A Tour of Susquehanna River Rivalries, by Aston Martin

[EVR]

Rick F. said:

EVR,

Thanks--it's always great to be missed!

I've done seven tours with my Aston, as reported here on PistonHeads. But I've done another 100+ tours with my BMW 335i and prior BMW Z4, BMW R1200GS, and BMW F650CS. If you'd like to check out any of these other reports see rsftripreporter.net. Even if you're not into non-Aston adventures, these reports are a proven cure for insomnia!

Rick

Thank you for the link, bookmarked it right way. Stay safe out there!

[Jon39]

Another wonderful story Rick. Thank you for a brilliant and absorbing post.

I do hope you won't mind me making a suggestion.
Have you thought of starting a fresh topic, then copy/paste each episode of your travel stories into a single glorious documentary topic? Your future journeys could then be continued on that same topic, instead of each one being separate.
The more recent Aston Martin PHers, would then easily be able to read all of your 'chapters'.

As you clearly have a love of history, I expect you have researched your own family ancestory. Are your early roots perhaps in the United Kingdom?

Your red colour Vantage is just perfect for your photographs.



( PS. I cannot make your link work. )

Edited by Jon39 on Wednesday 21st October 14:05

[8Speed]

Rick F. said:

8Speed said:

Just a terrific account - thank you!

8Speed,

Super, thanks much!

Out of curiosity, what do you drive that has an 8-speed transmission? (Or do you own two cars with 4-speeds? )

Rick

Hi Rick,

I have a V8V (same colour as yours), a TVR Griffith 500 (V8), 5 series BMW with 8 speed sports auto g/box - so there are a lot of 8s in there

All the best,
8Sp

[EVR]

Jon39 said:

(PS. I cannot make your link work.)

I can help here, adding https:// in front of it worked: https://rsftripreporter.net

[Rick F.]

EVR said:

Thank you for the link, bookmarked it right way. Stay safe out there!

EVR,

Oops, as noted below, I neglected to include the "http://" in the link to my website. PistonHeads needs that piece for the link to work.

Rick

[Rick F.]

Jon39 said:

Another wonderful story Rick. Thank you for a brilliant and absorbing post.

I do hope you won't mind me making a suggestion.
Have you thought of starting a fresh topic, then copy/paste each episode of your travel stories into a single glorious documentary topic? Your future journeys could then be continued on that same topic, instead of each one being separate.
The more recent Aston Martin PHers, would then easily be able to read all of your 'chapters'.

As you clearly have a love of history, I expect you have researched your own family ancestory. Are your early roots perhaps in the United Kingdom?

Your red colour Vantage is just perfect for your photographs.



( PS. I cannot make your link work. )

Edited by Jon39 on Wednesday 21st October 14:05

Jon,

Thanks much--I'm glad you enjoyed the write-up!

Thanks for the suggestion about combining past reports with each new one. It would be nice to have them all in one place on PistonHeads, especially since the older ones can be difficult to locate by searching. I'll see what I can do!

As for my ancestry, your hypothesis is indeed correct. Back in 1637, two brothers named Walter Deane and John Deane left Taunton, England and sailed to America. The brothers, and 18 other emigres, founded Taunton, Massachusetts in colonial America. Sometime during the course of history, "Deane" became "Dean" (generally), and then later a Dean woman married a Foster, and the Foster branch was born.

My grandfather, Dean Foster, commissioned a thorough genealogy of the Deane descendants in America. For good measure, he named his two sons Walter Dean Foster (my father) and John Dean Foster. And the name Foster is itself a good English name, being a derivative of "forester."

I've visited Taunton, Massachusetts, but the closest I've come to Taunton, England was Lyme Regis in 1984 and Lynton/Lynmouth in 2006. I'll get there one of these (post-covid) years!

Finally, as EVR pointed out above, I neglected to include "http://" in the URL for my website. This one will work: http://rsftripreporter.net.

Thanks again,

Rick

[Rick F.]

8Speed said:

Hi Rick,

I have a V8V (same colour as yours), a TVR Griffith 500 (V8), 5 series BMW with 8 speed sports auto g/box - so there are a lot of 8s in there

All the best,
8Sp

8Speed,

That sounds like an excellent collection! I've always admired TVR's, although I've also always been a little afraid of them. Back in college, at an autocross on a dirt road course in rural Ohio, I watched as a Griffith 200 went end over end in a tricky section where I had nearly spun my MG Midget. Of course, that Griffith wasn't a proper TVR, but the company has always continued the tradition of big horsepower in a lightweight car.

The driver of the Griffith 200 at the autocross was fine, thankfully. The car, less so. Enjoy your 500--I think it's the best-looking of all the TVR's!

Rick

[LTP]

Great post Rick and some wonderful photos and back-stories. I also love exploring industrial archaeology and your car looks spectacular against some of the backdrops.

Can I ask what you take the photos with?

[8Speed]

Rick F. said:

8Speed,

That sounds like an excellent collection! I've always admired TVR's, although I've also always been a little afraid of them. Back in college, at an autocross on a dirt road course in rural Ohio, I watched as a Griffith 200 went end over end in a tricky section where I had nearly spun my MG Midget. Of course, that Griffith wasn't a proper TVR, but the company has always continued the tradition of big horsepower in a lightweight car.

The driver of the Griffith 200 at the autocross was fine, thankfully. The car, less so. Enjoy your 500--I think it's the best-looking of all the TVR's!

Rick

I haven't tried autocrossing my TVR - and I probably won't!

[Soloman Dodd]

That was a delightful read, thank you for putting the time and effort in, it's appreciated.

[Rick F.]

LTP said:

Great post Rick and some wonderful photos and back-stories. I also love exploring industrial archaeology and your car looks spectacular against some of the backdrops.

Can I ask what you take the photos with?

LTP,

Thanks! It's great to get out and find what's left of industry from days gone by. In some places, like the New Jersey Pine Barrens in the U.S., there are several layers of it. First there was primitive iron mining, then glass manufacturing, then textiles, next ammunition production for World War I, and most recently blueberries.

As for the photos, I use a Sony α6300 digital camera. It has good resolution and is fairly lightweight. I generally take three exposures for each picture, at –2, 0, and +2 stops, and then combine them using the Photomatix Pro HDR software from http://hdrsoft.com. (Later iPhones have HDR software built into their cameras, as do some digital cameras including the Sony α6300. Doing high dynamic range photos "from scratch" provides a lot more control.)

Using HDR allows you to better reproduce what your eye sees by providing more photo details in very dark and very light areas. It is easy, however, to get carried away with it, as I often do.

Rick

[Rick F.]

Soloman Dodd said:

That was a delightful read, thank you for putting the time and effort in, it's appreciated.

Soloman,

You're quite welcome, and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Fortunately, searching for lost and forgotten places is a good way to stay socially distant while still getting out and about.

Rick