L
lurch12_2000
Guest
…. And delivering the Harley home, finally!
I got a chance earlier this week to go with my oldest son on a 640+ mile ride (2 day roundtrip ride for me ) through central NH, crossing through and down VT and traversing upstate NY. Peak foliage is still a week or so away, but this trip was planned to give him a riding partner during his long awaited trip of getting his 2006 Harley situated to where he’s living. He’s been in Afghanistan and Iraq for the better part of the last 4 yrs and now is residing in the Syracuse area, and getting the bike there will allow him an opportunity to put more than just occasional riding time on it.
We charted out all secondary roads which turned a normal 300+ mile, 6 hour trip into a 340 mile, 10 hour adventure. Even though I don’t have my GSes anymore, the ZG1000 (Concours) proved to be a worthy road bike and also his Dyna Street Bob a very capable bike for the trip. The weather was great, roads relatively free of traffic during the weekday, an occasional back up in small towns/cities, and an evasive maneuver to avoid a “gaggle” of turkeys posing in the middle of a back country NH byway. Our journey eventually took us on VT Rt 131, down 7a, and up through the Saratoga Springs area and down to Rt 5 following the Mohawk River. But once we hit the Utica, NY area it turned a little nasty. Seventy degree, partly sunny conditions gave way to severe lightning, heavy winds and grape size hail, making for some interesting riding memories. Once we cleared the pelting of rain and hail, the setting sun breaking below the cloud line was blinding us off the wet roads. Looking in my rear view mirrors, I saw what I would rate as the most intense and widest rainbow I’ve seen in my 50+ yrs of living. If I wasn’t trying to negotiate Utica’s route 5 traffic and figuring out where the lane lines were on the roads, I would have taken a moment to pull over and get a pic. As the road veered northerly, the sun shifted to my left giving me a full view of the rainbow off to my right. Keeping my eyes from wandering too much and careening off onto the bordering local farm lands, we continued on into the evening. Later as we pulled onto the highway (only real highway we took) cutting up through downtown Syracuse in the dark, the temps started to drop rapidly. I slept like a log at his place that night after a nice hot shower, and decided to get up early to keep ahead of the approaching 40 degree, rainy front moving through central NY.
Now on the solo return ride, I cranked along on the NY Thruway in the rain and watched as the cloud line lifted up, then overhead, and soon behind me as I raced it eastward. The mid morning sun started to warm me up (you know the feeling….both for real and psychological!) and my speeds steadily increased to 90-100mph…aaahhh, well, errrhh, faster speeds.
Occasionally, I’d spot a few deer grazing on the grassy roadside, eyeing them for any of their deadly, darting moves out onto the thruway into my path. I didn’t want to wind up as another motorcycle fatality like the previous week’s untimely death (bike rider meets 200lb deer in middle of roadway at full speed in NY!) of the 50 yr old husband of my son’s realtor.
As it always seems, the return trip is about getting home in good time, right? The weather was chillier, but mostly sunny for the invigorating ride across southern VT and NH. The smells were pungent, the colors sharper, the air crisper….all reasons why we ride, correct?……….
I got a chance earlier this week to go with my oldest son on a 640+ mile ride (2 day roundtrip ride for me ) through central NH, crossing through and down VT and traversing upstate NY. Peak foliage is still a week or so away, but this trip was planned to give him a riding partner during his long awaited trip of getting his 2006 Harley situated to where he’s living. He’s been in Afghanistan and Iraq for the better part of the last 4 yrs and now is residing in the Syracuse area, and getting the bike there will allow him an opportunity to put more than just occasional riding time on it.
We charted out all secondary roads which turned a normal 300+ mile, 6 hour trip into a 340 mile, 10 hour adventure. Even though I don’t have my GSes anymore, the ZG1000 (Concours) proved to be a worthy road bike and also his Dyna Street Bob a very capable bike for the trip. The weather was great, roads relatively free of traffic during the weekday, an occasional back up in small towns/cities, and an evasive maneuver to avoid a “gaggle” of turkeys posing in the middle of a back country NH byway. Our journey eventually took us on VT Rt 131, down 7a, and up through the Saratoga Springs area and down to Rt 5 following the Mohawk River. But once we hit the Utica, NY area it turned a little nasty. Seventy degree, partly sunny conditions gave way to severe lightning, heavy winds and grape size hail, making for some interesting riding memories. Once we cleared the pelting of rain and hail, the setting sun breaking below the cloud line was blinding us off the wet roads. Looking in my rear view mirrors, I saw what I would rate as the most intense and widest rainbow I’ve seen in my 50+ yrs of living. If I wasn’t trying to negotiate Utica’s route 5 traffic and figuring out where the lane lines were on the roads, I would have taken a moment to pull over and get a pic. As the road veered northerly, the sun shifted to my left giving me a full view of the rainbow off to my right. Keeping my eyes from wandering too much and careening off onto the bordering local farm lands, we continued on into the evening. Later as we pulled onto the highway (only real highway we took) cutting up through downtown Syracuse in the dark, the temps started to drop rapidly. I slept like a log at his place that night after a nice hot shower, and decided to get up early to keep ahead of the approaching 40 degree, rainy front moving through central NY.
Now on the solo return ride, I cranked along on the NY Thruway in the rain and watched as the cloud line lifted up, then overhead, and soon behind me as I raced it eastward. The mid morning sun started to warm me up (you know the feeling….both for real and psychological!) and my speeds steadily increased to 90-100mph…aaahhh, well, errrhh, faster speeds.
Occasionally, I’d spot a few deer grazing on the grassy roadside, eyeing them for any of their deadly, darting moves out onto the thruway into my path. I didn’t want to wind up as another motorcycle fatality like the previous week’s untimely death (bike rider meets 200lb deer in middle of roadway at full speed in NY!) of the 50 yr old husband of my son’s realtor. As it always seems, the return trip is about getting home in good time, right? The weather was chillier, but mostly sunny for the invigorating ride across southern VT and NH. The smells were pungent, the colors sharper, the air crisper….all reasons why we ride, correct?……….
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