Well, finally the weather has changed and now the serious riding can begin. Really though, I thought when planning this ride over the winter I would have been able to knock it off in late April or early May, but not the last weekend in May.
It's funny how things sometimes come together. For this trip it's, the trailer finally finished, also having booked a Thursday, Friday off for this week just in case something ends up happening, and Scooters Originali for having their swap meet this weekend. So how can I not go? So I spent the day before loading the bike and trailer so I'll be ready to go right after work.
The hardest part is getting though work that morning, but after that I've got one loaded bike ready to go. I stash my work bag in my locker and I'm off. Thank god I remembered to check Google maps before I left work for traffic. The way that I'd usually go would be Lakeshore/ Gardiner , and both were toast due to construction, big time. Surprisingly the 401 was clear sailing, so off and north to the 401, and I'm out of the city @ 2 pm without too much traffic, and that is always a good thing. A quick stop @ the Great Canadian Supercenter in Grimsby for some veggies and supplies, as this trip I'm trying hard to eat more healthy on the road. Which doesn't always happens.
Now that I'm stocked up on some Gatorade for tomorrow's ride, and it's down to "Hotel Mom" in Fort Eire. The funny part is my mom is staying at my place visiting friends in TO while I'm staying at her place in Ft Eire. It's always good visiting dad :-). This will give me a good head start for tomorrow, and not having to get out of the city @ 4 am.
I also took a getting ready to leave shot, the next morning, which looks just like the shot above, so no point of uploading it. It's off to bed early, which is easy when you went to work at 4 am ;-). A good night's sleep and up @ 5am.
Day 1:
Miles/Kilometers ridden:
101mi/162km
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I've got a little under 1/2 of a tank, so hopefully I can make it to Eire, Pa. It's now 6 am and I'm over the border and no waiting, yea! It's a warm 60 degrees when I left Buffalo, and that's little warmer than I'd thought it be. Now it's time for some slab time on the I-90, as I'd like to do breakfast in Eire, Pa. Weather wise it's cloudy with the Temp's going from the low to high 50's, cooler when I'm by the lake, which you could feel coming before could see lake Eire. But the heated grips and seat take care of that problem. Then before I know it I'm at the State line and time for some pics:
Now off to Eire, Pa for some breakfast and to fill up the beast. A wee bit of fog sets in, but is quickly replaced by the sun and a great blue sky, as I come into Eire, Pa . So Off at Peach street exit, and that "Bob Evans" sign calls. So after filling up the bike I head across the street to Bob Evans. A nice thing about a no helmet law state is, I don't have to put on my lid just to go across the street, sweet ;-). Hopefully they've got "free Wi-Fi", which they do, so I can update my blog during breakfast, yea!
Things are looking up for the blog if I can update it on the road, and I'm just glad it's working out better than I thought it would. Now it's time to be back on the slab and over to Ohio, then I'll head south to start The "Grand Army of the Republic army Highway" ride.
I didn't bother stopping to get a pic of the welcome to Ohio sign, as it was rather lame. The more important one was the 70 mph sigh, as I usually do 5 over that's a nice 75mph :-)
No sooner do I hit 75mph than my exit shows up. So now I'm heading south on Ohio route 7, which is straight as it's boring farmland, and that gets me wondering if the ride will be like this?. But in no time the road that I've been waiting for shows up. No sooner than I turn on the road then it starts living up to it's name.
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| As I found out later, there are not a lot of these signs on the highway. So if you see one, stop and take a pic as it might be awhile before you see another |
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| Here's some of the funny things that you learn at the side of the road. The only Eire canal that I know is up by Buffalo, NY. I'd be real surprised if this is related, but hey, you never know. |
I'm having a stop for some Gatorade and checking where I am in the Harley ride atlas. I learned about this great atlas from some scooterists that I met when as they were returning from PVSC in Indiana. A few years ago I was heading to Amerivespa, and they were heading to Chicago which was where they where from. It was raining that day, but that's no problem as the pages are waterproof, and that's when I decided I needed one for my travels. Though I should have looked better as I turned off a town too soon and had to back track a few miles. No biggie, as it was my 15 year old GPS that saved me, not the new expensive one.
