Riding to History in Virginia

Thomas Jefferson hoped that his family would be able to live on at Monticello after his death. He left the property to his daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph, and her children. Jefferson's enormous debt load, however, as well as the expenses of maintaining the building and lands proved too much to handle. Although there were several belated plans to save Monticello for the family, nothing came of them, and Mrs. Randolph put Monticello and its furnishings up for sale. Much of Jefferson's furniture, plate, and farm equipment, as well as 140 slaves, were bought at a public auction in 1827. The idiosyncratic mansion proved harder to sell. Finally, four years after the auction, the house and property went to an eccentric Charlottesville druggist, James Barclay, for $7,500.

James Barclay despised Jefferson's political ideals, and had very little interest in the great house itself. He wanted the land for a scheme that would turn Monticello into a silkworm farm. In order to plant mulberry trees, Barclay tore out many of the trees Jefferson had planted and uprooted the extensive gardens. Within three years, the project predictably failed, and Barclay now looked around for a buyer. In 1834, he sold the house and surrounding land for $2,500 to Uriah Phillips Levy, an officer in the United States Navy.

Uriah Phillips Levy really believed in TJ's freedom of religion, thus bought and preserved his home out of respect till the U.S. bought it back. If it wasn't for Mr. Levy, this national treasure would be gone. Uriah Phillips Levy really was a fascinating man and should be remembered.


TJ was broke at the end of his life. The war of 1812 broke out and Washington lost it's library in that war as it was burned down to the ground by the British. TJ (being broke and needed the $$ sold his book collection to the U.S. which is the Library of Congress today.

Piaggio held a welcome meet and greet at the Maymont Robbins Nature Center.
https://maymont.org/animals/nature-center/

So I motored over there to see what all the hubbub was. Here'a pic in the lobby as I entered.


And it's on! Another scooter throw down.


45s! Man, I'm old...




I met many new folks and what I really enjoyed was the positive energy and good nature all these folks had.

Oh yeah, The drakes and geese attack! lmao





Meanwhile back at the hotel, some more random shots. Mid-evil pimp!







Helix in the house!


This pic doesn't do this scoot justice. Simply put, it was stunning. Two tone in portifino green with a painted on pinstripe in brown to match the brown leather seat. Well played!


Ummm... waiting for the elevator...


This concludes day 2.

(more to come)

Life is short, enjoy the ride.

Eric

Day 3

Back in the bar in the ac cooling off with a Legend Brown Ale, a fine VA brown ale!


Let's start the day to see what's in the garage this morning.








I took off early to go top off my tank and I happen upon this. An air pump that takes credit cards at $1.50 a pop. wtf...

Rode back to the hotel to pick up my swag kit and check out the raffle goodies.


This mornings ride it to Petersburg, VA. So I milled about and talked to many folks going on the rides today. This scoot was awesome for a rat bike. Broken plastic all around, sprayed red blood all over it and the fury seat to top it off.


General Lee scoot, must be a Dukes of Hazard fan.


I've been wanting to chat with this rider in particular. Hands down my favorite scoot at AmeriVespa! Turns out it belongs to a another Cannonballer Cynthia hailing from PA. She rode this awesome 2-stroke P200 4,300 to 4,500 miles across the U.S. I asked her what she used for her routing, she stated she used a roller and color coded the turns. Pretty freak'n awesome. Respect!


She calls her scoot Sloppy Joe and loves octopuses. Love it!


The horn cover.


Check out the octopus seat and there's a medallion/button thing dead center. I asked what the heck and did it bother your bum? She said no, it keeps me awake! LOL


I asked what the deal was with the spark plug on the floor board, she said she put it on in Arizona and wanted to see if it would fall off, been there all the across the U.S.


61,000 legit miles on her scoot!

The scoots at Petersburg Battlefield.



Meet Cynthia.




The Siege of Petersburg: The Longest Military Event of the Civil War

Nine and a half months, 70,000 casualties, the suffering of civilians, thousands of U. S. Colored Troops fighting for the freedom of their race, and the decline of Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of No. Virginia all describe the Siege of Petersburg. It was here Gen. Ulysses S. Grant cut off all of Petersburg's supply lines ensuring the fall of Richmond on April 3, 1865. Six days later, Lee surrendered.

