What a Ride

By Phil Berg

You Have To Give It Away To Keep ItGetting ready for my trip, I take my bike to Mike. He tells meit looks like it needs brakes and an oil change. Amazingly, theyhave the brake pads and oil filter at the dealer. So, I start puttingon the brake pads. The first one is still good and I start to doubtMike (I should know better than this, he's a hell of a mechanic).The next pad is almost gone. There are two sets on the frontwheel, one still good, but barely, the other almost shot. The backone is about ready to start digging into the disc. I would havebroken down long before I got to my brother's. The one and onlyrule of the road: see your mechanic before you go anywhere.I have been trying to get my brother to take a ride-or doanything for that matter-for the last ten years. We work reallywell together but I think it's hard for us to just be together. I'mlooking forward to riding and doing stuff with my old bro. Lifegoes by fast. Let's have some fun. He lives upstate nearMonticello and that whole area up towards Albany is all gorgeousriding. I've been paid on a few jobs so I have enough to take theten days and have a little fun. I'll spend as much time with mybrother as he wants. Maybe I'll ride up to Albany and ride the ErieCanal west through New York State on the back roads.At some point I'll drop south to Pittsburgh and meet up withPat Malik and Carol. I've always wanted to ride a funicular-acable car-in Pittsburgh and see the city. I'd like to ride theMonongahela River south and see the countryside, then headdown to West Virginia and see the Radio Telescope. E.T., phonehome. Then, I'll head back through Pennsylvania along the oldLincoln Highway, which is, I think, the first road to cross theUnited States.My dad's parents had a house in a place called Bricktown, NewJersey, in the Pine Barrens. I remember it as a kid, maybe fouryears old, and have always wanted to go back there. I've set myselfquite an itinerary and I've still left a few places out, but I'll find them.I'm really looking forward to this trip.I went to Boy Scout Camp as a kid in Livingston Manor whereI grew up, probably sixty or seventy miles from my brother'splace. Turns out one of the old time Montauk Boy Scout leadersworked there when I was a kid too, for the Hempstead Council.We got to chatting about it and he filled me in on where it wasand its name: Onteora-Oneonta? No, Onteora. I can stillremember when we took a black cherry tree log, about six to eightinches in diameter, and sliced it obliquely-at a 45 degree angle.Made it oval, like this:'Camp Onteora BSA Camp Summer '61' was branded on it. Hungaround the house for years, that log, the type of thing somebodyshould instill in us to save-love letters, thank you notes. Tossthe bills and taxes and save the stuff that has meaning.When I hit the area I'm gonna ride the ten-mile stretch wehiked as kids. There was a store where we camped out and I stolea pack of Old Gold cigarettes. Not very Scout-like. But that trip isfull of memories. I think this ride will be part memory lane andpart new memories.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1467999784
• ISBN13: 9781467999786
• Release Date: December 2011
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 68 Pages
• Weight: 0.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.2" x 6.0"