There wasn't much up-front planning for this ride - several WORMS members were going to meet on Route 1 at East Coast Harley-Davidson in the morning and ride down to Fredericksburg and then over to Route 218 near Dahlgren, VA. Allen was the first to arrive and fortunately the dealership was open so there were some bikes to see and touch while Allen waited for Mike and Hal. But wait a minute - there was a voice mail from Hal. A quick call confirmed there were some car issues the prior night but Hal could still do the ride if we met down at Big Daddy Leather in Fredericksburg. What about Mike? A call to him confirmed there was also a problem - half of his house was without power. Mike would need to figure out the house electrical problem so it was to be only Hal and Big Al on this ride. Allen went into the dealership to sit on a few touring bikes (the Ultra is pretty nice Sandra) and then it was time to ride down Route 1 to meet Hal.

As you could imagine, it was getting warmer by the minute. This was going to be an almost 100 degree F kind of day! Allen arrived at Big Daddy Leather and Hal rolled in on his V-Rod about 20 minutes later. The boys decided to head over to Hyperion Espresso (downtown Fredericksburg and one of our meeting spots in town) for a coffee drink before heading out for the real ride. We decided to head to Dahlgren on Route 3 / Dahlgren Road and then come back on Route 218 - the road of choice. The heat was getting up there but we soon cooled off on Route 218 since there are lots of shade trees. Coming back into Fredericksburg we didn't want to get into any holiday traffic coming north on Route 1 or I-95, so we headed north-west on Truslow Road into Manassas. Hal peeled off soon after a water stop and Allen continued through the back roads of Manassas and home. The boys were thinking about stopping at Hooters for some chicken wings but we'll save that for another time.

Sandra and Allen have an understanding, and it goes something like this: we attend social events like operas, ballets, plays and things of this nature, and we also do some motorcycle rides together. Today was a combo event, because we rode the H-D Fatboy out west, past Warrenton (about 60 miles out from Springfield) to the Castleton VA Festival to see 3 operas performed by local artists. It was a hot day but we enjoyed the ride, especially on the back roads like Pope's Head and some of the roads after we got off Route 29 past Warrenton - mostly due to the shade provided by the trees. The operas were very nice and they even served food in the tent before the operas started so we had a bit of wine too. The ride home took us to the Buffalo Wild Wing place in Garrisonville and then we came back via Manassas, mostly the way home that Allen took on the previous night's return from the car show.

Allen was just itching to ride today but all the other WORMS were busy either doing chores or attending family events. However, the kind folks at Patriot Harley-Davidson / Fairfax HOG had a ride planned - they were going to see the Manassas Car Show towards the evening time frame and then catch a nice dinner in Manassas. It didn't take too much prodding to get Allen interested. Once a few chores were taken care of (watering, laundry and fixing a computer), Allen was on the road. As it turned out, there were tons of cool cars to see so this was a very worthwhile ride!