Motorcycling
 
 

And rain it did, for most of the next 48 hours, a damp prelude into the FSSNOC '99 Rally.  Club director Jack Robinson told us at the awards banquet that the rain was a pain, but would only make the event more memorable.  It already has. 

After attending the Four Stroke Singles National Owner's Club (FSSNOC) rally in Wisconsin in 1997, I was hoping to get the chance to attend again if the rally would land somewhere close to St. Louis, my latest hometown.  The 1998 Rally was held in Red River, NM; over 1000 miles one-way from me.  A bit far, sigh. When FSSNOC director Jack Robinson announced the 1999 rally would be held in Farmington, NY I had that same feeling...and I heard the 2000 rally would be on the West Coast.  Sigh again.  That's a long time without a dose of thumpers! 

So I pulled out my DeLorme Street Atlas software and began plotting.  Hmmm...less than 900 miles in a straight, Interstate hiway shot from St. Louis.  Could be done in two days without too much stress...but that's a long way from home and lonely riding on a 21-year-old motorcycle.  Still, I considered it...and the more I thought about it, the more I resolved to make the ride.  So in February or so I mailed in my fees and forms.  I'm riding to NY!

I get to take this one long trip each year, with all the family commitments that come from having one pre-teen and one active teen in the house.  And it's great to look forward to going...lots of planning time, examining routes to take, and so on.  As well as, over the winter of 1998-1999 I had gotten acquainted with the LDRider/Iron Butt Association folks, who had a wealth of long-distance riding tips and recommendations.  And as it turned out, 1999 was a great year for trip riding for me.  In May, I rode to KC for the LDRiders KC Steak Run, a mere 250 miles from St. Louis and had a blast.  But I took the long way home, and logged over 600 miles for that Saturday and Sunday overnight trip combined.  My ride home was 350'ish miles, and I rode 390 to get to Wisconsin.  I must be getting the hang of this long-distance riding, maybe.

I had a good ride to the CMA Convention in Carthage, MO in June also.  I scoped out some back roads to take (including SR 19 from Winona to Cuba on the way back...maybe the best in the state!) and had a blast.  Again, I exceeded my previous riding mileage and was getting more used to the longer distances.  Finally, on July 20 I completed my first SaddleSore 1000 ride to qualify for the Iron Butt Association (1000 miles in 24 hours), riding 1033 miles in 19 hours (all within Missouri borders!).  I felt like I'd be able to handle the ride to NY, no problem.

So after all these trips, I pretty much knew what to do.  I've settled on packing a large black gym bag with most gear, and bungee'ing it to the luggage rack.  I've assembled a good set of spares (bulbs, levers) and tools, a liter of spare gas just in case, and good rider protection gear to wear along the way.  I upgraded my tank bag this year, and the extra room and map pocket size is great.

I planned a route for Day 1 of all interstates through Ohio...I'd seen it before on back roads, and I needed to make time.  So I planned to make some time before stopping in Twinsburg (outside of Cleveland) for the night.  I'd leave on Labor Day Monday.  Then Tuesday morning it would get interesting, as I plotted mostly back roads through northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania, in into New York.  I've been a subscriber to Car and Driver magazine for 30 years, (no, really...and I DID get started young!) and I've been reading Brock Yates for nearly all that time.  Anyhow, he lives in Wyoming, NY along the way, and owns and operates the Cannonball Run Pub there.  Looked like a great place to stop for lunch.  Following that, then, it was completing the ride to Farmington NY, in the Finger Lakes region of Western NY state where I'd meet up to 100 or so of fellow FSSNOC members for a few days of riding and admiring each other's rides. 

September 6 Labor Day: St. Louis to Twinsburg OH

Careful planning and get ready had all occurred a couple of days before, so when I arose on Labor Day morning to leave, all I had left to do was to drape myself in riding gear, load up my pockets, fire up and ride off.  Easy, and I got underway a little ahead of time about 6:30a.  On this holiday morning, most everyone else had slept in, so my run through the usual commuter loop into downtown St. Louis was a breeze.  I crossed the Mississippi and made my way to I-70 east to begin the long haul to the Cleveland area, my first stop for the night.

