Starting National Park Tour

[Hello Kitty]

I don't know why I decided to do this.... Maybe because I was kind of thinking about it, looking at stuff, thinking... My husband (who did his very first rally in April bwaaaa haaaa haaa SUCKA!!!!!!!!) started asking about it and said he wanted to give it a whirl. Let me be clear, we aren't competetive with each other or anything. I only dance around with glee when I kick his ass by 200 points in Scrabble :yahoo: And he does the same if he beats me. :angry: Period, even if by 1 point. No sir, no competition here. :lol:

So, my job is pretty stressful these days. I need a break. I'm taking off Monday and Tuesday next week. Heading to Acadia and points along the way. And back. Hit Andy Kirby up for a crash pad Saturday night and I'm pretty stoked about that. He and Sue (if you don't know them) are AWESOME people and great friends of mine. I'm very excited to see them.

Walt decided to sign up and pay the $10 for the parkstamps website and now I'm sucked in. Pouring over maps and stuff is about my favorite thing. Though reading books is a close second (how the **** do you think I kick Walt's ass at Scrabble??? He's much smarter than me, but I know a lot of words)

This is going to be a serious problem. I see it already. After this weekend's little jaunt, I will be onto planning my ride to Ely to maximize state collecting. I'm not terrible concerned with number of parks, there's a treasure trove of sites not far from home, I am focusing on states right now. Sure, more than one per state is welcome, but not a requirement for me right now.

I'll probably head out Saturday morning, but might leave Friday evening if traffic looks reasonable. I am from Jersey and have tons of places to crash if I decide to do that.

I'm excited, but realize that I'm treading down a dangerous path.... Pray for me.

 

[user 28803]

I'm praying for us both as I've been thinking about this tour myself. (I haven't told my wife yet).

Have fun!

 

[SkooterG]

Your SCREWED!!!

 

[Willie]

I don't know why I decided to do this....

I'm excited, but realize that I'm treading down a dangerous path.... Pray for me.

It's too late..You will soon have Ink in your blood and be chasing down all those obscure places like THIS PLACE

Good luck on your NPT.

Willie

 

[Hello Kitty]

obscure places like THIS PLACE

Yeah, I looked at that. I thought it might be an easy grab on my way to Ely, but it adds more than I'd like. But if you have any other suggestions....

 

[SacramentoMike]

But if you have any other suggestions....

We've got some pretty good ones out this way. There are even some good ones on the WAY to out this way.

Et cetera

 

[Willie]

obscure places like THIS PLACE

Yeah, I looked at that. I thought it might be an easy grab on my way to Ely, but it adds more than I'd like. But if you have any other suggestions....

If you want I have a couple Garmin files with National Park Visitor Centers. One of them has the obscure places, like the Little Red School House in the Chicago area for the "Illinois & Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor". This was an adaption of the Noodles spreadsheet. Then there was one which has all of the National Park VC's (or at least most of them), which I believe came from the NPS. You are more than welcome to these files. Anything to feed the addiction

Send me an email to [email protected] with the Subject line saying something about the NPT and FJR forum (so I don't think it is spam) and I will send them to you.

There is also this forum on the Delphi boards. NPS Motorcycle Forum

This was pretty active awhile back, but if you have specific questions and post them there you will get an answer. There are a few veteran NP Addicts that goes there every now and again.

Any other questions ask away..you will have BLAST doing the NP tour. Alot of my ride reports (some of which are in the Ride Report section) is generally my touring for the NPT.

Dang you being from the Baltimore area...the Washington Monument Bookstore has 22 or more stamps in one location. Then Turkey Run Headquarters has more Ink(it was always closed when I went), it is open Mon-Fri.

Willie

 

[Hello Kitty]

We've got some pretty good ones out this way. There are even some good ones on the WAY to out this way.

