The Adirondacks provided us with yet another great adventure. The weather was nearly perfect. Cool enough that you could ride in a jacket or just a shirt. We had one day of scattered rain (Wednesday) and just a little drizzle on our return back to Chicago, but not enough to stop and put on our rain gear. Ultimately, it's the comradery and contribution of good friends that make the trip truly great every year.
I mistakenly reset my Trip Meter, but I estimate that I put on a little over 3,000 memorable miles this trip and the new Pearl (2014 Ultra Limited) performed very well.
The Base Camp, as Tim remarked, was better than the VRBO pictures conveyed.
The amenities were solid, with a hot tub, Wi-Fi and enough garage space for the bikes after we broke into the other bay that the owner had locked for his personal storage.
We were able to lock it up again and the owner was none the wiser as I did receive the full security deposit refund over the weekend.
There were more than enough beds for everyone although some of the riders shared a "barracks".
We had a Skee-Ball Machine with Thing providing the ball return.
And Tom was able to test out his Alaska bedding in the Base Camp's basement all by himself (with the threat of bears all above him).
Oh!
Did I mention the old graveyard that was right next to us!?!
The headstones were so old and weathered that we could only make out some of the markings.
Most of the graves dated back to the late 1800s.
The proximity of the Base Camp to Lake George Village was great. Most of the key spots were a short walk away or a cheap cab ride. The whole area had a Lake Geneva feel to it. We even debated renting a pontoon boat for an afternoon. And our timing was great, too. The area had just enough tourist activity to make it interesting in the evening, but not so much that we ever had to wait for a table. As it turns out, most of NY is still in schools at this time. Suckers!
The riding was great. With plenty of scenery (mountains, lakes, rivers, etc.), interesting destinations and high quality black top with the perfect mix of twisties and sweepers to suit everyone's riding style. And the further out from town we got the less traffic we saw. I can remember riding for miles Monday on the way to Lake Placid without seeing a single car.
What follows is a day-by-day account of the Ride's highlights.
Saturday 6.21
Seven of us launched right on time from the South Holland Oasis. We would be nine by the end of the day. The weather looked threatening, but we encountered no rain. We were stopping for gas about every 110 miles or so and stopped for lunch at a Max and Irma's in Maumee, OH. The waitress took a picture of us with Hiram's camera and as she was focusing the flash popped out and startled her. To which I commented that the same thing happens to Hiram when you touch a certain spot. We all got a huge laugh out of that.
Mark rallied with us in Cleveland OH after lunch. He had left a day early to visit friends and family in the area (and caught a lot of rain on Friday). I picked the rally point which was in the middle of downtown Cleveland by the Indians' ball park. I worked in Cleveland for a year and that's where Cole and I first met - I wanted to see our old haunts. Big mistake! Not meeting Cole, rallying in downtown Cleveland! I knew about the ball game at 7:15pm, but we got there about 4:30pm and the traffic was a mess because of construction and because they were giving away a bobble head doll or something to the first 12,000 attendees and no one in Cleveland has anything better to do but go to the ball park 3 hours before a game to get a trinket!
Onward to our layover in Erie PA (Microtel) and we arrived about 6:30pm to find John sitting on the lawn with a
case of beer waiting for us. It had been about a year since he moved to Lancaster PA and it was great to see him again and the cold beers he had made it even greater.
John road up from Lancaster earlier that day, taking the back roads for about 350 miles. It was a longer ride than he anticipated but, he still beat us to Erie.
That night we had dinner across the street at Boston's Sports Bar. The best thing about dinner was that they had Yuengling on tap.
Sunday, 6.22
We left Erie around 8:30am. The riding on 80/90 was really nice for an interstate, scenic, hilly and more than a few sweepers and the occasional deer carcass (thanx for the recommendation, Otto). We kept to the same routine of 110 mile hops, but we opted for a fast lunch at a McDonalds in Sayre, NY so we could get to Base Camp early and get supplies.
We arrived at Base Camp around 5pm and quickly unloaded the bikes for a grocery run in town. Tom and Chad stayed back to find us a dinner location. Base Camp was just outside of the north side of town so we had a nice ride right through town to get to the Price Chopper. Hiram, ever the food hawk, noted a place called the Lobster Pot and declared that we had to hit it while we were here. Mattie had already planned out the shopping so he read off the list and we scrambled to get the items. Mark and I ran across the street to buy some liquor and we learned that it was very expensive there, but that didn't deter us. We're on vacation!
