Posts Tagged ‘motorcycle riding in new york’

 

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 Pulling out of the Lake Placid hotel into a light rain (yup wet again) and lots of road spray day 7 of our motorcycle vacation begins.  The Adirondacks was just an awesome place to ride, even with the rain. 

WP_20170624_09_33_31_ProWe needed to reach Port Kent, New York no later than 930AM in order to make sure we are on the first ferry of the day to cross Lake Champlain.  We made it to the landing with about 10 minutes to spare!  We were the first to board the boat (they move motorcycles to the front, not sure why but I enjoyed the perk).  The ride across the lake on the Valcour (built in 1948) took about an hour before we rolled off the ferry and into Burlington, VT. 

Our first stop in Vermont was Green Mountain Harley Davidson.  I am very glad we did, Alan at Green Mountain turned us on to a different, more twisty, route over “Smugglers Notch” to get to our second stop.  That second stop was the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory.WP_20170624_13_10_51_Pro 

During the factory tour we got to see some of the history of the company, it started in a gas station, and how the ice cream is made today.  At the end of the tour we got to sample a new ice cream “Triple Carmel” which both Debbie and I really liked! 

After leaving Ben and Jerry’s it was only a short time before we were on theWP_20170624_16_19_58_Pro Kangamagus (and no I don’t know how to pronounce it!).  This could have been a great ride through the White Mountain National Forest, but, alas, it was a chore and a bit of a bore.  There were way too many cars on the road that had no clue on how to drive the curvy, somewhat mountainous route.  There was even an accident in one turn that I have no clue how it could have happened without a serious lack of driving skill and experience.  

Coming out of the other side of the Kangamagus I was beat.  We found a hotel, had a Mexican dinner and went to bed!  The next day we are heading to the top of Mount Washington.  By the way we are over 1500 miles on the trip so far.

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Waking up at 7AM we looked out the window and it was pouring the rain. I looked at the weather radar and saw the above, sigh.  After breakfast we decided that we were going to ride anyway, this is a motorcycle vacation after all. 

Because it was raining we set our first destination as the top of Whiteface Mountain.  I have always wanted to stand in the middle of a rain cloud! 

WP_20170623_10_44_23_ProThe road to the top of the Whiteface Mountain is a toll road built in the 1930s.  At the top of the road is a pseudo castle (café and gift shop).  But to get to the top of the mountain you have to walk through a 400 foot tunnel cut into solid rock to an elevator.  The elevator will take you up 27 stories to the top.  If it was clear then I expect you could see some fantastic panoramic views. 

WP_20170623_12_42_48_ProFrom the top of Whiteface we headed into town to the Olympic Museum.  The museum is in the Olympic ice rank facility and while small packs in a lot of history.  This is a worthy stop if you are in the area. 

After some lunch we decided that we need to do some laundry and some general reorganization.  Tomorrow we head out to Vermont and New Hampshire.

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We pulled out of Niagara Falls about 8AM for this leg of our motorcycle vacation.  The plan was to ride along the coast of Lake Ontario until we reached Oswego, NY.  The day started out nice, puffy clouds, bright sun and open road.

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURESWe began the day’s motorcycle ride heading north on the Niagara Scenic Parkway.  The parkway runs up the American side of the Niagara River and is an excellent “Chill-out” ride.  When the parkway ended the Great Lakes Seaway Trail continued. The Seaway Trail runs along the coast of the lake but only in a few places is it actually on the coast, just as it was during the 3rd leg of our ride. But, the ride is just an awesome cruse through a lovely part of the country. It is hard to believe that upstate New York is the same state as New York City and surrounding area.

Riding though the countryside we stopped at a couple lighthouses andWP_20170622_10_11_51_Rich admired the views of the lake.  After a while we rolled up onto the Lake Ontario State Parkway, this parkway did actually run on the coast for a good part of the time.  BUT, there was a 6-10 mile stretch of the road that was like riding on a washboard.  By the time this part of the road was over we felt as if we had completed 100 rodeo bull rides, 1,000 jumping jacks and run a jack hammer for 10,000 hours!  This was one of those rides where it was just horrible during but becomes funny and a great story afterwards. 

