Off on Another Motorcycle Adventure!! :)

Dear Family & Friends.

I am off on another motorcycle adventure with my good motorcycle buddies Brian and Uli and we will meet up with in John in Maine in a few days. That is where he is originally from so he left early to visit family. As a native of Maine he is promising us a first class lobster tour!

Last month we shipped our motorcycles to Harrisburg, PA where they have been stored until last Wednesday May 21st when we flew to Harrisburg.

The first day there, Thursday we got up excited and ready to ride so we Uber’d to the warehouse where our motorcycles were in storage. All went smoothly and we were on the road by 10am.

The only thing that did not go as planned was it was a cold and rainy day! High of 50 degrees and rain rain rain.. The first couple of hours we had our rain gear on and heated jackets set on high so it felt warm but by noon we were soaked to the bone and cold! We stopped for hot coffee and a really good hot French Onion soup so that helped.

While the weather was not cooperating the ride was still great. We stayed off major highways where we could and rode beautiful twisty roads through the lush green countryside and quaint villages of PA up into Kingston, New York. A long 6+ hour ride but worth it.

Today we explored Kingston which I hadve been looking forward to. My father and his family lived in Kingston from the early 1920s until the late 1940s. My father was stationed in California for a while during WW2 and once he experienced a California winter he talked his whole family to move to California right after the war. So I was fortunate enough to be a born and bred Californian!!

Before that my grandfather was a builder in Kingston and I had always heard about Len Court which was a small housing development he built in the 1920s.. It is still there today and hasn’t changed that much other than the trees are bigger.

As I walked up and down the street I met someone who lived there and when I told him who I was he was excited to tell me about the street and I learned a few things I didn’t know. His neighbor wrote the history of the area and including a story about my grandfather. I will have to look for the book.

First he knew who my grandfather was! He told me if you look closely all the houses look similar. That is because my grandfather bought the original housing plans from a Sears catalog and then built variations of that single plan! One of the houses even has my grandfather’s name carved into one of the beams.

He also told me my grandfather and his family actually lived in the first house he built on the corner and then kept building. He also told me the houses he built had a good reputation for being well built which I guess must be true since they are still standing after 100 years!

All the old homes in the area are beautiful old world craftsmen style homes.

If it wasn’t for the weather, harsh cold and snowy winters, and hot and humid summers I would have liked to lived here. The people are very friendly too..

We walked around the town and parts of it are so quaint and have so much character. I even saw the high school my dad went to! How do I know for sure? Because it is the only high school in Kingston in over a 100 years!

Tomorrow we are off on a 6 hour ride to Vermont to visit my wife’s nephew and his family then further north up into Canada (if they let us in). The weather should be slightly better tomorrow.

Next report will be in a few days when we take the “Lobster Tour” of Maine…

Jason

Wet and cold was the order of the day.

Our first cold wet day.. Time out to warm up with some onion soup.

Celebrating our arrival in Kingston and a funky old fashion bar.. 

Classy joint…;)

Our first night in Kingston after a long cold wet day we celebrated at a very old traditional bar with a G&T!

I grew up hearing stories about LEN COURT and even saw photos of when my grandfather started it but I have never been here. The photo of him breaking ground was in the early 1920s. It is a black and white with the local banker who lent him the money, the mayor, and my grandfather’s horse and plow that he used to level the ground and dig foundations! He moved to the US around 1918 as an immigrant but he had skills because his family were builders in Europe. Even built a few churches!

This was the first house he built. A bit different from the rest and larger. He and his family including my dad lived there until about 1929 then the Great Depression hit. So he had to sell it since there was no construction work to be had. He took the funds and built a small gas station and road side market with living quarters up stairs where they lived during the depression.. Oh I forgot the important part…. He built a still in the back yard to sell moon shine… I come from a vey industrious family. ;)

This is the high school my father went to.. How do I know for sure? Because I was told it is the only high school in Kingston for the last 100+ years!

Kingston used to be the capital of New York and it has a very old history.. Event plaques around town where buildings were damaged by the Revolutionary War!

It is a beautiful area with lots of classic homes. I would love to live here if it was not for the weather.. Lots  of rain and snow in the winter, and hot and humid in the summer.  I have learned over the years that parts of the world that are lush green with lots of rivers and lakes get that from LOTS of rain….

 A few more photos as I walked around town,

City Hall. I tried to get information about my family but it takes a lot of paperwork to allow them to release that information… 

Lots of history here!

Every town has a “Hippie” section…;)

PS: We had some of the best Italian food I have had in a long time!! A large Italian population here..some immigration is good. It brings lots of good food!!

I had this Lobster Ravioli.. The first helping of Lobster that will be duplicated many times as we ride up through Maine!!!