Between Philadelphia and State College

Saturday, September 20

Somewhere between Philadelphia and State College, PA

1:34 am -- Today - or yesterday, technically - involved a return to
South Street with the bus in tow to register the early evening crowds.
They are a curious bunch, particularly this evening. For reasons never
made clear, we arrived as three-hundred howling and sputtering
motorcycles tore off into the night. These people are not your
parents' bikers. The heavily-bearded swastika-tattooed leather-clad
Hell's Angels riding chopped hogs are no longer the only riders
around. Nor are Harleys the dominant bikes. This crowd here is of a
different sort. Black leather is still the dominant motif, but some
few bikers wore greens, reds, and blues. Nor are the bikes the
stripped down American-made Harleys. Toyotas, Beemers, and other
foreign-born beauties streaked off South Street and down Fourth Avenue.

Our registration efforts were more or less successful. It must be a
refreshing surprise to be accosted on a Friday with someone who
doesn't want directions or a cigarette. Still, when that stranger is
asking where you live and what your social security number is, your
imagination might run wild.

Are these oddly uniformed 'Rock the Vote'
people members of some fiendish cult of identity theft? The bus adds
legitimacy, but only so much. The word on the street is trust no one
without serious credentials or dangerous weapons with any of your
vital numbers. We are a charming bunch though, so after some serious
eyelash batting we can usually get them registered or - worst case
scenario - direct them to the website.

We aborted our efforts around 10:30 after the GPS system delivered the
unwelcome news that State College, PA - our stop tomorrow - is a good
five hours from Philadelphia. We are a crack squad of professionals,
so our first move - vital to the success of any long ride - was to get
terribly lost. U-turns are not an option in the bus and Philadelphia
has designed the streets so that the shortest distance between points
A and B is frequently a wandering twist through one way streets. So we
are off to a rough start.

As I am writing this we are approaching 3 am, high on caffeine, and our
destination and sleep are still some ways off.

-- Nick Brown