FREE WHEELIN’

FREE WHEELIN’

BRIAN RATHJEN

Going, Going Gone!

There are these places that, for any number of reasons, become motorcycle magnets. Usually, some sort of eatery that attracts riders like a moth to the ame. A place to gather, to kick tires, to be riders.

But sadly, over the last number of years, these local two-wheeled stomping grounds, have been fading away.

Being told not to be socially adaptable last year did not help the atmosphere.

Just a few days back a demolition team hired by Wawa began slowly pulling down The Chatterbox in northwest New Jersey, just a few miles from our

home and Backroads Central. Like a friend in long-term hospice we all knew this was going to happen, but that never meant that riding by this once happy and now empty place did not bring a tinge of sadness.

For so many years we’d ride over to the Chatterbox; sometimes it was Thursday Bike Night and we even were in charge of picking the Motorcycle of the Week for a bit, giving a cheesy t-shirt as a prize. Sometimes it was to meet my mother as she was heading to my brother’s home. It was more or less halfway and I treasure and surely miss each one of those.

Sometimes it was just for a great cheesesteak or fried chicken, at which they excelled.

But no more.

Don Hall, the owner, took an offer he could not refuse from WaWa in 2018, and here we are, all these years later, riding over to watch this unique and, at least in my mind, memorable landmark being torn down to build a Wawa across from the Quick-Check that went up a few years back.

Brilliant.

So, once again we lose a great motorcycle venue. A place to gather, to kick tires, to be riders.

Many of us have been around for a bit of time so the list has gotten longer over the years.

Here in our neck of the woods; The Red Apple Rest in South elds, New York rst comes to mind. For so many years it was the home to the celebrated the northeast two-day rally The Ramapo 500 – where Backroads had its debut.

But years ago…. Faded away.

The Red Apple was closed in September 2006 because, according to signs in the window and a telephone answering machine message, “we went away for a graduation and vacation.” The restaurant never reopened. It was condemned on Jan. 23 of 2007. For nearly a decade and a half, it has sat there abandoned. A sad reminder of so many happy gatherings each time we ride by. Is it worse when absolutely Continued on Page 10