Rolling Thunder/New England Trip 2013
#1
06-03-2013, 09:39 PM
Rolling Thunder/New England Trip 2013
Rolling Thunder/New England Trip 2013
We headed out after work on Friday, 5/24, from Northwest OH and made it to Youngstown, OH. It got down to around 49 degrees before we stopped and we were all getting chilled plus the sun was setting fast.
Saturday we woke up to a 38 degree morning and a 330 mile ride to Arlington, VA. Heated jacket and gloves made it better but it was still pretty cold. When we got into the hills of PA it felt even colder but fortunately the temps moved up the scale a little so we could bear it. We rode I-76 down to I-70 which is the PA turnpike and a toll road. I’ve always stuck the ticket between my seat and the tank and it sticks but this time it wasn’t having it. One of the guys saw it fly but made no attempt to catch it. We got to the end of our ride on the turnpike and they graciously charged me $25.30 when Themother two were only charged $13. I guess I need to find a better place to put the ticket in the future.
Once in Alexandria we checked out the Pentagon and the local area for a couple hours before stopping at Theismann’s Restaurant and Meeting up with a former co-worker and her husband. It was great catching up with them again and we all had a great time.
We got up at 4:30 AM on Sunday to get to the Pentagon parking lot by 6 AM. We got there OK and then waited 6 hours for the Rolling Thunder Run to begin at noon. We watched bikes roll in constantly for 6 hours and it is estimated that there were over 500,000 bikes that filled the parking lots around the Pentagon. We got out of our parking lot around 1 PM and it went pretty fast as we rode down Constitution Ave, in front of the Capitol Building and back up Independence Ave to the Vietnam Memorial. Them3 of us didn't didn’t stop at the end and tried to find our way out of DC. It took 2.5 hours to get out of the grid lock and over to Annapolis for some grub at Dave's Famous BBQ. We made it up to Carnie’s Point, NJ that day for a 190 mile ride.
Memorial Day was a day of riding the Interstates through NJ, NY, and CT. Once we got to RI we were able to ride some of their outstanding state routes on our way up to MA. Part of my plan for this trip was to meet up with a guy I went to USMC Boot Camp with in 1985. Our plans for Memorial Day got backed up since we didn’t get in the area until late and he got called into work that night. He said he was only 35 minutes from where we stopped for the night in Foxboro, MA and he would be up in the morning.
Tuesday started out sunny and ‘warm’ with temps in the mid-50’s. We were loading up our bikes when The Jarhead and his wife pulled into the parking lot. It was really awesome meeting up with a guy who was made into a Marine the same time I was, after 28 year. We graduated 30 APR 1985 and had not seen each other since. I found him on FB after he posted about getting a platoon picture for our platoon 3031. Unfortunately he couldn’t go for a ride with us, but I think that will happen sometime in the future.
We left there and rode more interstate up to Portland, ME and found Big Moose HD. The folks there told us about J’s Oyster Bar down on the waterfront to get some lobster so that is where we headed. We all got a steamed lobster dinner with clams and corn. It’s a lot of work for what meat you get. It was good, but I think I’ll still with steak. We then rode SR 25 west through the Maine countryside which turned into the NH countryside. Great ride and highly recommended. We rode that all the way to Meredith, NH then down to Laconia, NH where we checked out the desolate Weir’s Beach. Unfortunately we were a week and a half too early for Laconia Bike Week. We stopped in Gilford, NH for the night after 243 miles. The clams didn’t sit well with Ben and he was very sick that night. Fortunately for him it only lasted a few hours for the worse parts.