Thanks! I'm planning to hit Arches on my way to Ely. I would LOVE to hit Crater Lake, but I just can't fit it in this time. I will get there, just not on this trip. I have 9 states and 14 parks planned on my little trip this weekend. The ride to Ely and back will get me lots more. Yeah, there's TONS of stuff in my immediate area (easy to pick up several in a single day trip and even get to enjoy the park!), I have no worries about getting to 50 parks. Gosh, by the time I get back from Ely, I'll be darn close to 25 states and that's not including MD, DC or VA! :yahoo:

We joined that park stamps web site and I think have plenty of data on locations.

 

[Hello Kitty]

If you want I have a couple Garmin files with National Park Visitor Centers. One of them has the obscure places, like the Little Red School House in the Chicago area for the "Illinois & Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor". This was an adaption of the Noodles spreadsheet. Then there was one which has all of the National Park VC's (or at least most of them), which I believe came from the NPS. You are more than welcome to these files. Anything to feed the addiction

Send me an email to [email protected] with the Subject line saying something about the NPT and FJR forum (so I don't think it is spam) and I will send them to you.

There is also this forum on the Delphi boards. NPS Motorcycle Forum

This was pretty active awhile back, but if you have specific questions and post them there you will get an answer. There are a few veteran NP Addicts that goes there every now and again.

Any other questions ask away..you will have BLAST doing the NP tour. Alot of my ride reports (some of which are in the Ride Report section) is generally my touring for the NPT.

Dang you being from the Baltimore area...the Washington Monument Bookstore has 22 or more stamps in one location. Then Turkey Run Headquarters has more Ink(it was always closed when I went), it is open Mon-Fri.

Willie

Got my boyz confused... I am on the Delphi forum and have poked around there, but I hate that layout or whatever you'd call it. It's very confusing to me. But I'm blonde, and a girl, so maybe that's the problem.

I would love your Garmin files. I have data, but not in Mapsource. I'll shoot you an email. THANK YOU!!!!

 

[Ryan]

The NPTs are great rides. For people who don't want to ride a thousand-mile day, they're the best way to earn IBA membership, and probably the most fun and scenic.

I've done the Silver and the Gold. There are at least four sites in NJ, and at least four in New York City, as well.

Ryan

 

[BwanaDik]

We've taken a shot at it a couple of times but missed it. We timed out. Probably because we're approaching it more as a tour to pick up points along the way rather than a goal to get done. Oh well.

There's an S&T file out there with all the NP stuff identified. Almost too much information. If you like to route with S&T rathere than Mapsucks or something else, drop me a PM

Good luck!

 

[Hello Kitty]

9 states, 2 parks. Still haven't hit MD, DC or VA yet... Fantastic trip. Unfortunately, shadowed by Curt's untimely departure of our company.

 

[Hello Kitty]

Oops, that's 12 parks, not 2.

Going to DC today. Doing the tour at Ford's Theater. And then Georgetown for lunch. We'll probably stop at the Buffalo Soldier memorial too. I used that as a bonus location in Miss Kitty's Scavenger Hunt a few years ago. It was kind of a mean rally bastard location, but the couple folks who went there did get it! So, we'll pick up another state and a few parks. We will surely have the option to get literally dozens of stamps, but I would like to only take the ones of places we actually visited.

Gosh, thinking back to the day that I scouted that location. It was Easter Sunday, I rode to Holy Cross Hospital and met up with a friend to visit another friend who was in there. Then we went down to DC (and had lunch in Georgetown). Our friend, JB Fields, died a couple weeks later :angry: It was actually during the Cape Fear Rally that he passed. JB rode that rally a few times, so sad. I had a memorial patch sewn on my fuel cell cover which Steve Hobart now uses on his GS. I'm so glad that Steve's manhood is secure enough to keep the pink trimmed cover and JB's patch. I'm sure JB is very pleased to be riding with Steve now. So if you run into Hobart, now you know the story behind the patch - he's even on the IBA Calendar, I think it was May 2011

 

[Hello Kitty]

11 states and 20 enjoyable parks later...

Currently trying to figure out what I can do on the way to and from Ely.