Ridin'Ard

Miles today: 199.1

Hours in the saddle: 4:47

Theme music: Alice in Chains, Dubstep, Fast & Furious soundtrack

Bridges: too many to count! 

We went to bed on time Monday night and woke up pretty early on Tuesday. The dealership didn’t open until 10:00, so we weren’t in a hurry to get going. Which was a good thing because Julie had to do some re-packing to rearrange some things. That pannier full of 6 days of clothes and all of my toiletries sure is heavy. So I’m reverting back to my system of taking a small bag inside each night that I pack up with all of the things I need for one night. 

Jaron did his test ride on the KTM 1290 Super Adventure S. We ended up being there for TWO HOURS waiting on stuff. Waiting on the bike to be checked out before the test ride (it had 1 mile on it), then waiting on a quote. The test ride was escorted and was only 6 mi long. When the sales guy came back after working on the quote and was asking really specific questions about accessories I was like…can he email it? Sales guys are not motivated to get us on our way even though we told them we were on the road and had a ways to go today. In retrospect we should have come in saying that we only had an hour. You have to establish dominance with sales people and make sure you stay in charge. 

Here are some pictures of Jaron’s current crush, which would probably replace his BMW R1200RS: 

As a result, I was pretty hangry by the time we got to a Subway in Halifax, PA for lunch. It was a really pretty ride along the river though. We were surrounded by tall trees on both sides of the road for most of the way. And the road quality was really good, better than in western PA where we were in June. We crossed the river so many times I lost count! So many bridges (my favorite). And I swear, we passed the same van and truck towing a pop-up camper literally 3 times. Any time we stopped for whatever reason they would pass us, then we’d catch up and pass when we had an opportunity. Sometimes it’s just like that. 

I was puzzling over a sign that said “bear fuel” and then we approached a gas station and it was time for a break. We pulled up to the solitary pump and the proprieter came out from the garage where he was working on a large cab up on a lift, like from a delivery truck but bigger, to pump our gas. It was pay at the pump and the sign said it was self service. Pumping gas in to a motorcycle’s tank is kind of an art. You have to be careful to avoid drops on to the tank going in and out, and you have to eyeball it and be careful not overfill it. I looked at Jaron surprised that he was letting someone else pump his gas and he shrugged. The guy made pleasant conversation asking where we were from and where we were heading and then went back to work. And he came out to pump someone else’s gas later, interrupting what he was working on in the garage. 

There was literally every kind of fuel there. The usual 3, plus ethanol-free, diesel, heating oil at a pump next to the gas pump, firewood, propane…too bad I did not get a picture of the gigantic tanks. 

There was enough rain in the forecast to deter us from camping in addition to the late start. Julie is also riding low and needs more preload on the suspension to account for the luggage. Don‘t get me wrong — I love having the entire first joint of my toe on the ground instead my usual tippy toes, but I was scraping and have been taking the backroads pretty slowly getting used to this bike again. This bike is well over an inch lower than the spec. Maybe two? I don’t know, we changed it so much. 

So we had our first rain of the trip. Julie has a new jacket and both of us now have all gore tex and zip vents on jackets and pants. This makes it MUCH easier to convert to rain readiness. You just pull over and zip the vents closed and swap gloves out. On our big trip last year I was screwing around with another layer and it took forever to get it out and unpacked and because I couldn’t see the zipper with the helmet on etc etc. So this jacket is a major quality of life improvement. I’ve been wanting it for a year. I looked at it last year but it was too tight with the L2 back armor in it. So this year I am just wearing it with the thinner L1 back armor in it. I call this phenomenon the pink death tax – fewer options for women resulting in less protection. See rant towards the end of my WRWR US Ripple post from 3 weeks ago. 

I found us a Lost Dog Cafe in Binghamton, NY for dinner. We sat down and looked at the menu and I said, there’s no pizza! The Lost Dog Cafe in VA is an eclectic pizza place. Of course one 3 states away has nothing to do with that local chain. Funny. 

Staying at a motel east of Binghamton Tuesday night. Tomorrow we’re doing the Catskills via a route suggested to me by a woman rider friend I made at a women’s rally in June. Weather looks good! Bummed about not camping tonight, but I have another place picked out for the next set of mountains we’ll encounter. We’ll make our way to Woodstock, VT and stay there for the rest of the week during the Dirt Daze rally.