Post by Blue Tyke on Jul 26, 2008 22:29:17 GMT -5
Seeking the Shoe House…
I found this ride listed at OpenRoadJourney.com, a really great resource should someone seek a road someone else has already traveled. The moment I saw it I knew I wanted to do it. After all the novelty of seeing a Shoe House was just to hard to pass up. Throw in the fact that they also have an ice cream parlor? Heck yeah I am so in!
Now with every ride there is the good and the bad. The bad news is that, although I had my ride posted up on several forums, no one was able to make it. So a solo journey. It really is alright I don’t mind it at all anymore. So that was the bad the good was that no one showed up for the ride! LOL yes it was one of THOSE times…
To start us off at the beginning. Tyke has made a new friend. My Honda Civic has become her body guard. It is not that I do not trust my neighbors… Well it is actually. Tyke being so light she could be easily lifted away and I would be devastated. A friend lost in such a manor is never right… sooooo Her new best friend forced into friendship…
Have no fear I am sure both of them had their stories to tell about their driver. After all they are both mine… Er… Yeah good thoughts! I love my bike and I love my car! I love my bike and I love my car… I feel the rumor mills moving! So yeah I lock my vehicles together instead of having to fight with my storage unit gates… Long story. And this is the easier solution, sad huh?
Anyway! Onto more fun stuff!
An Odometer shot before we take off for the day, sorry it is a bit fuzzy but I couldn’t get it to focus…
Odometer – 7928 miles!! My Tyke is growing up so fast!
Trip meter – 2 miles, yippee! Bring on the miles this baby’s full!
So the first task of the day is to get ourselves over to Westminster for a meet up, if anyone shows up. I still held out hope at this point as it has been my experience in the past that sometimes people show up when they haven’t posted up. Works for me!
On the way there I had my camera around my neck and popped a few. I don’t remember where exactly but I can tell you my selected GPS route was the most direct from home to there, 695 etc…
When I pulled into the Starbucks, sorry as I stated several times old habits are hard to break, I saw these two bikes!!
I got all excited thinking that perhaps, maybe, hopefully, they were there to meet me! Sunny and Tyke the great adventurers!! Hop off that bike and get inside and… and… no bikers… Awwww. Well it turns out they were having breakfast across the way at Burger King.. So I determined that this was actually a relatively good meet spot. If someone doesn’t want coffee drinks in the morning they could go get themselves some BK instead. There are gas stations approaching in both directions so... Note to self: Good spot.
Soo I snapped a few more pictures before the guys could come out… Talk about a generation gap! Tyke is young again!
Both of the guys were very nice and asked me about my plans. Nothing to exciting it seemed as they geared up and went on their way. Well so shall I! And here is where I am glad it was just me!
Due to some error either on my part, pfft, or on the original creator of the routes file… there were a lot, and I mean a lot, of frustrating ‘oops moments’. You know the ones? Everyone has them, I can’t blame ‘em but… The one moment when you realize you passed your exit, missed your turn, forgot something and had to go back for it… You know? ‘oops moments’, otherwise known as awww shhhhhh eeeee tttt moments. Well, again due to some ‘oops’ or other those ‘oops’ ended up in the GPX file my GPS was reading from. Well what’s wrong with that Sunny??? Wellllll leme tell ya! I hate doing unneeded circles for one…For two my GPS would NOT recalculate, I had to do what it said. That flaw I will take upon myself as it is my GPS. But I am not sure how in heavens name my GPS or the GPX file expected me to make a right on a street I was already on! I circled the 140 route like five times… Finally I figured out what was going on, not short of yelling at my GPS unit and threatening to throw it in the next drainage gate, at that point it really started to behave. It was then also that I figured out what was going on. And it would not be the first time. Note to self: Delete ‘oops moments’ from GPX file before posting onto any website… Now you see why I was glad no one was with me. That would have been mighty embarrassing, understandable, but still embarrassing.
