Ready for some great riding in New Hampshire

We had a reasonably short day today. Ted had a low tire on his Road King and had called the Harley dealer in Portland Maine. They assured him they could help him out but when we pulled into the Big Moose Harley-Davidson dealership right at opening time, the service department told Ted that it would be HOURS before they could get to him. Now I know that some of you reading this are Harley owners who have had to make an emergency drop in at a Harley dealer while on a road trip. Have any of you EVER been treated like this? The one time we needed emergency work done on David's Ultra while on a trip we were moved to the front of the line by the service people at Pikeville (KY) Harley-Davidson. From others I hear the same thing. Big Moose Harley-Davidson apparently doesn't care for the traveling motorcyclist who needs help.

We rode on west on US-302 - a gorgeous highway through tall trees and deep blue lakes. We had breakfast a small diner where omelets and generous portions of meat ruled. One neat thing was the coffee bar - just like it sounds with various coffees and condiments.

By late morning we had made it to Conway, New Hampshire, where there was another Harley dealer - but this one is closed on Wednesdays. About this time we were trying to decide what to do for a hotel in the White Mountain region. We have plans to stay in the area for three days and we want a nice place and don't want to settle for a place like we had last in Old Orchard Beach.

While looking through the ads in the discount book and trying to decide what town to stay in, Wanda suggested a place that was advertised. The hotel was just a few miles up the road so we went to check it out. Ted, David, and Dale went in to inquire about room availability and what kind of rate could we get booking three rooms for three nights. They struck a bargain and we are in North Conway, New Hampshire tonight through Saturday morning. The place is wonderfully posh with three pools, a sauna, a whirlpool, laundry facilities, and restaurant on site. There are also several restaurants within walking distance and an outlet mall. In addition, the Mount Washington Auto Road is just 20 miles from here. We have an extremely good base from which to launch a few rides into the White Mountains.

One interesting side note: when we were going out for a bite of lunch, with me leading, to Conway, I couldn't find the place we had set out for. A trip through town and even asking a few people was no help. On the outskirts of town and just where the Kancamagus starts (one of the rides on our 'must do' list), I turned down a street that I had hoped would circle us back into to town. It was a dead end street. While we were getting turned around, Ted noticed a motorcycle repair shop with a big Harley sign out front and a rack of Harley tires at the side. He stopped and talked to the owner. Bottom line - this garage can do the tire for Ted and at a very good price and we would not have found it if I hadn't made the wrong turn. :-)

Made it to Maine

We left our motel in Hyannis early and ate breakfast at an IHOP. After gassing up the bikes we were ready to tackle Boston traffic. Being the really intelligent people we are, we went by Boston on the outer most ring thus avoiding most of it. Even as far out as I-495 goes out and away from the city, traffic was still heavy and congested. We managed to stay together as a group and made the almost 120 mile by-pass without issue.

We exited I-495 near where I-95 meets it on the north but we took the route over to US-1A for a ride along the coast. Shortly we crossed into New Hampshire and had lunch at a very nice little place in Hampton Beach, NH.

Traffic in Hampton Beach traffic on 1A was crawling and stop and go. We went over to US-1. It was stop and go. We then went over and took US-95 up to Saco, Maine. The motels were a little on the 'run down' side of the scale. We made our way up to Old Orchard Beach and ended up with a place whose advertising was exaggerated. We are here and will hopefully get a good night's sleep in spite of the somewhat seedy look of the rooms. The price was right and we stopped early. That is about all of the positive I can say about the motel.

One neat part of this stop, though, is the trolley the community runs for a $1 a trip to town. We rode the trolley and walked around some in the town of Old Orchard Beach and had fun. We ate on the pier and enjoyed the view and then rode the trolley back.

It is now past bedtime for all of us and tomorrow we head out to the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Our day on Cape Cod

We made the decision yesterday to stay another day on Cape Cod and in Hyannis. This town has much to offer and even though we stayed the extra day, we did even begin to see and do all that is available.