Freeway touring is uneventful, and it does cover the miles quickly.  If a little boring.  OK, it's a lot boring.  But I was making good time, running an easy 70-75, and the miles counted right off, no problem.  I had worked hard to select a new audio device, a pretty good one for the SR.  I had velcro'd it to the side of my tank bag, and was just using those ear-fob style headphones.  The unit has station seek, presets, does weather and TV band, and has auto-reverse tape.  BUT, I found that with the headwind and freeway speeds, it really didn't have enough volume.  A shame, I was looking forward to some tunes or even NPR on the way to and from.  They tell me Kmart and Radio Shack both sell battery-powered in-line amps for these, I'll need one before the next trip.

I filled up for the first time just past Effingham, and bought some chilled Starbuck's to drink and get my one dose of caffeine for the day.  Just 30 minutes past Effingham, I was running my usual 70'ish when I looked down to see the neutral light come on.  Hmmm, odd, I'm still going in 5th, definitely not in neutral...oh fine, to be only a couple of hours from home and have a malfunction. With visions of shift forks, or parts thereof, floating through the gear lube, ready at any moment to find gear teeth to lock up and pitch me and the bike into a 70 mph high-side, I pulled in the clutch, shifted down to 4th and back to 5th.  Whew.  No problem, the light went out, and it's shifting fine.  Of course, when I stopped for gas again at Indy, the neutral light was definitely out of commission...but hey, that's an easy one to work around, to be fixed when I get back home.  I left Indy a bit before 11:00, and enjoyed the terrain becoming a bit more interesting again as I neared the Ohio border later.

The rain started just before Mansfield, first just sprinkles, then the deluge.  Lots of traffic velocity variance, it always amazes me that people decide they can't drive in the rain when it first starts, then get their nerve back up after a few minutes.  Apparently someone got a little too much nerve, traffic finally came to a complete stop and then crept for about 30-45 minutes north of Mansfield, the result of rubber-neckers gawking at two crashed cars mired in the mud on the southbound side with emergency vehicles tending to business.  Let's all be more careful.  "Elephant snot" and all.  Too bad for all the trauma, "past Mansfield" meant I had just set a new record for "furthest from home on the SR", past Lexington OH where I went to Vintage Motorcycle Days in 1998. I continued in the rain, which eased a bit as I navigated the Cleveland suburbs, on my way to Twinsburg where I stopped for the night about 5 p.m.

September 7 Tuesday Ohio to NY

I had worked off most of the trip on Monday, allowing Tuesday to be planned as more of a touring day...backroads and some scenery.  I packed and left about 6:30'ish, with rain clouds banked in all around.  All two-lanes this morning, I cruised through the east-side Cleveland suburbs and small towns nearby in light rain.  Within an hour I was pretty clear of any metro-area feel, and into dairy farming country...rolling greenery, narrow asphalt state highways, very light traffic.  I made my way onto Ohio SR 85, and found the Pymatuning Reservoir that incorporates the state line between Ohio and Pennsylvania.  The combination of rain ceasing, a nice sunlit fog over the lake, and my need to change to dry gloves made it a great place for a photo shoot. 

Now on Pennsylvania back roads, I continued on through US 6, PA957, and US 62 and entered New York via motorcycle for the first time.  Still raining steadily, I did attract some waves from porch-sitters as I thumped through small towns (waves, and I'm sure also, "what a moron...doesn't he know it's raining?").  I rode north on US62, and now neared Buffalo before turning back east again.  Signs for the "Friendship Bridge" were shown...how tempting...Canada also on this trip?...but I resisted and turned east on 20A and rode to Warsaw, NY.  A stop for gas here allowed me to ask the friendly counter-person, "What do you hear about the rain?  Any chance of letting up soon?".  "Oh no, it's supposed to get worse the next two days."  Great.

