Through Vinland
Reports & Stories
Click Here to Submit your Report or Story
back
|
|
Valhalla
Voyage Through Vinland Reports & Stories Click Here to Submit your Report or Story back |
Name: Ken Pederson
Handle: Pedsman
Date: 04/20/2008
Time: 03:37:45 PM
PA picked up the treasured package from Goody and Shortlet (Maryland) on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 4PM. We met at Baughers Restaurant in Westminster, MD. Shifter and I (Pedsman) rode down from Lancaster, PA to pick up the package. Goody, Shortleg and Shifter had met before at some of the very first Inzane events, but hadn't seen each other for 6-7 years, so it was a good reunion for them. I heard some good stories. Shifter and I found a nice "scenic byway" for a few miles on the trail home and split up in Hanover as he went north and I went northeast to get home. A good day and some new good friends. On Saturday, April 19th. I left Lancaster, PA for Dover, DE to handoff to John U. I took the scenic route thru PA and onto the Eastern Short of MD, another scenic byway and then east to Dover. We met near "Dover Downs", home of the Monster Mile and Nascar fame. John has a nice sled and we spoke for a while and checked out our rides. Georgeous day, 80 degrees and the sun was shining. John was on his way to hand-off to NJ and I headed back home to Lancaster. The Valhalla Voyage is a GREAT event and it's helping lots of us to meet new people and put a few extra miles on our rides. Always a good thing. Friends and bikes.
Name: Harold Goodman III
Handle: Goody
Date: 04/14/2008
Time: 05:17:25 AM
The Maryland brigade met in Mount Airy Md at 9:30 am on a nice sunny warm Saturday morning. Shortleg and I are Veteran Vrcc’ers but met up with a relatively new member, Toly (Russian Concussion) and his lovely wife Rosie. At 10:00 am we were heading toward West Virginia. A nice relaxing ride at a nice pace when all of a sudden a bicycle breaks loose from a rack on the back of a car. It is hit immediately by a pickup truck and bike parts were flying everywhere. Dave swerved around some parts in his lane, Toly and Rosie shot for the right lane and I for the left. A couple of seconds later we were back in formation and continuing our journey. We crested over the Catoctin Mountains and stopped at the Gap. Donned a little more clothing and were on our way up route 68. Crested the next mountain and the wind started to set in. A few gusts were strong enough to move us over half a lane. We got up to Frostburg (lol) and stopped for gas and broke out any other warm clothing we had. From there we headed thru Western Maryland and headed down route 79. Dave having his GPS was riding as road captain and I was Tailgunning. Dave pulls off a few exits before the Bridgetown/ Clarksburg exit. Now we made pretty good time and we weren’t expecting the West Virgina brigade for a few hours. I figured Dave seen some roads on his GPS and we were going to takr the scenic route. Well the road got continually smaller and the paving was deteriorated considerably. Single file was crowded at times. We were getting so far back in the woods I was looking for some of those stills you hear about in West Virginia. Dave started to get nervous when he thought he seen a couple of Rednecks playing the Theme from Deliverance on Banjos sitting in rocking chairs on a porch. We stopped in the middle of the road as there was no place to pull over. I sensed Dave was a little frustrated. Daves GPS was telling us this was the way to the Sleep Inn in Clarksburg. We even called the motel to verify the address. Dave made the decision to hit the home command and we would get back to 79. I got my redneck gps out and the map said we needed to go down 79 three more exits. Looking at the map we saw that 50 would take us into Bridegeport and we were at an exit that took us right to 50. All is good, we are traveling across 50 and we see signs “ Road Closed 2 Miles” Sure Enough it was! Back out to 79. Once on 79 we headed down a few miles and there sitting on the hill was the Sleep Inn. We still was about an hour ahead of the Brian and the West Virginia Brigade. We go to the check in counter and enquire about the Address and it’s the same as what we had in the GPS. We told the clerk about our ordeal trying to follow the GPS and she told us “Oh, That happens all the time. We just give people the address of the Holiday Inn Down the Street and tell them to turn there and just come up the hill”. We thought Daves head was going to explode as it did give him quite a headache. We checked in rested a bit and went to find some food. We were on the parking lot and Dave heard the unmistakable roar of a Valk. A minute or two later three Valkyries were coming up the road. Brian and Rhonda on one bike , 3-Valks on a second Valk, and his son on a third. Everyone checked in rested awhile and we all went to eat and tell stories. It’s great to be able to put names and faces together and how we get to know one another over a meal. “Rhonda he’s starring at us again”, you know that guy that wanted us to leave, he just wanted to clean our table, evidently