Ooooh while I was circling about trying to figure out why my GPS wanted me to do such crazy things I saw these coming up to a light. Now these are not back roads. Far from it. In fact they are very very very busy streets! But here they come a tootling in..
Your eyes do not deseve you! Those are two tractors about to make a left on a busy street. For those out of the PA/MD area this Blvd, Baltimore Blvd, is like an Expressway. Much like Capital Expressway for those in the San Jose area… Could you imagine seeing two tractors on an expressway!? OMG! Well I didn’t wait to see because the light changed.
And we are off again! Well along with figuring out how to get on the right track it seemed that my GPS unit could figure out our path if we went reverse of the original intended route. Alright fine with me! Lets get going! A long stretch of road parted before us… It didn’t change much as most of this ride is on slightly busy streets with not much detouring from them. I will have to look into finding some less popular routes.
Finally on the right track Tyke and I make it to…
Then on through derick county… err… Fredrick County.. Oops cut that short!
A neat house I saw on the way…
Are those… Noooo it can’t be!!
MOUNTAINS! Whooo hooo! Yipeee! Ma there are mountains in them thar hills!
Ever wonder what I do with all the other useless things I take pictures of them? You always see a filtered version of all the pictures. On average for each trip out I get over a hundred pictures. So with that in mind I show you this because I thought it was neat. I took this picture as I was putting my camera back into my pocket…
Just in case you need to refresh your memory on how the road looks when you are traveling on it.
What is this??? A bridge? A single lane bridge? Let us see!
What a good time to take a few more pictures! Quick before someone comes!
They are teasing me… Truly…
It was only one and I was so excited and oopsed I did it again.
Nice roadway.
It was a brief oops but a fun one. So if you get a chance to take Creamery it is a good one, trust me.
More…come closer… Please…
Maryland misses me already! How sweet…
Well what must be left behind is always joined by something new…
Another thing I noticed while on this ride, as I passed three of them but only stopped at one of them, is that Harley shops are the East Coast’s Starbucks… there is one on every corner! Hehe I kid… Though really! I passed the one in Baltimore, Battlefield and one other but I don’t remember exactly were.
A memorial wall-
This is a very manicured establishment. They had rocks, water, trees, flowers etc…
even a Hog Pen…
Moving along we came across an interesting place to stop…
Tyke and a Train
Timer! Gotta love it!
Now this was interesting. These two compartments seemed to be coming out of this house. Yes I said out of… Look…
And hey it’s for rent!
I have heard of this store from a few people. I didn’t go in due to Mr. Budget having a tight reign on my pocketbook but now I know where it is…
I don’t know what happened here. No focus not straight… But it looks neat!
Well by this time I know it is late in the day and I need to eat something. Though really I didn’t feel hungry… I attributed that to the heat and stopped anyway.
Lunch time Odo??? If you want it!
Odo- 8051 miles… Aww she grewed up and I didn’t even notice! Shame on me!
Trip – 125 miles Only the icing on the cake folks!
So where do we dine??
Looks good… Seems popular too there were a few bikes out front. This sleek Tri-bike caught my attention…And yes it is a Harley…
I recommend this diner to anyone! The service was very friendly and very prompt. It is a very family type place. My glass was never empty and the food was fantastic! And all for a very good price… Wanna see? Of course!
Food- An 8oz cheese burger, chips, some slaw, and a pickle… I washed it down with a glass of water followed by a glass of Ice Tea.
My bill for this large amount of food?
Under ten bucks! Where is Rachel Ray she needs to know about this place! (in reference to her former TV program $40 a day )
Well Tyke lets get back on the road and sees what we can sees…
Now that is just odd… I saw this and thought wow kinda like Popsicle sticks but with 4x4s
And no we still haven’t gotten or passed the shoe house, I checked, I stopped and asked.
There’s them hills again Ma! And some not so pretty cloud cover! Eeep! Please hold out please hold out please hold out….
