Polar Bear Grand Tour - Old Bridge, NJ

Check out pictures and descriptions of the third motorcycle run of the Polar Bear Grand Tour season to Old Bridge, NJ on November 8, 2009.

Polar Bear Grand Tour - The Cabin

Check out pictures and descriptions of the eighth motorcycle run of the Polar Bear Grand Tour season to The Cabin in Howell, NJ on December 13, 2009. This was our annual Toy Run to benefit the Children's Hospital in Philadelphia.

Polar Bear Grand Tour - The Cabin

Check out pictures and descriptions of the eighth motorcycle run of the Polar Bear Grand Tour season to The Cabin in Howell, NJ on December 13, 2009. This was our annual Toy Run to benefit the Children's Hospital in Philadelphia.

Polar Bear Grand Tour - Montgomeryville Cycle

Check out pictures and descriptions of the seventh motorcycle run of the Polar Bear Grand Tour season to Montgomeryville Cycle in Hatfield, PA on December 6, 2009.

Polar Bear Grand Tour - Schoch's Harley Davidson

Check out pictures and descriptions of the sixth motorcycle run of the Polar Bear Grand Tour season to Schoch's H-D/Buell in Snydersville, PA on November 29, 2009.

Polar Bear Grand Tour - Hillbilly Hall

Check out pictures and descriptions of the fifth motorcycle run of the Polar Bear Grand Tour season to the Hillbilly Hall in Hopewell, NJ on November 22, 2009.

Polar Bear Grand Tour - Port Jervis, NY

Check out pictures and descriptions of the fourth motorcycle run of the Polar Bear Grand Tour season to Port Jervis, NY on November 15, 2009.

Polar Bear Grand Tour - Old Bridge, NJ

Check out pictures and descriptions of the third motorcycle run of the Polar Bear Grand Tour season to Old Bridge, NJ on November 8, 2009.

Polar Bear Grand Tour - Lewes, DE

Check out pictures and descriptions of the second motorcycle run of the Polar Bear Grand Tour season to Lewes, DE on November 1, 2009.

Polar Bear Grand Tour - Cape May, NJ

Check out pictures and descriptions of the first motorcycle run of the Polar Bear Grand Tour season to Cape May, NJ on October 25, 2009.

Polar Bear Grand Tour - Port Jervis, NY Ride

Last weekend, the Polar Bear Grand Tour ride was to Port Jervis, NY. I was feeling a little under the weather so I opted to take the car instead. After this ride I drove to a special Thanksgiving party held by my GWRRA NJ-F (F-Troop) chapter at Old Man Rafferty's in Hillsborough, NJ.

I encountered few bikes on the road to Port Jervis as I passed through three states (NJ, PA, and NY) to get there. However, when I arrived, the parking lot was filled with bikes whose riders were waiting for the flight leaders to show up with the sign-in books.

Usually, I'm riding Jane's white trike in memory of her but the trike was in the shop getting two new U-joints installed. I plan to have it on the road for the run to Hopewell, NJ on November 23rd.

Polar Bear Grand Tour - Old Bridge Ride

I've been a little behind in posting Polar Bear Grand Tour rides.

The first was to Cape May, NJ on October 26. The members of GWRRA Chapter NJ-F (F-Troop) accompanied me and waited while I took pictures.

The second ride was to Lewes, DE on November 2. This was a 360 mile roundtrip for me. I took six videos in addition to the usual pictures.

Last weekend, the ride was to Old Bridge, NJ, a staggering 26 mile roundtrip for me. I decided to stay for the complete sign-in from 11:30 to 1:30. I took four videos.

These Polar Bear runs will be helping me greatly to get through this winter season without Janie. She was always with me on these runs. Back in 1992 when I first decided to join the Polar Bears, I really didn't think she'd be interested in riding a motorcycle in freezing weather. But as soon as I brought up the idea, she said, "I want to do that too!" Thus began 16 years of winter riding, meeting hundreds of new friends and encouraging others to join the ranks of the Polar Bears.