while we were still sitting there. Day 2, Well we were all hoping for some dry weather, Didn’t happen! Yesterday leaving Md it was in the 70’s today leaving WV it was in the upper 30’s. We decided over breakfast to not ride to the dam for the handoff . We all wanted to try to beat the rain and get home safely. We Handed off on the Hotel parking lot and everyone headed toward home. The wind, rain and 36 degrees Going over Kiasers Ridge was brutal. We didn’t get out of the 30s until we hit Cumberland. We made a stop for coffee and warmer gloves. I drank a litte of my cup then put my fingers in the hot coffee until I could feel them again. It only made it into the upper 40s and would rain enough to just keep you chilled to the bone. Rosie gets a lot of credit in my book, I know she had to be cold but she smiled thru the whole ride. We decided talking on the phone this evening that it was frozen there! A hot shower and a turkey dinner and I am feeling normal again. West Virginia, I will be back! I haven’t had my fiil of Sausage Gravy and Biscuits and Potato Pancakes yet, although I did give it a good try. Rhonda And Brian, I am serious about the road trip for the Hot Dogs you were telling me about!!!! Goody
Name: Jim Rhyne
Handle: F6Cruzer
Date: 03/28/2008
Time: 12:17:52 PM
Charlie Grau -Charlie the Sculptor brought the package up from Key West and passed the package to me, Jim Rhyne- F6Cruzer in St. Cloud Florida March 27, 2008 who took it to Kennedy Space Center and up to Titusville, FL. We had the opportunity to have one of F6Cruzer's fellow troopers pose with us for a photo op near Disney World. F6Cruzer passed the package to Debbie Zell- DD in Titusville, Florida March 27, 2008 and she headed to Daytona Beach, Florida.
Name: al london
Handle: al
Date: 03/24/2008
Time: 05:27:30 PM
3/24/08 Met Swoppie and the crew from the panhandle of Florida after he picked up the tankards from the Alabama crew. I know he says he's never on time, but he was as close as it gets! It was really great to put a face with a name and finally meet some of the people I've been corresponding with. The weather could not have been better. There was a little chill in the air, but not so much that it cut through you. After a great mexican lunch in Monticello I was off to meet Eddie and Rick and their wives in Fanning springs. The temperature warmed all afternoon and there wasn't much traffic (although there seemed to be an inordinately large number of troopers). I finally got to hook-up with Eddie and Rick, transferred the package - we were a little neurotic about making sure we didn't drop it in the river. Did the requisite photo op and had the park ranger do the honors. This was a great experience and want to thank OZ for putting it together.
Name: Gregg Buchanan
Handle: Curley Wolf
Date: 03/16/2008
Time: 06:03:44 PM
March 9th was the date--a beartiful, yet crisp, Sunday morning as 18 or so Arkanssa Valkyrie Riders merged into Little Rock with the valhalla Voyage Package being brought from the previous day's handoff from Missouri. With georgeious, blue skies overhead and the picturesque Arkansas State Capitol as a backdrop, 1:30PM saw a shiney row of "Cycles of the Decade" being photographed followed by pictures of the exchange of the Package in preparation for the South AR portion of the journey. Jack Guenther led the group to The Flying Barrito in Little Rock's River Market for a spicy lunch. Almost filling the compact restaurant, lots of chat ensued as did a little sweat from the spices and the soon-to-be=peeled-off, extra clothing layers. AR VRCC State Rep JV (John Kosmach) and Bogenman (David Mills) led the homebound crew with the sun on their left. Curley Wolf, followed by the Jack Guenthers, the Mark Bradleys, and Mike Holmes, parted "The Rock" movin' down the state toward LA. With his accompanying riders drifting off along the way, Curley Wolf found himself alone as El Dorado approached. Well, "The Buck" stopped there, only 15 miles north of LA, 'til Wednnesday when the movement was South again, across the LA state line and to Winnfield to the LA Political Museum. Yep, it's a political year but that's not the only reason to meet at the LA Political Museum. I think it was the only place that Hard 6 and Strider knew about in Winnfield. (I'll have to admit that I'd never made it to Winnfield before!). A brief tour of the facility was soon disrupted by the unique sound of the incredible "flat six" (Actually, there were several,as surprising as it was that Hard 6 and Strider could find sompany to ride on a workday.) A look outside revealed five of them---WOW! of course, those Coonasses had to take a look around at the Long-family pictures! They even got the Arky and one lone Texan to listenin' to campaign speeches from one of the Longs---a wax figure standing in front of a yellow, 1951 Chevy delivery vehicle with four, huge, cone-shaped speakers mounted on it's roof. A short rumble around to some good eats and for some great conversation preceeded the "official?" handoff and, then, OFF WE RODE into the warmth of a super LA afternoon. Bye, Boys and Girls!