Park Units
Petersburg National Battlefield is composed of three major units and an additional managed component.

Eastern Front Visitor Center and Park Tour Road
Located off Virginia Route 36 east of Petersburg, the Eastern Front Visitor Center is the main visitor contact station for the Battlefield. Here, visitors can view exhibits and movies about the Siege of Petersburg as well as view Battery #5, an important early site in the Siege. The park entrance fee is also collected on the Eastern Front Visitor Center access road.[citation needed]

After leaving the Visitor Center, one can begin their park tour. A motor tour route runs from Virginia Route 36 to US Route 301. Along the way, visitors can view sites such as Fort Stedman and The Crater.

Five Forks Battlefield
Main article: Five Forks Battlefield
Located in Dinwiddie County about 14 miles (23 km) southwest of downtown Petersburg, this unit contains the site of the Battle of Five Forks, which destroyed a sizable portion of the remaining Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Sometimes called the "Waterloo of the Confederacy," Five Forks helped set in motion a series of events that led to Robert E. Lee's subsequent surrender at Appomattox Court House.[citation needed]
https://www.nps.gov/pete/index.htm

This pic depicts the mounts where the fort used to stand.





We stopped for lunch in a quaint cobblestone farmer's market that's been converted into a restaurant.




Of course here's the obligatory food pics. I had the smoked salmon cobb salad which was outstanding!

We skedaddled back to the hotel so folks could catch the afternoon ride. There was oodles of folks ready for the next round of rides.


My man on the dragon scoot!


Here's a quick video of one group heading out.


I walk up the entrance and Zero has a tent and two of their bikes on display.




I had an interesting chat with the rep of Zero. Confederate m/c is now Curtiss Motorcycles and going with Zero's platform to build their bikes. I asked how climbing into bed with Curtiss is going? He stated in not, we sold them a couple bikes, they dismantled them and built their bikes around their platform. They have no business agreement with them. Hmm... We talked in depth about longevity, range, warranty, recharging, etc. etc. Facinating and exciting stuff happening on 2 wheels.

That's it for now, going to order another brown ale and see what kind of trouble I can get into tonight!

(more to come)

We went to Bandito Burritos for happy hour and it was on!





Someone had tickets to a minor league game the Richmond Flying Squirrels!


I ordered pile of nachos and we all shared.


Next stop was Broadberrys which was kind of a bar with a stage for bands and an outside patio. AmeriVespa reserved the whole joint. We got kicked out qt 11 PM, and I do mean kicked out. They were serious about closing the doors at 11. Weird...




So we went to the hotel bar downstairs, just closed at 11:30 but the rooftop bar was open. So we went up there. They close at midnight and got in for last call and kicked out of there. lol No pictures of the rest but I can say I've been kicked out of 3 bars in one night.

This concludes day 3

(more to come)

So I got up this morning to meet some friends for breakfast and I bump into @Dan V. from ADV hailing from Michigan. He recognized my helmet he and his lovely wife came over to thank me for my blogs that I post and that they enjoy them. I am humbled by such kindness, many thanks!


A random mural painted on the side of a building. Ummmm, put down the crack pipe!


We stopped a great place to get a bite to eat and I rode up on the sidewalks. My friends were kind of freaked out! I said VA and DC are very scooter friendly and as long as you're not blocking the sidewalk, good to go. They were all sketchy about it and low and behold the scoots were still there after breakfast.


Biscuits and sausage gravy for me. Hey! What can I say, I'm a redneck.


The others.


Veggie sausage. Sacrilege!

We bounced outta there and beat feet over to the Richmond Raceway where some folks chose to take their scoots on the race track. I wanted to see the gymkhana!

But first a couple of pics of the scene. There must of been over 300 scoots there.




I loved the Betty Boop Mermaid.


Japanese anime anyone?


I'm a huge Guzzi fan and this bike was absolutely flawless.



BMW had a tent set up with some of their products. Their electric scoot was stunning and brilliant at the same time.


