Collecting Murals

[BkerChuck]

I hadn't really intended to do a ride report on this but a PM from DEagle prompted me to reconsider. Each year I seem to find some event or other to give me an excuse to ride more. Last year that event was the Glacial Lakes Motorcycle Club's Alvin Bertram Memorial Mural Tour. Now I had never heard of the group or Alvin Bertram before but when I saw it on Ride Master as a months long grand tour I noted some names already registered of several folks I know and had competed against in long distance rallies so I decided to look into it. Turns out Alvin Bertram had been a member of this club, operator of a small motorcycle shop, sometime rally master, and apparently lover of murals.The event was open worldwide and running from January 1 through the end of September. Open to any style of bike and had pretty simple rules. Murals must measure roughly 8 feet by 8 feet or the size of a garage door. Murals must be at least 100 yards apart, no pushing your bike from spot to spot. Each mural was worth 1 point, photos had to show the mural, your motorcycle, and your rider placard with rider number visible. Finisher status required only 20 points which got you your t-shirt. Top 3 finishers would get a trophy and your registration fee of $30 refunded.

I sent off my money to sign up and began plotting murals in Basecamp. I knew going in that I lived in a target rich environment. I'm 15 minutes north of York, PA and 15 minutes south of Harrisburg, PA and 30 minutes west of Lancaster, PA. I already knew York had a series of murals about the city's history and there were quite a few public art installations in Harrisburg, being the state capitol. Google research taught me that Philadelphia is considered the mural capitol of the US with over 4,000 murals. Philadelphia is not a fun city to ride a motorcycle in and many of it's neighborhoods are places I have no desire to ride in. My rider placard came in an email on January 2 so I printed and laminated a few copies and off I went.

My first mural, a cool burrito spot about 5 minutes from home.



Often I just go for a ride on nice days and have stumbled across other murals, sometimes in small towns or in unexpected places. Like this one.



York, PA is the home of Harley Davidson's final assembly plant so of course Harley signage is all around the city. This one is at least 20 years old.



Moving on to Harrisburg. This is in a parking lot.



Colombia, PA. There are several murals here and this is just one part of a block long mural timeline of the city's changes through the passage of time



Moving on to Lancaster, PA. This is a favorite of mine. 2 Dudes painting and this mural showing their company vehicles they use today. There were 3 or 4 of these in their lot and a couple more waiting restoration and paint as spares I guess.



Side of a church in Carlisle, PA



Brewpub in Lebanon, PA



This one is on the side of an interstate exit near me. The only reason I got this one safely was by doing it on a dreary Sunday. Any other time or day this would have been hazardous stopping at best.



Less than one month in to the event I had finisher's status and earned my t-shirt. As I continued finding murals through Google I began to think a top 3 finish was possible for me. Let's go for it. More to come.

[LKLD]

Way to go, Chuck! I hope you place in the top 3!

[BkerChuck]

The winter of 2023 was exceptionally mild in my area providing lots of opportunity to go mural hunting. Almost zero snow meant no cinders or salt on the roads. I have heated gear so temps in the 30's were good enough for me to ride. Pretty much every weekend had me leaving the house each Saturday and Sunday for at least a few hours, heading a different direction each time and slowly expanding my search fields.

A used bookstore in Enola, PA that I've visited more that a few times. This store is located across the road from a large railroad terminal and through the years has become known for rescuing cats. There are always cats there offered for adoption, warning signs about watching for cats, and even literal "catwalks" installed on the tops of book shelves to allow the store cats to wander about above your head. If you opt to not use a bag for your book purchases they instead deposit 5 cents for every unused bag into a fund that pays for cat food and vet care.



There are several Barn Quilt mural trails in PA and research lead me to one in Perry County slightly northwest of home. These were sometimes a waste of time as many fell short of the 8 foot by 8 foot size requirement. Often I wouldn't be able to tell from posted pics and rode miles for nothing. That's all parts of playing the game though.



Early February in PA is a bit chilly for eating ice cream so I'm going to need to go back to this place.



Here's a place SpinninProp knows well, Hazard's Distillery. February is perfect moonshine weather but they weren't open yet. Must return here too.



