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[Updated: 10.25.08]
Saturday & Sunday ~ October 18 & 19, 2008
I think we'll blame this one on Bill "Pop N Fresh" Wetzel... He was, after all, the one who started the "oyster festival" thread on GL1800Riders... Then it assumed a life of its own in "MID-ATLANTIC MOB Lead Pencil Run".
Here are the details:
A GoogleMaps link to all the important locations:
The location of the motorcycle shop where several of us are meeting prior to the start of the festivities (Dan "motovation" Kenney, Will "Margarita Will" Waag, Tom "tjshelton" Shelton & Carl "captcarl" Leuba:
Motovation Cycles
30440 Potomac WayCharlotte Hall, MD 20622
(301) 472-1811
N38 30.304 W76 46.364
Right now it looks like a group of people will be departing from Wheels' (not his real name) house around 9:00a.m., while "Margarita Will" & "captcarl" will be heading straight down to Motovation Cycles to have Will's lower cowl re-mounted. Tom Shelton & Dan Kenney will be meeting them there...
- Because Tom only lives about 15 miles away, and...
- Because Dan owns the shop and will be there anyway...
From there... Who knows? Chances are better than average that we'll be heading over to the hotel first to see if we can check in early, then off to the fairgrounds to gorge ourselves on Crassostrea virginicus, A/K/A the eastern oyster!
And did you know that the Crassostrea virginicus is the state shell of Connecticut, Mississippi & Virginia? (Are you kidding me?!?! That's the best they could do?!?!)
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"captcarl" and I got down to Motovation about 9:00a.m. and A.J. and George (on crutches) showed up shortly afterward. A.J. started movin' the bikes out of the shop so they could get to the lifts and George opened up the office and got the coffee brewing. (Thanks, George!)
I don't remember what time Dave showed up, but he started working on my bike around 9:45a.m. and finished before Wheels and crew showed up - around 10:30a.m.
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I have no idea what Nancy is doing with Wheels' antennas, but it seems to be amusing her... |
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Mingling...
Left to right: "captcarl", Nancy, "Pop N Fresh", "Patti Crocker", Tom (in the distance), Roger & "HONDA JOHN"
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I'm not sure what Nancy's saying to "Patti Crocker" here, but I think it might have something to do with saving the cookies for later...
(Move your mouse over the picture...)
If I remember correctly, "Blondie" was the last one to join us, then we headed over to the hotel where "BlkPirate" was supposed to join us...
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More mingling ensued while waiting for BlkPirate
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Once BlkPirate showed up, we mounted up and headed over to the Oyster Festival...
Clicking on the image will open a 1024x768 version in a new window
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Who should we run into at the Oyster Festival, but "Jim n Judy" from Ohio!
We had no idea they were coming!
We also ran into Superjett. He hadn't confirmed he was coming, but his comments on the board led us to believe that he'd show...
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One of the first sights that greeted us when we entered the festival grounds...
Mmmm... Barbecue!
"Superjett" insisted I get a picture of this smokey goodness... Too bad this web page ain't "scratch 'n' sniff"!
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But that's not the reason we were here...
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This was the reason we were here...
After knockin' back a quick dozen to sorta "prime the pump", we were ready to hit the rest of the fest...
They don't call it an Oyster Festival for nothin'... They had oysters in every form known to man - oysters on the half shell, oyster stew, fried oysters, "scalded" oysters (anyone know what "scalded" oysters are?), grilled oysters, oyster shooters...
Heck... They even had oysters "to go"!
Then there was the National Oyster Shucking Contest and the Oyster Cook-Off...
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We'd died and gone to oyster heaven!
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I'm not sure who this guy is, but he looked... rather... Kingly...
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About 3:30p.m. we headed back to the hotel - overdosed on all things oyster and ready for the evenings "festivities" - starting with dinner at the Calypso Bay Crab House down on the end of Solomons Island...
120 Charles Street
Solomons Island, MD 20688
410-231-2275
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The evening started off innocently enough with some friendly banter and exchanging of pleasantries. Then the sun went down...