Wednesday brought the first rain for the ride and we grappled with what to do, but we were 900 miles from home and had to keep moving so we donned our raingear and saddled up. We rode through some somewhat heavy rain for about 3 hours but made it up through the Franconia Notch and into Vermont. By then the rain let up and we headed over to Wilkins HD in Barre, VT. They were exceptional there even though we weren’t buying much. I had to find some waterproof gloves through because mine were soaked and my hands were freezing. We rode up through the Lake Champlain Islands and into Quebec. Our plan was to go up to Montreal, but the late start and slow riding made us cut that short. We rode west through Quebec to get to NY 30 and Malone, NY. NY 30 is an awesome rode through the Adirondack Region!!! We rode down to Lake Placid for the night and a 353 mile day. The Courtyard in Lake Placid is really nice and they hooked us up with a huge room. Their ‘bar’ is the breakfast room where an employee sells drinks. Jodi was an awesome bartender and she stayed open probably an hour after she’s supposed to close for us and 3 guys from the federal prison system (there’s a high security prison in one of the old Olympic dorm buildings) Then she picked up food for us all at a local restaurant that doesn’t deliver. You don’t find that kind of service very often.
Thursday was the first day we didn’t have to leather up as it was around 70 when we left Lake Placid and tried to ride up the White Face Mountain Veteran’s Memorial Highway, but the toll was $10 each and the visibility was zero so we opted out. Heading back west to NY 30 we took that and NY 28 down to Utica for a stop at HD of Utica. Then we went further south to US 20 and west to Geneva. US 20 is a really nice road to with minimal stops so we made pretty good time. Geneva is at the top of Seneca Lake, one of NY’s Finger Lakes.
NY Route 14 was the road to Watkins Glen on Friday morning, which turned into 414 to get to Painted Post, NY. Both great roads, but nothing like the roads up in the Adirondacks. From there we took US 5 down to US 6 in Mansfield, PA. US 6 took us all the way to Meadville, PA for the night. It was a pretty hot day and we all showed signs of too much sun at the end of the day.
Saturday was our last day on the road for this trip and it started our warm as well. We headed southwest to Warren, OH on some nice state routes. Then we headed out for US 62 which we took into Canton where we jumped on US 30 to head home. Watching the weather for the past couple days, We thought we might miss the storms coming through NW OH. We ended up hitting some rain around Bucyrus and decided to put on the raingear again. It turns out that was about all the rain we got and could have made it home without the raingear, but I figured if we didn’t put it on then it would have poured.
All and all a great trip! The GPS showed 2500.7 miles when I rolled into the garage. We did that in 8.5 days and had a great time.
We headed out after work on Friday, 5/24, from Northwest OH and made it to Youngstown, OH. It got down to around 49 degrees before we stopped and we were all getting chilled plus the sun was setting fast.
Saturday we woke up to a 38 degree morning and a 330 mile ride to Arlington, VA. Heated jacket and gloves made it better but it was still pretty cold. When we got into the hills of PA it felt even colder but fortunately the temps moved up the scale a little so we could bear it. We rode I-76 down to I-70 which is the PA turnpike and a toll road. I’ve always stuck the ticket between my seat and the tank and it sticks but this time it wasn’t having it. One of the guys saw it fly but made no attempt to catch it. We got to the end of our ride on the turnpike and they graciously charged me $25.30 when Themother two were only charged $13. I guess I need to find a better place to put the ticket in the future.
Once in Alexandria we checked out the Pentagon and the local area for a couple hours before stopping at Theismann’s Restaurant and Meeting up with a former co-worker and her husband. It was great catching up with them again and we all had a great time.
We got up at 4:30 AM on Sunday to get to the Pentagon parking lot by 6 AM. We got there OK and then waited 6 hours for the Rolling Thunder Run to begin at noon. We watched bikes roll in constantly for 6 hours and it is estimated that there were over 500,000 bikes that filled the parking lots around the Pentagon. We got out of our parking lot around 1 PM and it went pretty fast as we rode down Constitution Ave, in front of the Capitol Building and back up Independence Ave to the Vietnam Memorial. Them3 of us didn't didn’t stop at the end and tried to find our way out of DC. It took 2.5 hours to get out of the grid lock and over to Annapolis for some grub at Dave's Famous BBQ. We made it up to Carnie’s Point, NJ that day for a 190 mile ride.
Memorial Day was a day of riding the Interstates through NJ, NY, and CT. Once we got to RI we were able to ride some of their outstanding state routes on our way up to MA. Part of my plan for this trip was to meet up with a guy I went to USMC Boot Camp with in 1985. Our plans for Memorial Day got backed up since we didn’t get in the area until late and he got called into work that night. He said he was only 35 minutes from where we stopped for the night in Foxboro, MA and he would be up in the morning.