Millersburg, PA a small town on the Susquehanna River



The next weekend I headed in another direction, west, towards Gettysburg, PA to collect one of a series of 11 murals commemorating the Lincoln Highway. I was hoping they might grant extra points if I could collect the entire set.



This one is in pretty sad shape compared to some I'll show you later. I really think the state should spend the money to have these refinished as it would be a boon to tourism, at least in my opinion.

Another Barn Quilt mural, this time on a different trail. I found there are a lot of these in my area.



Headed south for a bit in search of brighter skies and warmer temps. Thurmont, MD at their old train station I believe.



Westminster, MD was next. This business is now gone but the signage has been repainted. Still a bit chilly for ice cream. Dammit.



One last barn quilt on the way home.

[Intech]

Cool subject matter! Thanks for sharing.

[BkerChuck]

I skip the next Saturday but Sunday looks to be a nice day. Flip a coin, pick a direction. Back into York to pick up some I'd skipped or just learned of. First stop is a "find on the fly mural". I'm heading into town and I see a mural on a tattoo shop side wall but as I'm setting up for the photo I turn around and find this on the side of a small theater:



This one I remember seeing when I was a kid. The business has been gone for years but the signage remains. Sunday mornings make sidewalk parking easy.



Heading east to the Lancaster area again. I've learned there are almost 50 murals as part of a large public art project that have been painted in recent years but some are too close together and I need to keep the 100 yard rule in mind. I take a lesser used route to Lancaster and come across this on the side of an old bowling alley.



Downtown Lancaster is bursting with color if you know where to look.









And probably one of my favorites for the day.



I learned about this one courtesy of a photo tag game over on ADVRider.com



Last one for the day, back in York but came home from a different route than I'd left so I stumble across this.



Another productive day of hunting.

[BkerChuck]

By this time Dianne has decided that I have become obsessed with this mural contest. Well......maybe a little. The next weekend once more offers unseasonably nice days. Too nice to waste staying at home. Off I go,adding more to the collection.

Some of these barn quilt murals are really colorful but the parking situation leaves a lot to be desired. Some road shoulders are not really all that suitable for what I'm doing and I'm constantly watching over my shoulder and trying to get in and out as quickly and safely as possible.



Little did I know that the upcoming Team Strange GT would use a mural theme as well. Their theme for 2023 was Wheels on Walls, murals with wheeled vehicles and opening on April 1. I would be revisiting this spot in 5-6 weeks just to take this same photo but with a different rally flag.



Barn quilts, more barn quilts.







Finally heading into civilization again. This is just one portion of a block long wall.



I soon learn to pay extra attention to bowling alleys. I guess the shape of the building just lends itself nicely to murals.



Beer distributors in PA like murals too.



This one barely beat the 100 yard rule form the bowling alley pictured earlier. Helped that they were on opposite walls as the actual distance between the closest walls might not have made it. We're kind of expected to self police on this event. I'm hoping to do well but not at the expense of breaking the rules so when in doubt I err on the side of caution.



Here's another one that wasn't on any internet sites that I had seen. This was a church sponsored food bank for people in need. The artwork may not be as professional as some other pictures but the purpose behind it merited a stop.



So closing out the first 2 months of the event I'm now sitting at 150 points with most of the riding season still in front of me.

[raYzerman]

Chuck, you're crazy...... you could ask Pants, but if you ask me, it's never too cold for ice cream.
Nice work, I hope you're gonna win this contest!! Good stuff!

[BkerChuck]

March in PA means Spring is near or we'll get the largest single snowfall of the season. This was a good year for which I'm grateful. The flip of a coin determines I should head South again. I have several murals in my Garmin but often stumble across some extras. This was one.



A barn quilt mural at a brewpub in Maryland.



Maryland state flag colors as a flower in a parking lot.



Downtown Bel Air, MD. Guess I'll be revisiting this one after April 1 as well.





On the side of an American Legion post



Moving on to Aberdeen, MD.



Aberdeen train station.





More places I'm going to come back to later. Maybe I should have planned this better?

Onward to Havre De Grace, MD where this mural stretches the entire length of the building, almost the entire city block.



