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Sunday, July 06, 2008

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Helmet Free in Pennsylvania!

Wow! That's all I can say. Sitting in the living room over morning coffee, we looked out on this Sunday morning, and saw that the skies were favorable for riding. Watching the weather channel, they too reported that temps and skies would be fair for the day. I checked my Nexrad Radar, and confirmed it - not a rain drop in sight! So, our discussion turned to "Where are we going to ride to today?" It's Father's day. There's no runs scheduled today, not even anything within 100 miles of us. Once again, Patti comes up with the great idea. This time, she's done it like she was thinking of it for a long time.

Patti called our friends in Angelica, Marty and Karen. After a brief conversation with Marty the plans were laid - we're heading to Angelica to go for a ride with our friends from the mountains in the southern tier. Karen and Marty are officers in Alle-Catt ABATE and good friends. It didn't take long before we planning the route, with the map on the dining room table, discussing our options and sipping coffee. It was mid-morning, and we estimated we'd arrive in Angelica about 1pm.

Learning a good lesson from yesterday's ride, we dressed more warmly for this one. Chaps, gauntlet gloves, neckerchief's and sweaters were the norm, and we'd find out we could have added another layer and still would need them for the long ride home. But, that wasn't on our minds - riding was, as we jumped in the shower, and began the ritual of packing for the ride.

Once more, I swung open the doors to her sleeping building, a wooden shed in the backyard, to find the Red Dragon quietly waiting for her next chance for flight. I rolled her out into the sunlight and she happily fired up on the first trigger of the starter and purred with delight as I rode from the backyard to the launching area in the driveway. A quick dusting of the windshield, and other shiny parts, and she was ready to go. I noticed that the odometer was beginning to rack up some pretty impressive numbers. When I first bought the Red Dragon, (4 years ago) she was a young 11k miles, now this Sunday morning, she had matured, at 36k miles, still as feisty and eager to ride as that first day we sat on her.

We're all packed, and mounted up, and as I pulled out of the driveway, I remember thinking (praying) - we are truly blessed to have each other and a wonderful machine as this to take us on our adventures. Smiling from ear to ear, I navigated the Red Dragon out of Clarence Center, and before long, we were out of Erie County, on Two Rod road when we found the first hills that would later become mountains. The breeze was lighter today, not as cutting and cold, but that could be because of the extra leathers we were wearing too.

A wonderful ride so far, we stopped at the end of Two Rod, to freshen up, take on some nicotine, and after a short stop, back at the ride, plunging deeper into the southern realms of New York state.

Arriving in Caneadea, we gave the Red Dragon a drink, had a smoke and blasted on, further south toward Angelica. The sun gleaming brightly on her shiny parts, at 70 mph she was singing her song, and accompanied by the wind in our ears and the blurr of the landscape, now beginning to take a distinctly sharper hill-like form. We were approaching the mountain areas!

I got a brief history lesson of areas we toured through as we came into Angelica. Patti would point to a site, and tell me a story about it when she was in her youth, and oh, how this has changed since she had last seen it. She was enjoying telling all about different things, and I was just as fascinated with each new exhibit we passed. We slowed our pace to a relaxing 30mph to take in the sites of downtown life in this sleepy little bedroom town. Quaint and well kept, it had a pride about it that resonated off it's hardwares and buildings. Meticulously groomed yards with carefully planted flowers and shrubbery and in some spots, you knew there was old money here.

We pulled in to Karen & Marty's about 1:00pm, and found Karen on the front porch daydreaming in the sunlight. A rustic home, light blue with a wavy driveway that climed a small burb. I noticed a rather homesteadish appeal to the house, by spying the barn-like garage off to the side. A nice home, indeed, with some history to it. After a few conversations, and and the usual up-to-date gossips, we were given a tour of thier home, and discussed where we would be riding to. We showed an interest in riding in Pennsylvania, because we can ride without our helmets, so Marty whipped out a map and we all looked on as he planned the route. We nodded with approval, and listened as he gave the instructions.

Marty rolled out his 2000 Yamaha V-star Classic, deep blue, from the garage, and parked it next to mine. I looked his ride over, and noticed some likeable features of the bike, mainly how much larger and comfortable it appeared. The 1100cc V-Twin engine shone in the sunlight and the long, straight exhuast pipes caught my eye, shaft drive-nice! Looked alot like a HD to my untrained eye, and I began to think about how nice it would be to have all that between my legs, and the additional space for shit in the bags, and how much more enjoyable the ride would be for Patti.. I snapped back to reality while Marty described his pleasure of his ride.

