PA to VT and Anne (5/21/2023 Sun)

The normal bird wakeup call, followed by the call of nature got me out of the tent around 0630. Packed up and started north by 0750. Sent SMS text to Anne letting her know I was hitting the road with a 5 hour Garmin GPS ride time. Given a brunch stop and two refuel stops I estimated an ETA of 1500 in Shelbourne, VT. Anne had wanted to get away and meet me on my way home, and that was our target. Followed by a day at the nearby museum.

The route was pretty straight forward on the GPS. So I made good tme all day. The first gas stop was quick with restroom break and coffee. Other customers in cars asked me if I was one of those Iron Butt riders. Honestly I've done all the work except submitting two bun burner 1000 rides (1000 miles in 24 hours with start & end witnesses and gas receipts and log). After I did them, I didn't really care to have the proof. While checking over the bike I noticed a bolt on the right hand boot scuff plate working it's way out. So I pulled tools and tightened it. Just after I had them returned to their places under the seat a woman asked if I had a tire pressure gauge. "Yes I do" and reached for the Green Mountain Rally SWAG in my wind screen. "Can you check my tires?", she asks, "the light came on". So instead of giving her a gauge I rummaged through my top case for the good digital one I carried. Because I don't want to be anyones target, I also pulled my GPS and locked up the bike cases before helping. Her front right was slightly low, but still fine. She had the car gone over by her mechanic before leaving Georgia, and the tire really did look fine. She was going to keep an eye on it. When I returned to my bike a tow/welding service guy rolled by and asked if everything was good. He offered help and/or tools if I needed them. People are so good, that i feel bad being suspicious. But when on the road in NJ & NY it's just not smart to take chances you can easily avoid.

After leaving that gas station I got back onto the highway and overshot my next road. Going one exit further and then turning around only to not know which city i needed to aim for on my target road, there was no North/South marker. So I picked the wrong one and needed to get off another exit. After that many passes I decided to just stay on the secondary road parallel for a few exits just to make thngs easy. That worked out well enough, but the highway had limitted access, so I traveled more on those back roads than expected.

Back on the highway for awhile, then off to a local dinner for lunch in Leeds, NY. Met a couple on a trike that had traveled to Alaska on two Strom 650 bikes. We talked awhile and I learnd a bit more from those who have gone before me. There big one was to keep track of time because the locals shut down at normal times, and riders tend to ride late because it's still light. Then you find yourself unable to get food or fuel.

I've listened to a number of Adventure Rider Radio RAW podcasts. I listen in chronological order, so I'm back in 2017. One of the cast mentiond the Tok, AK Motorcycle Campground. That is an area I plan to ride through, and now camp.

One last gas stop was made and I was on the home stretch to see Anne. Then I checked the GPS route and found it included a 29 minute ferry crossing. Thirty minutes back I saw a sign that one of the ferry's wasn't running. Plan B. I had just passed an exit, so when I changed the route to take a lower bridge I still had to go 8 miles to the first exit. That added 30 minutes to my 50 minute time. But seemed a lot safer than having to wait for a ferry, or backtrack from much futher away to this same bridge. When zoomed out an looking at the map from the start of the day it just looked like a bridge. Guess I also need to check the turn description to avoid this mistake in the future.

Eventually I reached Anne at the campground. Found her sitting in her chair doing her blog entry for today. I dismounted, gave a quick hug and headed for the bathroom. She wanted a few more minutes to finish up and I'm just old and need frequent bathroom breaks.

We then setup camp, including a fly to provide a bit of shade. Then I started this blog entry. Anne has been very patient with me. I guess maybe I've spent too much time alone...