Rocktopus and Playing Mantis, on the side wall of a garage in an alley.



Reminds me of an old screen saver for some reason.



Rising Sun, MD



Heading home and back in PA.



Another productive day and I feel I've bagged my limit.

[BkerChuck]

By this point in time most of my coworkers knew about my mural hunt and were offering locations and taking cell phone pics and sending them to me. This one is courtesy of my boss.



The back wall of a baseball dugout near one area high school.



This one also came from an ADVRider.com photo tag game.



A swimming pool in Elizabethtown, PA.



I cut this day short as I'd gotten a late start. I'll be back at it next week.

Barbecue place in Cockeysville, MD that smelled incredible. Will return here in the future to see if it tastes as good as it smells.



Cool story goes along with that last picture. Dianne and I had read about a long distance rider we knew of who purchased and carried with him some small toy motorcycles in his tankbag. When he would come across a child in a car, parents stuck in traffic, he would roll up close and with the parent's permission give a toy motorcycle to the child to occupy them and cheer them up. We thought it really cool and Dianne went ahead and purchased a whole case from Amazon and we/I had began carrying a couple when riding. Where I'm parked in that pic is where the exit ramp comes out of the restaurant and I'm partially blocking it. Family of 4 comes out, parents, little girl, younger boy and the young boy is NOT having a good day. He's crying and his dad is trying to console him or at least distract him and points out my bike. I ask the young boy of about 5-6 if he likes motorcycles which he says he does. With parent's permission I go into my tankbag and give the boy a red toy motorcycle and instantly his entire demeanor changes. Both parents are thanking me profusely for saving the rest of their day. Good stuff and made my day as well.

Reisterstown, MD



More barn quilt murals





Some are sun faded but must have been really nice when first put up.

[danh600]

Cool story goes along with that last picture. Dianne and I had read about a long distance rider we knew of who purchased and carried with him some small toy motorcycles in his tankbag. When he would come across a child in a car, parents stuck in traffic, he would roll up close and with the parent's permission give a toy motorcycle to the child to occupy them and cheer them up. We thought it really cool and Dianne went ahead and purchased a whole case from Amazon and we/I had began carrying a couple when riding. Where I'm parked in that pic is where the exit ramp comes out of the restaurant and I'm partially blocking it. Family of 4 comes out, parents, little girl, younger boy and the young boy is NOT having a good day. He's crying and his dad is trying to console him or at least distract him and points out my bike. I ask the young boy of about 5-6 if he likes motorcycles which he says he does. With parent's permission I go into my tankbag and give the boy a red toy motorcycle and instantly his entire demeanor changes. Both parents are thanking me profusely for saving the rest of their day. Good stuff and made my day as well.

You just made my day too.

That is awesome!

[BkerChuck]

It's likely that most folks never realize there are a maximum number of saved points that Garmin will allow in most of their GPS units. That number on the Zumo XT is 999. You may ask, "why would you ever need over 999 saved points in your GPS?" Start saving mural locations sometime and you might find out. Each time I visit and photograph a mural I try to make sure I delete it while I'm at the location. This allows me to continue adding more to my list, a list that never gets smaller it seem. Once more a photo tag game over on ADVRider.com shows me a new location I hadn't known about. Like this one.



I leave here and head towards Shippensburg, PA which happens to be a college town. I had a mural or two I'd noted on Google but sometimes find some that weren't on the internet.



Next stop, Chambersburg, PA where I know of another Lincoln Highway mural as I've probably ridden passed it dozens of times. On my way I stumble across this. A mosaic tile mural.



Then I continue on to the Lincoln Highway mural. This is another example of a mural on the side of a bowling alley. I hadn't been through this area in quite some time and I'm a bit dismayed to see the bowling alley has shut down and there are signs that it may be being torn down.



I find this particularly unsettling as I really do believe these murals should be preserved. Can't help but think that sometimes progress isn't really progress after all. I find this next mural less than a mile away at a car audio shop. Nice splash of color.



While I don't know anything about him I gather Nellie Fox was a baseball player and born around here. This was another bowling alley, Nellie Fox Lanes.