I have dedicated this season to Janie. I'll be riding her white trike and displaying information about her Jane Ann Kern Memorial Web site where her life is discussed and her charities listed along with donation links.

God Speed Jane Ann. She loved polar bears, in general, and the Polar Bear Grand Tour, in particular. I hope you have some time now in your new celestial position to watch out for all of us and help us to stay safe.

Motorcycle Pastimes in the August Sun

It's been a slow week. Maybe people have finally decided to take a motorcycle vacation since gas prices are starting to inch downward again. Some have gone to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally but I hear that vendors and attendance there are taking a hit this year.

A lot of people are taking staycations this year. I guess I'm one of them. I have to save up to be able to participate in the Polar Bear Grand Tour that starts the last weekend of October. Gasoline for two trikes could end up costing $1000 for that six month tour throughout the winter. I take all the pictures at the various runs and maintain their website.

For those not out on their motorcycles, here's a few things you can do on my website:

• Take my Motorcycle Quizzes to test your knowledge of bikes.
  
• Play around with my online Motorcycle Jigsaw Puzzles. These puzzles use pictures I took on Polar Bear runs.
  
• Check out my Motorcycle Tattoos gallery. Got your own tattoo? Send it in.
  
• Look at my Women on Motorcycles gallery. Be inspired by women who ride their own motorcycles.
  
• Look at my Antique Motorcycle Ads gallery. See how motorcycles were advertised when they sold for only a few hundred dollars.
  

Now if only they had motorcycle racing or motorcycle trials in the 2008 Summer Beijing Olympics, there would be more to do.

Polar Bears, Bunnies, and Bikes Meet at the Chatterbox

The Polar Bear Grand Tour is winding down. Only three more events this season.

Last Sunday, the ride was to the Chatterbox, a circular restaurant at the intersection of Routes 206 and 15 in Augusta, New Jersey. Easter Sunday would be next weekend so no Polar Bear run would be made next week. That didn't keep the Easter Bunny away from the Chatterbox.

One never knows what to expect at an event like this. The weather had turned a bit cold and rainy and kept the attendance down. Those who did come found good food, an educational display in the center of the restaurant, and a bunny rabbit walking around and handing out candy. The display was the actual car used by the Pixar animators in making the movie, Cars. It was for the character "The King" (Richard Petty). I caught all of this in pictures and videos.

Take a look and listen to pictures and videos from the Chatterbox.

Bikes and Beetles in Unsnowy New Jersey

I joined the Polar Bear Grand Tour back in 1992. I wanted to continue riding my motorcycle through the winter and this tour was my way to achieve my goal. Originally, I thought I'd be doing it alone as I didn't think my wife would be the least bit interested in riding in 20 degree temperatures with even lower wind chills. I was wrong. She couldn't wait to get started.

That was at about the same time we both took up skiing. Jane's brother-in-law, Jack, got us started skiing and even came out from Illinois to supervise our first steps down the hill on skis. Jack was also the first to push us in the direction of learning to ride a motorcycle.

We went out skiing about a dozen times that first year. But when the motorcycle bug struck and we started doing winter motorcycle riding, the skis were put away, permanently.

The winters in New Jersey are totally unpredictable. There were some years with heavy snows that almost shut down our winter riding. Then there were years like this one where snowstorms were rare and the temperatures just high enough that we got rain and wind instead.

In this state, we seem to have two distinct climates. North Jersey usually gets snow while South Jersey either gets rain or nothing at all. That makes our Sunday winter rides quite interesting considering that we often traverse the state from south to north.

This last polar bear ride was to Long Valley, New Jersey, about 52 miles north of our house. On Saturday, the entire east coast had a massive coastal rain and wind storm that was never-ending. It dumped huge amounts of rain everywhere, saturating the ground. Then the winds approaching 60 mph at times blew against the trees, uprooting many and causing numerous power failures. We were continuously watching the weather reports trying to determine what the weather would be like for Sunday. Of course, to add more confusion, Saturday night was also the time change to Daylight Saving Time.