Soon, we were clothed, chapped, scarfed, gloved, saddle-bagged and on our bikes, heading down the driveway towards our first destination, lunch in Coudersport, PA. We headed south towards the PA border on route 16, through a few small villages, and brief peeks at a simpler life. No Wal-Marts, or Malls, no 7-11's or massive communities of town houses, and more enjoyable - no traffic. We had the road to ourselves! And what a great road for the most part.

Marty led us down through some areas of countryside, and on one particular stretch, he found the bumpiest section of highway in all of New York. I had to really work to avoid some of the upsurges in the road, almost like speed bumps, followed by an abrupt sharp turn, and then slow to prepare for the volley of shakes and rattles the road caused. It went on for about 10 minutes and I could hear Patti groan with each new hit of the rough spots. Soon though, we were out of it, and on to smoother planes, and we accellerated with glee and excitement as we chased down the next mountain.

We rolled further south, on highway 19 through towns like Wellsville, Stannards, and just over the Pennsylvania line, we pulled into the parking lot of a small grocery store, so we could stash away our helmets. We parked just outside the entrance to the store. A look back up the road, where I could see a mountain draping across the horizon, I spied a gas station we passed, Full Serv Unleaded $1.83/gal. Wow...

My nose picked up a scent that threw me back to my childhood days. It was the grocery store, and old favorite odor of shelves, and wooden floors, and the smell of fresh produce, a meat counter, and dusty shelves of brick-a-brack and little hardwares. Images of white smocks and friendly old counter folk, smiling while they politely served thier customers, and a yearning to want to go into that store came over me. I don't know why I didn't. Back on the ride after a brief smoke and a stretch and it was soon that we knew were deep in the shadows of the mountains.

We followed route 6 into Smethport, where we eventually found a restaurant that was open, and pulled in for dinner. I could feel the road taking it's toll on me, and so could Patti, as we grunted gingerly while exiting the bike. I knew then I would be a tired young man when I got home that night, but I wasn't complaining, this ride was amazing! Ok, we ate, and soon we were back on the bike. A quick stop at a deer park, to spy the scrawny looking caged animals, and we were zooming along once more, again more amazed at the next turn than the last. This ride was the bomb, and we were loving every minute of it. This time Patti has the camera out to do some shooting from the bike, and she got some beauties of the area! I have to upload the images to the gallery, look to the menu options under GALLERY for it, coming soon.

Marty and Karen would break off at the 16/81 split, and we were left to our own for the long ride home. I got cold, and by the time we pulled into the driveway, we were frozen, even though the sun hadn't completely set yet. I slept like a log, and so did Patti. A great ride, but we were bushed. We're planning another trip for my birthday in July, Karen and Marty invited us to come down and spend the weekend with them, to do some more quality riding - we're going on July 9th.

Saturday's Mercy Flight Run - Boink, Bam, Zoom!

Saturday morning, June 19th, 2004 - Another cool and somewhat windy start to what would be a chilly and windy day of sun and clouds, with the winds sometimes enough to interrupt the breathing because of the cold it carried.

Nonetheless, I pulled our 1985 Yamaha Maxim X(The Red Dragon) from her sleepy stall and parked it in the driveway, in the sunny spot, were I gave her a good soapy bath, and polished her shiny parts, and sparkled up the windshield. Patti gave her bags a good cleaning with the polish, and without much trouble, she gleamed with pride in the morning sun. I adjusted the mirrors mount, and moved them out about an inch to improve my 'over the shoulder' vision while riding.

The temps were in the mid 50's at start, but we were dressed and ready to go to our first destination - a place called Big Ugly's on route 31 in Lockport, NY. We arrived at about 11:45am, and found some fellow members, as well as some participants in the run. The bar had a live band playing the usual list of festive biker music. Not a big crowd, but we had a good size list of names on the sign-up sheet, and it kept the workers of the run busy.

We decided to join in with Frank Banks, who had his young daughter riding passenger, and Sean & Karen on the first leg of the journey to The Burt Hotel. Sean led the way, as this run was without route sheets - or they were an option if you didn't know the way to each stop. A twist on things I guess, to let the rider go whichever way they wanted, which is usually the way things work out anyway. So, following Sean, we arrived at the Burt Hotel, where Lisa was working the stop. We rolled our dice, and had a soda, (I had a pickled sausage too) and hung out chabbering with other riders for about 45 minutes. We joined with a bigger pack of riders for our next destination - The Stone Jug in Lewiston.

