FJRiders.com

Awesome thread.

Did you collect Mural pictures in Florida when you went down there awhile ago? I know a few small towns have lots of them to attract tourist. Lake Placid, FL being one of them.

I am so impressed by the clarity and detail in so many of these murals.

danh600 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 4:07 pm Awesome thread.

Did you collect Mural pictures in Florida when you went down there awhile ago? I know a few small towns have lots of them to attract tourist. Lake Placid, FL being one of them.

No, this event started in 23, we were in FL in 22.

Dianne has proven herself to be a real trooper on our motorcycle trips but these are her vacations too so I've opted to make at least one day of this a more "touristy" day and we're going to ride over to Moundsville, WV to tour the former West Virginia State Penitentiary. Of course if we see any murals on the way......like this Mail Pouch barn.



Or this side wall of this car wash.



The tours are time scheduled so we get tickets for the next available tour but have some time to kill first. Moundsville was once the home of Marx Toys and at one time there was a toy museum here. A museum that happened to have a mural.



The penitentiary tour was quite interesting and I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys history. What I didn't expect was to find murals inside the prison. Like this one painted in their cafeteria and visiting area by a prisoner. I didn't take my rally placard in so no points but still a cool picture.



I had planned the ride back to Marietta to pass a couple of more murals but having Dianne along helps greatly with spotting murals I hadn't planned. Like this which she spotted on a side rode paralleling the main road.



Or this one that we rolled past on our way to the previous pic.



Or this one.



And another Mail Pouch barn.



And this one on the now closed Mexican restaurant close to the hotel.

All good things come to end and so did this weekend. We said our goodbyes in the morning and wished all of our friends safe travels before we mounted up to work our way back home. We left out early with plans for a scenic and hopefully mural filled ride back to reality.

Not far out of Marietta in Clarksburg, WV.




Then the small town of Bridgeport, WV



Grafton, WV for a "ghost" mural. Ghost murals are what people call these old, now faded ads from days gone by, often for products lost to time.



Then on into Maryland for this ghost mural.



And this barely visible ghost in Westernport, MD.



I imagine what these must have looked like when they were fresh. Imagine what these small towns must have looked like back then as well. We pass back into West Virginia and the town of Keyser.





Then back into Maryland and the city of Cumberland.





Finally stowing the camera and heading home.

The next Sunday I have a few hours to spare so I go pick up some outliers that I've learned about.

This one is on the side wall of an auto body shop not far from my work. I spotted it when a coworker and I went for lunch one day to meet a vendor we deal with.



This one we passed recently while in the car.



Wall of a storage shed in someone's yard.



The following Saturday I pick up this one in York. A recent addition shared by a friend.



Sunday finds me back in Maryland, in Frederick this time.





Next weekend will be Memorial Day weekend and extra mural hunting time.

Saturday turns out to be a near perfect riding day. Sunshine, clear blue skies, and if all goes well, not much traffic! That last part remains to be seen. It's time to expand my reach and Delaware is the next closest opportunity.

I used the parking lot of this used car dealership in order to get my bike in the picture.



Moving into Newark, DE.




This old record store was interesting. Shame I sold off all of my vinyl years ago.



Art supply store at the end of a strip mall.



A few miles later I'm back in Maryland in the small town of Elkton. In addition to some murals there are quite a few fiberglass elk painted in various designs around town as another public art installation.





The town of Northeast, MD lies close to the Chesepeake and is something of a tourist attraction with several nice restaurants.



Finally, on my ride home I stumble across this, a mural I'd never noticed before yet I've been down this road countless times.

In the beginning of this report I mentioned that I had never heard of this group before but I did know some of the other riders signed up which eased my mind on spending the money. A few of those folks were Martin Cover, his daughter and son in law Steven and Lisa Rufo. I have competed with the three in long distance rallies with Marty and his daughter Lisa both being Iron Butt Rally finishers. This trio along with Lisa's daughter Molly all had spots in the 2023 Iron Butt Rally and were using the mural hunt as practice on bonus hunting, photography, planning, and timing. Unfortunately Marty was in a motorcycle accident in April when a truck in front of him on I-95 lost a driveshaft which he was unable to avoid. Marty went down, his BMW GS was destroyed, and he was left with multiple broken ribs and a collarbone that now looks like a hardware store. Lisa's husband Steven is a career employee for VW and I had sent them this picture knowing they would want to go see it.



This pic lead to an exchange of mural locations amongst us with Lisa providing me with locations around Baltimore and Annapolis totaling between 200-250 murals I had not yet found and an invite to breakfast for Sunday of Memorial weekend at their favorite breakfast spot in Annapolis. Dianne and I got up ungodly early for a holiday weekend and rode 2 hours to meet the group. Of course we had to ride passed a few murals on the way.

Downtown Annapolis, MD






This one is on the wall of the restaurant we're meeting at. On the way in we spy some other long distance friends who are here from New York state.