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| 4 AA batteries lasted the whole trip and the mono colour screen can be seen in the brightest sun. |
One town later and I get it right, and it's down route 322 to good old route 62. Here's a sign I see along the way:
Maybe one of these days I'll Google it and find out what it means ( I'd better watch it as that usually means another road trip ;-)) . Also a big thanks to the minivan that hit the raccoon in front of me/him. Boy, they roll far once you hit them ( poor little guy ended up in the ditch) but I'm just glad I didn't hit him with the bike. Well now it's past noon and I've been looking forward to a pizza slice at town/place I've been to before. I'm in that PVSC scooter ride down, overnight stop of Tionesta, Pa. This is one busy and happening town (Not). . But the pizza place still closed (just like last time we were there) and with the dirt on the window, now I can safety say they've gone out of business, either that or they are only open from 4 to 8 pm. Sorry Tamara, but it's Foxes pizza again this year ;-)) and no way I'll be ordering it a head of time this year!! For those riding through town, the library has a great clean washroom ;-)
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| For such a small place, it made great pizza. |
The poor old motel looks a little less fun with out all the scooters and scooterists. Still, it's clean and cheap and I'd rather stay here than in the big chains.
Since I'm going to have to wait for lunch, it's time for a stop to hydrate and enjoy the view before I ride Route 666. Look at the view, that's why I riding hwy 6.
The temps have risen since my early morning start, and it's now a comfortable 75 degrees out. At this point I decided to ride without my lid for awhile and it does feel nice. So nice I ended up not riding with it for the rest of the day and the CD player sounds great without a helmet. It's a personal choice and not everyone's, but I do like the freedom to choose and I didn't even eat any bugs :-)
Finally I arrived @ route 666, and pick up a t shirt at the local store ( I rode 666 etc) and off I go.
Pa Route-666 T-shirts
Also I'm glad that I read up on what to expect on this stretch. Most of the road is OK, with a few bad spots, with a bit of gravel in a few places, just be aware of that. Otherwise this road is a blast. Through the forest and along the river, it winds all over the place, up and down and you can just see enough that you can't really get into trouble, as long as you keep the speed down. Wide enough that you don't have to worry about on coming cars.
Route 666 is about 40 miles long and you can't do over 40 mph on most of it. So it's good for about a hour. 3rd gear was mostly used as you need the engine braking for all the curves. Is it worth the trip to come down to do?, I'd say no, but if your in the area it's well worth the detour. That's the way I planned it and it worked out.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way it's back on to Hwy 6. For some reason I get Warren, Pa, mixed up with Bradford, Pa, where the Zippo museum is. That's a 20 mile mistake :-( , well, I filled up the bike while there anyway. So now I heading east on 6 and heading over to Smethport. Next stop is the
Kinzua bridge. The sign below explains why I want to see it.
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| Looking down from the bridge still left standing, it's a long, long way down. |
All I can say is WOW. There's such a big difference on reading something on the internet and seeing a few pics and actually seeing it in person. This bridge is high, and is the highest I've ever been on. Well worth the stop. Well now I'm only 15 miles away from Smethport and my bed for the night. So I drive over to the motel and find out they are sold out :-(. Well that's really my fault as I didn't make reservations. But this place is a hole in the wall so it's not the worse loss. Hotwire comes through with a room in Bradford, Pa. It's where the Zippo museum is so its on the way.
There's a little burger stand that's next to the motel in Smethport. How we missed this place when we stayed there, I'll never know. It's 5 pm and I've missed lunch so why no try the Thursday special. Which is grilled cheese with a hamburger patty, all for $2.45. Damn that was good, buttered and grilled. So now it's time to leave Smethport and head to Bradford, which is 15 miles away.
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| Unloading/loading bike @ motel, take your pick. |
I end up at the Econolodge just down the street from the Zippo museum. This was at one time a great 60's motel, and I would had like to see it in all its glory. Still they've kept it in good shape. I fill the bike up, get supplies for tomorrow and I'm off to sleep.
PS: Don't ever buy the cooked "Anchor wings" from Top's supermarkets. Anchor wings are not breaded and when you put mild on the package and load it up with "hot sauce" it doesn't make for a pleasant dinner.