It was just after Warsaw that I looked down and found no mph registering on the speedometer.  Hmmm.  I thumped to a stop, knowing that I was pretty sure what the problem may be.  That knurled collar on the top end of the cable must have vibrated loose again, letting the cable drop out of the speedo housing.  Well, would you look at that?  I'm so smart, sure enough that was it.  I replaced the cable and tightened it up again, and took off.  It quit again two miles later.  Uh-oh.  I stopped, no it hadn't come loose again in two miles, now I had a broken cable, it appeared.  Bummer.  Now I can't tell when to look for turns (I keep track of the route with a chart showing miles to next turn...not foolproof, but in unfamiliar country it's good to have some idea that State Route 193 should be coming along in 20 miles or so, not 50 or 100) and my turn signal cancel doesn't work.  Made me think that I should carry a spare, and what if this had happened on my SaddleSore ride?  Very lucky.

Wyoming, NY for lunch at the Cannonball Run Pub was next, and it was a lot of fun to visit there.  I arrived 1:30ish, so it was just the barkeep and us couple of patrons.  I didn't know what to expect, really, but the pub was in fact a small place, seats 30-45 or so, and just full of automotive memorabilia from Brock Yates' many years in moto-journalism.  You could see remnants of many things he's written about over the years, friends he's told us about, and so on.  Food was pretty good, too.  Overall, it's much like a rathskeller you might find at his or anyone's house (just a bit larger), homey and full of family mementos.  I was glad I stopped.

Now it was just a short ride to finish in Farmington, less than an hour.  I hit I-390, and then I-90 and paid my first-ever cycle mounted toll charge.  Nothing exceptional to write about this interstate stretch, just great anticipation, then finding the exit for Farmington, and the Sunrise Hill Inn.  ThumperLand at last!  I pulled up and parked among three SRX's and realize it's started already...having an SR and three SRX's all within paces of one another ONLY happens at FSSNOC events, you never see them together otherwise, if at all! 

Registration at the hotel went smooth and easy, then directions to the FSSNOC room upstairs to sign in for the rally.  It was good to see Jack Robinson again, and I followed up with him about his ride thru Missouri on the way to NY.  A shame I wasn't able to join them as they passed thru, but it sounded like they had a good ride and a nice overnight stay in Hermann before their ride up Missouri's Weinstrasse, SR 94 to St. Louis.  Many folks continued to come in, I went back outside and thumped up the hill to my room to unload.

Tire kicking and conversation commenced, with a lot of folks I hadn't met before.  I met Tony Taylor from New Hampshire on his very clean SRX-6, and I shared pizza later with Lynn and Johnnie from Colorado, FSSNOC #126 or so...wow, that's a low number, Lynn had met Jack "on the road" one time and joined up years ago.  Scott and Trish Bogue from NC had hauled in, a very nice XT350 Honda and a KLR250 inside a huge Ford van, and offered to haul gear for folks down to Bath for the Wednesday night sleep-over, a very nice thing to do that kept many people from having to re-lash down all their gear for Wednesday's riding around.  Off and on rain showers meant I never did get a chance to put my dry bike cover on a wet bike, so the poor beast had to stay outside all night in the rain, a first.

September 8 Wednesday Farmington to Bath NY

Wednesday morning continued the drizzles, with a downpour now and again just to make it interesting.  The assembly mounted up in good spirits nonetheless for the ride to breakfast at Cycle Enterprises in Victor, NY, a Yamaha/Moto-Guzzi shop that had offered to host us.  Three's and four's of us took off for this shop, with it raining in earnest.  I noticed my turn signal now decided to come on by itself, and resisted being shut off, a calamity of being outside in the rain so long, I now had soggy switch gear.  It would dry out eventually, I figured.  The bike shop did a nice job for us, with a nice continental breakfast spread and warm hospitality.  They had a number of significant classic Guzzi's inside, nice to look at, and the shop was warm and dry, a big plus.  I got acquainted with Phill and Anne Fett, who showed up looking very spiffy in grey/yellow BMW rain suits, and who had just avoided being roadkill by means of a deranged NY construction truck driver.  Most folks stayed an hour or so, and with a break in the clouds set off for some riding time before needing to assemble at the Glenn Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport around 3:00pm.

