Wednesday, July 14, 2010

slow connections in MD



Hi all!

I made the 450 mile journey yesterday without incident. I have pictures to share from atop of Bear Mountain and I must say I got lost on a road called 7 Lakes road which goes through a national park right after Bear Mtn Bridge and right after the Palisades Parkway. It was the most amazing motorcycle (wanna be road) I have ever been on. I say "wanna be" road because it was pretty torn up pavement wise but absolutely gorgeous in the sweeping, cutting curves through the forest. In the end I found myself out to rt 17 and then to 287 in Morristown area. If I had known, I would have called my cousin, Priscilla up to take shelter! turns out as soon as I was in NJ it rained.

It wasn't one of those rains where you could say "hmmmm. just a drizzle. I'll pull over under the next over pass and put on rain gear and put the waterproof covers on my luggage". No it was the rain that hit me like hail ball and pelted my windshield so hard that I was soaked within 15 seconds. So I kept riding. No need to bother putting a rain suit on over a soaked body and soaked luggage! So I road through the rain and all was fine. It did take me the next 5 hours of riding though to dry my clothes out again!

Oh a neat thing. On my way down I passed Fred south of Waterbury, CT. My friend Fred has a touring Triumph, which is what he should be riding, but he cracked the case on it while doing an oil change the other day so he's on a triumph thruxton. Ii recommend looking it up to see pictures. With him on it it looked like a cafe racer!. There's no room for luggage so he was carrying 7 days worth of clothes in a backpack!!! Poor guy.

When I got close on his tail you could see he was looking back in the rear view going "really? she's behind me?" When I pulled long side in the middle lane I gave him a wave with my hand and he gave me the thumbs up. I hear someone honking on my left and look over and some dude in a truck is giving me a wave and blowing me kisses.. How typical LOL

So we separated because I had plans to meet up with my brother at his house to stop in for a water refresh and pee break. Not only that I was pretty convinced that Fred was going to ride much slower than I since he is on the highway without even a windscreen! Ian wanted to sit on my motorcycle. He thought it was cool. His eyes turned into half dollar size when I said he could go ahead and hop on!

I stopped at a Lancaster Applebees for a Sandwich along the way and sat at the bar. I met an on duty cop at the bar. we swapped small talk about what law enforcement is like in our respective states in regards to animals and general stuff. Turns out in PA, when you're the head honcho it's more than normal to go to a bar, in your plain wrapper crown vic, order a beer (with a gun/badge on you), and smoke. Yes folks, I said smoke. I told him in MA that there's a law about non smoking cops (amnesty to the older generation but no new smokers on the force), and he laughed saying he'd never make it in the big city, and went back to drinking his beer.

So during my whole trip down I aligned myself with a bunch of truckers which was really great during the rain storms as their tires kept the majority of the water off my wheels. When the pavement was dry we sped up and when the rain fell they let me tuck in between them and slow down.

Late yesterday I made it to Allegra's house. Allegra is my boarding school roommate. Allegra has the fairy tale farm!! absolutely beautiful. So we caught up quickly on the back deck by the pool which over looks 66 acres of pristine horse beauty!. After a cocktail (I swear they make them tall size down here) we went Gatoring.

I've never been gatoring. No not alligatoring. But in her John Deer Gator. We went all through the back woods of her farm through creeks, mud, bogs, fields, and we only got it stuck on one tree. My goal was not to spill my drink. And down in this area people are FRIENDLY! Allegra decided since Ed had drank all her Vodka that she was just going to stop over at a friends house and borrow some LOL! So here we were gatoring along hay fields and White Hall Rd. and we just showed up at a neighbor's farm and walked in and had a drink with the neighbor! On my way out, I told Allegra that if that had happened in my neck of the woods someone would have called the cops and most likely a no trespass order would have been issued! Amazing

So around 9:45 Allegra decided she was hungry so we drove to the nearest food, Hunt Valley Mall. Yes... Our old stomping ground where we used to hang out and smoke, drink, cause trouble as kids :) We ate like pigs, drove back, and I promptly fell asleep. My bed companion is Lavender the cat and she has let me know that the middle of the bed is her spot.

I awoke to her still in the same spot, my back in a goofy position, and when I opened my eyes a yellow lab giving me the stare down with two stuffed fox toys in his mouth. So this really is just like home!

I am not travelling today on the bike so no updates like yesterday from my mobile. Today we are having a crab bake. I have tons of pictures but the connection here is really spotty and i'm using my cell as my modem. I will update when I get to the hotel on Thursday/Friday on the pictures.

Hope everyone is doing well!!

4 comments:

  1. Nice Adventure!
    -Joe

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  2. have fun !! sharyn

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  3. Hey, Hilary! Sounds like the start of a wonderful adventure! I'll be sharing your adventures with the gals from South Shore Women On Wheels at our meeting - it's the kind of riding that inspires others. Enjoy your visits with your friends. Keep your head up!
    Mary H

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  4. So happy to hear about all your fun. Things are fine around town. I saw a Foxboro ACO car on River Rd today though ! Thought, uh oh, did I leave GrayC out for a visit w/ her former landlord? HAVE FUN.

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