On Sunday, I got up early to check the weather and it seemed to be OK but there were some road closings and high winds were anticipated. I was going alone since Jane had one of those nasty colds going around and was in no condition to brave the cold and wind.

I tried to program my GPS but it wouldn't accept the address where I would be going. I could go many ways and I didn't know what path I'd take until I got on the road. I wanted to see how bad the wind was. Turns out it wasn't bad at low speeds but at 65+ mph, it tossed me around a lot. That made me leery to try to go over the Driscoll Bridge on the Garden State Parkway. I opted to head north via Route 18 through New Brunswick. That route was uneventful except for all the potholes and construction. When I finally got to I287, I had the option to head west on I78 and traverse country roads in a northerly manner until I got to Long Valley. However, I might encounter streams that had overflowed their banks or possibly trees across the roads. I decided to continue north on I287 and pick up Route 206. That turned out well as the speeds were lower and the winds less objectionable.

The last 10 miles were enjoyable as I climbed in elevation and the temperature lowered. The mountains and trees were all around me and I was comfortable in my electrics nestled behind my full windshield. It was a good polar bear day.

As usual, I arrived and immediately started taking my pictures and short videos that I place on the Polar Bear Grand Tour Web site each week. You'll find them on the Long Valley page.

While taking pictures I saw a nice 1974 Volkswagen Beetle in the middle of the motorcycles. It had a "QQ" plate. Here in New Jersey, the "QQ" plate designates a car at least 25 years old. I had a 1933 Chevrolet once with a "QQ" plate. I couldn't just drive the car anywhere. It had to have limited mileage and be used for educational purposes. The 1974 I saw was the same year VW I once owned. The owner, a polar bear rider, had recently bought it completely restored. He had driven the car today instead of riding his bike since he had a bad cold. It was my good fortune. He showed me the car. It was beautiful. I took pictures and a couple of videos. You'll find them on the link above. I once wrote an article about the three VW Bugs that I owned including my own white 1974. That article was written when I was the Motorcycles Guide at About.com. I had joined with all the car Guides to write about the VW after the last VW came off the assembly line in Mexico.

On the way home, I decided to ride through Princeton, New Jersey. The trip was stop-and-go down Route 206 but I was in no hurry. After I got to the Route 1 traffic circle, I found the road closed. There was some storm damage beyond. I quickly turned around the circle and headed north on Route 1. When I saw a familiar crossroad, I turned off, pulled over to the side of the road, and switched the GPS to "Home" to get myself un-lost. Thank God for the Home button. It gave me a neat country ride over a road I had never been on and then suddenly pointed me to a familiar road that took me home without a hitch.

All in all, it was a good riding day. I survived the wind and cold another day even though I only saw a couple of clumps of snow over the 104 mile route.

I'm hoping the remaining winter is kind to me. I don't expect to see any more snow, in keeping with the way things are this year. On the other hand...

Daytona Bike Week -Videos and Information

I was at another Polar Bear Grand Tour run yesterday to the Firehouse Eatery in Rahway, NJ. I ran into two riders who were set to start down to Daytona Bike Week after the ride. One of these riders was the third owner of my wife's 1990 Honda PC-800. He had attached a gigantic trailer to the PC (see picture). See my article, Daytona, for more information about this rally.

This morning I saw a link from OrlandoSentinel.com that had a story and some videos from Daytona Bike Week. It had short videos about 1) accessories for disabled riders, 2) an airbrush artist, 3) the Spyder Roadster trike, and 4) a 125-mile setup by a Harley dealer to let you see the sights in central Florida. Take a look.

There have also been reports of deaths at the the rally. That's not unusual considering the huge number of bikes concentrated in a small area. Rallies, especially Daytona, are meant for motorcyclists to gather on their bikes, look at and talk about bikes, buy accessories and chrome, eat good food, check out the scenery, and have a good time in the sun. I pray that the rally continues to fulfill these objectives with no more accidents. Be Safe.