Day 2
Miles/Km ridden today: 401/643
Totals 502/805
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I wake up to find out the hot water boiler has packed up, and I'm not into ice cold shower's so I end up using a face cloth to bath. Sometimes you just have to adapt. After that I doing the free hotel "Continental breakfast" then time to pack up everything and off to the Zippo museum. Problem is I can't find my cut off gloves. I figure I left them on the bike last night and someone pinched them. I've got extra set with me but you never like to "loose" a set. Anyway I check out and off to the museum.
If your ever in Bradford, Pa stop by, it's worth it. Here's some more pics:
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| Over 3300 zippo's |
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| This is how you make zippo's sexy ;-0 |
I do love those ad's from the past. This is my one regret from when I stopped smoking, not needing my Zippo anymore :-((.
But I did up ending up buying a zippo flask for my tool kit, so I can store some seafoam fuel (everything) in it.
Well back on the road and back down to hyw 6. Next stop on 6 is Pennsylvania's "Grand Canyon" . I end up taking the shorter route to the "east rim" which is a one lane road which winds up the mountain. The only time you see a car coming in the opposite direction is around the blind curves, fast. So not the best/fun drive of the day. Anyway here are some pics of what I saw.
This is never going to happen, yea, a 1 1/2 hour round trip. I'd get down there then what, it's a long way back up ;-). After a few pics, it's back down that fun road, but this time it's all down hill. Then back onto hwy 6.
The rest of the days riding really consists of going up and down the mountains and through lots of little towns. Which is more fun than I'm making it sound like. The only thing that happened is a few deer jumped across the road. Once I saw them I slowed right down. As Dave Wade says "Where there's one, there's more", but there were only the 2 this time and they do disappear quick. A stop into the AT&T store to find out why service is rather bad. I thought it was my phone, but it's the lack of towers and there's nothing I can do. So it kind of makes me miss Bell, at least we get service everywhere. The other thing is all the lovey small turn of the last century towns that I pass through. You can see a time when these towns where at their best, but now are mostly run down and empty. Though you get the odd one where the effort has been made to bring back the downtown to what they once where.
One riding series that I like and recommend is the " World's greatest motorcycle rides"
This is the series that planted the seed for me deciding on doing Route 66 and the PCH this year. One of the things I wondered about was why they only ride 150-200 miles some days. Well I know now, as I only covered 200 miles my self today. You can cover more on the slab but you see nothing and that's not why I ride. So now comes the end of riding and I'm getting close to the nights hotel and time to fill up, and as I'm leaving I find the nights hotel right next door to the gas station, lucky me :-)
Day 3
Miles/Km ridden today: 207/333
Totals 709/1138
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I've rather lucked out on last nights hotel, it's next to the gas station, and there's a supermarket is across the street and Starbucks's stones throw away, for my morning coffee, and the shower works :-). Since the meet doesn't start till noon, there's no need to leave early. It's funny how I can unpack and hit the sack in 10 min, but it seems it takes me hours to get going in the morning. The meet is only a hour away on the turnpike so off I go. It's a little expensive but still way cheaper than going on the 407 highway back home, plus with the EZ pass I don't have to dig out money. This is also where I hit my one bad road snake (the tar they pour in cracks) and it was on the ramp to the turnpike, a rather curvy one. It shifted the bike over a few inches and gave me a scare :-0. As I'm getting close, I spy a "White Castle" a couple of exits before getting off for the meet, yea!. Then I arrive at the meet and a few vendors had already set up, but it seems everyone was wondering where Corey from Ottawa was with his stash of parts. Here are some pics:
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| I'd thought no way this would sell. Who would buy a pink J 50? |
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| Well I was proven wrong |
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| You don't see a Ducati brio everyday. |
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| Not a bad deal, Corey had one for $50 |
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| Only used twice, one of the great deals of the meet. |
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| I was not even the furthest ridden. |
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| My score for $5 |
Thanks to Gene and Andrea for the BBQ and drinks. It was also nice to see the new shop and also to catch up with everyone that I've not seen since last year. Corey finally showed up about 1/2 hour later and then spent the next hour unloading, well it felt that long anyway ;-). Poor Niail, he's looking for a lammy 17 tooth sprocket, and I even went through the sprocket box in the back, but no luck ;-( . If anyone's holding, let him know. I wonder where all the time has gone, but it's now 5 pm and everyone is packing up, so it's time to say good bye and get ready to ride to tonight's accommodation. Though I did end up getting a sun burn on the back of my neck which I would find out about till tomorrow, ouch! But I did spy that "White Castle" just up the road when coming down to the meet, and that will be my dinner stop for tonight. The funny part is that I goggled white castle locations for Ohio to stop for lunch on day 2, but the closest was Cleveland, so I thought I''d be getting no white castle this trip. Well I was wrong.
