Saturday, July 15, 2006

Day 2 - NY NJ PA DE MD DC VA

July 4, 2006

(Click on photos to see them full size)


Got up early and woke up with some (ugh!) motel coffee. My plan to stay healthy and feeling good while riding a motorcycle for many hours a day was to walk at least a mile before starting, another mile at lunch, and a mile at the end of the day. I would also avoid fast food restaurants as much as possible (Subway is OK, according to Jared). Yesterday I did two of those walks and the morning weather here in NY made today's morning walk rather pleasant.

After the walk I got out my tools and made a couple of adjustments to the new bike to make it more comfy. I packed it up and was on the road a little after 9. I wanted to get to my friend John's house in Virginia by mid-afternoon if possible.

The morning traffic through the most thickly populated area of our country was nearly non-existent. I guess many were sleeping in this July 4th. Traffic began to pick up in the Philadelphia area and was quite thick by the time I got off the freeway for a rest in Baltimore.

I used several tollways today and yesterday, and at every one I had to pay the truck rate, as I was driving 3 axles through the tollbooths. This surprised me the first time so I made some comment and the toll collector just laughed and apologetically made a snide remark about government logic

At the rest stop in Baltimore I called my friend John to update him on my progress and he suggested I avoid a longer route around DC by taking the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. His directions were excellent so when I saddled up again I found it quickly. Traffic was moderately heavy going in to the DC area and I imagined it must have been much worse on I-95, my original plan.

My first (and only) frightening moment came on this parkway. I was riding in the second lane, as is my habit to avoid entering traffic, and the first lane was empty. A lady entered the parkway and decided to go directly to the 2nd lane without even looking. I gave her a blast with my air horns and she quickly got back into the right lane where she belonged. I smiled and was grateful I had more than the wimpy little Honda horn.

On the freeways yesterday and today I was passed by many weekend travellers, many solos and many full cars. Most of the right-seat passengers had their feet up on the dashboard, and many had one foot out the window, presumably for cooling. One of these latter young ladies looked at me as they passed and said with her eyes and head movement, "Please take me away from this boring geek and take me along with you on your ride across the country." It was pretty funny. Had she seen the old face behind the helmet sunshade, she probably would've thought differently. Many others who had noticed my "California or bust" license plate gave gestures of encouragement as they passed.

I got around DC without major delay, continued south, and got off the freeway at Fredericksburg, heading toward my friend's house at Lake Anna. I got out the bicycle map case my son-in-law had given me and inserted the turn-by-turn instructions to get to his house. It was miles and miles of beautiful back roads. Being able to read while riding was a great time-saver and soon I was on the last two-mile stretch. A hawk of some type swooped down and flew alongside me for about 10 seconds. I regarded it as nature's welcome to this beautiful part of the country.

I pulled into John's driveway in the middle of the afternoon. I hadn't seen him for 9 or 10 years since his last trip through Hawaii, but it was like we'd seen each other yesterday. Good friendships are like that.

Today's ride was 356 miles, 788 since beginning yesterday morning. The best road today was easily the beautiful back roads leading to Lake Anna from Fredericksburg. I regret not stopping to take a few pictures.

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