Memorial Day Weekend Test Drive

Memorial Day Weekend Test Drive

We're less than a week away from the Civil War Harley Tour, so Jason and I decided to take advantage of the weather this Memorial Day weekend and do a "test drive". It gave us a chance to test a bunch of things, including shooting pictures from the back of the bike. I think the real test was to see if I could actually pack my stuff in a bag smaller than the one I drag my laptop around in.....

Rather than do a drive to nowhere, we combined it with another of my hobbies - genealogy - and off we went to North Bingham, Potter County, PA. It's not actually a hot spot destination, it barely makes the map, but it's where Jason's ancestors hail. And it's not that we went to visit anyone he knows...the objective was to find a cemetery where his great-great grandparents are buried.

The ride was great. Lots of great, green scenery to look at along the way. It's a 6 hour trip from H'town to North Bingham, and about 1:00 we decided lunch was in order. One of the things we want to do on the trip is savor the local fare, so when we pulled into Towanda, Pennsylvania, we found Captain Jack's Bar and Grill. We thought we might be in trouble when we walked in the place and the first signs we saw were about a no tolerance rule for fighting or provoking a fight. It was definitely a "local" bar as everyone seemed to know everyone else, but we found a table and crossed our fingers.. The burgers were awesome and you can't beat a $27 tab for 3 beers, 2 bottles of Smirnoff Rasberry, burgers and fries!

Back on the bike, we continued on to North Bingham.  When we got to town, all I knew was the cemetery was on, appropriately, Cemetery Road. Of course, neither of us had a clue where that was.  We drove around a bit...which didn't take long, since it's not a very big town, and finally asked a very nice woman who sent us 5 miles to the 4 way intersection (the only one in town), then instructed us to make a right and a left at the big white barn. We did, and we found it, and I got pictures of  the headstones of Jason's great-great grandparents, Norman and Jane Raymond Lewis, and his great-great-great grandparents, Joel and Matilda Grover Raymond, among other assorted relatives. Jason does have two great-great-great grandfathers who fought in the Civil War, Sobieski Chapin and Alvan D. Brock. Jason's Civil War g-g-g-grandfathers are buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Alvan Brock is the man in uniform on the graphic for this blog.

Some of Sobieski Chapin's siblings and their families are buried in North Bingham. Sobieski and two of his sisters married three Lawrence siblings, but that's a story for another day.

So, with the headstone pictures securely in the camera, we headed to Corning, NY to the hotel and some aloe vera. Eight hours on the bike puts a bit of a red glow on your nose and shoulders.

It was a great day. Pictures came out perfect (will post in the morning) and there was still plenty of room in the saddlebag to pack for a few more days. All in all, the test drive was a success!

Five days until the real vacation begins.  See you on June 4!!