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Keep a close eye on this grill... It's gonna be the source of some conflict later...
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Dan Kenney promised a prize for the bike that'd traveled furthest to attend. "Jim n Judy" won that handily having ridden from Ohio, and came away with six LED pods to illuminate their bike. Thanks, Dan, that was really generous!
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Wheels had used Photoshop to abuse "Pop N Fresh". After which "Pop N Fresh" responded with a thinly veiled threat about carefully scrutinizing any baked goods that may happen to cross under his nose...
Observe... Apple pie on the left - real. Apple pie on the right - not so much... Looked good, smelled good, woulda tasted...
perhaps ever so slightly... waxy...
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Then it was Wheels' turn... In honor of approaching Halloween, he'd put together some "goody bags" containing all the items necessary to make...
The World's Smallest S'Mores!
Seriously, folks... He'd filled baggies with miniature marshmallows on toothpicks, miniature Hershey's chocolate bars, miniature graham crackers - and a cigarette lighter to create the gooey goodness!
Oh... And he'd also found some gummie candies in the shape of a left foot... (There's probably a cruel joke in there about
not being able to include the right foot due to it being in
his mouth, but I'm too big a man to go there...)
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Superjett brought raw clams & oysters and immediately began cranking out oyster shooters!
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The moment we'd all been waiting for...
A visit from the Great Pumpkin, himself!
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Then there was the "traditional" decorating of BlkPirate. (Not everyone knows that "BlkPirate" refers to the trike! Something about stealin' all Jerry's money...)
Notice in the second picture how well BlkPirate is "anchored" in reality... You'll never see a motorcycle parked outside a Psychiatrist's office!
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The next morning we packed up, checked out and rode over to Lenny's to meet Dan for breakfast
- and his planned ride.
Lenny's was right across the street from a Cheeseburger in Paradise.
It must have been a sign...
Of some sort...
For me...
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Lenny's breakfast buffett was pretty darn good!
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After ninety-two of the most scenic miles in Southern Maryland, it was time for our adventure to come to an end.
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I ended up getting home around 3:30p.m. - and I have no idea what that icing has to do with anything.
I mean it...
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Here's some information specifically about the 42nd Annual St. Mary's County Oyster Festival...
The "Official" Program:
An article about the St. Mary's County Oyster Festival from the St. Mary's County Guide 2008-2009
A book from Google Books on "How to Cook Shell Fish":
 Starting on page 155 (page 170 in the PDF) are two hundred and fifteen ways to cook oysters!
After visiting the St. Mary's Oyster Festival in 2008 I remembered I'd made an
omelet a long time ago that had oysters as an ingredient. I'd found the recipe online somewhere - but couldn't remember where...
So I looked for it again and found - the Hangtown Fry
The Hangtown Fry was an omelet "invented" during the California Gold Rush in the 1850s. Probably the most common version is made with eggs, oysters & bacon.
Popular legend says it was invented in Placerville, California - then known as "Hangtown" (A/K/A "Old Hangtown"). Apparently, "Old Hangtown" was famous for it's frontier justice during the gold rush period - hangings were frequent & popular!
Legend has it that a gold prospector who "struck it rich" headed in to town and stopped at the El Dorado Hotel in "Hangtown" and asked for the most expensive dish that the kitchen could whip up. Apparently, the most expensive ingredients available were eggs (they break easily and required careful transportation), bacon (reportedly shipped from the east coast) and oysters (which were shipped from San Francisco - over 100 miles away).
I don't know about the veracity of any of that, but I know that I enjoy the occasional Hangtown Fry, but as usual, I modified the recipe to suite my palate.
I make mine with oysters & bacon - as called for in the original recipe - but I like to add mushrooms (sauted in the bacon grease), jalapeņos & cheese - usually swiss cheese (Jarlsberg is easy to find in my area grocery stores).
Give it a shot - I think you'll like it! Information & Recipe Sources
And a book... Harold Wells Gulf Coast Fisherman - Cook's Guide - Oysters for the Fall
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