I had arranged with a generous ADVRider forum member who had paid for a camping pass to share his space, because by the time I'd committed to this pilgrimage, they were sold out. But while was enroute to Pine Glen, he'd texted me to say he couldn't make it. But he sent me photos of his credentials.After a short, easy ride, with no real delay getting onto the grounds, I headed straight to the moto-camping area and pled my case to one of the many local young folks who manned the various entrances. The campground, as it turned out, was already having trouble taking in new arrivals, mostly because of earlier arrivals taking up too much space. She got on the radio with a supervisor and did her best to hook me up, but reminded me that without a coveted vehicle "Lot B" sticker, I was basically screwed. I only had a photo of one on my phone, but pressed on, and found the onsite "guy in charge". He showed me a spot where I could camp, and as we were discussing the sticker problem, the camper in the space next door stepped up and said "They sent me two stickers... take this one."
His name is Charlie, he arrived in a nice old Ford club van but had been an avid dirt-biker for many years, and he is a mensch. Thanks, Charlie. By habit, I immediately made camp.
I walked around for a while. It was only Day 1, but already there were motorcycles everywhere. All kinds of motorcycles. This is not your usual Harley-heavy local Bike Night, for sure. In three days there, I think I saw at least one of every kind of motorcycle ever made.
I texted Murphy... he was there, at the museum. I would later go back in here two more times, because it's just too much. Mind-blowing.
On each floor, you can look out huge windows onto the track. And every day, they start up one of the machines inside the museum... didn't get pics, but the first time I was there they fired up the MTT Y2K bike, with a turbojet engine. I was talking to Murphy upstairs, and when he heard that "clik clik ppooosh wrrrrrrrr..." becoming a huge roar, he knew exactly what it was, having spent a lot of time around those engines.I knew, too, because I'm an aviation nut. But what was really cool was that it was mounted on a motorcycle.
If you even casually like motorcycles and you haven't communed with your inner 10-yr-old lately, you have to come here. Sheer magic.
I took quite a few pics inside the museum; some I have notes for, some not. I will just let them speak for themselves, and y'all can have fun identifying them.
The flea market was a constant temptation... I saw a lot of cool stuff there, and actually made one good score (a pair of good new highway pegs marked down almost $100).
Coming soon: Part 3!
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