David and I and Dale and Vicky started out the day with a quick breakfast at the motel before hitting the road for the 30 mile trip to Plymouth to see the Plymouth Rock and a replica of the Mayflower. The Mayflower II had costumed Pilgrims, totally in character, to tell visitors what life might have been like for those who landed on and settled Massachusetts. As one plaque said, "It wasn't that they made the journey, many had before them, it was that they stayed that made the settlement special."

When we got back to Hyannis, the six of us went out for lunch and then headed out for a leisurely stroll through town for shopping and sightseeing.

David, Ted, and I toured the JFK Museum. The museum is small and deals mostly with JFK's family life here on Cape Cod. Hyannis was where JFK would come to escape the pressures of being President although often members of the cabinet would come also and JFK would hold Oval Office type meetings here.

After the museum it was time for more looking around town and then all of us went on a Duckmobile Tour of the city and the bay. It was fun!

The pool at the motel is very warm. We actually held our ride plan meeting in the pool. It was decided to head out early tomorrow and eat breakfast on the road.

We didn't want to leave Hyannis without another seafood meal. David and I liked the meal we had last night so well that we went there again with Dale and Vicky.

Tomorrow we head inland for a bit and then up the coast to Maine. I'm guessing we can get good seafood there as well.

A day on Cape Cod

Our little motel in the little town of Portsmouth Rhode Island (mistake in yesterday's post I discovered when I looked at the address on our room key) didn't have breakfast and there were no restaurants near by so we loaded up and headed east in hopes of finding something somewhere.

In just a few miles we were in Massachusetts. We stopped at a tourist info for some motel discount coupons but the place was closed. I'm not sure this is a wise move in a tough economy because if the few tourists traveling can't find information about what a state has to offer they won't be spending any money - the tourists will just move on to the places they can find. Same with Rhode Island - all of their tourist info places were closed also.

Eventually we found a town and got some breakfast. A few miles later and just before we crossed the bridge to Cape Cod we did find a tourist info place open and got some more brochures and discount coupon books.

Cape Cod is quaint and the homes are beautiful. We rode highway 6A, a winding twisty most of the way out to the end and then finished up the trip to Provincetown on US-6. On the way to Provincetown we stopped at a church cemetery. Many graves were from the 1800s and a few from the 1700s. The mausoleum had been turned into a information room including information on how the stone cutters could be identified by the shape of the tombstones. We were going to eat in Provincetown but the streets are not car/motorcycle friendly; they were narrow and had cars parked along side. Restaurants listed on the GPS seemed to be closed and parking would have been a problem. We left and headed back down the island. We were able to find a place and all of us had some great seafood.

We had checked out our options for lodging early on and knew we had a good chance of getting rooms at a good price in Hyannis. We did just that. After checking in and relaxing, David and I went for a swim; first in the outside pool while the inside pool was being cleaned and then in the inside pool. Do we know how to live or what?

Our motel is in town so we are within walking distance of several restaurants and shops. David and I walked to a seafood place; Ted and Wanda rode down shortly after. We had great seafood for the second time today. I'm guessing in the next or so we will continue to have great seafood.

We are loving Hyannis and all the things to see and do here so we have decided to stay another day here and do more tourist stuff.

One 'oops' moment happened when the shifter fell off of David's motorcycle while we were heading down the highway towards Hyannis. He saw it fly off and was able to pull over. I ran back down the highway and picked it up. It was the heel shifter and he could still use the toe shifter but it was something he didn't want to lose. The difficult if not impossible part was next, trying to leave the shoulder and pull back onto the highway with bumper-to-bumper traffic. Finally a car stopped and flagged us out and onto the highway; that car has Massachusetts plates. Who said Mass drivers were bad? Of course we haven't made our way past Boston yet.....

LOOOOOOONG Day!

The day started out with a really great breakfast at our hotel. While in the hotel restaurant, a few of the other guests stopped by to talk - the magic of the Harley shirt.