Getting closer!
There it is! This sign can be seen from Route 30, kinda have to look up and to the right and you can see the heel of the shoe and the sign. (A good indicator to get over!)
And kind of easier to spot with the storage unit there..
I was just about to get back onto Tyke after taking these pictures and I had to stop and do a take. Right in front of us is a creek type area and barreling, and yes I mean barreling, through the foliage is… is… Creatures! Big fuzzy brown ones! And they do not look happy! In fact I think the one was running the other off. I think they were Beavers…I tried to get a picture but all I got was this..
Not photogenic I think…Well back on track! I found what I sought! The Shoe!
The shoe dog house
With dog…
Shoe bird houses
You see a running trend with this?
Inside we weren’t supposed to take pictures. Well I didn’t find that out until I had already taken a few pictures…
Some other guests in the cashier/ice cream parlor area
The tour was short. I happened to take it with the folks in the above photo which was neat because one of the women in that group grew up in the area and added to the tour with her own stories. I took their picture in front of the shoe for them and apparently her grandson is very afraid of heights and going up five stories, even in a shoe, was bothering him. I kept him company by pointing out things of interest away from the windows and stairs. To repay my kindness the lady paid for my tour!! That was so sweet of her! I will have to remember that kindness and pay it forward myself!
By this time I knew I wasn’t supposed to take pictures of the inside of the house but I asked if I could take one looking out of the fifth story and the lady said it was alright..
I would tell you all that I learned but then that would defeat the purpose of you going and seeing it for yourself. It is very interesting to find out why it was built in the first place. After the tour I purchased some postcards and some ice cream and sat down to eat it. The owner talked with me for some time about how he watches the bikes down on Route 30 do wheelies and go flying by and so on. I smiled and nodded and talked the talk… I having never lifted my front tire up on purpose like that haven’t much to talk about but the topic remained upon bikes and their riders. He was sweet enough to offer to take My picture in front of the house and I replied “Well I was kinda hoping to take one with me and my bike” He goes “Sure!” and these are the results…
Tyke and the Shoe
Sunny, Tyke, and the Shoe
And in case you can’t tell there are panted laces up there
Back out on the road again we continued down Lincoln Highway. I saw this as I was coming down and thought ooooh!
Don’t know what that body of water is yet? Here let me help you out…
And yep though I didn’t need to I pulled an ‘oops’ just to cross the bridge!
Turned off to the right just after the bridge to see if maybe I could get a better shot but to no avail but I found some nifty things!
What would I ever do without my camera… I would have to stand there and read all that… But now I can read it at my leisure…
Back on the other side of the bridge I got back on course and found myself looking again at the bridge
I really like this one…
The funny things about the few above and below shots is that these are actually taken near a boat ramp for the river. Now to get there you have to drive along a gravely and goatee path so I don’t recommend it for everyone but I did it with care and my feet out like a dirt biker. The men that were down there fishing were impressed not only by my motorcycle prowess but my all leather getup… Old men can be scary sometimes when they are looking at a young (tehe!) woman in an all leather riding suite… His dog didn’t like me much either but it was worth it for those shots!
One of the fishermen by the river
Tyke!
No we are not going that way!
A pond right next to the river…
A war memorial along front street.
Tyke and the River
More of the river
By this time my camera is not focusing on what I want it to focus on and it keeps flashing this thing at me… My battery is dying! Ohhh noo! The horror! Fear not my friends! I have a backup now! Back up battery to the rescue!
Old school house
I saw this sign, and though I am probably not the first nor would I be the last, I had to try it…
Looks promising
5 seconds… Truly disappointing. And this is the end..
Proof that I was not the only one there
An interesting view from the goatish road I have ever ever been on and it was another oops moment detour
There is more room on the Special Yellow Busses I swear!
Pretty much after that I felt like I needed to get home. I was tired and starting to ache so what better time to punch in home…
Ending Odo
Odo- 8180 miles
Trip – 254 miles!! All on our own!