Greencastle, PA is next on my list and it's another one of these where parking in such a way as to have the bike in the picture is not pleasant. Sunday mornings are perfect for this as traffic is light. Noting the train on the other half of the mural I make note to return in April for the team Strange event.



Final PA stop before heading south into MD.



Hagerstown, MD is right off I-81 and has several murals scattered around town.





Another productive day in the books

[FJRPittsburgh]

Collecting Murals? I'll say you are. Nice work Chuck! And making children smile. What a guy!

[BkerChuck]

April 1 means the Team Strange Wheels on Walls mural grand tour is started. I'm now carrying 2 rally signs and must pay closer attention to all murals to see if they have any wheeled vehicles on them and if so I will be taking 2 pictures now. This might just come back to bite me later. I just don't realize it yet. April also means the weather is getting warmer so the riding is more enjoyable.



As you can see some of the locations I have to try and park to have my bike in the picture force me to stand in the road to get my pics. Sunday mornings are about the only time I can get away with this.

Barn quilt mural on the side of a community building outside a small town.



Liverpool, PA post office. Sidewalk parking, got to love it.



Beach scene painted on the side of the public pool building in Selinsgrove, PA



Moving on to Lewisburg, PA




Another oddball that just caught my eye as I rode passed.



Something about bowling alleys.



Milton, PA




Danville, PA






A small town music store.



Shamokin, PA once a coal town.







After this I had about a 2 hour ride to get home.

[BkerChuck]

On many of these rides Dianne will call me while I'm out and ask how many murals I've gotten so far. Most of the time I have to tell her that I simply don't know. I explain to her that while I have a large number saved in the GPS that in some instances the mural might not be big enough. I arrived at locations to find the building where it was painted has since been torn down. Barn quilt murals may have been taken down when the property changed owners. I had one case where I found the burned out foundation of where the barn had once stood. Then there were the murals I simply found while riding. Perhaps someone with an artistic streak just decided to dress up their garage wall or door. Win some, lose some.

My employer closes for Good Friday. This means an extra day of mural hunting for me. I haven't visited West Virginia yet.

Martinsburg, WV






I'd been to Martinsburg several times in the past. It used to be the rally headquarters for the Mason Dixon 20-20 rally. It's right off of I-81 and if you take the exit that puts you on WV Route 9 towards Berkley Springs you're in for a fun ride.




Heading back north towards PA I pick up a barn quilt mural trail.






Some of the locals are checking me out wondering what I'm doing.




Going through McConnellsburg, PA to catch another Lincoln Highway mural.



Then more barn quilt murals.






Feeling like that's enough for one day I head for home.

[BkerChuck]

Saturday morning and I head back to York again. I've learned of a new mural just recently unveiled and another at an end of town I had skipped to this point.




I'm heading east again towards Lancaster, PA for the second, or is it third time? I take another scenic route and stumble across a barn quilt mural.



A bar I'd never noticed before but I've surely been passed.



An old feed mill, now a private home. Absolutely gorgeous property.



I tried getting the photo from across the street but wasn't happy with the way it was working out. A gentleman who turned out to be the owner saw me and after a brief conversation allowed me to park right in his driveway for this. While there a friend of his stopped by and through a brief chat with the two it was determined we had some common friends. Small world.

Ephrata, PA old train station.



Back wall of another bowling alley with a mini golf course on the same property.



Another productive day in the books.

[BkerChuck]

Easter Sunday means a couple of things. First and foremost is that if I want Easter dinner I can't be out riding all damned day so I make it a short one. I found one barn quilt mural on the Perry County barn quilt mural trail that's kind of an outlier with no other murals close by so I decide to go get it. On the way I stumble across this one at a school.



The the barn quilt before I head home.



Daylight savings makes a quick after work ride much easier. Someone told me about this location near York on the back wall of a beer distributor.



Saturday send me back to Maryland and the Carroll County barn quilt mural trail.





Then through the town of Sykesville, MD



Later stumbling across another baseball dugout.



Then more barn quilts.