Taking a break from the ride we decided to stop at Harv’s Harley Davidson.  If I thought that the Gowanda dealership was isolated Harv’s is really out there.WP_20170622_11_36_58_Pro  The folks that work there were super friendly and knowledgeable!  Turns out they are the sponsors of Wyman Racing (Kyle races MotoAmerica Superbike). I wish Kyle was there so I could have discussed MotoAmerica and the DawgHouse Radio’s thoughts about promoting the sport.

Harv’s also has a biker themed bed and breakfast and a café/bar called Milly’s Handle Bar Café.  This is one happening dealership. 

WP_20170622_16_44_36_ProAfter leaving Harv’s we got back on the Seaway Trail, after a little why we started talking about the time of day how much further we had to go.  This was the point I realized that I had miscalculated the time required to get to Lake Placid. We decided to hop up on the Interstate and get going!  We pulled into Lake Placid about 6PM, I really don’t like riding that long when we are trying to have a leisurely vacation. 

OH….did we get wet?  Yes, but just a little, we were racing the rain for the last 4 hours.  We were sprinkled on and off the entire time.  And based on the forecast it is likely that we are going to be damp for the rest of the trip. 

Last post It did not rain but we still got wet

 

WP_20170621_09_54_49_RichWe did not do a lot a riding today.  We took the motorcycle to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls to check out the sites an some of the tourist trap things.  We ended the day riding the Maid of the Mist boat up to the falls… and that is where we got wet today!

Tomorrow we hit the road again.  The plan is to travel up the coast of Lake Ontario then inland to Lake Placid.  So for now here are some random picks from today!

 

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Rolling out of Eire, PA we headed north along the Lake Erie coast on Route 5WP_20170620_09_43_14_Rich(The Seaway Trail, an American Byway Seaway Trail, an American Byway).  We made an assumption that this part of our motorcycle vacation would be along the coast.  It was a great ride in good weather, for a change, but the road is not directly on the coast so that was a bit disappointing.  For the most part you only see Lake Eire a few times.

 Along Route 5 we stopped at several locations including a coupleSAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES lighthouses.  The one thing that really surprised me was the amount of vineyards along the road.  There was miles upon miles of grape vines, thousands of acres.  This day’s ride, along route 5, has been our best, so far, for this year’s motorcycle vacation.  

After a few hours we riding the motorcycle through the cool mid-morning we decided to take a side trip over to Gowanda Harley Davidson.  Talk about being in the middle of know where, this is one of the most remote Harley dealerships we have been.  

Riding out from that dealership I set the GPS to take us to Buffalo Harley Davidson. Unlike the past, the last update to the “infotainment system” seems WP_20170620_09_24_55_Richto have fixed the problem of the GPS not quite finding the dealerships but, there are still some problems like the road showing up in Lake Erie.  If you follow me on FaceBook you know I collect the dealership pins but Buffalo HD was sold out, dang!   

After we checked into the hotel, and clocking 900 miles, we decided to ride down to the American side of the falls.  BIG MISTAKE…not to check the WP_20170620_15_17_29_Proweather radar.  About half way to the falls we could see rain in the distance and it was very clearly a heavy rain.  Turning around at the first opportunity, we made a run back to the hotel…. LOL we did not make it.  Quite well soaked we stopped under an overpass to wait out the storm.  I am very happy that the hotel has a laundry. 

After dinner we tried it again…this time we had no rain and had a good time at the falls.  Tomorrow we are going to travel to the Canadian side and check out the sites.  I know for a fact that we will be getting wet again tomorrow, we plan on taking the boat ride to under the falls! 

2017 Motorcycle Vacation Day 2