Once we were ready to hit the road, I decided I was going to lead. Once back out on I-84 it was just a couple of miles before we crossed the Delaware River and were in New York. I took the first ramp, turned south off the ramp, traveled less than 1/2 mile and was in New Jersey. A strip mall there was a convenient place for us to turn around and head back up to I-84.

We continued on through New York. The Catskills are very pretty and sometimes take you by surprise as you round and corner and see another vista. We pulled into a rest park for a mid-morning break and some picture taking.

David was having a problem with the cover for his master cylinder, it was leaking brake fluid, not much but it was a concern. Danbury, Connecticut has a Harley dealer so we headed there.

He bought a new cover and we looked over (drooled over) some of the bikes on the show room. I sat on a beautiful red with gold flames 2008 CVO Road King with only 2300 miles. It fit good but the price was definitely pricey - $25,000. So no new bike for me just yet.

Our next stop was to be New Haven where we had read about a hamburger joint reputed to be the founder of the hamburger. I led us down the rural highway 34 which ran along a beautiful river most of the way. Once in New Haven with its many many one-way streets and not being able to turn when we wanted and having to go around blocks and then not finding a good parking spot we finally got to this famous restaurant only find out they didn't have inside dining. We ended up at a local wing place and got wraps and wings. Oh well.

We rode along the coast for a while until it was time to start looking for a place to stay tonight. Everything was booked solid, even the motels/hotels charging $200+ a night. There were two big events in Newport this weekend and motels for miles around were booked. I believed between the three couples we called every major brand possible. At just about 7 when we were starting to get extremely desperate, we passed a small motor inn - not in time to make the turn but we did pull over, David called and we were able to get rooms. Not fancy but the owners are very nice and we did get decent rates. I was surprised this small place has internet but as you can see, we do.

Tomorrow we are headed to Cape Cod. We all agreed tonight that tomorrow we start looking for a room earlier in the day. In fact, David called a place in Hyannis and they are not booked up for tomorrow but we will get a better rate if use the 'walk in' coupon rather than an advance reservation or an internet reservation.

Keeping my fingers crossed for a better day tomorrow.

What is wrong with Pennsylvania drivers?

The breakfast at our motel wasn't great but it was free. We did meet some other Harley riders while at breakfast. One couple was from Danbury - where we are going tomorrow and they were headed to Ohio - and that is where our group started our ride. Small world, especially if you are wearing a Harley shirt.

The travel today was all interstate. First was I-80 from our motel in Clarion. We then took I-81 to Scranton where we picked up I-84 and took it here to our motel in Matamoras, Pennsylvania. We are just two miles from where Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey all come together. We are going to continue on I-84 across New York tomorrow and it looks like it won't go into New Jersey. At the first exit in New York, we plan to get off the interstate for just the one mile it will take to say we rode in New Jersey.

We went to a small diner here in Matamoras tonight named "Stewarts" - like the root beer and they are associated with the root beer people but are an independent place. The waitress was very friendly and we had a good meal. Ted and Wanda and David all got the fish sandwich and soup; I just got a BLT because I wanted to save room for dessert. :-)

Now for the Pennsylvania drivers - we had several occasions today that were close calls. The speed limit on the interstates here is 65 m.p.h. but even going 70+ we were passed like crazy with cars cutting in between us - and we were riding in a pretty tight formation. One small blue Honda managed to weave between Ted and Wanda and they were practically side-by-side at the time. I saw very little common courtesies from car drivers on any of the interstates.

However, truck drivers today were courteous. Several truckers slowed to allow us to remain together as we passed them on up grade hills; some flashed 'safe to cut back in' lights as we returned to the right lane; and I can only remember one truck - not a semi - who made an unsafe move (as in almost hit David). Kudos to the truck drivers in Pennsylvania!

More drama today but not mine

This morning the skies looked a bit threatening so we sort of goofed off, visiting, and just hanging out waiting at Ted and Wanda's house for a few patches of clear sky before heading east.