Once again we landed at Base Camp and dropped off the groceries before riding to Adirondack Pub and Brewery for dinner. Our waiter was great, but the restaurant ran out of several of the items we ordered. Red Beard took pity on us and bought us a round and desert. Had we not been drinking responsibly we would have had our first incident because Mark forgot (so he claims) to put on his helmet when we left and no sooner than when we pulled out of the Pub did Mark get pulled over. Long story short, after a field sobriety (because Mark admitted to having a beer or two) which he passed and a Breathalyzer test which he passed as well the cop let him off with a warning about the helmet. Had he not been an adult and a nice guy we're sure that the outcome would have been different. Mark wore his helmet to bed that night.
Monday, 6.23
It's Mattie's Birthday! After his 65 spankings and breakfast at the Base Camp we headed out to Fort Ticonderoga (where he was stationed) via 9N along the West side of Lake George. It was a nice ride through little resort hamlets along the lake. The Fort itself was impressive, from what I saw at the bar while sipping on a local craft brew with Chad. Everyone else walked the fort. They must have enjoyed it because there's a crap load of pictures.
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| L-R: Nick, Matt, John, Hiram, Bob, Chad, Tim, Tom and Mark |
From there I don't know what happened. Tom was lead and we deviated off our planned route (9N, I believe). There were at least 2 points I thought that we should have gone one way and Tom ended up going the other way. But, it's a motorcycle ride and any good road is the right road. The ride was amazing! We encountered very little traffic as we road though the occasional small farming town on the way to Lake Placid.
Lake "Do you believe in miracles" Placid seemed a little depressed as we road in, but on the way out we encountered the touristy area. We saw the Ski Jumps, which jutted out from the landscape at a jaw dropping height that you can only appreciate in person. We stopped for lunch at Mr. Mike's Pizza and only realized it was closed after parking the bikes, but Mr. Mike saw us milling around outside and opened up just for us. The saying, "You meet the nicest people on a motorcycle." is very true.
After lunch we continued our loop riding through the rest of Lake Placid to Saranac Lake on 3 and then 30 to Tupper Lake, Long Lake and 28 and 28N back to Base Camp.
We decided to stay in that night and celebrate Mattie's Birthday tomorrow evening in town (it would be memorable and establish a new rule for our future rides). Mattie and Hiram put on a memorable feast of Hamburgers, which really hit the spot after a long day in the saddle.
Tuesday, 6.24
Breakfast at Base Camp and then we set out for a southern loop which took us around the Southern tip of Lake George and partially up the East side. Our first stop was McDermott's H-D in Fort Ann, NY. A really nice and friendly dealership where Mark found his bike's doppelganger in the parking lot. Check out the GoPro videos I shot as we ride through Lake George Village and to the dealership.
We continued south on 4 to our lunch stop, Steve's Place, where we met one of the ride's more memorable characters - Debbie "Downer". Deb was a wonderful waitress in her 60's (too young for Matt), attractive, smart and very personable. As we got to know her we learned that she was a prisoner in Glen Falls as a result of her own fear of change, phobias and anxiety although she had nothing really tying her to the location any more. Deb had never been far from home (not even out of state). With her personality and waitressing skills she could work anywhere, but we doubt that she'll ever get out and see more of the world. Sad to say that there are a lot, a lot of people in this world who will never venture far from home like Deb. Not us though!
Onward to Saratoga Springs!
I nice town with a very young vibe to it.
We stopped at Druthers, a brew pub that Chad had visited the other night with his brother.
From there we headed North on 9N to get back to Base Camp and prepare for Mattie's Birthday Bash on the Town.
Our first stop was The Garrison, a recommendation from the McDermott's after I specifically asked for a spot with a view of the lake. We didn’t have to get out of the cab to realize the only water we'd see would be in our water glasses. Did I mention that all 9 of us were in one minivan cab?
We took the cabbie's recommendation and went to King Neptune's Pub, where we had some cocktails outside by the water and Mark was served one horrendous martini which made us venture next door to Christie's on the Lake where we met Kandi.
Kandi, our server, quickly introduced us to Fireballs.
And she toasted Mattie's birthday with us and several other toasts as well.
We even got the bartender involved and eventually the owner (Kandi's boyfriend) came by to talk with us.
The night was quickly spinning out of control and the pictures will tell it best.
Fortunately, I had the good sense to take a little nap at Christies so that I could ride the next day.