Super Bowl Sunday on a Motorcycle Trike

I'm thankful that I have at least one day a week during the New Jersey winter when I can take a ride on my motorcycle. Of course, my motorcycle is now a motorcycle trike and that ride is to one of the destinations on the Polar Bear Grand Tour.

I look forward to these rides since I take all the pictures and videos to update the Web site each week. I created that Web site myself back in 1996 when the Internet was new. This is my twelfth year of updating the site and I've taken, processed, and published over 6000 pictures of Polar Bear activities. In recent years I've begun publishing short videos each week as well.

The ride last Sunday was to the Exchange, a restaurant in Rockaway, NJ. Now it just so happens that my son lives less than five miles from there in Boonton. Jane and I thought that it might be nice to add an overnight visit to our son, daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren to precede the Polar Bear sign-in. So we rode up on Saturday afternoon.

It was a 75 mile ride to our son's house. He lives in a wooded, secluded area north of Route 80. We pulled up to the front door, blew the weak Gold Wing horns and out popped three male grandkids all under the age of 10. Of course, we were dressed in our finest black apparel with heated vests and gloves and Nolan flip-up full-face helmets. The helmet colors matched the color of the trikes. We pretty much looked like a cross between Darth Vader and the Frankenstein monster to Jordan, Jayson, and Ian but our voices gave us away as they shouted in unison, "Hi Grandma and Poppy. Can we go for a ride?"

"Later," I said. We had promised them that we would take each of them for a short ride up and down their extensive driveway sometime before we left. But right now, we were too tired for that.

Our other son also came up with his wife and our granddaughter, Andi Jaye, 2. We were also going to kinda celebrate a milestone birthday of mine. Andi would not be getting a motorcycle ride.

We pulled the trikes over into their 3-car garage and left them for the night.

We had a great visit with the family and a good night's sleep.

The next day we planned to ride to the Polar Bear destination at Rockaway starting out at 10:45 a.m. We got all the gear on and I backed my trike out of the garage to try to program my GPS with the destination. Now, it was only five miles away over a simple course but I wanted to try to setup the route anyway. First off, I couldn't get a satellite signal in the isolated area surrounded by trees. Then when I tried to enter the address of the Exchange, it accepted the town and the street number, but it balked on the street name and proceeded to freeze up. I tried it again and got the same result. I rebooted the GPS and got the same result. Even the map would just sit there and jiggle back and forth. All the usual GPS controls also stopped working. After five minutes of this, Jane was on my case so I just forgot about the GPS and rode over to the destination with no problem getting there.

When I arrived, the GPS was still not working. One of my buddies suggested I pull out the internal card and reinsert it. That did nothing. It still wouldn't work.

We signed-in and I took my usual pictures and videos. After about an hour, we decided to call it a day and got back on the trikes and headed back to our son's house. I almost missed a turn going back because the way going was different from the way coming back. Don't you hate that?

By the time we got back to our son's house, the GPS had mysteriously started working again. (And it worked flawlessly all the way home too.) I felt like my trike had just spent a few hours in the Boonton Triangle. Strange things seem to happen in those woods.

As we pulled up to our son's house we expected to find the three grandsons all lined up for the motorcycle rides, but no one was there. I went into the house still with full gear on and yelled for the kids. They were not ready to go at all. So we sat there waiting for all to be ready and for them to find their helmets.

The 10-year-old was ready first and took a seat behind his grandma for an extended trip down the third-of-a-mile driveway and back.

The six-year-old wanted to ride with me on my red trike. I had to make sure he was firmly seated and holding onto the side handles next to the pillion seat. I cautioned him before every turn what I was going to do and to "hang on tight." He did. Near the end of the loop, I blew the horn twice and then dropped him at the front door.

Then I took the four-year-old on my trike. He's a tiny guy with a wide smile. I took him on the same route and blew the horn twice as I had for his bro. Kids like to be treated equally.

After that, we had lunch and then departed for home about 3 p.m. The trip was speedy and uneventful. We listened to the Super Bowl pre-game show on the trike's radio as we each rode home. As usual, Jane and I communicated with each other over the CB.

