We got a bit of late start today on our first day, after Rob
discovered somewhat by accident that his DSLR camera would not take pictures.
Twenty minutes of fiddling with it and no luck, we left it at home. It was 64
degrees and sunny upon our departure, a great day to begin a great trip!
We encountered many bikers riding back south on 15 this
morning, presumably from the Laconia bike rally last week. And none of them
waved back at us. We were well into Pennsylvania before the first of at least
20 bikes of the morning waved at us. It must have been just too early for the
bleary eyed bikers to take notice of a fellow rider. Rob thought maybe they
were too astonished at our big trailer to remember to wave.
Our first stop was in Thurmont for a health break. It is
amazing how fast the morning orange juice makes its way through. Our next stop
was north of Allentown, PA, on US-22 for some fuel. Or should I say, Rob and
Jerry were stopped by local law enforcement. Jerry says
unfortunately it wasn’t a female officer whom he could charm out of a ticket.
Just kidding. This officer pulled over a car next to us, we were model citizens
today (wink, wink).
After fairly heavy traffic in Allentown, we made our way to
Mueller’s Diner for lunch close to Noon. We had a very tasty lunch and spoke about
the morning’s travels.
After lunch, we made our way through the Delaware Water Gap
National Recreational Area. We followed the Delaware River for several miles on
the Pennsylvania side. We could see the banks of New Jersey on the other side
of the river but never crossed over.
As we entered Milford, PA, Jerry spotted Uncle Sam waving to
passersby.
Rob noticed a state line approaching on the GPS. We passed over without any signage and thought we were in New Jersey. Or maybe Delaware. We were actually in New York! In Port Jervis on US-209 we noticed this cool building.
With Port Jervis in our rear view mirrors, we continued on
US-209 and connected with NY-17 taking it all the way past Roscoe, NY. Shortly
after Roscoe, we turned off onto a very small road called Horton Brook Road
that looked like one of those roads that could easily turn into dirt/gravel.
The small unmarked road wound its way up and down several mountain slopes with
plenty of cool shade provided by over-hanging trees. Fortunately, the road
remained paved the whole way. As a special treat, the road had one more
surprise for us. An 8 ton limit bridge had to be crossed to reconnect with NY-30.
We rode NY-30 along the banks of the Pepacton Reservoir in
the Caskills Park for about an hour or so. Just fantastic scenery, for what we
could glimpse through the trees.
Continuing along NY-28, we passed the Ashakon Reservoir and
crossed over the Hudson River. Soon we were in Connecticut. Passing through Lakeville,
CT we noticed that the well heeled lived there. Some of the homes were fancy
with nice landscaping. We followed US-44 to US-7. We followed US-7 into
Massachusetts and arrived in Great Barrington, our first overnight stop, at
about 6:45pm.
The guys got the bikes cleaned up and we walked over to
Barrington Brewery for dinner on recommendation by the hotel owner. Super
yummy! And great brews. Rob had an English Pale Ale and Jerry had a lager. We
did eat dinner, Jerry had herb-roasted half-chicken and Rob and Michele had
homemade chicken pot pie. To finish off and celebrate our first day we shared an
incredible stout chocolate cake that Jerry described as “three layers of
delicious!”
Total mileage today was 472 and took us 11 hours! We passed through
six states, and sampled the Poconos, Catskills, and the southern Berkshires. Tomorrow
we will make our way through Vermont and into New Hampshire. The weather looks
like it will be another sunny day with more great scenery on tap.
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