Wednesday, 6.25
New Rule: Never do the Ride during Mattie's birthday
We woke up in a fog and not because it was raining either. When I got up Tom was already off doing the ride that McDermott's recommended around Great Sacandaga Lake although it was raining lightly. I headed out to do the same ride. Chad headed out to visit family and friends in Western NY and would regroup with us in Erie, PA on Friday night. Everyone else preferred to stay dry and headed in to town for lunch.
I encountered a pretty good down pour about half way through my ride after stopping for lunch and the hair of the dog at the Old Trail Inn on the North side of the lake. The rain and humidity was so bad that I had to pull over because I couldn't see out of my glasses and even my mirrors were fogged up. Clearly my anti-fog crap was crap and I resorted to the old diver's trick of using spit as an anti-fogging agent. The rain let up a bit after about 30 minutes and I crossed the lake at Northville and headed back to base camp where John and the guys were as happy to see me as I was to see them.
We played a little Skee-Ball before heading to the Lobster Pot (Hiram's Pick). Again, a few of us cabbed it Everyone was very pleased with the meal and I was especially happy with my Surf and Turf, which was really more like two entrees.
(including me), some of the guys rode and a couple walked and regretted it as it was a good 1.6 miles in light rain.
Later that night we watched a DVD called "Why We Ride" that I brought with from home. It's like a modern version of "On Any Sunday" and both of these films are mandatory viewing if you're a motorcyclist or passenger, even.
Thursday, 6.26
Breakfast at Base Camp and then we set out for Great Sacandaga Lake as it was a very nice ride. First we went NW on 28, then SW on 8 (Southern Adirondack Trail) which took us through many small and some weird towns. Somewhere along the way we pulled off the road to look at the West Canada Creek which is more like a river. I also lost the gloss black cover to my inner fairing's phone compartment. The damn this just flew off as I was ridding. Turns out tabs that fasten it to the door are very shallow.
We stopped for lunch at Green Acre's Drive-In in Dolgeville, NY.
A quaint little spot with friendly staff and customers who all chatted with us.
Our waitress took some nice group pictures of us by the bikes and was going to post one to their facebook page.
As of this writing it hasn't been posted yet.
We headed to the North side of the Lake on our way back to Base Camp. The North side had the twistyist blacktop. The lake was great, beautiful homes on our left with lake access on our right. At one point the road was bordered by a low stone wall and you got the feeling you were riding on the Isle of Man. The lake views were spectacular and I was able to capture a lot of this in a GoPro video that I will post later.
We headed back to Base Camp by way of 9, past Base Camp to the Meat Store (yes, that's what it was called and they cut meat to order) to gas up and buy Ribeyes for our farewell dinner that night. It was still early, so rather than heading back to Base Camp I decided to head to the H-D tee shirt shop in town to pick up a t-shirt and then ride up the East side of Lake George again to get some video.
Dinner was great as Mattie and Tom did a masterful job of cooking perfect steaks!
Friday, 6.27
Kick-Stands Up at 8:30 for the ride to Erie, PA after straightening up Base Camp, relocking up the second garage bay to cover our tracks and saying good bye to John who was heading into NYC to visit his sister and friends before returning home on Sunday. Tom had left before 7am to visit his son who is doing an internship in Cleveland.
The ride to the La Quinta in Erie was dry and uneventful. The hotel was a step up from the MicroTel. We wandered over to a Country Restaurant and Bar called Doc Holiday's for dinner, Pool and Country Music. We also learned that Bob is a pool shark. Hiram ventured to the Casino in search of his fortune, but was soon calling me to see if we were still at Doc's. It’s a good thing that he didn't go to the casino on our first night in Erie otherwise he would have had to steal his gas for the rest of the trip. And Chad arrived at Doc's to join me in a nightcap around 10:30pm.
Saturday, 6.28
Kick-Stands Up at 8:30 for the ride to home. We all agreed to push it a little so that we could get home a little early. We did it in 3 gas stops. Encountered a little traffic around Cleveland/Toledo and a little drizzle east of there, but never enough to make us stop to put on rain gear. Although, at one point there looked to be a pretty wet stretch of asphalt ahead of us, but it turned out to have rained there before we road through that 1 mile stretch.
Mattie headed SW as Mark, Tim, Hiram, Bob, Chad and I headed North via the Skyway. As expected we hit a lot of traffic as we approached the city. Everyone except Chad and I continued to ride home. Chad and I must have read each other's minds, because we both wanted to hit 3 Aces on Taylor street for an end of ride toast and we beat a hasty exit to Taylor street to do just that.