The trip-
I found this ride listed at OpenRoadJourney.com, a really great resource should someone seek a road someone else has already traveled. The moment I saw it I knew I wanted to do it. After all the novelty of seeing a Shoe House was just to hard to pass up. Throw in the fact that they also have an ice cream parlor? Heck yeah I am so in!
Now with every ride there is the good and the bad. The bad news is that, although I had my ride posted up on several forums, no one was able to make it. So a solo journey. It really is alright I don’t mind it at all anymore. So that was the bad the good was that no one showed up for the ride! LOL yes it was one of THOSE times…
To start us off at the beginning. Tyke has made a new friend. My Honda Civic has become her body guard. It is not that I do not trust my neighbors… Well it is actually. Tyke being so light she could be easily lifted away and I would be devastated. A friend lost in such a manor is never right… sooooo Her new best friend forced into friendship…
Have no fear I am sure both of them had their stories to tell about their driver. After all they are both mine… Er… Yeah good thoughts! I love my bike and I love my car! I love my bike and I love my car… I feel the rumor mills moving! So yeah I lock my vehicles together instead of having to fight with my storage unit gates… Long story. And this is the easier solution, sad huh?
Anyway! Onto more fun stuff!
An Odometer shot before we take off for the day, sorry it is a bit fuzzy but I couldn’t get it to focus…
Odometer – 7928 miles!! My Tyke is growing up so fast!
Trip meter – 2 miles, yippee! Bring on the miles this baby’s full!
So the first task of the day is to get ourselves over to Westminster for a meet up, if anyone shows up. I still held out hope at this point as it has been my experience in the past that sometimes people show up when they haven’t posted up. Works for me!
On the way there I had my camera around my neck and popped a few. I don’t remember where exactly but I can tell you my selected GPS route was the most direct from home to there, 695 etc…
When I pulled into the Starbucks, sorry as I stated several times old habits are hard to break, I saw these two bikes!!
I got all excited thinking that perhaps, maybe, hopefully, they were there to meet me! Sunny and Tyke the great adventurers!! Hop off that bike and get inside and… and… no bikers… Awwww. Well it turns out they were having breakfast across the way at Burger King.. So I determined that this was actually a relatively good meet spot. If someone doesn’t want coffee drinks in the morning they could go get themselves some BK instead. There are gas stations approaching in both directions so... Note to self: Good spot.
Soo I snapped a few more pictures before the guys could come out… Talk about a generation gap! Tyke is young again!
Both of the guys were very nice and asked me about my plans. Nothing to exciting it seemed as they geared up and went on their way. Well so shall I! And here is where I am glad it was just me!
Due to some error either on my part, pfft, or on the original creator of the routes file… there were a lot, and I mean a lot, of frustrating ‘oops moments’. You know the ones? Everyone has them, I can’t blame ‘em but… The one moment when you realize you passed your exit, missed your turn, forgot something and had to go back for it… You know? ‘oops moments’, otherwise known as awww shhhhhh eeeee tttt moments. Well, again due to some ‘oops’ or other those ‘oops’ ended up in the GPX file my GPS was reading from. Well what’s wrong with that Sunny??? Wellllll leme tell ya! I hate doing unneeded circles for one…For two my GPS would NOT recalculate, I had to do what it said. That flaw I will take upon myself as it is my GPS. But I am not sure how in heavens name my GPS or the GPX file expected me to make a right on a street I was already on! I circled the 140 route like five times… Finally I figured out what was going on, not short of yelling at my GPS unit and threatening to throw it in the next drainage gate, at that point it really started to behave. It was then also that I figured out what was going on. And it would not be the first time. Note to self: Delete ‘oops moments’ from GPX file before posting onto any website… Now you see why I was glad no one was with me. That would have been mighty embarrassing, understandable, but still embarrassing.