We spend a couple of hours reconnecting and offering Marty our sympathy as he is out of the rally and won't be able to ride for at least 3 more months. They had hoped to be the first 3 generation family to finish the Iron Butt Rally riding as a team. Marty plans on being back for the 2025 Rally at which point if he can finish he will be the oldest finisher on record at 80 years old. I seriously want to be this man when I grow up. After breakfast it's time to gather what we can before the day gets too hot.










By this time in the afternoon it's getting plenty warm and most of this is in the city. It's time to get home before Dianne melts in this heat.

Dianne opts to stay home Monday and just relax but wishes me happy hunting as I decide to head North in search of cooler temps and colorful murals. First stop is a small town a few hours away and a mural for a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient.

https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/anthony-p-damato



I've purposely chosen some locations as a way to pay my respects to the people immortalized in paint. I'm having a lot of fun doing this but in many cases these murals represent people who had their fun cut short, usually through nothing they did wrong. I rode passed this on on my way to the above site.



This was as far north as I planned on going today so now I'll work my way home with stops along the way. Like in Hazleton, PA.





The garage door of the Lansford, PA fire department.




Down the road in Coaldale, PA. This is a bus shelter for school kids and also serves as a bit of propaganda for the mine owners.



While I'm here I realize I've been here before during another event. There is a memorial within walking distance to Mother Jones and early advocate for the miner's unions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Jones

Further south the town of Tamaqua, PA




Then on into Pottsville, PA.



For my beer drinking friend this is at Yuengling Brewery.



Hamburg, PA






And this place, another one I just spotted as I rode passed.



Another decent day of hunting.

June already and I'm well underway with the mural challenge. The first Sunday of the month and I need to head back to Reading, PA since my first trip there got rained out before I could finish. I skip the turnpike in favor of a different route. As many times as I'd taken this way I'd never noticed this before.



Not sure how long that big Adirondack chair has been there. Not far down the road I spy another mural.



Later a Mail Pouch Tobacco barn.



Eventually I make it to West Reading and get started.






Moving on to Kutztown, PA for these. If this first one has a familiar style, Keith Haring lived in Kutztown at one time.




I rode through Boyertown, PA working my way home.



From chatter on the GLMC discussion board I see that some riders are sending email submissions as they go while others are using a hosting site and planning to submit them all at the end. The rally master suggests to anyone holding them until the end that it would be appreciated if we would submit them in block so he might review the photos as he has time because looking at hundreds of submissions all at once could result in scoring errors and/or overloading him with too much all at once. I close the SmugMug gallery for the dates January 1 to June 6 and send him the link. I get credit for 485 murals of the 490 I submitted.

The next weekend I decide to make use of the list of locations Lisa Rufo had shared with me for the Baltimore, MD area. I'd already researched some in the Towson, MD area and plan a route going first to Towson then on into Baltimore. I know there are some sections of Baltimore I would prefer to avoid but Sunday mornings are likely to be pretty quiet so get in and get out is my plan.

Towson






On the way towards Baltimore.











These are only a portion of what I visit. Some are only a block or two apart and I begin to violate one of my own rules and stop putting my gloves on between stops. In some cases I can see my next mural from the one I stop at but it's over 100 yards away.





This is on the side of a bait and tackle shop. Fitting location for it.



A little bit later at a seafood restaurant.



At the area fire house and police station heading out of Baltimore. Another fitting design.



Heading home before it gets any warmer, I have no idea how many I've bagged today. I grab a few more on the outskirts before hopping on the interstate and calling it a day.




At home I tally up 39 more murals in about 6 hours and under 200 miles of riding.

I have plans for the next weekend that actually don't include murals. SpinninProp and myself are off for an Iron Butt ride. I'm doing a Memorial Saddlesore for a former coworker and friend who passed away and he's tagging along to do his first official Iron Butt ride to get his IBA membership number. Not many pictures but we submitted and got approval on both a Saddlesore 1000 and a Bun Burner 1500 all on one ride. We went here.



Then straight to here.



And stopped by here on our way home.




We actually rode ride past several murals in Michigan and Ohio that weekend. Hugh offered to stop but I felt the Iron Butt ride was the first priority and didn't want to jeopardize that. Besides, I knew I'd get back in the hunt next week. I'd barely scratched the surface in Baltimore so I head back but this time from a different direction.








Next weekend will be a holiday weekend so I can make up for any "lost time" and snag a bunch

July 4th will be on Tuesday so Dianne and I each schedule a vacation day on Monday and are going to enjoy a 4 day weekend. Some of that will obviously include mural hunting and Dianne opts to go along. I figure it's time to head to another as yet unvisited area, Virginia. This first stop, a barbecue place looks inviting but it's early so they're not serving just yet.



We're heading into Winchester, VA the birthplace of Patsy Cline but stop along the way for these.





Finally getting to the "official" mural.



Leaving town we spy this on the side of a Mexican restaurant.



Strasburg, VA offers up these works of art.






Then on to Front Royal, VA and these.






