[Motorcycling] A week on the road ... well, mostly

[George Fazio]

*** Long Winded Email Warning ***

 

I've tried to organize this into a summary followed by detail for each day.
I think I did a fairly decent job of keeping to that format, so if you don't
want the detail ... just skip it.

 

 

 

Many of you know that I decided I needed a mental health week from work.
The stresses of meeting regulatory compliance deadlines while still dealing
with the everyday work was getting to me; it was time for a vacation.  So, I
decided to take off the week of July 5th, which conveniently gave be an
extra day since July 3rd was a work holiday.

 

The weather was so, so on Friday and I didn't get any serious riding in.

 

Saturday, Doug and I met a friend of mine (Wayne) for breakfast and took off
for a ride.  Aside from having a near miss as people where playing with
GPS'es trying to figure out where we were and how to get out of it, the ride
went well and without further issue.

 

We took PA-419 S to PA-501 S and then went west across US-322.  We cut over
to US-422 going through Hershey, and then back to US-322 express-way and
that's where we got a little lost.  I was leading and decided I wanted off
the express-way, so I took an exit.  The problem is that the exit went much
of nowhere and we ended up back in an industrial park.  I asked Doug to
check the GPS at a stop sign and then started moving again.  A few hundred
feet later I see a no outlet sign and hit the brakes.  Next thing I hear
squealing wheels from Doug's bike and Wayne passes on my left with inches to
spare.  Everyone escaped with nothing more than frayed nerves and a lesson
in what not to do.  From there we went through downtown Harrisburg and
eventually picked up PA-225 N.  When we got to US-209 we started heading
north (aka east).  US-209 is a beautiful ride, but the road is in need of
repairs in some areas.  From US-209, we picked up PA-901 and took that east
(aka south - I love PA sometimes) to PA-183 S to PA-419 S and back home.

 

Sunday I had house chores (mowing the yard, etc.) and didn't get much riding
in.

 

Monday I got out for a little bit in the afternoon.  I don't remember much
of the ride, so it must not have been that interesting.  I know I was out
for five hours or so, but I cannot remember for the life of me where I went.
I was on PA-897 at some point and I think I was on PA-501 and PA-419 too.
It was one of those I'm just going riding with no real destination or goal
kind of rides.

 

Tuesday I thought about staying at home because they were calling for rain
in the afternoon and I had a contractor coming to the house in the morning.
But, when the contractor left I decided to throw caution to the wind and got
on the bike.  It was suppose to be just a short ride before the rain came,
but it turned into a six hour ride; complete with me getting wet.

 

I started heading north on PA-419.  The plan was to do the "419 to 501 to
419 and home loop" that I like to do when I don't have a lot of time and/or
don't feel like putting much thought into where I'm going.  But, when I got
to Rehrersburg I kept going up 419 instead of cutting across through
Rehrersburg to PA-501.  PA-419 dumps out onto PA-183 and I took that north
and hung a right just over the mountain onto PA-895 E.  Before I knew it I
was coming up on PA-443 and decided to jump on that.  Then I got on PA-309 N
and picked up US-209 N around Tamaqua.  I took US-209 all the way up to
PA-33.  On the way there I stopped in Brodheadsville at West End
Motorsports.  I spoke with one of the guys there about saddlebags and then
got back on the bike.  When I hit PA-33, I took that south to US-22.  I knew
I was in trouble when all I saw in the distance were storm clouds.
Apparently there was nothing to the south, but there weren't any roads I
recognize heading south and more importantly ... I didn't know that there
was no weather to the south.  So, I'm passing through Bethlehem and the
skies just open up.  I tried to ride it out for a little bit, but I was
wearing a half helmet and you'd be surprised (for the non-riders) how much
rain hurts at 60 MPH.  So, I gave up and took cover under a bridge for
awhile.  I was soon accompanied by a contractor that had a load of MDF and
no cover on his crew-cab pickup (MFD expands when it's wet and will become
unusable).  It turns out that he rides too and has a highly modified
Softtail that he trailered up from FL where his permanent residence is.  I
got tired of waiting and got back on the bike when it seemed like the rain
slowed down.  A couple miles later I'm looking at clear skies again and my
paints are air drying in the 70 MPH breeze of traffic on US-22.  I got off
at PA-100, stopped a convenience store and then cut over to US-222.  I took
that down to PA-183, stopped at the Harley dealer to window shop and then
headed home.

