We knew from looking at the weather forecast that we were in for a damp ride from Cape Cod up to Bradbury Mountain State Park in Maine. We did not know, however, that we would nearly drown on the way.
Continue reading A wet ride to Maine
Lifestyle dichotomy on the Cape
After a great evening with Barb Freeman, we headed off down the back roads to Cape Cod. We crossed at the Bourne Bridge, noting the horrendous traffic in the opposite direction from all those weekenders heading back to the mainland. Yuck.
Now on the Cape, we headed up the coast of the canal until we reached the Sagamore bridge, where we found route 6A and headed down the coast of the bay.
Continue reading Lifestyle dichotomy on the Cape
You know you’re lucky when…
You hit reserve (remember, the Cruiser is an old-school Harley with a carburetor and a gas valve) with the next service plaza on the Thruway 19 miles away and you know you can get 20 miles on reserve.
So, we cruise along with no real worries until the engine starts to stall again. I know the bottom of the tanks are curved and trap usable gas, so I yank on the brakes to slosh some more gas down to the carburetor. A sign for the service plaza appears ahead. Hallelujah! But wait, the sign says the plaza is still one mile ahead. Arrrgh!
We repeat the sputter-brake-run sequence another 15 or so times and glide into the service plaza and directly to an available gas pump as the engine quietly stalls.
We were laughing our asses off.
Lucky. Very lucky.
Doing the Pilgrim tourist thing
A few photos taken while Barb showed us around Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Night departure for New England
I had the Cruiser all packed and ready to rock when I was at work on Friday. I needed to get a few things done so I was unable to leave a little early at 3:30pm as planned. Instead, I escaped around 4:10pm and pointed the handlebars up I75 to pick up Karen and head east.
Continue reading Night departure for New England
Evening departure for Philly
After years of not taking him up on his invitation, I decided it was time to head out to Philadelphia for Roach’s annual July 4th get-together.
Continue reading Evening departure for Philly
2011 MAMMARY Run Gallery
Here are photos and a photo map from the 2001 MAMMARY Run. Some of the photos are courtesy of Len and Pauline.
Continue reading 2011 MAMMARY Run Gallery
2011 MAMMARY Run Wrapup
In the four days and one evening it took for us to travel to the 2011 MAMMARY Run and return home, we covered 1,548 miles. The following are the individual posts related to this trip:
- MAMMARY 2011 Kickoff
- Wet, but not so wet
- When to avoid the I495 Beltway
- Lunch at Stoney’s
- Wandering out east
- Take the long way home
- It’s NOT a dry heat
- 2011 MAMMARY Run Gallery
This was a bit of a shakeout trip for the Cruiser since it hasn’t been on a long trip since 2006. I now have a long list of little things that require attention before Karen and I venture out on another trip on it.
Mitch and Kathy were, as always, excellent hosts and threw a great party. I’m already looking forward to next year.
It’s NOT a dry heat
The last day of our MAMMARY run ride was greeting with good news and bad news. The good news was that the weather forecast for today called for only the tiniest chance of rain. The bad news was that it called for near-record high temperatures. Karen and I would be riding through some nice two-lane roads in south-central Ohio before hitting the superslab for the last stretch home. There would be no cool mountain passes or sheltering forests to ride through today.
Continue reading It’s NOT a dry heat
Take the long way home
A review of my motorcycle touring history shows that I have a tendency to blast home from the MAMMARY run in a single long day. Only twice have I taken the time to wander home via a more interesting route. For this trip, the first-ever tour with Karen, I decided to take a leisurely route home and wander through the mountains a bit. Continue reading Take the long way home