Tuesday started out sunny and ‘warm’ with temps in the mid-50’s. We were loading up our bikes when The Jarhead and his wife pulled into the parking lot. It was really awesome meeting up with a guy who was made into a Marine the same time I was, after 28 year. We graduated 30 APR 1985 and had not seen each other since. I found him on FB after he posted about getting a platoon picture for our platoon 3031. Unfortunately he couldn’t go for a ride with us, but I think that will happen sometime in the future.
We left there and rode more interstate up to Portland, ME and found Big Moose HD. The folks there told us about J’s Oyster Bar down on the waterfront to get some lobster so that is where we headed. We all got a steamed lobster dinner with clams and corn. It’s a lot of work for what meat you get. It was good, but I think I’ll still with steak. We then rode SR 25 west through the Maine countryside which turned into the NH countryside. Great ride and highly recommended. We rode that all the way to Meredith, NH then down to Laconia, NH where we checked out the desolate Weir’s Beach. Unfortunately we were a week and a half too early for Laconia Bike Week. We stopped in Gilford, NH for the night after 243 miles. The clams didn’t sit well with Ben and he was very sick that night. Fortunately for him it only lasted a few hours for the worse parts.
Wednesday brought the first rain for the ride and we grappled with what to do, but we were 900 miles from home and had to keep moving so we donned our raingear and saddled up. We rode through some somewhat heavy rain for about 3 hours but made it up through the Franconia Notch and into Vermont. By then the rain let up and we headed over to Wilkins HD in Barre, VT. They were exceptional there even though we weren’t buying much. I had to find some waterproof gloves through because mine were soaked and my hands were freezing. We rode up through the Lake Champlain Islands and into Quebec. Our plan was to go up to Montreal, but the late start and slow riding made us cut that short. We rode west through Quebec to get to NY 30 and Malone, NY. NY 30 is an awesome rode through the Adirondack Region!!! We rode down to Lake Placid for the night and a 353 mile day. The Courtyard in Lake Placid is really nice and they hooked us up with a huge room. Their ‘bar’ is the breakfast room where an employee sells drinks. Jodi was an awesome bartender and she stayed open probably an hour after she’s supposed to close for us and 3 guys from the federal prison system (there’s a high security prison in one of the old Olympic dorm buildings) Then she picked up food for us all at a local restaurant that doesn’t deliver. You don’t find that kind of service very often.
Thursday was the first day we didn’t have to leather up as it was around 70 when we left Lake Placid and tried to ride up the White Face Mountain Veteran’s Memorial Highway, but the toll was $10 each and the visibility was zero so we opted out. Heading back west to NY 30 we took that and NY 28 down to Utica for a stop at HD of Utica. Then we went further south to US 20 and west to Geneva. US 20 is a really nice road to with minimal stops so we made pretty good time. Geneva is at the top of Seneca Lake, one of NY’s Finger Lakes.
NY Route 14 was the road to Watkins Glen on Friday morning, which turned into 414 to get to Painted Post, NY. Both great roads, but nothing like the roads up in the Adirondacks. From there we took US 5 down to US 6 in Mansfield, PA. US 6 took us all the way to Meadville, PA for the night. It was a pretty hot day and we all showed signs of too much sun at the end of the day.
Saturday was our last day on the road for this trip and it started our warm as well. We headed southwest to Warren, OH on some nice state routes. Then we headed out for US 62 which we took into Canton where we jumped on US 30 to head home. Watching the weather for the past couple days, We thought we might miss the storms coming through NW OH. We ended up hitting some rain around Bucyrus and decided to put on the raingear again. It turns out that was about all the rain we got and could have made it home without the raingear, but I figured if we didn’t put it on then it would have poured.
All and all a great trip! The GPS showed 2500.7 miles when I rolled into the garage. We did that in 8.5 days and had a great time.
Last edited by djamann; 06-03-2013 at 09:44 PM.
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06-04-2013, 08:19 PM
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