We met at 10AM at the tandem trailer parking area on the NYS Thruway headed south at Newburgh. (um. we were supposed to meet at 9 or 9:30, but Mike had a business trip that week and didn’t get home until nearly midnight the night before. And we might have had to pack still that morning. At least all the oil changes had been taken care of ahead of time!)
We always joke that our motorcycle “club” name is the RAINMAKERS, and in typical fashion we started out in our rain gear. It was drizzling, but not too bad, and because it was a little chilly starting out the rain gear wasn’t such a bad thing.
After admiring each others bikes and packing jobs, we were off! This day was mostly highway, unfortunately – I-87 to NJ Rt 17 to the Garden State Parkway to the NJ Turnpike to … well, to LUNCH. in Delaware.
As we were peeling off our raingear at a rest stop in auspiciously sunny southern NJ, Mike S said: “Hey! let’s go to Mike’s Famous Harley’s for lunch. They’ve got burgers or something there.” OK, that’s sounds awesome! let’s go.
And then: MIKE S PROCEEDED TO BUY A NEW MOTORCYCLE. that’s right, he traded his in, and picked up a new one. and man that new one was SHARP:
We ended up hanging out for about 3 hours while he negotiated (he had to walk out 2x before he got the deal he wanted) – we had sandwiches, and sat in the grass, and talked, and drank lots of water, and waited….
and waited…
and waited…
but it was worth it!
and then we were back on the road! Our goal for the day was Onley VA, Mike F has a favorite diner there with a reasonable hotel right next door within walking distance. We pulled in at around 9PM, dropped our gear, and dashed next door to get some delicious dinner. Our last 50 miles or so was down dark US 13 in MD and then VA, and we picked up a lot of dead bugs on our shields.
I can’t even imagine the horror of riding through that without some strong plexiglass between me and the innocent swarms of gnats and mosquitoes.
[[check out the summary post with lessons learned, and a full index to this ride report post.]]
