DAY
16, MONDAY, JUNE 17, 2013
I woke up at 6 AM and couldn’t get back to sleep. I heard Ken get up and start getting
dressed. I waited for the alarm to sound
and I turned it off. Ken was dressed
before I was and he took a couple of bags out to his Motor. I finally finished and took a couple of bags
also. I then went into the breakfast
area and no one else was in there. I served
myself and then the others came in. We
all ate and C.E. needed to check a couple of businesses in the area that could
fix his front tire. He said that he felt
the wheel wobble at freeway speeds and wanted someone to take a look at the
balance of the tire. We contacted a shop
that would check the front tire in E. Montpelier, VT. They were open and would do the work as soon
as we got in. C.E. gave me the phone to
talk with the gentleman to get directions to the shop. I told the guys and we all finished packing
our Motors and left at 8:37 AM.
The shop wasn’t very far from where we were staying. We rode for 35 miles and arrived at Gilles
Marine Sales & Service in E. Montpelier at 9:21 AM. C.E. immediately rode into the service
department and they took it in right away.
As we were waiting, we looked at the few toys that were in the sales
department. J.B. and I bought a couple
of items that we needed. The Trike was
rolled out and we were ready to ride as soon as C.E. “paid the man.” We left at 10:06 AM.
We rode on Highway 2 West until we arrived at Highway
100, which, by the map, is a green dotted road.
It was very scenic with twisties and the road was very good. We rode it for a while and then turned onto
Highway 17. We rode through a small town
named Waitsfield where a good friend of my Daughter, Lori, has her own
Chiropractor business. I am very sorry
that we didn’t stop to get adjusted!
Sorry Dr. Corin, maybe next time!
It would have been nice to see you again. We rode for 49 miles and stopped in Bristol,
VT at 11:14 AM for gas. We stayed for a
little while and enjoyed the weather as we drank our coffee, pop, water, pit
stop, coffee, pit stop…you get the picture!
It was too early for lunch so we left at 11:46 AM.
Bruce was in the lead now. We were headed to Crown Point,
VT to cross over into Crown Point, NY.
We followed Highway 17 until we got to Highway 22A and went south. Chuck was third in line and soon, Chuck
turned into a parking lot in Bridport at 12:14 PM, after riding 21 miles. Bruce and J.B. continued a short way, made a
u-turn and joined the Group. Chuck felt
like Bruce had missed the turn. A quick
check with the map showed that, yes, Bruce did miss the turn. We left at 12:17 PM.
We headed back north for about a mile and turned left
onto Highway 125 West. We rode for a
short distance and came up to a body of water, Lake Champlain. We followed the edge of the lake and entered Crown
Point, VA. We came up to the road for
the bridge going over the Lake and there was construction. We were stopped by a guy doing traffic
control. We finally got the “go ahead”
and we rode over the Bridge. When we
crossed the Bridge, there was a, “Welcome to New York” sign. We continued on Highway 9N and entered the
town of Crown Point, NY. It started to
sprinkle and then it got harder. We
didn’t have our rain gear on at this time.
We turned left at an intersection, drove a little way and turned left
into a dirt parking lot where we stopped.
Chuck rode up to Bruce, they chatted a bit and we left again, exiting
the parking lot and going back from where we came. We got to the intersection where we turned
right, rode a little way and turned right, into the parking lot of the Maple
Ridge Park & Family Restaurant. When
we parked, it stopped raining. Time for
lunch! We went in and had a good meal
and then we left at 1:37 PM.
We followed Highway 9N, southbound. It started to rain, again, so we stopped at
1:50 PM after riding for 9 miles in Ticonderoga, NY to put on our rain
gear. We pulled into a car wash with
three stalls. We were all putting our
rain gear on and after a while, Jan yelled out if we were all done and ready to
go. I heard Ken yell that we were all
ready. We all pulled out and got into
our formation, except Chuck and Bruce.
We waited for about 5 minutes with our Motors idling. We kept looking back and yelling for Chuck
and Bruce. Chuck stepped out, putting on
his rain pants and no helmet. Bruce
stepped out with not helmet. On second
thought, we didn’t want to know what they were doing! We waited patiently and they finally rode out
and joined the Group. We left at 2:07
PM.