Finally it looked like a go so we loaded up the five bikes (Dale and Vicki are two up) for the trip. We moved the bikes out of the garage/shed to the drive way - except for Dale. His Goldwing wouldn't start. David brought out the battery charger. Dale now had lights and horn but still nothing when the starter was pushed. Sound familiar? I was just glad it wasn't my bike this time. Dale even called his son in Florida (who also owns a Goldwing) for suggestions. Finally someone asked if he had it in neutral. Apparently Goldwings will only start in neutral. Voila! It started! Now we could head out.

Unfortunately the skies once again darkened. We got a bit of a misty rain right away but a more steady rain within a few miles. We pulled over and got out the rain gear. We were starting to wonder if this was going to be a repeat of last summer's swim/ride through Michigan! However, the rain did not last and by a mid morning break, we were able to pack the Frogg Toggs back into the saddle bags.

One highlight of the day for us was a ride through Akron. David and I and the kids spent several years in northeast Ohio and specifically Akron. We moved to Kentucky in 1992 and except for a trip back in June of that same year, we had not been back. It sure brought back some memories and if anyone was listening to our CB conversation, they probably thought a couple of nuts were on the radio talking about this road or that road and remember this and remember that.

We ate lunch in Youngstown. For all the years we lived in Ohio, we never really went to Youngstown, mostly went past Youngstown.

Soon after lunch we were in Pennsylvania. Once the mountains started, the winds picked up - and the winds today were wicked! By the time we got to our motel in Clarion, Pennsylvania, my arms and back were tired from fighting the wind.

Traffic today was a bit heavy. Dale thought Akron was bad but it was mostly like I remembered it so it seemed normal to me. Pennsylvania traffic wasn't too bad but the semis were having a difficult time with the up hill portions and we would have to pass them. Next would be a down hill grade and the semis would then fly around us.

Tomorrow we may make it all the way through Pennsylvania or stop just short of New York. A lot will depend on how we feel. Remember, we are doing something totally out of character for us - we are traveling without much in the way of set plans or reservations. We will see how that goes......

Trip starts with a little drama

Shortly after signing off of the computer and packing onto David's bike, we were ready to start the journey. I pushed my bike out to the driveway as did David. I snapped this picture:

David then was able to get his truck in the garage and we were ready to hit the road. I straddled my motorcycle and pushed the start button, nothing. I tried the usual, just in case my brain took a vacation before we even left WildWood Farm, like "is the ignition on?" Yes, the ignition was on and yes I was pushing the start button but Beauty just did.....nothing.

David pushed Beauty back into the garage. I took the luggage off the seat - no small feat as it was latched down securely for a two week ride. David took the seat off - no small feat as the leather heat shield makes the seat fit just a little too snug. He then but the battery charger on the terminals and juice was once again flowing but Beauty still wouldn't start. A quick check of the connections showed a loose wire. David fixed it and Beauty started up.

Next we had to finesse the seat back on and latch the luggage back on. Now we were then ready to roll - and just 15 minutes after the above picture was taken. Two new items were added to the trailer, though: a set of Allen wrenches and the battery charger.

We had a non-eventful rest of the day except for the extreme heat. By the time we got to Ted's in early afternoon, both motorcycle thermometers hit 100.

Dale and Vicki were already here and tomorrow the six of us head out for Pennsylvania.

Heading out today

The bikes are all packed and ready to roll. It is 6:00 a.m. and we are just checking the email before shutting down the computers to pack them in the Ultra's trunk. (Yes we take both computers - we don't share computers well.)

Our first stop tonight will be at David's brother's house and then we will head out tomorrow from there as a group for New England.

Getting Packed

We leave for our summer trip this Wednesday. This year we will motorcycle to New England in a trip we are calling Triple N of 2010 - New Decade, New England, New Beginnings.

The New Beginnings part of the trip title refers to David retiring this year. This summer will be his first summer not working since 1965. We all agreed "it's about time" he took some time off.

For those who have followed along with previous trips and reported back that you enjoyed reading about our adventures, thanks. As in the past, we will try to update the blog often.