they were not joking about the spiciness.



(Pic stolen from Ken on Facebook)









I had to take a picture of this little guy that was near the register















Ken has a friend in the area who rides, we stopped by his place, he was wrenching on an old Guzzi he just bought. He then told us about Fort Boreman park, so we checked that out and had a pleasant but hot view of Ohio, Parkersburg, and the Ohio River.



























While on our way back to the campsite, it must have been 2 hours because there was talk of getting Dairy Queen, so we stopped at one off Hwy 50. Phillip paid for them, thank you again, it was a real treat in this heat











We got back to the campsite, more people started showing up. Janette was there with her daughter Jean, and Crusty had arrived to claim the title of being the only one to ride there. Technically Adrenaline_junkie did ride there too, but since he could walk there he doesn’t count.



Friday night was more of the usual stories, insults, profane humor and such that is come to be expected with this crew. More photography too, and watching for the meteor shower. Cops even showed up because there were more trucks than motorcycles, thinking that it was a bunch of locals. Also the cop informed me that it is illegal to take pictures after 10PM, but I’m sure it is just a load of crock and he was all pissy for no reason. At least there wasn’t any rain, but it was another hot night.



Saturday we straggled out of bed. I worked my magic to get internet to the campsite so Crusty could post a snippet. Once everyone got into gear, we rode into town and got breakfast at Dodd’s Log Cabin Grill. I ended up ordering a Big Bucky, which is a sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich with Texas Toast, surrounded by hash browns, and everything smothered in sausage gravy. It was so good I got another one Sunday.

























































I went back to the campsite after breakfast and relaxed. I didn’t expect the Big Bucky to be that big, so I ended up with a lead weight in my stomach for a few hours. Damnut took a nap, while Mark and some others went to scout a route to the dirt track that we would be heading to tonight. It rained for a minute or two then stopped. It did that a few times, but thankfully no substantial rain. I tried getting a pic of it, you could see the rain leaving and continuing pour on the other side of the field as the cloud moved on, but the focus gremlins got me again.



Everyone was trying to stay cool and dry before getting ready for the wedding











Now it is Saturday afternoon, everyone is getting suited up for the wedding. Some quick pics were taken before we all went over to the Gainer house for the ceremony



Jaclyn in her dress posing















Crusty watching as Roy and I take photos of each other taking a photo of each other.











Damnut in his Snowman print suit



























Hopping in the cars to ride over, Damnut’s vanity shows again.













Bride and groom arrive











Now you know it is a real shotgun wedding, with real shotgun. (I got a video clip of her cocking it with authority too)













Everyone starting to gather in the back yard for the ceremony.











The procedure is under way













Vern trying to figure out how to operate that doohickey.













Ken living up to the stereotype











Mark and Vern getting very emotional













A quick selfie











The kiss





















Gary taking some pictures











Quick prayer before the grub











Bride and Groom get first crack at the grub















The grub



















The cake



































Jim ate too much











We didn’t have much time to settle after eating, we were on a tight schedule to make it to the race track that was about an hour’s drive way.











Jim busting out of his XXXL shirt













We made it!



















Jim won a fan for being the best dressed



















Leaving the track, all the cars were coated in dirt, so we had a little fun.

















Back at the campsite, no fire jenga this year but still a good fire. Some of us were up to 2AM, most of us were beat after the long day.











Phillip and Jaclyn were staying in a hotel for the night, and they looked very perky in the morning.



I got the everything loaded up, the bike looks sad to leave











At the log cabin place again, and another Big Bucky. After eating I said my goodbyes, and began the long voyage home



















Some of you noticed from my Glympse I was stopping at Sheetz. I hit every one along my route until somewhere in middle of PA. I had to refill my stash.



















There you all have it. Thank you again to Mark and your family, you guys went above and beyond again. Congrats to Phillip and Jaclyn. I hope to see all of you next year.