Wednesday May 15
Heavy rain moved through but had cleared by 9:30. Wally had kindly offered to lead me through rained clogged rush hour traffic out of town and I was glad, as he knows all the ways around the traffic back ups. We had decided to make our way to the 401 expressway, ride a ways and get off on Highway 2. We reached the 401 fairly easily, but when we got off things went bad so we hopped back on and rode it until it was time for Wally to get gas and warm up. He was not fully dressed for a long, fast, cold ride. We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways, he headed back to Toronto and me eastbound to the bridge to the United States. In less than 5 km I was off the 401 and on rural roads following the shore line of Lake Ontario. My passing through customs and immigration was slow for the people behind me as the agent and I discussed my riding the scooter from Florida. Of course he did not believe me at first but Big Red and I finally convinced him and away we went. About 2 miles into the U.S.A. the sun came out and the temperature went up about 10 degrees. We rode the back roads and then we started looking for a hotel. I had seen a small hotel on the lake for $65 a night. I parked in the empty parking lot and looked into the rooms. They did not look too bad though the beds were not to first class standards. In the office a not very neat lady came in surrounded by thread bare sheets and bags of something. When she told me the rate was $85 I just burst out laughing and told her that was more than I cared to pay. Normally I would have tried to negotiate a lower rate but it was not worth the effort and I walked out chuckling and listening to the lady repeat "well, that's the rate". We pressed on to Oswego, NY and found a room that was worth the price they asked.
jim
Heavy rain moved through but had cleared by 9:30. Wally had kindly offered to lead me through rained clogged rush hour traffic out of town and I was glad, as he knows all the ways around the traffic back ups. We had decided to make our way to the 401 expressway, ride a ways and get off on Highway 2. We reached the 401 fairly easily, but when we got off things went bad so we hopped back on and rode it until it was time for Wally to get gas and warm up. He was not fully dressed for a long, fast, cold ride. We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways, he headed back to Toronto and me eastbound to the bridge to the United States. In less than 5 km I was off the 401 and on rural roads following the shore line of Lake Ontario. My passing through customs and immigration was slow for the people behind me as the agent and I discussed my riding the scooter from Florida. Of course he did not believe me at first but Big Red and I finally convinced him and away we went. About 2 miles into the U.S.A. the sun came out and the temperature went up about 10 degrees. We rode the back roads and then we started looking for a hotel. I had seen a small hotel on the lake for $65 a night. I parked in the empty parking lot and looked into the rooms. They did not look too bad though the beds were not to first class standards. In the office a not very neat lady came in surrounded by thread bare sheets and bags of something. When she told me the rate was $85 I just burst out laughing and told her that was more than I cared to pay. Normally I would have tried to negotiate a lower rate but it was not worth the effort and I walked out chuckling and listening to the lady repeat "well, that's the rate". We pressed on to Oswego, NY and found a room that was worth the price they asked.
wally leads the way
wally heads back to toronto
thanks wally for a great time
welcome back shadow
note the peeling paint next to the $85 door.
Thursday May 16, a perfect ride
As we headed out of Oswego today I had no idea this would be a perfect scooter day for me. We roamed back roads, we met hog weed eradicators, met a 4th generation packing house owner and watched their antique machine prepare potatoes for planting, we toured dairy barns, drank wine with lovely young soon to be college graduates, met lots of interesting people, and learned all the answers to all the worlds problems.
We hit the road at 9:30 and by 2 p.m. we had covered all of a 100 miles. I decided we had to pick up the pace and by 3 p.m. we had covered 110 miles. I stopped and had an iced tea and discussed this dilemma with the owner of a old diner. She pretty much said I had to get to Williamsport, PA to find a choice of hotels that you could be sure the sheets were clean. I
re-programmed GPS Gladys and even she was into having a wonderful day. She took us on some deserted beautiful roads with easy twisting turns and rolling hills. We reached Williamsport around 6:30, but I hated to call it a day.
these are the hog weed guys. hog weed is the large green leaf. it was imported to this country and given out because it has large beautiful leaves. the down side is that it will kill you. http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/39809.html
a ten minute discussion in the middle of the road
short cut rd.....got to take that
guidone farms, 4th generation
a very, very old potato slicing machine
who knew?
real riders don't use interstates
the martin brother farmers
the milking pit
amish laundry day
jim and georgia's in ovid, ny
the genius corner
my drinking girls
great label, bad wine
