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Work trip, part 2
Jul. 5th, 2004 07:28 pmI'm home.
Last Tuesday it rained in the morning so the two local riders dropped out of our plan to go to that bike night. It had stopped raining by lunchtime but they were at work in their cars and just not interested in going home to fetch their bikes. Joe (the rider from PA) and I went to the bike night for a little while but it was all Harleys. He was hungry so we went for food, and then split up. I went back to the bike night to see if any more interesting bikes had arrived but it was still mostly Harleys. They had a DJ and a couple of scantily clad women up on stage, drawing raffle tickets. I saw a couple of nice Ducatis but mostly it was a cruiser crowd.
Wednesday night I had a nice dinner, and played with bikes, with a couple of guys from the V-Strom group, Rich and Bob. Bob has a lovely home and nice family, but his DL650 has issues. His ankle is getting better, and he may soon be investing in a plastic welder.
Thursday night at the laundromat I met a BMW rider who was leaving the next day for a big BMW rally, I forget which one. Then he was going to go to Parry Sound. Told him I might see him there.
I had three days to get home. Even going by way of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dagibbs's cabin, why get on the slab?
Route 2 across Massachusetts was familiar; I've ridden that area a couple of times. I didn't get very far at all, since I had been at work until 5:30, then I had stopped at the Acton Motomarket to see if they had anything I simply must own.
It wasn't dark yet but I figured I'd better get rooms early, since it was a holiday weekend and all. So I found a nice motel in a forest, next to a river, with a restaurant right next to it. At $65, it was more than I like to pay for such places but I think I can get away with expensing it.
It was about this time I realized I'd forgotten to print the directions to David's cabin. I had gotten the link from him while I was online at the hotel earlier in the week, but I didn't open these directions because the hotel connection was so slow. I figured I'd open them at the office and print them there. Then I forgot. Now I was out on the road without them. I started watching for a place offering wireless internet.
Saturday morning I saw a TDM! They're even rarer than V-Stroms. It was stopped, so I stopped and talked to the rider a bit. The bike was in sad shape. It had leaking fork seals and leaking oil and leaking coolant, and some of the bodywork was missing.
I went to Saratoga Springs NY and banged on my friend Joey T's door, to see if I could use his internet connection and printer. But he wasn't home. Saratoga Springs was a madhouse. Not unexpected since it is a tourist town on a holiday weekend, but it was just nuts. I can see why Joey had gotten the heck outta town!
I had another problem, which was a dire shortage of cash. I forgot to go to the bank before I left home. D'oh! I had credit cards and about $30 cash. I decided to avoid toll roads. They're boring anyway. But dashing off into the hinterlands with just credit cards isn't always the wisest thing either. I decided not to go roaming around Quebec hunting for the cabin without any directions. I've been there beofre but it's been a long time and I can't even recall how to get across the river and out of Ottawa.
So from Saratoga Springs I went west, then southwest. I found lots of neat twisty roads. I saw skydivers, and a closed up ski resort, and a lot of other motorcycles, and some fairly empty mountain roads. I didn't travel very fast at all. I crossed into Pennsylvania and got a motel somewhere north of Scranton. The Indian family that owned it was setting off quite the fireworks display in the parking lot. Fun!
On Sunday I got on US 6 west and took it most of the way across Pennsylvania. I took a bunch of detours, though, whenever I saw anything that looked interesting.
I had breakfast at a roadside diner where I sat at the counter next to a Goldwing rider who told me he'd owned at least 50 different bikes. He was up there to put flowers on his parent's grave; his dad would have been 100 years old this week. He kept talking about various Katanas that friends of his had owned. I think he had confused the DL1000 with the Katana. (He hadn't seen my bike; it was parked out of sight.) His sons and one of his daughters in law also rode, and he told me all about all their bikes. He told me about a bridge near Binghamton that I simply must see, but I didn't go and see it. I will check it out another time.
I went through a small town that had big banners up saying "Welcome Pride Ride" in multicolored lettering and I wondered. Turned out that this was not the rainbow colored pride which I am more familiar with. Instead it was some kind of gigantic toy run. There were hundreds of bikes parked in this town. I checked out the bikes for a little while, but didn't see any other V-Stroms. I did see one Sabmag, a V45 Magna with horribly weatherchecked tires. I wonder how many of these people get their bikes out just once a year, for this event?
I talked to a guy in an orange vest and learned about the ride and that they were going the same way I was. So I made sure to leave before they did. I would hate to spend the next two hours riding behind a horde of slow moving straight piped Harleys, and in such a mob I'm sure there would be enough squirrelly riders that any passing at all would be pretty dangerous.
As I passed through the next half dozen tiny towns, the roadsides were lined with families in lawn chairs, and the kids waved madly at me and kept motioning for me to do wheelies. I suppose they thought I was one of the first riders and that the hoard would be along behind me shortly. I wonder if riders in this Pride Ride actually do wheelies for them? That would be such a safety hazard, in a slow moving mob like that. I was glad I'd gotten out ahead of them, though it was fun to get waved to. I can see the allure of riding in an event like this, where the locals would all turn out and cheer. The waving kids were cute and I made sure to wave back.
I stopped at the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. It reminded me of the New River Gorge. Very beautiful. And the roads around there were sweet. I would like to go there again sometime and stay a few days to explore.
I saw another V-Strom, a blue DL650.
The land flattened out and I was in Ohio. It was getting dark. I stopped for dinner and made some calls but couldn't find any of my usual Ohio riding companions. I thought about heading down to my usual motel in SE Ohio for the night, but they don't take credit cards. And I was tired. So I got on the slab towards home. Watched the fireworks all along the way, got rained on a little bit, and got home a little after midnight.