Finally heading home

[BkerChuck]

In the first installment of this report I mentioned Philadelphia and the insane amount of murals found there. I also mentioned I wanted to avoid that like the plague. Like others on here this is not the only forum I frequent, sorry Wayne. In 2020 when I purchased a Toyota Tacoma I joined a forum for that vehicle which lead to a Ride to Eat meet up for cheese steaks in Philadelphia in early 2021. Somewhat surprisingly one of the most active threads on that Tacoma forum is motorcycle related and I frequent that thread a lot touting the greatness of the FJR1300. April 22 was set for the next cheese steak meet but I had no plans of taking my Tacoma, I had murals to photograph and they had to have my bike in them.

I use the PA turnpike when I must but it's boring so I hopped off to hit some murals on my way to Philly. In Coatesville, PA



West Chester, PA





Malvern, PA



Heading into Philadelphia



On the side wall of the BMW/Triumph dealership.



No food pron today but if you're ever in Philly try Delassandro's for cheese steaks. Way better than the more "known" spots. Cash only and there is always a line.

After lunch and on the way home.



Conshohocken, PA American Legion Post



Norristown, PA




Phoenixville, PA





Royersford, PA



Pottstown, PA




Reading, PA







Rain started to fall so it became time to head for home. There are more in Reading but I'll need to return later.

[BkerChuck]

This mural challenge has become an every weekend thing for me by this point. I have no way of telling how I'm doing compared to other players beyond some messages on their discussion board. Most players are using photo hosting sites and just sending their links to the rally master at the end of the event and that was my original plan as well. Of all places a recent copy of Reader's Digest alerted me to one of my next murals.

Back wall pf the Pennbrook, PA police station.



The Reader's Digest photo that brought me here.



Pennbrook is almost like a suburb of Harrisburg but I hadn't been to that end of the state capitol just yet. That shall be remedied.







Next weekend is the SEO Ramble so after this batch I head home to rake care of some maintenance.

[BkerChuck]

Dianne and I have both been looking forward to this event and getting together with our friends from the forum and catching up since last seeing most of you since EOM in September. We've scheduled vacation time and leave out on Thursday morning taking the PA turnpike for the first 100 miles or so before hopping off to go mural hunting. This is her first time going along and she's about to learn how you can lose count of murals.

Bedford, PA



Everett, PA and the next Lincoln Highway mural.



Next Lincoln Highway mural.



Stoystown, PA Lincoln Highway mural.




The Flyin' Lion Pub in Jennerstown, PA



Greensburg, PA Lincoln Highway mural.



Irwin, PA Lincoln Highway mural.



Connellsville, PA



Point Marion



Next stop Morgantown, West Virginia






Finally running out of murals in the area we rode on into Marietta, OH to the Ramble.

[BkerChuck]

Since we're going to be in Ohio for the next few days I have a few nearby murals already loaded in the GPS. But first we found this on the way into town. Side wall of the Auto Zone before getting into Marietta.



Downtown Marietta, OH. Don Eagle opted to tag along for the beginning of our day.





Across the river in Parkersburg, WV.





Somewhere in this stretch Don opted to head off solo but not before saying goodbye and thanking us for letting him tag along. A lot of these murals are in cities and that's not the most fun you can have on two wheels. Somewhere on the route to our next mural Dianne told me to turn around we'd just passed a mural that said "adult pools". Curious as to what made an "adult pool" I spun a U-turn at the next safe place and backtracked to this.



Ault Pools. It happened that one of the owners was outside and we talked with them a little about why we had stopped and the misconception it was "adult pools". Amusing for sure.

Slightly blurry but Mail Pouch barns do count.



We're going to visit the Moth Man so that requires heading to Point Pleasant, WV.






Ultimately we're making our annual pilgrimage to Hillbilly Hot Dogs but we'll hit a few more murals on the way in Huntington.




Shortly before Hillbilly Hot Dogs we come across this.



The only all pink Susan G Komen breast cancer mural painted.

After lunch we'll head back to the hotel by way of Athens, OH home of Ohio State University. Traffic sucked, I guess they had an event going on and it was brutal. We were thankful Don had bailed as I would have felt bad subjecting him to this section.




Tired of traffic this was the end of today's hunt.