... DE ... RI ... (10/26/23 Thu)

Deer and other woodland citters wandered around my tent overnight. But otherwise I appear to be alone in the entire Chestnut Ridge campground. The office didn't open until 0900, so I packed up and had a shower before paying my $22 to the county park. Leaving the park my bikes thermometer read 52F, but it bounced around the 50s all morning.

First gas stop was in Maryland. I switched to throttle mode C which gives me more range at the low end of the throttle. It is a bit easier to keep out of heavy throttle use that way. My breakfast stop had to be lunch at 1130. I lubed my chain before eating to "let it dry" like the instructions say, and I never do. Tried to buy fuel injector cleaner, but there was none available at this stop. I suspect it will help, or even solve my fuel delivery issues. They may not have injector cleaner, but they make a really good Cheese Steak. And if you're wondering why the Hawaiian Wedding Cake looks half eaten? It was ready first and a really big piece of cake. And yes it does remind me of the one my mom made, but honestly it's better. Sorry mom, but you taught me not to lie (most of the time).

Given my desire to pass through both DE and RI on my route home, I have increased the difficulty of getting home today. If I was smarter I would skip those for my normal routes, or simply stay another night someplace. However I would like to hit those states, so if I have to stop before reaching home tonight I will. But I would really like to get home too. I miss my wife. With this effort I'll need to find stickers from both just to make the point I went. I really should go to the dealer I purchsed this bike from in DE, but it's further out of my way.

I reached home about 0035 Friday morning with temps holding at 62F. It was probably easier to pass all the cities at night, but it made for a long day. Accidents, merging traffic, and Rt95 closed in CT are some todays excitement. Anne got to share my worst fear. She was on the phone with me in a NJ traffic merge from 12 toll lanes to 5 travel lanes while my bike fuel problem was acting up. My chain is stretching quickly on a long day like today. It needs daily tightening and at least that for lube. The rear tire had no center tread, but has no threads showing yet. Can't be too much deeper to threads. I felt some comfort in that if it blew it was a rear tire and would be going straight. Cornering I had tread, so I wasn't worried about sliding or a puncture while cornering. That's my justification, and I don't want to know otherwise.

In DE the service plaza had no fuel, but they did have a Lucus Fuel Injector cleaner. I put some in with very little gas and rode to the nearest gas station to fuel up. It made things better, and I thought it was solved until the problem resurfaced later in NJ traffic. After the NJ issue I added half the bottle to my next refill. I didn't have major issues but it's clearly still there if I really get on the throttle heavy. In normal riding I tend not to do that much, but in traffic sometimes you just need to get out of the way of a crazy driver.

My full list of states today is long: WV, MD, DE, PA, NJ, NY, CT, RI, MA, NH. Worse yet the cities I orbitted: Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newark, New York City, Hartford, Norwich, (Providence), Worcester. In NJ the GPS said that horrible thing again: "be in any of the left 5 lanes". Nightmares.

I hadn't remembered to take out my garage door opener, and stopped outside the door to try with my phone app. Just when I gave up, the door opened and Anne was standing inside. Parked, hugged, and quickly got off my gear so I could get to the bathroom. Unpacking can wait until tomorrow. As can writing up the day and finally posting yesterdays. I care about all you following the blog, but not as much as sleeping and resting my butt! Now at least you know where you stand.