Name: Warren Trest
Handle: Strider
Date: 03/13/2008
Time: 04:16:15 PM
We met the representative that brought the Voyage package to us from Arkansas, Curley Wolf, in Winnfield, Louisiana at 11:30 am on Wednesday, 3-12-2008. There were four groups that met in Alexandria, Louisiana about 10:00 am. One group consisted of Hard6 (JP) and Valkyrie John (John - both from Lake Charles). I left out of Lafayette, Louisiana. These two groups left out in mid 40 degree temps at about 8 am. The weather was perfect! Aurox left out at about 5 am from Houston, Texas in mid 30 degree temps. We met up with Green Eyed Dragon (Tim) in Alexandria, Louisiana at 10 am. Green Eyed Dragon had just come off a night shift work stint and was operating on just an hour or so of sleep. We met at the Shoney's in Alexandria for coffee. The temperature would warm up to mid 70's throughout the day and the day was filled with glorious sunshine. We followed Green Eyed Dragon out of Alexandria and up 167 to Winnsfield where Curley Wolf was waiting for us. We toured the Louisiana Politician Musuem - our meeting place and kicked some tires for awhile. We rode over to Uncle Earl's Pea Patch Cafe where we had lunch, caught up on old times and then eventually passed over the Voyage package to the back of Traveler. With the hugs and hearty handshakes, we blew our horn and lifted our hand in a fond farewell to Curley Wolf and followed Green Eyed Dragon back to Alexandria on 167 where he peeled off and Hard6, Valkyrie John, Aurox and I took I-49 back to Lafayette. I travelled home and the other three posse members headed west on I-10. It was a glorious day for riding! The weather was perfect, as was the miles, smiles and fellowship. It was a 300 mile day for me, a few more for the Lake Charles bunch and 700 miles for Aurox. The fellowship was worth each and every mile shared in the wind...... Warren Trest - 3/13/2008
Name: Eddie Kidd
Handle: Stilson
Date: 03/11/2008
Time: 05:46:03 PM
Oh, by the way a lot of Texas pictures can be seen at the following address, thanks to Mark http://www.texasredbird.com/Mark/Motorcycling/08-02Valhalla/
Name: Eddie Kidd
Handle: Stilson
Date: 03/11/2008
Time: 05:27:51 PM
The Hobbs, New Mexico pick was made at Black Gold Casino at 3:30 PM Mountain Time on Sunday February 24th. Report from Eddie Kidd (Stilson) Hand off New Mexico to Texas 185 miles round trip: I made the Ride from Odessa Texas to meet riders from Roswell, and Artesia, New Mexico. A great day for a ride to New Mexico and back. Weather was great with sunshine and 70 degrees. I am still on schedule to meet Ben tomorrow in Abilene. Victor was not able to make the trip to New Mexico so I did the ride solo. It will be solo ride to Abilene tomorrow also. Odessa, Texas to Abilene, Texas handoff was made at Cracker Barrel Restaurant on I20 at 11:30 AM Monday February 25th. Report from Eddie Kidd (Stilson) Hand off Odessa Texas to Abilene Texas 395 miles round trip: Handed off to Ben at Abilene and made it back home. Was nice and warm and not to windy on the way to Abilene but the wind was terrible on the way back. Really blew me around going back home, and gas mileage was bad. Went on reserve tank at 90 miles, I have never been less than 120 to reserve before. Sustained winds at 32 and gust to 51 according to the weather service and I will back them up. Not real fun on the way back, trucks caused some dangerous swirls and gust. Hope the terrain and trees made it better for Ben on the way to Brownwood from Abilene.