We pulled into our garage about 4:30 p.m., unloaded the trikes, phoned the kids that we had arrived safely and awaited the Super Bowl XLII game between the NY Giants and the New England Patriots. We all know how that came out. It was the perfect end to a perfect riding day.

Take a look at the pictures and videos taken on the Polar Bear run to Rockaway, NJ on Super Bowl XLII Sunday.

Motorcycle pictures courtesy of Steven M. Kern.

Polar Bear Grand Tour Visits Fort Dix, New Jersey

I don't know if you remember, but Fort Dix was in the news in May of 2007 after a terrorist plot was uncovered to attack soldiers at the base. That was after our last Polar Bear Grand Tour run to Fort Dix. We had our 2008 run to Fort Dix last Sunday, January 27, 2008 and security was tighter.

This was my first time back on my trike in three months and it felt good. I've been recovering from the removal of a couple of basal cell carcinomas, one on the back top of my left ear and one on the top right side of my forehead. These skin problems had conspired to keep me from putting a helmet on for nearly three months. Today I bit the bullet, put on my balaclava, gently placed my new Nolan flip-up helmet on my head and fastened the chinstrap. My glasses were rubbing against my ear and that brought a bit of pain. I was hoping that nothing was bleeding back there. The pressure of the helmet against the balaclava and onto the sore on my forehead was noticeable. The helmet felt smaller. Maybe it had compressed a bit from sitting in the garage for the last three months. At any rate, I was going to ride today. First was a four-mile ride to our monthly GWRRA Chapter F meeting. That went OK. Next was the 31 mile ride to Fort Dix. Surprisingly that went well too.

Jane and I rode with three other bikes from Chapter F. I cautioned the riders over the CB as we neared the fort to expect anything at the entrance because of expected tightened security.

The day was alternately sunny and overcast and about 33 degrees. There was a threat of light snow showers. Fort Dix was checking IDs today but not consistently. Sometimes IDs were checked, and sometimes riders were waved by. Some were stopped at the gate because their names were not on the Polar Bear roster. In one case, a rider was left at the gate while his wife was allowed in. Turns out his name was on the list all the time. But most got in.

Here are a few pictures and videos I took at Fort Dix. I confess I was a little apprehensive about taking pictures at the fort. I fully expected to be approached by an MP and have my camera confiscated but that never happened. I worry too much. There are a few pictures of me at the end taken by "Blondie," one of the Chapter F women who rode her own Honda Gold Wing 1800 with us. Hopefully, that will be enough pictures of me for a few years.

Airplanes and Motorcycles

Today was the Polar Bear Grand Tour visit to the Flying "W" Airport in Medford, New Jersey. It was a really cold day with temperatures around 25 degrees and a biting wind. Not many riders standing around outside today. They were all standing on line inside waiting for the sign-in to open at 11:30 a.m.

The Flying "A" is a real operating airport for small planes. It was the first time that the Polar Bears had visited this intriguing site. While we were there, I observed several takeoffs and landings of small airplanes and I intently watched a small helicopter doing maneuvers right in front of me.

Take a look at pictures and videos I took today to document our visit.

Polar Bear Grand Tour Visits Lake Hopatcong, NJ

This was one of those iffy Polar Bear days. The temperature was near 40 degrees for most of the state of New Jersey but it lowered to near freezing or below at the higher elevations. Since our members come from all over the state and even Connecticut there was a good chance that some would find ice on the roads. That turned out to be true. Members of my own GWRRA Chapter NJ-F had traveled to North Jersey very early in the morning to attend another chapter's meeting before they rode to the Lake Hopatcong area for the Polar Bear Grand Tour. They encountered two icy parking lots and it was touch-and-go whether they would keep their bikes upright. They vowed never again to ride so early in the winter mornings.

This destination was the Wearhouse Grill. My GPS performed flawlessly to guide us right to the door. We arrived early and stood around until the flight leaders had setup to sign-in the riders. They had a special menu just for the Polar Bear Grand Tour. I especially liked the hot apple pie a la mode served in a glass mug.

Here are pictures and videos from this winter day run.