We're gradually working our way back home but keeping our eyes open stumble across this on the side of a skating rink.



We cross the state line into West Virginia and the city of Charles Town to find these.




A stop in Harper's Ferry, WV yields this.



Then across a river into Maryland and the town of Brunswick.



Finally passing through Frederick, MD on the stretch home.

As a person who is really not enthralled by art, I really enjoy these. Maybe I have just not been exposed to this much. We have a few murals around here, but most of them are very long in the tooth and need major work. Thanks for putting them together. Keep on snagging them.

I take Sunday off but head out on Monday on a solo mission. I'm going through some areas I've already covered but simply taking different routes to get there often shows me things I had not seen before. This sometimes was as simple as heading west on a route I normally would head east on so I simply saw the other side of a building than I would have before.

Chambersburg, PA is a good example. Never saw these in my previous visits.





I'm also following another barn quilt mural trail, this time in Fulton County PA. I only recently stumbled across this one, almost 200 listings but they range is sizes of 2x2, 4x4, and 8x8 so only the biggest will work. Lots of disappointments followed by scattered rewards.






And the occasional "look what I found" moments.



Like another Mexican restaurant.



I still have tomorrow to go hunting so I wrap it up and head for home.

From where Dianne and I live in PA if you don't like the weather it's not too difficult to go somewhere warmer or cooler as needed. Too cold? Driving as little as 60-90 minutes south it can easily be up to 10 degrees warmer. Too hot? Head for the mountains less than 2 hours north to cool it off up to 10 degrees. It's July and the humidity is almost as high as the temps so I'm heading north to hopefully find some cooler temps and some cool murals. I hadn't gone this far before but my first stops are in Williamsport, PA home of the Little League World Series.





If you zoom in there is a priest on a Harley in the corner of this mural. This mural encompasses 3 walls from ground to roof surrounding a parking lot.




I decided from here to go to school. Not exactly school but the home of Penn State University in State College, PA. Real genius with that town name. You can recognize Joe Paterno near the center of this first mural.





Side wall of the college bookstore. They'd had a parade early this morning so when I rolled into town some roads were just being reopened.




Heading for home I get one more at the PA Military Museum in Boalsburg.

Like I said earlier, by this time coworkers and friends are pointing out new murals I hadn't yet discovered. York is getting it's very first "Dave's Hot Chicken" and apparently these locations feature murals. This one is on the wall that sort of hides the dumpster and acts as a barrier for the drive thru lane. Early Sunday morning they're not open for business just yet allowing me to do this.



Another Mexican restaurant, El Rodeo. this must be a regional chain as the location in Carlisle also had a mural similar to this one.



Inner city projects. Not a place I would normally ride around. Mosaic tile mural is pretty cool.



Same part of the city.




Near York College.



Old business.



Every time I feel I should be done in this area someone shows me a part of the city I've somehow missed.

Time to make like that band from the 70's and Head East. Further east than I'd traveled to this point, Easton, PA and as far as I can go in the state. Easton is the hometown of Crayola which you'll see soon. First I found these.




One of my favorites from this entire event.



Tucked away in an alley.




This one was on the exit/entrance ramp of a pretty busy interchange and I had to circle around to get where I needed to be for this one.



Leaving here I head to Bethlehem, PA for my next stops.






Next the town made famous in a Billy Joel song, Allentown.







A fitting mural for the inner city dog park.





Some stragglers on my way home.




Finally for the day, not a Mail Pouch barn but......

Some of the PA riders on ADVRider.com have put together a RTE to take place today at a barbecue joint north of Johnstown, PA and I agreed that if I could drag myself out of bed early enough I would try to make it. I can cover that distance in roughly 3 hours but that's going straight there and not stopping to take a bunch of pictures on the way. I'm out of bed in time and plot a route that's anything but direct. My boss has a cabin near Lake Raystown and has mentioned some murals in the area so I'll head that way first.

At the drive thru of a very old Dairy Queen.



An old Mack Truck repair shop. Rather primitive likeness



On the walking trail of the city park. Thankfully no one is there so I ride my bike down the walking trail.



Rear wall of an antique shop my boss and his wife go to sometimes. He tells me Monday he'd never seen this one. He's not the most observant.



Another PA beer distributorship.



Hollidaysburg, PA courthouse wall, back entrance.



Ebensburg, PA




After meeting up with some other riders it's determined I rode the furthest to get here at 170 miles before lunch. It was fun putting some faces to the forum handles. Weather is starting to look like rain so I cut out as I have more stops to make on the way home.

Altoona, PA




Then some odd barn quilt murals as I come across them.

The next weekend I head back into Delaware, this time towards Wilmington which really isn't that far from Philadelphia, PA. As has become my habit each time out I try to find a different route which often leads to finding murals I might not have found. This one is on the road side of a grocery store in a strip mall setting.



Murals on water towers count too.




In downtown Wilmington.









Temps getting warmer especially in the city I wrap it up and head for home.