The Massachusetts VJMC at

Owls Head 2002

by Dan McIntyre
VJMC Field Rep, Massachusetts.

A few weeks back my son and I went up to Portland, Maine for Owls Head 2002. On the way we spent the night at a nice hotel where we got some chips and dip, soda, candy bars, road map and a few motorcycle magazines. You could say we had our own little "overnighter" watching HBO at the hotel. We also had supper before that at The Lone Star Steakhouse. In the morning at Becky's Diner down in Portland harbor, we met up with John and Jill McCollum and Bob and Elaine MacLeod. We had some good eats and got to talk about the trip and trade some old riding tales. By the way, John and Bob are Maine VJMC members. In fact, John is the Maine VJMC Rep. 

Well, after our little shindig we mounted-up and rode up Rt. 1 North to Maine's mid coast stopping only once for gas and a coke. The day was made for some great for riding -- sunny and warm!

When we got to the museum I was surprised to see all the bikes there in the parking lot. I figured a modest showing of folks at best, but the lot was full of bikes! We were all happy to see this because nobody knew what to expect. There were scores of bikes of all makes and sizes. Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki, Harley-Davidson, Indian, Norton, Triumph, BSA, Vincent... you name it and it was there. 

The Museum is worth the trip itself. With it's antique cars, fire engines, motorcycles, and planes. In fact, right besides all the bikes was an airfield with antique planes. They had a guy describing each plane as it taxied and took off. This was way cool because we were no less than thirty feet away watching all the action! There was even a Red Baron Fokker Tri-Wing! 

We got T-Shirts from the United Bikers of Maine while there and picked up a patch and pin from the gift shop for our vests! After a while we all sat down at an outside table and and had a picnic next to some vintage cars. There we told some more tales of the road and the fixing of old motorcycles. 

My odometer says my son and I rode 460 miles. He just turned 8 years old and has more miles under his belt than any of the yahoo's on $25,000 trailer bikes down at the local hang-out!