I hadn't purchased gas, so I rode south until Bloomfield NY and a clean-looking convenience store.  The counter-person noticed my Missouri license when I opened my wallet to pay, and asked, startled, "Did you ride here from MISSOURI?"   Sure did, I said, and went on to explain she'd probably see a few other graying-guys on skinny old motorcycles before the morning was out.  I went back outside, and pushed the SR to a parking place to study the area map I'd just purchased, to plot out an interesting ride to Bath and Hammondsport.  While I gazed, other FSSNOC'ers came and went as they gassed up and bought sundries.

I rode south on US20A to SR62 enjoying the sunshine after all the rain.  Pretty countryside, with well-maintained but mostly straight roads.  I broke off SR62 to SR53; the map showed it would give me more curves and more back-country riding.  With the sun now shining brightly, (hooray!), the pastures were vibrant green after all the rain, and the countryside looked great.  While not twisty, the roadway was smooth asphalt and nice sweepers to ride through, finally ending at I-390.  I consulted my map and found that Bath, my next destination and my overnight home, was only a couple of exits away.

Bath, NY was the setting for Paul Newman's movie "Nobody's Fool".  And while the picture portrayed a pretty grim, industrial-looking, snowbound small town, I found it actually to be very cheerful on this sunny afternoon.  The town square courthouse was very ornate, with a bandstand/gazebo nearby...maybe a close listener would be able to hear the sounds of Sousa marches being played and still resonating after all this time.  I toured the square a bit, and then spotted what I wanted: a coin-op car wash to get two day's worth of road grime off the SR before the bike show that afternoon.

I had plenty of quarters, but used just a few with the generous timebox and had the SR grime-free in no time.  I rolled outside into some shade, unpacked my shine/polish supplies from my tankbag, and began the routine.  After drying off, a few shots of Protect-All here and there got most things looking good, and I used some WD-40 to clean up the chain, sprocket, and guard.  My wad of CycleCare metal polish wadding had dried up during the ride (bummer, remember to keep it in metal next time, the plastic bags are porous enough to let it dry out!) so my trick aluminum sidecovers and engine cases wouldn't look their best.  Still, it now looked like a well-maintained old SR again, pretty good under the circumstances.

I rode off now in search of lunch before the tour of the Curtiss museum at 2:30 or so, and I wasn't going to settle for a national chain.  I rode north towards Hammondsport, and found Bear's Cafe along SR54, which looked perfect.  And it was close, a very clean and family-owned place with an interesting menu.  I ordered a "Western sandwich" basically a western omlette on toast, and some sweet potato french fries, served with honey and cinnamon.  Dandy.  Another FSSNOC'er from Philadelphia joined me mid-meal and we had a good chat.

Glancing at the clock, it was time for the Curtiss Museum tour so I beat it for Hammondsport.  And what a cool place!  Of course, aided so by all the thumpers lined up outside, but inside, who knew that Glenn Curtiss had so much to do with motorcycle and aviation history?  Many fascinating displays, it was neat to see how he and his fabricators adapted their early engine designs in so many ways to power both motorcycles and airplanes.  One curious thing to many of us was why this particular valley hosted so much aviation...you'd think they'd have picked a place with a lot fewer hills and trees to crash into.  Really amazing was the "Autocar" trailer that they had on display, a type of 1930's "fifth-wheel" trailer for travel that seated 6-7, had a kitchen and bathroom, but was made of lightweight aircraft type construction so that it would be easy to pull.  Neat.

Jack Robinson passed out the ballots for the bike show, and we had about 80 bikes lined up for the judging.  A nice turnout, I think we had even more SR's than in Wisconsin '97 which was a treat for me.  Dinner that nite was a picnic catered by Pizza Hut, we had pizza, hot wings, and salads, very nice to sit in some shade and dine.  I talked a lot with Paul Conley, he and his wife run a top-notch rider gear firm near Boston and handle lots of top-flite goods for touring riders.  And, he rode in on a very nice MuZ Skorpion Replica, a thoroughly modern thumper.