 

Wednesday I took the bike up to the Poconos and got a little damp.  The
lesson to be learned here?  Check the weather for where you are going before
you leave.  Aside from getting a little damp, it was darn chilly up there on
the bike.  I ended up stopping for an overpriced sweat shirt around
Blakeslee because it got that bad.

 

So, I started off by jumping on PA-183 N and heading up to PA-895 E.  I
again picked up PA-443 and took PA-309 N to US-209 N.  When I got to Jim
Thorpe, I took PA-903 N into Blakeslee.  Now, I use to party hard up in this
area because a friend's parents had a cabin up this way in the early to mid
90s.  It been a few years since I headed up this way and I was shocked to
see a full traffic light at PA-534 and PA-903.  It use to be stop signs
only, and you could wait 20 minutes to turn if there was something going on
up there.  I had to stop and call my friend Karl, whose parent's owned the
cabin, and "say did you know?"  It turns up he had been up there camping
with his daughter a couple weekends early and had known about it, but he was
just as shocked when he saw it the first time.  In any case, I continued on
and found an overpriced sweatshirt in Blakeslee.  With that taken care of, I
took PA-940 S to PA-309 S.  I ran into some light rain on PA-940, but it was
just enough to get a little damp and I dried off pretty quick after it
stopped.  Then I picked up PA-443 S and took that to PA-61 S.  I decided to
stop in the Harley dealer there in Orwigsburg, and ended up buying a pair of
fingerless gloves.  Then I jumped back on PA-61 S and took PA-895 E to
PA-183 S and home from there.

 

Thursday I rode up to State College with my friend Wayne (if you know me,
you knew a State College trip was coming at some point ;-) ).

 

We left around 9:30 am and headed down PA-419 S to PA-501 S to US-322 W.
>From there we took US-322 all the way out to State College.  It was windy
and there is always heavy truck traffic, but all in all it was a pretty good
ride.  We stopped a little before Mifflintown and then stopped again at a
Sheetz in Mifflintown itself.  Then we stopped again at the Harley dealer
outside of State College proper to look around and stretch our legs.  We
found parking in State College and there was an author doing a book signing
right where we parked.  He rides too, and offered to watch the meter for us.
Since we were just grabbing lunch and then pushing off, we politely
declined.  I should gotten his name, or bought a copy of the book (just
because I actually met him in person), but I didn't and it's been buggy me
ever so slightly since.  In any case, we finished up lunch and pushed off.
We took US-322 E to PA-45 N and ran that all the way up to just north of
Lewisburg.  While riding through Lewisburg, we passed a Google Streetview
car, so we might be on there; though I haven't found us yet.  Then we picked
up PA-147 S to PA-61 S.  When we got into Sunbury, I had about enough of
wearing my heavy jacket and it had to come off.  So, we stopped and I
stuffed the thing in the bag I have, then we continued on down PA-61 S.
When we go to PA-901 E, we decided to take that all the way down to PA-183
S.  From there we picked up PA-419 S, grab takeout in Womelsdorf, and sat
down at Wayne's to tell the tale of the ride to his wife (Chris) over
dinner.

 

Friday the weather was nice, but I didn't crawl out of bed until 11 or noon,
and decided I was just going to play World of Warcraft all day.  Doug and I
did ride to dinner since neither of us felt like cooking though.

 

Saturday Doug and I rode to breakfast, but that was it.  It's supposed to
rain tomorrow (today at this point?), so I doubt we'll get out tomorrow
either.

 

All in all, it was a good week off of mostly riding.  I logged a lot of
miles, and I'm less than 200 miles away from my 10,000 mile service now.  I
ordered a set of Boss Bags saddlebags, and am waiting for those to come in.
They're expensive, but everything I've read about them is positive and they
are supposed to be virtually indestructible.  We'll see how they work once I
get them.

 

So, that was my vacation.

 

Until the next big week of riding (first week of August), see you around and
remember ... if you ride, you can post to this list too.

 

-George

 

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