Wallet's, Day trip along the Grand and music that I listen to while riding.

The wallet collection

The Harley Davidson biker wallet

 This is my main riding wallet. I picked this up while at the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, WI, when I went to Amerivespa in 2014. The ferry across Lake Michigan is there and the museum, so I spent a night there. To be honest the museum is about the only thing worth seeing while visiting Milwaukee, WI (hate mail to the usual address).  I also wanted to get a pic of the "Welcome to Milwaukee sign"on the city hall (Laverne & Shirley), but it was gone :-(. It's everything you want in a bikers wallet. Everything is heavy duty, and I've had it almost 2 years now with no problems. As Josh Ilot would say 'It's the full meal deal".  But they are not cheap, they now go for $60 on the HD web site. But sometimes you don't mind paying for quality and this wallet is one of those times. But for my type of riding, I'll never have to worry about losing it. I also like the zippered pocket, great to keep my Sim cards in without having to worry about losing them. Two sides to keep money in, and for me that can either Canadian one side/American in the other. Or small denomination one side/ large in the other.

Alos there's the carabiner that I use with the wallet and also for me keys, and the one's I like are, Trango from Korea, they reasonably priced and unlike the dollar store one's, they last forever. Here's the ebay link:

Ebay Carabiner link

The Duck Tape wallet

My other wallet has a story behind it. This is my work wallet, as I sit down all day so I have a separate wallet for work. Also I don't need to take my credit cards etc, just in case something happens,  I'll lose next to nothing. The problem is I would buy a cheap wallet, usually on ebay and it would last, say a year, if. So when I saw someone selling Duck tape wallet for $4 on ebay, I decided to give it a try.

As you can see, I've picked up the lovey Union Jack duck tape wallet. It works well at work, I can hardly tell it's there. Unlike some other wallets that dig into me bum. Now here's where this wallet really came into it's own. I'm getting ready for work one morning and I can't find the above wallet. Then it dawns on me that I could have left it in my pants and washed them. So over to the dryer I go and feel around, and as you've probably guessed, yes, there it was in the pants pocket in the dryer!  Upon examining the wallet, everything looked ok on the outside. But me wonders what happened to that plastic $5 bill now washed and dried. I've heard some nasty things about them melting in the dryer.. I open up the wallet and things are a little wet inside but nothing melted. I take all the paper items inside out to dry (ownership, insurance, etc) put back my work ID and off to work I go. This wallet still looks as good as the day I got it, made it through a wash and dryer cycle no worse for ware. I've gotta say it's the best $4 I've spent on a wallet. Here's a few links, if your lazy like me use the ebay link, or if your a cheap bastard (or have some tape lying around) go to the make a wallet link.

Links:

Ebay Duck Tape Wallets


wikihow.com/Make-a-Colored-Duct-Tape-Wallet


Cheers,
Tross

Day tripping on a beautiful June Saturday. Or a ride along the Grand River.

Well what can I say. The forecast for this weekend is all that you look for in the late springs day. High 70's to low 80's, with just a touch of cloud. I've been looking forward to heading down to visit, A vicious cycle, which just got purchased by "Twisted throttle". They are located in "New Dundee" which is just south of Kitchener. So off to the storage locker and go dig out the BMW. The MP3 is now the city scoot, which means work, scooter runs, etc, and the BMW for the longer travels.  One of the problems with the storage locker is the lack of power outlets. I tried taping into the overhead lights, but ended up getting a outlet that has 350 volts.Popped the first transformer that I plugged in as well as the light it was charging.  Guess I should have used the multi meter before connecting it up ;-). Anyway if the bike sits longer than a week it slowly discharges, due to alarm, parasitic drain,  etc. Plus if the battery goes down below 11 volts you can fuse the starter relay open, which I really don't want to do. So finally the big puppy at Canadian tire comes on sale.

The thing about Canadian tire is, if you can wait long enough they will put it on sale, and this was the week it went on sale. Pick it up on Friday, charge it up, then I took it over to the storage locker, plugged in my battery tender and off I go to work.

I wake up early Saturday morning and head over to the storage locker and wonder if it worked. I'm greeted by that lovey green light on the battery tender telling me she's ready to go!  The powerbox says it even has a full charge ( I doubt it, but it's still full enough). Take the bike outside and the powerbox  back home to be recharged for next time. Drop the scooter off at the locker, dig out the trailer, though the moving guys where hogging up the elevator so I had to use the rear ramp, it just takes more time. Every thing is now done, except I've left my mesh jacket back at home, so back I go :-(. I've got plenty of time,  just some mornings things just don't come together easily.

