DAY
17, TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 2013
It was another late night last night. I finally got to bed at about 1:30 AM. My alarm sounded at 6:30 AM as usual;
however, I was already awake. Ken and I
woke up about 6:15 AM. We talked a
little and then got up and got dressed.
We packed our bags and took that long walk to the breakfast area. They had put us in rooms on the opposite
corner from the lobby, and it was a huge property! We made it to breakfast and everyone started
trickling in to eat. After we were all
done, we took the long trek back to our rooms, cleared them and loaded our
Motors. Chuck had spoken with C.E. as to
where we were headed today. We all got
ready and we left at 8:42 AM with C.E. in the lead.
We got out of the hotel property and headed to the huge
roundabout and got out correctly. We
were headed in the right direction and eventually got onto I-81
southbound. Soon after we started going
southbound on I-81, it became very foggy.
We rode in heavy fog for a short period of time. We finally rode out of the fog and the
weather was nice! We rode for 60 miles
and stopped at a roadside rest stop in Whitney Point, NY at 9:39 AM. We made a pit stop and got back on the
road. We left at 9:50 AM.
We were headed south on I-81 to Binghamton where we were
to turn west onto I-86. We got into
Binghamton and went through, without seeing I-86. Chuck was towards the rear of the Group and
quickly rode past us and in front of C.E.
Chuck got off at Exit 1, Conklin.
We pulled over and he got off quickly and took his map out of his
trunk. We had ridden 31 miles and
stopped at 10:20 AM. He was saying that
we had past the area where I-86 “should have been.” I took my map out and also saw that I-86 came
from the east and connected with I-81.
We saw the map west of I-81 and saw I-86 connecting. At a closer look, there was no I-86 westbound
connecting with I-81. What did connect
was U.S. 17. We had passed U.S. 17 by 8
miles. Before anyone thinks or says
anything, it was NOT C.E.’s fault. The
map was wrong; or Chuck read it wrong.
That’s it…we will blame Chuck! We
left at 10:28 AM headed northbound.
We got to the area and saw the signs for U.S. 17 and we
followed the signs. We were back on
track westbound. The speed limit was 65
mph; however, we were going about 70 to 75 mph, after all, we needed to make up
some time! We rode for 32 miles and
stopped at 11:00 AM in Owego, NY for gas.
We took a little break and left at 11:30 AM with Chuck in the lead.
Chuck got us back on U.S. 17 westbound. We were going at a good speed for another 44
miles and stopped in a town named Horseheads, NY at 12:17 PM. It was time for lunch and Chuck saw a sign for
a Subway. We toured the city looking for
the Subway. Chuck was bound and
determined, at all costs, to find the Subway.
We searched, stopped and checked the phone, searched, rode, asked a
couple of guys by the side of the road for directions and after riding for 7
long miles, WE FOUND IT!!! at 12:36 PM. We all went in and ate lunch and we
left at 1:12 PM.
Chuck got us back onto U.S. 17, which by this time was
also I-86. While we were riding, we
spotted two groups of deer by the side of the road. One group had the doe and a couple of
fawns. We continued on making up some
lost time and after riding 81 miles, we stopped in Angelica, NY at 2:20 PM at a
gas station/mini-mart for a pit stop.
One of the guys went inside to use the restroom; however, there was none
inside. There was only the, “nobama
Presidential Library,” which we all used.
That is what we called it; others call it a j-Jon. Just as we entered the little town, we saw
several men on top of a room at a house.
They appeared to be repairing the roof.
They looked like they may have been Amish, dressed in black with that
funny hat. Well, we were done at the
Presidential Library so we left at 2:33 PM.
We continued west on I-86. We rode for 70 miles and stopped at 3:31 PM
in Randolph, NY for gas. We gassed up
quickly and we were headed for a Harley Davidson store nearby. Jan needed to buy some oil. We left at 3:43 PM.
As I stated earlier, the Harley Davidson store was
nearby. J.B. had the address in his
Navigation System so he led. Instead of
getting right back on the interstate, he turned the opposite way and gave us a
tour of the little town of Randolph. We
got back on I-86 and got off 2 or 3 miles later. We had arrived at 3:59 PM at the Harley store
in Jamestown after riding 12 miles. We
all went into the store and looked at the toys.
Jan and Bruce bought oil for their Motors. Bruce was going to share half of the quart of
oil with Chuck. I should have invested
in stock for Harley oil a long time ago.
I would definitely be better off financially by now! Jan and Chuck went to Jan’s Motor to check on
something. Jan told us that his “check
engine” light comes on intermittently.
He believes that it might be the battery. After all, his battery is 7 years old! Jan decided that he would take it to another
Harley shop, maybe tomorrow, so that we wouldn’t lose any more time here. They got the oil and it was time to leave. We left at 4:30 PM.
Since J.B. got us to the Harley store, it was actually
Greg’s turn to lead. He led us back onto
I-86 and we were off! We rode through
pretty country! We rode out of New York
and into Pennsylvania. There was a car
that was “hanging” with us. The car then
sped up, pulling away from us. We were
going about 10 mph over the speed limit.
Little did the driver of the car know, there was a Pennsylvania State
Trooper ahead of us working Radar. As we
were riding at about 75 mph, the State Trooper passed us like we were standing
still! A couple of miles ahead, we
passed the Trooper’s car, red and blue lights flashing, and it had pulled the
car over. He was writing the driver a
ticket. Luck for us that the car decided
to speed. We were now on I-90 westbound. We passed through the city of Erie, PA. From the interstate, we could see Lake
Erie! It is huge! Although it is not the biggest of the Great
Lakes, IT WAS HUGE! We rode for a total
of 126 miles and at 6:16 PM, we stopped at a roadside rest area in Mentor,
OH. I think that we all needed a pit
stop because we were all walking quickly to the restrooms! When we were all finished, we talked about
whether to continue riding for another hour or so, or maybe just ending today’s
ride and look for a hotel. The hotel
idea won! There was a Best Western not
far from where we were. We left at 6:25
PM.
We rode for only 4 miles and stayed in the city of
Mentor. We arrived at the Best Western
at 6:33 PM. We parked and Greg was
walking into the hotel by himself to “make the deal” and I stopped him. I told him that we never go in to make the
deal by ourselves. We get a better rate
when we go in as a team. We did, and we
got a very good rate. The Manager, Lois,
was very pro-Police and pro-Military.
Greg told her that he is a retired Marine and she gave him a “high five”
because her father is a former Marine. I
told her that we were all retired Police Officers from Phoenix and she couldn’t
stop thanking us for our service. What a
nice lady. After we got our room keys,
we unloaded our Motors and took our stuff to our rooms. We all met in the lobby and then we rode
about 1 ½ miles east to a Bob Evans Restaurant.
This was a good stop. We finished
and returned to the hotel where we parked our Motors and “tucked” them in for
the night.
Today we rode for 477 miles. Tomorrow is another hard ride. We will stay on the interstate and rack up
some miles. In the morning, Jan plans to
go to the nearby Harley store and get a new battery for his Motor. When he gets back, we shall go
westbound. I’m not sure where we will
end up tomorrow. We shall see…
No comments:
Post a Comment