Finishing dinner, the crowd made their way back to the lodging sites in Bath.  The parking lot of the Bath Super 8 seemed to be a good gathering place for more tire-kicking and bench-racing.  Naturally, several of us got jittery after all this talk and no riding, so a cluster of us took off for a night-time cruise around one of the lakes.  Very serene riding, as dusk settled we found an open gas station for some of the smaller-tanked dual sports.  Making our way back by solo headlights, the smell of vineyard grapes was heavy in the air and very pleasant.  The Super 8 lot was still full of folks when we got back, and with the day's riding done several good-hearted members had thought to buy enough grain beverages to share.  A nice settling in after a good day of riding.

September 9 Thursday: Bath to Farmington NY

The rally plan for Thursday called for a ride to Watkins Glen to visit Lane's Yamaha for another free breakfast, some open hours for touring the area, then arrive back at the Sunrise Hill Inn in Farmington for the awards ceremony, a reception for Jack and his new bride Carrie, and the annual banquet.  I decided I could use some sleep, so I didn't make any big plans to rush right out, and slept in.  By the time I decided to rise, the lot was pretty well drained of folks already making their way to Watkins Glen.  I took my time packing, and actually had figured I'd skip the Yamaha shop visit, and just plot some roads back to Farmington and get in some solo riding.

That plan lasted just long enough for me to see a gaggle of FSSNOC'ers just outside of Bath, and I pulled in with this group.  After a couple of false starts, we finally found the road that would take us over north and east to Watkins Glen.  Nice and brisk for this morning ride, we made good time thru farms and vineyards and spotted the Yamaha shop where everyone had assembled.  I had a nice visit with the owner, and thanked him for hosting us, a really nice guy.  On a whim, I thought to ask the teen-aged girl running the parts counter if she had a speedo cable for my 21 -year-old Yamaha.  Much "fiche-ing" and thumbing thru parts books the size of the Manhattan phone directory later, she made it through all the part number changes and cross-references, went over the the wall, and calmly plucked out the correct speedo casing and cable for my bike.  Nine bucks and five minutes of installation time later,  I'll have much easier trip navigation on my run thru Pennsylvania on the way home.

Ran into Scott and Trish, Phill and Anne again at Lane's, Trish asked had I made plans for the day?  Nope.  Inviting me to join them, turns out the first order of business was to augment the pastries graciously provided by Lane's with some bacon/eggs/real breakfast in town at Watkins Glen.  Phill snagged a local into telling us that Savard's on Main Street would be best, and we made our way there.  Working in shifts to retrieve bikes from where we'd had them illegally parked, breakfast with homemade cinnamon raisin bread was soon on the way, and a real spot-hitter.  Finishing up with too much coffee and jokes, we saddled up for a ride out to look at the racetrack itself.  Not allowed in, but the access roads to and from are very narrow indeed.  I can't imagine what a race day would be like to navigate, a drag for sure.

We worked our way north, needing to be in Farmington for the awards and banquet that evening.  Getting a nice tour of the lakes region, the smell of grapes was ultimately too overpowering and our group pulled into one of the many wine-tasting chalets hosted by the vineyards.  A few sips of wine were offered, with peanuts in the shell offered between samples and sounds of gunfire?  No, just air cannon among the vines to chase away the birds.  Several bottles and cash ultimately changed hands, and we were off again north and west thru Canandaigua and on to Farmington.

Arriving back at the Sunrise Hill Inn, Jack announced  a group photo shoot  at 4:00, so most of us freshened up a bit before assembling in the lot.  After photos, awards were handed out for longest travel, best bikes at the bike show, and special recognition for Big Ed Waterstraat, our rally master.  Moving inside for Jack and Carrie's reception, then the banquet dinner...a lavish spread and very tasty.  American Honda in particular with others donated door prizes, and  everyone walked away with something useful.  More great dinner conversation among new friends, with a video after of the 2000 rally location in Jackson, CA.   Winding down and moving to the bar, many goodbyes and best wishes for the rides home concluded the 1999 rally.