Ooooh while I was circling about trying to figure out why my GPS wanted me to do such crazy things I saw these coming up to a light. Now these are not back roads. Far from it. In fact they are very very very busy streets! But here they come a tootling in..
Your eyes do not deseve you! Those are two tractors about to make a left on a busy street. For those out of the PA/MD area this Blvd, Baltimore Blvd, is like an Expressway. Much like Capital Expressway for those in the San Jose area… Could you imagine seeing two tractors on an expressway!? OMG! Well I didn’t wait to see because the light changed.
And we are off again! Well along with figuring out how to get on the right track it seemed that my GPS unit could figure out our path if we went reverse of the original intended route. Alright fine with me! Lets get going! A long stretch of road parted before us… It didn’t change much as most of this ride is on slightly busy streets with not much detouring from them. I will have to look into finding some less popular routes.
Finally on the right track Tyke and I make it to…
Then on through derick county… err… Fredrick County.. Oops cut that short!
A neat house I saw on the way…
Are those… Noooo it can’t be!!
MOUNTAINS! Whooo hooo! Yipeee! Ma there are mountains in them thar hills!
Ever wonder what I do with all the other useless things I take pictures of them? You always see a filtered version of all the pictures. On average for each trip out I get over a hundred pictures. So with that in mind I show you this because I thought it was neat. I took this picture as I was putting my camera back into my pocket…
Just in case you need to refresh your memory on how the road looks when you are traveling on it.
What is this??? A bridge? A single lane bridge? Let us see!
What a good time to take a few more pictures! Quick before someone comes!
They are teasing me… Truly…
It was only one and I was so excited and oopsed I did it again.
Nice roadway.
It was a brief oops but a fun one. So if you get a chance to take Creamery it is a good one, trust me.
More…come closer… Please…
Maryland misses me already! How sweet…
Well what must be left behind is always joined by something new…
Another thing I noticed while on this ride, as I passed three of them but only stopped at one of them, is that Harley shops are the East Coast’s Starbucks… there is one on every corner! Hehe I kid… Though really! I passed the one in Baltimore, Battlefield and one other but I don’t remember exactly were.
A memorial wall-
This is a very manicured establishment. They had rocks, water, trees, flowers etc…
even a Hog Pen…
Moving along we came across an interesting place to stop…
Tyke and a Train
Timer! Gotta love it!
Now this was interesting. These two compartments seemed to be coming out of this house. Yes I said out of… Look…
And hey it’s for rent!
I have heard of this store from a few people. I didn’t go in due to Mr. Budget having a tight reign on my pocketbook but now I know where it is…
I don’t know what happened here. No focus not straight… But it looks neat!
Well by this time I know it is late in the day and I need to eat something. Though really I didn’t feel hungry… I attributed that to the heat and stopped anyway.
Lunch time Odo??? If you want it!
Odo- 8051 miles… Aww she grewed up and I didn’t even notice! Shame on me!
Trip – 125 miles Only the icing on the cake folks!
So where do we dine??
Looks good… Seems popular too there were a few bikes out front. This sleek Tri-bike caught my attention…And yes it is a Harley…
I recommend this diner to anyone! The service was very friendly and very prompt. It is a very family type place. My glass was never empty and the food was fantastic! And all for a very good price… Wanna see? Of course!
Food- An 8oz cheese burger, chips, some slaw, and a pickle… I washed it down with a glass of water followed by a glass of Ice Tea.
My bill for this large amount of food?
Under ten bucks! Where is Rachel Ray she needs to know about this place! (in reference to her former TV program $40 a day )
Well Tyke lets get back on the road and sees what we can sees…
Now that is just odd… I saw this and thought wow kinda like Popsicle sticks but with 4x4s
And no we still haven’t gotten or passed the shoe house, I checked, I stopped and asked.
There’s them hills again Ma! And some not so pretty cloud cover! Eeep! Please hold out please hold out please hold out….
Getting closer!