Name: Mark Clauder
Handle: RainMaker VRCCDS #0117, VRCC #24130
Date: 03/10/2008
Time: 05:35:59 PM
Friday nite February 29th, RainMaker (Mark), Speedo (Ron), Six Guns (Victor) and 12th Man (John) rode 187 miles down to College Station to meet up with Mark Stovall and the Houston Gang. Traffic was really bad in Dallas so we got to the meeting place an hour late at 8pm. But the Houston Gang is a nice bunch and let us off the hook with very little ribbing. Met in the parking lot of world famous Kyle Field on the campus of Texas A&M, took pictures of the banner hand off in the dark and then went to Rudy's BBQ on Harvey Road for some good eats. Had a nice time but the clock said we needed to hit the road, so at 10pm we left Rudy's and headed back that same 187 miles back to Dallas. We stopped for gas in Calvert and hit the rain just afterwards (remember RainMaker was leading the ride). Ran through the rain, some hard, some not until we got to Marlin and stopped to dry off the windshields, glasses and put the Valhalla journals in a place where they would stay dry. Hit a little more rain afterwards but after Riesel it was dry the rest of the way. We got in around 2am and passed out. Saturday morning, March 1st, met up with 8 riders at Texas Stadium in Irving. Pictures with the banner and mugs at Tom Landry's statue and the big Dallas Cowboys sign on the south side of the stadium, then off to Al Lamb's. At Al's, we got permission to clear off the front porch and put 3 Valks up there for pictures. We picked one standard, one tourer and one I/S for the pics with the banner and mugs and they turned out pretty good. Then we rode to Southfork Ranch, home of the fictional Ewing family, and gathered in front of Gate 3 with the mansion in the background. From there, half the group went the right way and half the wrong way, but we stopped our leader Speedo in time for a U-Turn and got everyone back on the right path. Godfire (Jim) caught up to us in Bonham at the gas stop after missing us at Southfork. LemonDrop (Jean) joined us at the Rayburn library. After pictures with the banner in front of Mr. Sam Rayburn's statue, LemonDrop led the ride to Lake Texoma, where we stopped for another picture with the banner and mugs and the DFW chapter alone, then headed to Cartwright to meet up with the OkValks group at Wendy's Catfish (no hamburgers - just catfish). Great catfish dinners and good fellowship. SubMan (Terry) and Wanderer (Jeff) joined us at Wendy's. Then we took the now larger group of 22 Valks, one GoldWing and one Yamaha back to Lake Texoma and had the official handoff of the banner and tankards. After that, various groups headed back home to the DFW area on Highway 75, knowing the Valhalla Voyage was in good hand with our brothers from Oklahoma. I clocked 671 miles from the ride to College Station on Friday to my return home Saturday. Good riding, good group and great weather. We took a lot of pictures. The ones I took are in the SmugMug photos you can access from the Texas VRCC home page (Photos link on the left menu). Thanks to all who participated. RainMaker VRCCDS#0117, VRCC #24130
Name: Lori Holmes
Handle: motomama
Date: 03/08/2008
Time: 06:52:09 PM
It was 18 degrees starting out this morning. We (Willow and I) left our home in Olathe, Kansas at 10:00 am bound for Missouri. We were supposed to meet up with a Missouri rider at the state line, but evidently we missed each other. We hung around and waited for about 30 minutes and then Willow decided to go ahead and head towards Sedalia, Missouri to meet up with Chuck (C908). The temperature had reached 20 degrees by that time, and rather than continue another 90 miles, I opted to head back toward home to warm up. Willow made it to the rendezvous point and passed the package off to Chuck. He then rode with Chuck for a ways before heading back toward home. It sure was a cold day for riding in the midwest!
