Saturday - Watertown, PA to Watkins Glen, NY - 278 miles

My main goal for today was Hyner View State Park, one of the major overlooks of the Grand Canyon of PA. I missed it the last time I was through here, on the 2007 Meet-and-Eat. I was planning on riding the area a bit, and ending up camping at Keuka Lake State Park in NY.

I woke up at 5:59, which was way too early, and then again at 6:30. I did not set an alarm, just figured I would wake up whenever since I wasn't on a tight schedule today. I packed the bike a little better, leaving more room in the side cases, and left the campground just as the bugs started to come alive again.

Packed and ready to go again

Nice little bridge on 44

Took 44 to 1014 which leads to Hyner View. A bit of rain, but nothing much. I had just bought a pair of Aerostich 'lobster claws', and was trying them out for the first time. 1014's pavement sucked, very broken up and still wet from the night before. I somehow missed the turn for Hyner View, and ended up on 120, which I took East for 6 miles before figuring out I probably made a mistake. Punched Hyner View into the GPS and followed the instructions, back 120, back 1014 and to the junction. The little road up to the View was a lot of fun, some 1st gear uphill hairpins kept it interesting. It helped that I was also the only one on the road - in fact, I had yet to see another vehicle that morning. I noticed something odd climbing that road - it actually got warmer as I went up, and not cooler. Strange.

This was the turn-off that I missed the first time.

Got to the top, and while it was very hazy, I was very impressed with the view. It was very, very windy as well. I walked around a bit, and tried to get a cell signal (couldn't), and then hit the road again. My GPS pointed out another road down from the view that would take me to 44 - I was interested since 1014 was not that great. When I came to the turnoff for the road though, I though better of it. Straight uphill dirt and gravel, and who knows what it turns into later. Since I was by myself, with a fully loaded bike, I decided to stick with the devil I knew.

The hazy view from Hyner View State Park. I went over that bridge twice when I missed my turn for the park.

No idea what this ramp is for - hang-gliding?

Very windy at the top

Do I take the unknown gravel road to the right? Um, no.

The road back down was nice and 'wild'

Once I got back to 44 (via 1014), the rain really started. Heavy, driving rain was giving my new gloves a good test, which I was happy to see didn't faze them in the least. My Phantom kept my dry as well. Most of 44 was not that great, long straight stretches and the pavement was far from perfect.

One of the nicer sections of 44

Very wet

Pretty overlook from 44

More 44

44 eventually connected with US6, which I took West to Coudersport. Coudersport is a beautiful town, full of gorgeous old homes and a decent downtown. Noticed a few dozen Harleys milling about as I rode through, and when I got to the gas station it was also filled with H-Ds. One guy roared off as I was filling up with pipes so loud, well, if Loud Pipes Save Lives, he was trying to save lives in other counties. It had been raining on and off all morning, and most of these guys were just soaked and miserable.

I was finally able to check in at home, and the wife warned me of some severe weather heading through my area during the day. I headed back on US6, East this time. Passed a couple great signs with my name on them, and then hooked North on 449 to New York. 449 was a terrific road, lots of sweepers and great vistas. I was enjoying a particularly nice left-hander when around the turn coming my way comes a WRX drifting through the turn. The back end of his car was a good 2 feet in my lane, and he was clearly sliding it around. Yikes!

Playing with the camera on US6

Hey, there's a hill named after me!

You can ski me?

Looking back on 449

Crossing into NY - I've been to the state before, but the state sign has always eluded me

I took 449 to 19 in New York, then headed East on 417. What a great road 417 was! Just wide open, lots of elevation changes and sweepers, with views of miles and miles of NY countryside. At one point I passed a parked cop car while I was doing about 80 on the posted 55mph road. I was sure I was toast, but he didn't budge. I'm an out-of-state biker speeding through his town - if he's not sitting there waiting for me, who's he waiting for?

One of my favorite shots ever

NY 417

More 417

Interesting....

I took 417 about 44 miles to Addison, then worked my way up 333 and 12 to Bath. It rained a bit, but nothing too bad.

Heading North out of Addison

Pretty area under a bridge near I-86

Gassed up in Bath, and continued North on 54 on my way to Keuka Lake. On the way, I saw a billboard for the Curtiss Museum, which I had never heard of. The motorcyclist on the billboard got my attention though, so I decided to stop for a while. Coincidentally, I was reading a very funny book by Bill Bryson called The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America, and he had a section of museums his father would have them stop at, and this fit right in. The museum was terrific, lots of great old bikes, planes, boats and cars.

136 mph in 1907 - not too shabby

Spent about an hour and a half in the museum, then back on the road. It was getting into the upper 80's and pretty windy as I hit 54A and skirted around Keuka Lake. The lake was, for the most part, obscured by cottages, and the road was nothing special. Got to the campground at 3pm, way too early to call it a day. Continued on 54A to Penn Yan, then down 14A to 14 and into Watkins Glen. Found a nice campsite there, setup, and went into town to find some dinner. Didn't see anything too interesting on the main drag, so I settled on Arby's over by the Wal-Mart.

Campsite at Watkins Glen

As I was pulling into the parking lot, I noticed a car was following my every turn. When I pulled into my spot, the car pulled up behind me. "You know you have no brake light or tail light?" Oh, crap. Sure enough, my signals worked but not my brake light or the tail light. I pulled out the owner's manual, and took it inside Arby's as the rain started. Read up on how to change the bulb (surely it was just a burned-out bulb) over dinner. Eventually the rain stopped, and I began to disassemble the tail light. The assembly is held onto the bike with 3 allen screws, which conveniently were the same size as the tripod mount screw for my camera since that was the only size allen wrench I had with me. Used the Leatherman to unscrew the 2 super-long philips screws holding the lens on, and finally I could access the bulb - which looked perfectly fine. I'll replace it anyway, maybe it just looks good but is non-working somehow. At this point the problem became clearer - the bulb could not be removed from the housing. No matter how hard I pushed/twisted, it would not budge. I went over to the trash can, and smashed the bulb with the pliers part of the leatherman. Then I spent the next half hour or so working out the base of the bulb, which had shorted and fused onto the housing.

Eventually everything was cleared out, and I headed over to Wal-Mart (after asking the nice folks at Arby's if I could leave my stuff inside at the table) for a replacement. As luck would have it, they had exactly one two-pack left of 55/100 dual-filament bulbs. Tried the new bulb in the housing, nothing. The inside of the housing was too corroded to get a contact - I needed a new housing. I called my wife so she could find the nearest Ducati dealer for me, which turned out to be in Phibbs Powersports in Albany. Not too bad, just an hour away from Lake George and Americade. Of course they would not be open on Sunday, so my plan for Monday changed from a long ride around the Adirondacks to sitting in a bikeshop parking lot in Albany.

Let me tell you, riding without a brake/tail light is one good way to teach you to watch what's behind you as you ride. I kept the flashers on for the ride back to the campground, and did my best to keep cars off my tail. Tomorrow's going to be a long paranoid ride across New York.

There were no lights in the showers, so off to bed.