September 10 Friday: Farmington NY to Columbus, OH

I wanted to be on the road on Friday no later than 6:30 to take advantage of a special treat on the way back to St. Louis.  Thru a chance posting to the Thumper mailing list ("Hi, are there any Western PA subscribers to this list that know of good motorcycling roads on the way back to Ohio and points west?") I began corresponding with Brad Babcock, who lives in the State College PA area.  Brad offered and sent me a PA map marked with some great roads, and I sent him a Missouri map in return.  But as the event neared and I wrote to Brad again hoping to meet him for lunch, he offered to meet me somewhere north and he'd show me some great rides as I worked my way west.  Wow, how nice is that?  We settled on meeting at Galeton, PA at the junction of US6 and SR44, at 10:00 a.m.

So as dawn broke, I sure didn't want to be late for this chance for some great riding.  I needn't have worried, as it turned out, as a fellow loud-piped FSSNOC member made a 5:45a start toward home, negating the need for my alarm clock to do its work.  I rose quickly and dressed, having packed nearly everything the night before.  I pulled off the bike cover and packed it, bungee'd the travel bag, mounted the magnetic tank bag, pulled on my gloves and was off (in the rain, of course).  I pushed and coasted my way to checkout, bought gas, then was on my way in earnest.

These first several dozen miles were all thru the lakes area again, and in the rain I wasn't pushing it on roads I didn't know well.  Averaging 45-50 mph or so, it didn't feel like I was making any headway.  But ultimately I reached US17, a major thoroughfare thru this part of the state, and having now ridden south out of the front with its rain the miles clicked off rapidly at last.

I followed my mapped pages thru Corning NY and into PA.  I stopped quickly just across the state line to shoot the requisite "bike at the border" travel shots, bagging both a New York and a Pennsylvania sign. My course called for going further south a ways, then working my way west along US6 until Galeton, where I was to meet Brad.  My tankbag's clock showed I was right on schedule, and I was getting pretty excited at the prospect of some great riding with the terrain becoming ever more forested and scenic.  I arrived at Galeton at 9:50, filled my tank, and waited for Brad to arrive. 

Brad's a Royal Enfield enthusiast, and also owns a SRX-250, which he thought he might bring.  But as I spotted a bomber-jacketed guy on a Suzuki 450, I knew that had to be Brad on a bike he'd bought new in 1983.  We exchanged hellos and glad-to-meet-cha's, marveled at what great, sunny weather we now had for this ride, and scoped out on the map what the day may hold for us.  Agreeing on a sensible, short of peg-scraping pace, I followed Brad into the Pennsylvania woods. 

And what a magnificent morning, along SR 44, SR120, SR555 and others.  Eagles, elk, waterfalls, and other sights along 150 miles of twisties.  Mostly very shaded woods, we'd occasionally break out into full sunlight, often to catch yet another magnificent vista.  With fall color arriving already to some degree, the color spectrum was filled, and scattered fallen leaves along the road as we made our way thru.  Mostly 3rd and 4th gear work the entire way, and it was certainly lunchtime by the time we decided to stop in DuBois. 

Brad and I traded some personal history and cycle stories over lunch, then left to hit my final Pennsylvania stop, Punxsutawney before I headed west.  I bid goodbye to Brad here, amazed and thrilled that I had the chance to have him show me such a wonderful time.  And to think, he has this playground in his backyard every day of the year!  I took my requisite shot of the statue of Phil, the weather-casting groundhog, before filling my tank (good grief, I got 70.5 mpg thru this stretch!) and making the run up SR36 to catch I-80. 

After the beautiful, tranquil morning, dodging semi's on I-80 was a rude awakening, but once again the interstates show what good time can be made.  I settled into a nice pack of travelers running 75-80, and slipped over the border into Ohio.  This riding home didn't have the particular excitement that I'd enjoyed riding to the event, even with the rain.  Mostly it was just an endurance quest again, knowing that if I could ride a ways into Ohio before stopping, I'd have that much shorter of a ride on Saturday into St. Louis.