Name: Dennis
Handle: den-ace-t
Date: 02/23/2008
Time: 03:29:53 PM
The Valhalla Voyage is growing and picking up speed thanks to the internet. It is easy to make connections and copy everyone in so that everyone is on the same page. I can see every day more people signing up and messages going back and forth. Drop off and pick up times and travel times through the states and provinces is where the challenge comes. I looks like lots of people may continue on with the relay of the "Tankards" after they have passed them on to the next person on the route. What a awsome way to meet other Valkyrie Riders and enjoy riding with them along the way. I'm really looking forward to participating when it arrives in my area and I hope to ride along for a few days and meet lots of fellow Valkyrie riders...Dennis aka. den-ace-t VRCC-BC Provincial Rep
Name: Gale
Handle: oZ
Date: 02/15/2008
Time: 07:56:31 PM
Valhalla Voyage Across Vinland Begins: First things first, find a Valkyrie to ride! I lent mine to a friend to take to Mexico… two months ago. After the trip it was parked somewhere with no charger on it, parked for one month and about 27 days. So get the bike back. Before the trip to Mexico the bike sat for six months (on a battery tender). But living in SoCal I never heard of putting stuff in your gas tank to keep things stable, so the bike runs like crud off idle. Talked with Big Mac the SoCal Prez he said get Sea Foam. And of course I check the tire pressure…. Zip…. But they look damn good living indoors and all. You all heard California has heat, but it’s a dry heat which is laden with dust. Were the hell are my riding apparel, up to my hips in t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts but no riding jacket, oh and where is my helmet? Take it out to gas it up and do a test ride… God Bless Honda Motor Company! Get the bike back Check New battery Check Sea foam Check Inflate tires Check Remove about Check a pound of dust Check Find riding gear Check Test Ride Check One forgets about how just excellent a bike the Valkyrie is. After about an hour or so pulled up on a Porsche 911 Targa 4S not that rare in SoCal as the place is lousy with them. Now the guy in the Porsche is lookin’ over checking out my bike and I wonder if he notices were both sitting there with boxer six cylinder engines, by gosh we have something in common, give him a smile…which I believe this suit wearing movie agent type takes as a challenge. I knew I had no hope, those things are scary fast. Anyway he hole shot me, but to my disbelief I past him going through second gear and left him somewhere behind. The Valk will out accelerate a Porsche (well I guess that depends on which Porsche your playing with). Well I out there in front grinning like a possum when I check my mirrors, oh Lord here he comes. Valkyrie’s may be able to do an eight of a mile much quicker then a Porsche but top end is another story. So I declared the race was over before he caught up to me as he went by in a blur I smiled and waved, have a nice day and I hope you land that big deal for the next Blockbuster. Could have been worse, could have been a Porsche Turbo horse power 480. As it was I was fooling with a Porsche Targa 4S, just 325 hp. Man, I’m given to rambling the point of this missive is the Valhalla Voyage Across Vinland. To understand what Vinland means see our page Valhalla Voyage through Vinland page at http://valkyrieriders.com/Valhalla/valhalla_history.htm We owe this idea to Willow, the newest member of the VRCC Admin Board. Kinda pumping new life into the old club (about 10 years old now). Last time we did something like this was the Thors Hammer Relay. That idea came up one night while sitting at my computer nursing a New Castle. I was thinking things were slow with the club (being January and all) and thought, hey why don’t we relay something across the country. My idea was to take a small trophy like clock think the club awarded me (and Lamont and Justin) at the first InZane Rally. My original idea was to run it from SoCal to Maine. Well once our members got wind of what I was thinking about more then what I expected wanted to participate. It was the club members, not me with a whole bunch of help from F6Gal that made my little idea of transporting a clock to Maine into something much more ambitious. First idea was the clock had to go the object has to have more meaning. So one ingenius member (I can’t remember his name damn me) build an object, that object being Thor’s Hammer! I don’t know where the next idea came from but someone came up with the idea of a banner, which could be signed by all those who traveled with the Hammer. And instead of just going straight to Maine someone came up with the idea of hitting every state in the Union. That’s when the Canadians suggested a little detour into the Great White North. And so it was the Hammer left SoCal sometime in January if memory serves, made every state in the Union plus many Provinces in Canada. And on it goes as far as ideas. Someone in Arizona put a pin representing their state on the felt bag that carried the Hammer. By the time the Hammer made it’s way back to me in Kentucky finishing it intended trek at the InZane Rally the weight of the pins on the carry bag were heavier then the Hammer itself. But that was not the end of it. After the trip through the America’s the Hammer was cheerfully sent of to Europe where it made it’s trek there. What a Trip! http://www.valkyrieriders.com/voyage/schedule.htm back