The nice thing about early Saturday morning is that there still is not that much traffic out. So a quick trip on the 401 and 400 and off to Radioworld. I've got a new helmet and need another mic for the Scala G4. Even though I was tempted to upgrade to the G9X I just ended up getting  the mic. They carry all the Garmin stuff, Ram mounts, Go Pro etc. Kind of a one stop shop for motorcycle/scooter electronic toys. The mic for the Scala was around the same price as it's on ebay, so why not support a local shop. Here's the link to check them out.

Radioworld


From there it's off to "A vicious cycle" in New Dundee. But first a coffee which is now becoming a favorite stop for me. The Onroute in Cambridge and Starbucks. End of the day is, that, I love these chairs. They are really relaxing. The kind of chair that you want to sit after riding.

From here it's only a 20 min ride to vicious cycle. They started carrying twisted throttle stuff and then got bought out by twisted throttle. Which is great as I've ordered stuff from them before, sending it to my American mailbox. My Givi top box for the MP3 came from them at a considerable discount over the usual Canadian suppliers. So I'm looking forward to visiting the store. Also since I got some room on the trailer I wanted to pick up a couple of these to carry some spare oil and gas:

The funny thing is that the only time I've run low on gas is when I didn't carry any extra!

ps: I found the extra one I had lying around, so now I have an extra, contact me if you want one ;-)


I've already got 2 on the MP3. They work well and you don't have to worry about spilling oil and gas all over in your storage compartment, clothes, tools etc. The thing about twisted throttle is they carry lots of neat and interesting stuff. Here's some other things I picked up:

Since I'm here, I might as well pick them up for the trip.

They are cheap,  good quality and a great size for the stand.

Hey, it was only $2.99, so I'll give it a try. Into the rain kit it goes.

As you can see, it was a busy Saturday afternoon. Sorry about not taking more pics. They are renovating the diner next store, so don't worry.

I asked for a few of their great reflective stickers for the bike and trailer. They will throw them in as long as you buy something or just ask for them. 

Here's the links for the shop and twisted throttle catalogs.

A Vicious Cycle

Twisted Throttle Canada

I asked about what they carry from twisted throttle. They have most items in stock (the stuff that sells on a regular basis). So if in doubt, e mail them ahead of time or phone them. They will be glad to order it in for you, so it will be waiting for you when you get there. Otherwise they can ship it to you! The difference on the prices, American/Canadian are small, so it's worth going here instead of the ship to a border mail box. I just wish more of the great american motorcycle retailers would come to Canada.

From here it's back to Guelph and Royal Distributing. So why the back tracking? Well,  A vicious cycle is only open till 2 pm on Saturdays, so off to New Dundee first, then Royal, which stays open later. I can't say that I've ever been impressed by Royal's Guelph location, it's seems small, doesn't carry that much motorcycle stuff, and nothing on sale. They seem to save those for the Whitby location. Which means again that I walk away without buying anything. I went to see if they had any replacements for the gloves that went missing in Bradfort, Pa, a couple of weeks ago. No go.

Now I'm off to Kitchener and over to the grand river. While taking Hyw 7 into Kitchener I pass Bingemans Park. O those fond memories of Doing some Oktoberfest scooter runs. One mod kipping on a picnic bench in his parka and it was snowing that morning. Why we did it, I never know (not true, alcohol, drugs and great friends) . But I can tell you that the best cuppa hot chocolate that I ever had was on that cold morning. I wonder if Darren still has that pic of him standing in the empty field after we all left. Anyway back to the new century. As I'm driving I come across this place.

How could I not stop? From what I could tell, it's a real Spitfire. You could see all the rivets, etc. The tank, I'd say Russian by the shape of the turret.  Since K-W Surplus has "Lot of Camping stuff" I head in there first. One thing Toronto doesn't really have anymore are good Surplus stores. This place is the real deal. Which means I spend over an hour in there. By the time I get out and head over to Spitfire, they have closed :-(. Well I'll save that for another time and time. From here it's taking back roads along the Grand river down to Cambridge. These are roads that I've taken during my mod scootering times, when we used to ride up to Kitchener for mod do's. Not much has changed, just more box stores. They've brightened up Cambridge a bit, some new stuff where to old mill used to be, etc. But nothing worth stopping for. Down hwy 24 to East river and onto Paris, Ont. I like Paris, now only if I could find a parking spot! No so it's up on top of the hill and three I find a Pioneer station to stop at for some Hydration and the bank machine. 