Hitting the split to take I-76 westbound, I didn't have this route sheet in front of me but guessed right anyway.  I hoped to make it to Columbus before stopping for the night, and it looked promising.  Akron passed by, then back thru Mansfield and down I-71.  This stretch is so busy, two lanes mostly full at all times and difficult to pass.  Very annoying riding in the buffeting of semi #2 as he crawls by at 68.5 mph semi #1 running at 68 mph for miles on end.  I was pulling out most of the stay alert and comfort tricks I'd learned in this stretch, definitely pushing it a little. 

The countdown to Columbus continued,  and finally spotting the I-270 exit ramp was great.  That is, until I actually rode on that surface, uneven lanes and rain grooves waiting for new pavement.  That, and the setting sun full in my eyes made the US23 exit a great place to stop for the night.  After tanking up, I checked in at the Super8, showered, then walked over to the Bob Evans next door for a relaxing dinner and a restful read through a local paper.  Ah, resting at last, it didn't take more than 90 minutes or so for my extremities to stop tingling from a day of high-speed thumping.

Saturday September 11 Columbus,  OH to St. Louis

Sheesh, how did it get so cold so fast?  Saturday morning dawn broke with temperatures in the low 40's, definitely a front came through overnight.  Lucky to have packed some extra clothing for such an eventuality, but I expected to need them in the lakes of New York, not here.   I traded touring stories with the guy in the room next door, who once rode a Bonneville from Cincinnati south thru the Blue Ridge Parkway, before suiting up with extra layers and my best gloves to try to handle the cold temperatures.

A clear day, but very crisp, I made my way west along I-270 to I-70 and enjoyed pretty light traffic on a Saturday morning.  Very routine travel, and my new throttle lock was working fine to help out.  I stopped at one of those new Williams Truck Stops, talk about "deluxe"...cappucino bar, every drink and food item under the sun, clean as a whistle.  Business must be good.

I really missed having music or a CB thru here, something to break up the monotony a bit.  I stopped again in eastern Indiana and chinned with the counter-person, and noticed it was now in the low 80's, needing me to now shed the extra layers I had so needed earlier in the day.  Thru Indy, and continuing west the next major stop was Effingham and that countdown came and went. 

I haven't figured out when exactly you can see the Arch for the first time as you finish traveling thru Illinois, but it's always a welcome sight for me and was again this trip.  I safely negotiated all the craziness as so many highways come together to cross the Mississippi, thumped through all the road construction along US40, and was home just after 1:00p.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who looks fondly and thankfully at machinery that has just taken me 2300 miles round trip, but it's no less sincere thanks.  What a blast to spend time with like-minded folks, make new friends, and stretch personal limits.  Very memorable indeed.
 

That would be the Pymatuning Reservoir and Pennsylvania in the distance...along Ohio SR85...the state line is in the middle of the lake.  Mid-morning on the way to NY. 

I mapped in a route through Wyoming NY to visit Brock Yates' Cannonball Run Pub I'd read so much about.  Lots of great memorabilia, autos though! 

Many, many thumpers lined up at the Glenn Curtiss museum in Hammondsport, NY for the Show 'n Shine.

Bob Shudick's class-winning SR from Indiana

Another shot of Bob's very nice SR.  Alloy tank and sidecovers, wires and Akronts.

Interesting V-twins gladly accepted...a nice Guzzi Daytona

Fewer MuZ's than in 1997...a nice Skorpion shown here.

Paul Conley's MuZ Skorpion Replica ridden from near Boston...very racy.

That's a bunch of thumper's lined up at the dinner site in Farmington...about 90 or so.

More thumper lineup...yes, it had been raining (again!)

That's FSSNOC director Jack Robinson taking a photo of all of us...I returned the favor!

A table full of happy FSSNOC'ers...Scott and Trish Bogue from NC, and Phill and Anne Fett from OH 

Obligatory shot of SR and remote state welcome sign...New York this time.

Obligatory shot of SR and Pennsylvania welcome sign.  Sharp observers will see that this is, in fact, the back of the New York sign above.  One stop, two photos, how thrifty!