There it is! This sign can be seen from Route 30, kinda have to look up and to the right and you can see the heel of the shoe and the sign. (A good indicator to get over!)
And kind of easier to spot with the storage unit there..
I was just about to get back onto Tyke after taking these pictures and I had to stop and do a take. Right in front of us is a creek type area and barreling, and yes I mean barreling, through the foliage is… is… Creatures! Big fuzzy brown ones! And they do not look happy! In fact I think the one was running the other off. I think they were Beavers…I tried to get a picture but all I got was this..
Not photogenic I think…Well back on track! I found what I sought! The Shoe!
The shoe dog house
With dog…
Shoe bird houses
You see a running trend with this?
Inside we weren’t supposed to take pictures. Well I didn’t find that out until I had already taken a few pictures…
Some other guests in the cashier/ice cream parlor area
The tour was short. I happened to take it with the folks in the above photo which was neat because one of the women in that group grew up in the area and added to the tour with her own stories. I took their picture in front of the shoe for them and apparently her grandson is very afraid of heights and going up five stories, even in a shoe, was bothering him. I kept him company by pointing out things of interest away from the windows and stairs. To repay my kindness the lady paid for my tour!! That was so sweet of her! I will have to remember that kindness and pay it forward myself!
By this time I knew I wasn’t supposed to take pictures of the inside of the house but I asked if I could take one looking out of the fifth story and the lady said it was alright..
I would tell you all that I learned but then that would defeat the purpose of you going and seeing it for yourself. It is very interesting to find out why it was built in the first place. After the tour I purchased some postcards and some ice cream and sat down to eat it. The owner talked with me for some time about how he watches the bikes down on Route 30 do wheelies and go flying by and so on. I smiled and nodded and talked the talk… I having never lifted my front tire up on purpose like that haven’t much to talk about but the topic remained upon bikes and their riders. He was sweet enough to offer to take My picture in front of the house and I replied “Well I was kinda hoping to take one with me and my bike” He goes “Sure!” and these are the results…
Tyke and the Shoe
Sunny, Tyke, and the Shoe
And in case you can’t tell there are panted laces up there
Back out on the road again we continued down Lincoln Highway. I saw this as I was coming down and thought ooooh!
Don’t know what that body of water is yet? Here let me help you out…
And yep though I didn’t need to I pulled an ‘oops’ just to cross the bridge!
Turned off to the right just after the bridge to see if maybe I could get a better shot but to no avail but I found some nifty things!
What would I ever do without my camera… I would have to stand there and read all that… But now I can read it at my leisure…
Back on the other side of the bridge I got back on course and found myself looking again at the bridge
I really like this one…
The funny things about the few above and below shots is that these are actually taken near a boat ramp for the river. Now to get there you have to drive along a gravely and goatee path so I don’t recommend it for everyone but I did it with care and my feet out like a dirt biker. The men that were down there fishing were impressed not only by my motorcycle prowess but my all leather getup… Old men can be scary sometimes when they are looking at a young (tehe!) woman in an all leather riding suite… His dog didn’t like me much either but it was worth it for those shots!
One of the fishermen by the river
Tyke!
No we are not going that way!
A pond right next to the river…
A war memorial along front street.
Tyke and the River
More of the river
By this time my camera is not focusing on what I want it to focus on and it keeps flashing this thing at me… My battery is dying! Ohhh noo! The horror! Fear not my friends! I have a backup now! Back up battery to the rescue!
Old school house
I saw this sign, and though I am probably not the first nor would I be the last, I had to try it…
Looks promising
5 seconds… Truly disappointing. And this is the end..
Proof that I was not the only one there
An interesting view from the goatish road I have ever ever been on and it was another oops moment detour
There is more room on the Special Yellow Busses I swear!
Pretty much after that I felt like I needed to get home. I was tired and starting to ache so what better time to punch in home…
Ending Odo
Odo- 8180 miles
Trip – 254 miles!! All on our own!
The trip-