Montse in Valley Forge

New Jersey Brigade Memorial

Yesterday it rained on and off all day so there was no riding to be had.  Today the day was beautiful and cool so we decided to take a drive to Valley Forge Park in the Morning to see if the color had come in.  We had a nice ride up to the Park and then through some of its hills.  Great place to run a roadster, nice twists and hills to navigate.  I've done the park on the Bullet and on my old bike and it is always a really fun ride.  On the MG it was just miles of smiles.  We stopped at the New Jersey Brigade Memorial first for some pics.  Then we moved on to the National Memorial Arch and ended up at Mad Anthony Wayne's Monument.

National Memorial Arch

At the Arch, a nice older gentleman came up and chatted with us about the car for a good 10 minutes and at Mad Anthony's a really nice lady offered to take our picture in the car.  This is the first picture I have of me in the MG.  She was with an older couple who had had a 1952 MG back in 1952.  The gentleman told me that he loved his car but had to get rid of it when his wife got pregnant because and MGTD "is not a family car".

On the way back we stopped at the Paoli Wawa on 30 for sandwiches and coffee and went home via the Sugartown/St. Davids/Church Rd.  Loop.

First pic of me in the MG

General "Mad" Anthony Wayne Monument

I took the afternoon to make a pattern to order mats from Coco Mats.  I've been in contact with them and they sent me the materials to make the pattern based on their VW pattern on Friday.  These mats are definitely going to be larger than VW mats.  I also started prepping the car for the Historical Car Club of Pennsylvania car show next Sunday at the Delaware County Community College.  This will be the first car show I've ever participated in.  After finishing the clean up, I took a little ride to the True Value Hardware Store in Newtown Square to get copies of the keys made.  I've been living dangerously with only one key for the MG, now we are covered.

General "Mad" Anthony Wayne Monument

New Jersey Brigade Memorial

See the full Montse album in Flickr.

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Malvern and Mad Anthony

St. David's Episcopal 

The sky has been overcast and threatening rain all day, not a good day for riding with the possibility of a downpour in the air but great light conditions for photography.  With that in mind, today's ride at midday was a scout for good photo sites.  My first idea was to hit the Willistown Friends Meeting House, on Goshen and Warren, and get some shot is the parking lot.  Of course, leave to the Quakers to have services (meetings?  I don't know.) on Sunday and fill up the parking lot in front of the meeting house with random cars.  Imagine that!  With that option out of the question the next plan was to run out on Warren towards 30 and scout that area. 

As I've mentioned before, Warren between Goshen and Providence is a hard-packed dirt road with loose gravel and some washed out areas.  Discretion being the best part of valor I made the big block on Sugartown to Providence for a left at Warren rather that taking it from Goshen.

The first part of Warren runs through farm country, fairly straight but with some hilly terrain.  After Davis Rd, Warren runs through a more residential area and flatter terrain to eventually come to a light at the Paoli Pike, where the little reservoir is on the north side of the Pike.  From there Warren enters Malvern, site of the Paoli Massacre on 20 Sept. 1777 or so the sign says, and flattens and straigthens almost completely.  There is an interesting sight shortly past the Pike on Warren, on the left there is a school with a large white statue of Christ on top of a hill.  I though about crossing the road for a shot but continued on to downtown Malvern.  There I followed King Street to 30 east.

Most of the road surface on 30 has been redone and the conditions there are excellent.  Lancaster Ave (30) is not a great ride but the road surface called for some speed and that's what happened, specially on the stretch between Woodside and Waterloo (not the Waterloo in Berwyn, the one in Devon).  I overshot Waterloo and Devon, but made a right on Dorset and back to Devon all the way to Saint David's Episcopal.

Grave of Major General Mad Anthony Wayne

At St. Davids, I pulled into the church yard for a photo of Major General Mad Anthony Wayne's tomb and some other shots.  The light conditions were perfect but the tiger mosquitoes did not want to cooperate.  After a handful of shots, I headed home.

This was a short ride, just a little over 22 miles, but it was a nice exploration.  The sky cooperated and there was no rain until after getting home.  At the beginning of the ride the odo read 1525 miles and at the end it clocked 1547.  A short but enjoyable day.

Chapel in the church yard

St. David's Episcopal

Chapel

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