Last Tuesday it rained in the morning so the two local riders dropped out of our plan to go to that bike night. It had stopped raining by lunchtime but they were at work in their cars and just not interested in going home to fetch their bikes. Joe (the rider from PA) and I went to the bike night for a little while but it was all Harleys. He was hungry so we went for food, and then split up. I went back to the bike night to see if any more interesting bikes had arrived but it was still mostly Harleys. They had a DJ and a couple of scantily clad women up on stage, drawing raffle tickets. I saw a couple of nice Ducatis but mostly it was a cruiser crowd.
Wednesday night I had a nice dinner, and played with bikes, with a couple of guys from the V-Strom group, Rich and Bob. Bob has a lovely home and nice family, but his DL650 has issues. His ankle is getting better, and he may soon be investing in a plastic welder.
Thursday night at the laundromat I met a BMW rider who was leaving the next day for a big BMW rally, I forget which one. Then he was going to go to Parry Sound. Told him I might see him there.
I had three days to get home. Even going by way of
dagibbs's cabin, why get on the slab?Route 2 across Massachusetts was familiar; I've ridden that area a couple of times. I didn't get very far at all, since I had been at work until 5:30, then I had stopped at the Acton Motomarket to see if they had anything I simply must own.
It wasn't dark yet but I figured I'd better get rooms early, since it was a holiday weekend and all. So I found a nice motel in a forest, next to a river, with a restaurant right next to it. At $65, it was more than I like to pay for such places but I think I can get away with expensing it.
It was about this time I realized I'd forgotten to print the directions to David's cabin. I had gotten the link from him while I was online at the hotel earlier in the week, but I didn't open these directions because the hotel connection was so slow. I figured I'd open them at the office and print them there. Then I forgot. Now I was out on the road without them. I started watching for a place offering wireless internet.
Saturday morning I saw a TDM! They're even rarer than V-Stroms. It was stopped, so I stopped and talked to the rider a bit. The bike was in sad shape. It had leaking fork seals and leaking oil and leaking coolant, and some of the bodywork was missing.
I went to Saratoga Springs NY and banged on my friend Joey T's door, to see if I could use his internet connection and printer. But he wasn't home. Saratoga Springs was a madhouse. Not unexpected since it is a tourist town on a holiday weekend, but it was just nuts. I can see why Joey had gotten the heck outta town!
I had another problem, which was a dire shortage of cash. I forgot to go to the bank before I left home. D'oh! I had credit cards and about $30 cash. I decided to avoid toll roads. They're boring anyway. But dashing off into the hinterlands with just credit cards isn't always the wisest thing either. I decided not to go roaming around Quebec hunting for the cabin without any directions. I've been there beofre but it's been a long time and I can't even recall how to get across the river and out of Ottawa.
So from Saratoga Springs I went west, then southwest. I found lots of neat twisty roads. I saw skydivers, and a closed up ski resort, and a lot of other motorcycles, and some fairly empty mountain roads. I didn't travel very fast at all. I crossed into Pennsylvania and got a motel somewhere north of Scranton. The Indian family that owned it was setting off quite the fireworks display in the parking lot. Fun!
On Sunday I got on US 6 west and took it most of the way across Pennsylvania. I took a bunch of detours, though, whenever I saw anything that looked interesting.
I had breakfast at a roadside diner where I sat at the counter next to a Goldwing rider who told me he'd owned at least 50 different bikes. He was up there to put flowers on his parent's grave; his dad would have been 100 years old this week. He kept talking about various Katanas that friends of his had owned. I think he had confused the DL1000 with the Katana. (He hadn't seen my bike; it was parked out of sight.) His sons and one of his daughters in law also rode, and he told me all about all their bikes. He told me about a bridge near Binghamton that I simply must see, but I didn't go and see it. I will check it out another time.
I went through a small town that had big banners up saying "Welcome Pride Ride" in multicolored lettering and I wondered. Turned out that this was not the rainbow colored pride which I am more familiar with. Instead it was some kind of gigantic toy run. There were hundreds of bikes parked in this town. I checked out the bikes for a little while, but didn't see any other V-Stroms. I did see one Sabmag, a V45 Magna with horribly weatherchecked tires. I wonder how many of these people get their bikes out just once a year, for this event?
I talked to a guy in an orange vest and learned about the ride and that they were going the same way I was. So I made sure to leave before they did. I would hate to spend the next two hours riding behind a horde of slow moving straight piped Harleys, and in such a mob I'm sure there would be enough squirrelly riders that any passing at all would be pretty dangerous.
As I passed through the next half dozen tiny towns, the roadsides were lined with families in lawn chairs, and the kids waved madly at me and kept motioning for me to do wheelies. I suppose they thought I was one of the first riders and that the hoard would be along behind me shortly. I wonder if riders in this Pride Ride actually do wheelies for them? That would be such a safety hazard, in a slow moving mob like that. I was glad I'd gotten out ahead of them, though it was fun to get waved to. I can see the allure of riding in an event like this, where the locals would all turn out and cheer. The waving kids were cute and I made sure to wave back.
I stopped at the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. It reminded me of the New River Gorge. Very beautiful. And the roads around there were sweet. I would like to go there again sometime and stay a few days to explore.
I saw another V-Strom, a blue DL650.
The land flattened out and I was in Ohio. It was getting dark. I stopped for dinner and made some calls but couldn't find any of my usual Ohio riding companions. I thought about heading down to my usual motel in SE Ohio for the night, but they don't take credit cards. And I was tired. So I got on the slab towards home. Watched the fireworks all along the way, got rained on a little bit, and got home a little after midnight.