Let me backtrack a little. When we entered Crown Point, NY, we also
entered Adirondack Park. This Park is
HUGE! It has more than 2,000 miles of
hiking trails, 3,000 lakes and ponds, and seemingly endless rivers and
streams. We followed Highway 9N until we
entered the town of Hague, NY. At this
point, we started following Highway 8. Well,
actually, Bruce missed the turn and continued on Highway 9N, with J.B. following.
Chuck turned onto Highway 8, as did the rest
of the Group. We all waited for Bruce and
J.B. to join the Group. We passed a few
lakes and towns. We rode and enjoyed the
scenery for 29 miles and at 2:49 PM, we stopped in Chestertown, NY for a pit
stop. While we were talking a break,
there were other bikers there. We stuck
up a conversation with them. I believe
that they said that they were from Ohio.
We were battling with them. We
told them that we have been riding from Arizona. They looked at one of the guys, I won’t say
who, and said that he is old. They said
that they have a 67 year old riding with them.
They then left. We were ready to
leave also and we did at 2:49 PM. It was
still raining.
We continued on Highway 8 and rode through the towns of
Norway, Ohio and after riding for 96 miles, we stopped in Poland at 4:54
PM. This last stretch was very bad! Half of us were falling asleep, most of us
needed to pee, we still had on our rain gear and it wasn’t raining. We stopped at a gas station/mini-mart. This was a “special place.” As we were turning left, into the gas station,
there was an Amish buggy coming the opposite way. While some of the guys were gassing up, Jan
and I went in for the restroom. There
were several “out of towners” from the Middle East, still in their native
garb. There was a “little person”
gassing up her car. Then there were the
“Rednecks!” I heard recently that the
inventor of the “Toothbrush” was from West Virginia. If the inventor was from any other part of
the country, it would have been called a “Teethbrush!” This Redneck did have his TOOTH! Jan was having a good time talking with him,
as he kept asking Jan about his Motor.
OK, enough of the fun. It was
time to go. C.E. was next up to
lead. Chuck instructed C.E. that we
wanted to get to Syracuse, and the Best Western off of Exit 35, just
south. Chuck told C.E. to get onto I-90
West. Chuck also told everyone that I-90
is a “Toll Road,” to have your money handy.
We left at 5:40 PM.
C.E. got us going on Highway 8. We continued and entered the city of Utica,
NY. We got to I-90 and continued passed
it. We continued on for about a mile and
C.E. stopped at a red light at an intersection.
C.E. turned right, rode for about 100 yards, made a u-turn and back to
the intersection. The light turned green
and C.E. rode straight through the intersection for another 100 yards and made
a left turn into a parking lot. He
turned left in the parking lot and exited the parking lot next to the
intersection. The light turned green and
he made a right turn. Whew! We were headed north on Highway 8 to I-90. We got to the entrance of I-90 and stopped at
the Toll Booth. We each got our tickets
and got onto I-90 West. Wow, now we are
on track! We continued on I-90 West
going at a good speed. Exit 35 came up
and we got off. I noticed, as I’m sure
that others did also, that there were several hotels on the south side of I-90
and on the eastside of the road that we got off. We headed south and came up to a very large
“roundabout.” I could see the hotels to
the left of me and I saw the Best Western sign also. We entered the large roundabout going
counterclockwise. We past the exit to
the right and C.E. exited the roundabout still going south! The others followed but I stayed on the roundabout
and exited going east, where the hotels were.
I arrived at the Best Western at 6:54 PM. Just as I got my helmet and gloves off, the
others arrived. Some of the guys went in
and contacted the clerk and “made the deal.”
We checked in, rode our Motors to the back side of the hotel, unloaded
our Motors and “tucked” them in for the night.
There was a restaurant on the property and that is where
we ate dinner. We rode for 326
miles. Chuck told me that we were going
to hop on the interstate tomorrow and ride it for a few days to get some
distance. I guess we are headed to
Yellowstone! We shall see. So, until tomorrow…
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