From there it's a short, and I mean short, ride into Brantford. Had some really good times here with Ben and the Brantford crew. Always made you feel welcome.  Now to head through downtown Brantford. Well it's about on par with Oshawa and that doesn't say much . They've replaced some of the abandon buildings with Gov't offices which are closed on weekends. With almost everything else empty or closed.  It's not a bad as it was 30 years ago, but it's not far off. I would have thought Brantford would have done something more, but I guess not. So from there it's on to Hwy 18/54 for the drive down to Caledonia. Well I learned something new, that if you ever need smokes or cheap gas, or fireworks, this is the road to drive down. Since I'm not a big fan of the local Indians after their crap in Caledonia and I don't support shopping there to save a few bucks.  I was going to stop by and visit Dave and make plans for PVSC but Dave was still at Walleys. It is what it is, and I'd should have given Fish a heads up that I'd be coming down. So I ended up seeing nobody. The drive back was the usual way, hwy 6, 403, QEW, Gardiner, and finally the DVP. As long as you take Lakeshore around Parklawn then come back on the Gardiner at Dufferin you will miss most of the construction. I made a detour to head up to Davy Love's new digs, The Bristol. The problem on a Saturday night is trying to find a parking spot, so with non to be had I headed home. Not a big problem as I'll be there for the world cup games. As of writing, it will be a few hours away for the England/Divers-Italy game.

A great day overall, with my next adventure being a 4 day road trip on the BMW to PVSC. I know, why am I not riding the scooter?. It's a few things, the belt needs to be replaced on the MP3, I've ordered it but it won't be here for PVSC, that is if I don't want to pay Piaggio's going rate of $220 for a belt. I'd rather order one for $80 and have it shipped up with the variator tool. It still comes in cheaper. So I was kind of tarty on that and as well as the hobbits are not doing the ride this year. Rob and Andy are trucking their scoots down to Eire and riding from there. So no ride down this year :-( So I'll take the BMW, leave early and visit a couple of Army surplus stores and ride a bit of the Lincoln hwy that I've not ridden yet. Plus with packing the tent and stuff it will be good to see how everything goes before I set out to the East Coast and Lammyjammy next month.

Cheers,
Tross

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What I'm listening to while on the road.

Run (instrumental), Gnarles Barkley

Great to listen to while fighting the traffic on the QEW.


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Matchstick Men, Status Quo

Funny how early stuff from bands that I hated in the 80's could be so good. Sometimes you need some good old Psychedelic music.

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House of the King, Focus

I'd totally had forgotten this song. Then I watched the English series "Saxondale" which uses it as their title song. But I known that I heard it before. Back in the old days it would have driven me mad trying to find this song. But with the internet it's easy. For those still guessing, the show had Magus Pike in it.

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How many times, The rovin' Flames


One of those songs I found on Youtube, by going to the songs on the right of the page. I've found a lot of good stuff that way. The vid is good as well, it's a good way to find out about good/campy 60's movies that you'd otherwise never hear about. This is a song that I can play over and over, from cheesy organ to great lyrics, I just love this song.

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Scoobidoo Love, Breaking Bad

When I first heard this song on a tv ad, I had no idea that breaking bad had used it. At the time I was just starting to watch it. A well put together video. Though one guy looks like Amir. One thing I'm looking foward to this fall on my "Route 66" ride is the couple of day stopover in the ABQ and doing all the "breaking bad" tour, picking up some "blue meth" candy and see if they are filming "Better Call Saul". 

Enjoy,

Tross

The Grand Army of the Republic Highway, Scooters Originali swap meet.

This is also my first blog post that I'm going to try while on the road, so this should be fun. So pardon the grammar mistakes, the auto correct should take care of the spelling (hopefully).

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.

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

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.

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 ;-) 

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.

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. 

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:

Over 3300 zippo's

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" 

World's Greatest Motorcycle Rides

Here's a YouTube episode of "The worlds great 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:

I'd thought no way this would sell. Who would buy a pink J 50?

Well I was proven wrong

You don't see a Ducati brio everyday.

Not a bad deal, Corey had one for $50

Only used twice, one of the great deals of the meet.

I was not even the furthest ridden.

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.

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.