This pic of the colored dash was a terrible pic but was amazing to see in person.


Zero had their tent setup as well. I had no idea they offered an ADV bike.


Vespa showed us a peek at their 2019 line up and I must say the flat red was stunning.


Ahmad set up and was telling folks about his scooter tours through Egypt, Africa and India.


That's it for tonight, I'm bushed. It's midnight and the rain has set in pretty hard tonight. I hope to wake up tomorrow to blue skies for my trip home. I have some neat video of the gymkhana to share and I'll get this chapter of my adventures wrapped up tomorrow.

Thanks for reading,

Eric

Life is short, enjoy the ride.

Gymkhana videos, all are very short, maybe 1 minute long unedited raw footage. Yes, I'm lazy!

Race






Barrel Racing

Frisbee Toss



Slow Race

They were throwing out CoolAss seat covers to the crowd and Dan's wife got one. It was hot and she made a great hat out of it!


Cheech & Chong socks! My life is complete now! lmao


This lucky fine gent won the vintage Vespa in the raffle! My tradition of a loosing streak in raffles continues for over half a decade! Woohoo!


This is "THE" pic of the trip to me and my new screen shot for my PC. The sign in front of Richmond Raceway with my 946 in the O! Love it, pun intended!

Whoops, I forgot one pic at the racetrack. I was helping this lady stow her very heavy collapsible awning in its hard-case to fly it back to CA. Ummm, it was a Kodak moment. Hehe


The "V" is made out of helmets.


So we skedaddled off to the banquet supper in this grand building.



Scoots galore per usual.


Nice Trumpet bobber parked out front.


The supper was held in a ballroom done up in Egyptian motif.


This young lady won the brand new modern Vespa (I think a Primavera). Everyone was super happy for her. The awards banquet was a big hit.

Loaded up the scoot this morning a little hung over... The upswing is the rain had subsided so I jetted out of there and skipped the breakfast.


This lady was rolling out with her pup.


I took scenic back roads home and of course a turtle was crossing the road. So I turn around, snap a pic and he pees all over me. Like where did he hide all that pee, no good deed goes unpunished.


My home state I'm so proud of.

Thanks for all your time spent posting these pictures and excellent write up. Enjoyed every bit of it and looking forward to more.

By the numbers. AmeriVespa was in my back yard so not very tall numbers this trip but still manage some quality scooting!


I want to take a moment to thank AmeriVespa as they did a fabulous job. The event went off without a flaw and they should be congratulated. 7 Hills Scooter Club who hosted this event and quite frankly worked their buns off planning the day trips, leading the rides and many, many more venues. http://7hillsscooterclub.com/

I hope that this AmeriVespa posts gives y'all a flavor of what AmeriVespa is all about. I met hundreds of folks and I can honestly say a better crowd of folks you will not meet. There's loads of cool stuff for the raffles so that just about everyone goes home with a prize.

Until my next update of Riding to History in Virginia!

Peace!

Eric

Just saw this thread and started reading it - will try to finish up tomorrow.

You had me at the beginning with Stonewall Jackson. We were born about 1/4 mile apart from each other. I used to wait for the bus home from school next to his statue at the court house.

FWIW - You may be interested in the VA Historical Markers thread that was started several years ago and kind of fizzled out. There were quite a few photographed. Proud to say I did about 50 or 60.

https://advrider.com/f/threads/va-historical-markers-–-let’s-find-all-2200-of-them.580746/

I headed up the West Virginia historical markers project several years ago. Over 5 years, we managed to photograph all 835 markers.

https://advrider.com/f/threads/wv-historical-markers-lets-find-all-700.407164/

Bedtime for this old man, but I'll be back tomorrow to start Page 2.

Thanks, and great job!

Eric; really enjoying your history tours. Coverage of AmeriVespa was enjoyable as well. Nice pics and videos. I have never seen anyone who sees and stops for so many turtles!!! I presume you already know to move them off the road in the direction they were already travelling? Thanks for posting and looking forward to more Virginia history.....Dave

Simply outstanding!

Just dropping in to commend you on the fine job you are doing on this thread. You've managed to make history interesting.