Whoever was leading did a great job. At one intersection, we were turning right onto a busy route, and we decided we would have to block to make sure the pack made it out in one group. So, bringing up the rear, we arrived at the Stone Jug where Dennis and Robin were in the parking lot, rolling dice. Another soda, and a while of jabbering and we're back on the road again for our next stop - The Marlboro Inn in Sanborn. A nice trip but we got seperated from the group at a light. We took a short-cut through the reservation and arrived before the pack at the Marlboro where Sandra was working the stop.

Sandra had been there since 11:30, thinking she had to be at her stop at that time, even though bikes weren't even leaving the beginning until noon. Oh well, the early bird gets the worm.

We hung out at the Marlboro for about 30 minutes, waiting to see who else would be coming, and when we didn't see anyone else after the pack arrived, we decided we needed to get to the last stop because we were holding some of the door prizes, and should have them set up for when the rest of the riders get there. We blasted off with Ray and his girlfriend and a young sport bike rider and headed up route 31 towards Niagara Falls. The Playground is located on a side road, off the beaten path next to a thruway, and after riding about looking for the right road to take, we finally found it. A run-down kind of place, but they had a grill working outside so there was some food and a juke box was playing. I dropped a couple of bux into it and selected some songs, hoping someone else would take the cue and do likewise to help lighten the atmosphere - someone did because the music kept playing.

We had something to eat, and waited about to find out that we didn't win anything, and agreed it was time to head for home if we were going to make it to the Blues Cruise in time to see Magic Red and the Voodoo tribe.

A long ride home, cold, and windy - again. By the time we arrived home, we were both too cold and tired to jump back on the bike and ride up to the cruise.

The answering machine had two messages on it. First one was Robin, upset and nearly crying that they had been at thier stop until 6pm waiting for the sweeper of the run that never came! Understandably, I too would have been upset, however I don't think it was necessary to stay there until 6 O'Clock. After 45 minutes of not seeing a single bike, I would have surmised that no one was coming, and would have left, but that's me. So, there's some more controversy for our chapter. The next message on the machine was again Robin, informing us that she was quitting ABATE. Ok, she's really upset and has had it with the crap.

Patti and I talked about this, and then turned our discussion back to ourselves and what we were going to do tonight. I commented that $20.00 per person was alot of money to see one band, and I wasn't about to drink that much pop or eat that much food to make it worth the while. Patti agreed and we thought for a while of something else to do that night. It was only 7pm, and we both didn't want to just "stay in and watch a movie".

Patti suggested we hit the drive-in and see a movie, splending idea! I looked up the Transit Drive-in on the web, and discovered they were showing "Shrek II". They were also showing "The Chronicles of Riddick" - a Sci-Fi blockbuster. I voted for the Sci-Fi flick, but guess which movie we actually ended up seeing. Yep. Her choice: Shrek. (It always works out that way when you want to keep peace in a relationship)

So, we loaded up the van with pillows and blankets, and after a stop at the store for snacks we pulled into the theater, and found a spot to park, close to the concession stand, in the back row with the other SUV's and big vehicles. Soon the lot was filling with vans and trucks, and people popped out and began setting up chairs, and other tailgate-party items. Children ran to the front of the lot where there were swings and slides, and putting course to play.

It didn't take long for us to realize that everyone on the planet was doing the same thing we were as the line for the admission booth was so long, cars were backed up in traffic for 1/4 mile in both directions. For over an hour cars were filing in and soon the place was PACKED with cars, and out of them poured children. Lots and lots of them!

I tuned the van's radio to the frequency showing on the admission card, and we listened to some of the canned music on the "Drive-in Radio Show" and watched the sun slowly set in the west while sipping on soda's and nibbling on our pizza we bought in the concession stand. We settled in for a relaxing evening in the van, with a good movie.

We didn't make it to the 2nd showing, only about 30 minutes of the Harry Potter movie before we were both nodding off. It was 1am and without argument whatsoever, I raised my seat to the upright position and we slowly crept out to the road and headed home.

I slept soundly Saturday night, grateful for another day of sobriety.