Well, back on the road and on the slab for 2 fun filled hours of riding up to Binghampton, NY. The one thing that I've noticed about Pennsylvania is I don't think there's a flat piece in the whole state. Even on the interstate your going up and down and left and right, but it's just a little more relaxed. So hopefully I should be able to make it to the hotel before dark, not because of the dark, the HID lights cure that problem nicely. But it's when the deer come out, and I've seen too many at the side of the road on this trip, dead.
Saturday nights are usually when hotels/motels are more expensive and the reasonably priced ones are in the city centers. Which is what I ended up getting. I also should have filled up the bike just out of town, but Google maps had me going through some dodgy areas, so no go. Just before I got to the hotel I saw a couple of scooterists going somewhere on a Saturday night. Funny on how far scootering has spread. Well unlike some downtown hotels I've stayed at over the years, the Holiday Inn didn't charge for parking, but no free breakfast in the morning ;-(. So after unpacking I headed out to pickup supplies. The CVS across the street was closed ;-(, but there's enough open downtown that you could make a night of it. Which always is not the case in downtown/small town America, but it has been getting better over the years. Now off to sleep.
Day 4
Todays mileage 259mi/416km
Total mileage 968 miles for trip
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Last day of the long, long weekender
I wake up to another great sunny morning. Nothing food or Coffee wise to be found downstairs at the hotel. So I pack up and hit the road early. I finally find the gas stations in a nice part of town to fill up. Then I'm back on the the I-86 and across the southern tier expressway. It's quieter than the I-90, the mountains look way better and "NO TOLLS". It's 55 mph through the towns and 65 mph everywhere else. The one thing that I learned today is don't ever underestimate the power of your morning coffee. I can't stop yawning while I'm riding. I am really feeling not having that coffee this morning, So I finally stopped for breakfast and a gas fill up, my last pit stop in the US.
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| Gotta watch where I put that finger! |
Time for one last ride that's in the "Harley Atlas", and that's Route 16 from I-86 up to Buffalo. So off I go. To be honest it's rather a disappointment. I should have gone with my usual Route 219, which I like as it has a nice coffee stop in the middle, or tried Hyw 62 that Dave Wade said that he enjoyed. O well, you don't know until you ride it. Way to soon I'm arrive in Buffalo and have to make some decisions. Do I head over the border or go do Anchor wings etc. I decide on the border as I don't want to wait hours in line on a Sunday evening. It was a bad decision as it was just as busy at 2 pm as it would have been at 7 pm. The line I was in, was moving great until shift change. I end up with new guy that takes 10 min each with each of the 2 cars in front of me. So I pull up, expect the same, but all he asks is a couple of the usual questions and off I go, yea. From here is back on the QEW to home, and all those bad drivers. You don't notice how bad they are until you return to the city.
Day 5
Today's mileage: 364.8mi/587km
Total Trip 1332.8 mi/2144km
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This was the first big trip with the bike. no problem at all, except a little hesitation leaving the border (it doesn't like sitting in line, the bike heat's up too much). Happily I didn't need the rain gear, I'm really happy with the Sidi motorcycle runner boots that I bought over the winter, they keep my feet nice and cool in the heat, but warn enough into the mid 50's. The trailer worked great, same with the mix of clothes that I bought. The mesh jacket with the liner and then layered up, kept me warm in the mid 50's in the early mornings and the layers came off as the temps rose. The XM radio made the miles pass easily and is well worth the subscription for all the weeks I'll be on the road. The bugs, boy did I get hit by a few of these. Nothing I can do about these as I like riding with the 3/4 lid, but after that fight with the wasp at 70 mph I'm going to get a new Epipen, as I'm allergic to them and keep it with the bike!.
Next long weekender is PVSC in 3 weeks!!!!!
With a few day trips in between.
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