Leslie and I left on the ST1100 for Lake George at 7:00am. I was unable to install Marge as the handlbar is not exposed on the ST. I planned on buying a RAM mount for it that mounts to the brake resivior at the Americade. So with that, the details of this trip are unknown. We took a direct route to NYS Thruway from US84.
Riding 84 for a few miles gave me a good feeling how she ("RiSTa"). She was SO smooth (and quiet). Her gears shift so nicely...
I could see dark clouds in the northern area, what I thought might be Kingston or Albany. I had about 3 incidents where I could not believe that I actually had a ST - I had to fight off the tears. It looked like we might hit rain. The weather was a bit overcast and the temperature was about 55 degrees F. I pulled over on the of the NYS Thruway on ramp to check with Leslie how the last 15 minute ride was. She was impressed how well RiSTa ran as well. We hit North on the Thruway.
The wind really began blowing from various directions with strong gusts, mostly from our left. It was so strong that I chose to slow down from 85 to about 65. We passed 2 BMW's heading for the Americade as well. On a few occasions I caught another ST heading south. One southbound ST rider got my attention with a HUGE wave. He knew from a distance that I was a ST. We stopped at the New Baltimore rest stop. Here are a few pics.
After a few minutes break, we jumped back on the Thruway. Oh, I might mention that RiSTa's fuel guage displayed about 2/3 tank. No need to add more fuel.Only minutes behind the throttle, we met rain. We pulled over and struggled the rain gear on (always fun to put on over boots!). Jumped back on the road as we convoyed with other 2 wheelers. As we approached Exit 21 on 287 (Lake George exit) more motorcycles became evident. As we approached, we received fewer and fewer waves, probably due to their lack of desire; they've probably been waving all week and it was now the last day of the event.
We jumped off of exit 23 and made a right. We were not sure EXACTLY how to get there since Marge was tucked away in the luggage. Leslie got us back on track by directing us to turn around, make a right on 9, and we rode through Warrensburg (we later learned that Warrensburg hosts the larges yard sale --- exciting!). We made a left on Richards Ave, a right on 418, and the final left on Hickory Hill Rd. The pavement ended on Hickory Hill Road about 1/2 mile down; it turned to dirt. RiSTa managed the dirt for about 1/4 mile until we ended up at Country Road Lodge Bed and Breakfast http://www.countryroadlodge.com/. We arrived around 11:00am.
We went in and met the owners and operators, Sandi and Steve. We chatted for about 30 minutes before I tugged to go to the TourExpo (http://tourexpo.com). We knew that it was to close at 5:00pm and this was the last day so we needed to go spend some $$! We shot to the expo via Exit 21.
I parked RiSTa at the parking lot at the Forum (inside expo) and we walked about 1/4 mile to the lake side expo before I realized that I left my camera in the right hand glove box, WIDE OPEN. I ran back as Leslie stay'd put. I finally returned and these were a few things we bought...
- A new rain suit for Leslie
- Cycle care products (http://www.cyclecare.com - This stuff is the BEST!! Get rid of S100 and do CycleCare #22!!)
- A TourMaster Tank Bag
- Stop and Go Tire Plugger (http://www.stopngo.com)
- Last Glue (http://www.thelastglue.com) This stuff works wonders... really.
After about 4 hours of walking around, we walked to the main strip in Lake George and had a yucky dinner (if I could recall the name, I would add it here - nasty). We walked the strip and had some ice cream and coffee. Does it get any better than this? Here's a few pics of the strip.
This goes on for miles. Once it started sprinkling, we jumped on RiSTa and head to Country Road Lodge.
