Early start out of Cape Code – the forecast the night before said the thundershowers were to be rolling in by noon.  And since I was warned it was an hour to Provincetown, I got moving fairly quickly.

Still a nice campsite by the lake – what you don’t see is how close the other sites are.

Little houses along the coast.  Starting to fit my mental picture of the east coast.

Nice little road into the Provincelands Visitor Center.

Which was, of course, closed because I got there too early.  Caught up on some logging of expenses at a park bench while watching the cyclists go by.  According to the signs, all the big injuries on the seashore seem to be bicycle accidents.

As the park opened, I ducked into the Visitor Center before grabbing a picture at the beach:

Back out on the 6, I went into Salt Pond Visitor Center got my stamp and headed out along the 3 to Boston.  Can’t say I saw much – Picture of the skyline…

And the Big Dig – not sure what they did, but Mendy doesn’t sound very good down there.  Not like a proper tunnel experience at all!

It would have been nice to spend a little more time in Boston(ie, more than the 20mins it took to ride through).  In particular because my cousin who went to school there was in the area.  Unfortunately, due to communication issues, no one told me until I was there – and he had gone south for a few days.  I probably passed right by him a few days before.

I still wanted to swing past Seacoast Sport Cycle even though I hadn’t heard anything from Duc Pond.  Looking at the map, I thought I might swing by a town a friend used to live in… Just a few years too late since they’re back in Vancouver now.   Still, from what I saw, I don’t think I missed much.

I got gas and ate my left over lobster with a cup of Peach Cobbler Coffee.   It definitely tasted like peach and coffee.  Still not entirely sure that’s a good thing.  I wouldn’t buy a pound of it, that’s for sure.

Seacoast didn’t have the parts I needed.  There was some discussion over swapping both front and rear sprockets… But I’m probably better off just wearing down this chain for now.   Will need to sort things out in Canada.   Had a nice chat with a Bandit Rider and a cop in the area shopping for gear.  Apparently I shouldn’t bother going a few miles south – Mass just isn’t all that safe.  Lots of gang violence.

Oh well, didn’t matter.  I was headed up north.  Took the 95 briefly before getting onto the 1.  Some rocky beaches;

Taking the 1 wasn’t really the best idea – especially in the south coast of Maine.  Lots and lots of traffic.  Most memorable was Ogunquit – henceforth to be know as “O Gonna Quit”.  Huge line of stop and go traffic.  I thought there was an accident and the road was closed, but traffic kept moving – every so slowly.   People were walking faster than us.  It seems it’s a popular town because there are actual sand beaches.  And some insane road engineer designed a Stop sign controlled intersection.  Terrible experience.

But traffic picked up after that and I took 1A through the typical gentrified section of Portland, Maine:

Gas light came on in Brunswick, so I asked the nearest motel how much for the night.  Not a bad price, so stayed there.  I asked for suggestions on food, and they sent me to Joshuas Tavern.  Didn’t feel like lobster again, but stuck to the seafood.

Ceasar Salad with Garlic Shrimp

Blackened Haddock with rice and veggies.

Excellent portions and quality.  I am very glad I went – I just should have asked for directions on how to get back to my motel.   The road I went in on was a one-way over  a bridge.  So when you go back, most ways don’t have that bridge and you get stuck. Would have been simple in daylight, but not much fun in the dark.

Not a great night’s sleep.  A little paranoid about the incredibly sketchy motel.  But at least it was an early start.

At least getting out back into traffic was straight forward.  I stuck to #1 through Leonia.  Spotted a Super H-Mart and then a whole lot of Korean stores along the strip.  Made me really regret eating the bad chinese food the night before…  Could of had some decent asian food here!

But shortly after, I must have missed a turn in Englewood because I ended up in some residential neighbourhood.  Reminded me a bit of Burnaby back home.  After trundling through the quiet streets for a while, I picked a ‘big’ street and rode until I recognized some of the highway signs – 9W.  I followed that for a bit until I figured a way onto the Palisades Parkway north.  The Parkway was really nice – better than Natchez.   If I had known about it, I probably would have made a point to ride the entire thing, rather than just the short bit I was on.

Still, crossed over on a toll bridge – Tappan Zee.  First toll of the trip!  $5

Some random viewpoint.  No idea what it was.

Random bike shot.

After getting lost in Cape Cod – I knew I didn’t have time to make it to the National Park Visitor Centers and pulled over to find a place to stay.  The nice lady at the Tourist Info hut directed me to the possibility – Nickerson State Park.  I lucked out, the sign said they were full, but they had 2 sites reserved for the weekend and I could grab one for the night.  Picked one by the lake and put up my tent before heading out to the seashore.

The family across the way watched me set up my tent and commented that they were amazed that came off the back of a bike.  Their stuff took up 2 cars and they only came 6 miles down the road…  The reality is, I’m not really camping.  I’m road tripping with a tent.  I’d like to actually get back and ‘camp’ for a while.  Set up properly and enjoy things for a few days.

The rangers at the park told me to go to the Atlantic side first – while the sun was still out and go to the Bay side afterwards for the sunset.  They also recommended the awesome onion rings at Liam’s.   I only had leftover chinese food and a donut all day, so I thought a snack would be good.   Looking at the containers, the ‘small’ looked tiny and so I upsold myself to a medium.  Bad idea…  The containers on display were more of a target inside the tray.

Medium Onion Rings and Lime Seltzer

Way too much food for an afternoon snack – especially with dinner less than 2h away.    I had half of it before carrying the rest of it with me to the beach.  Just finishing it made my jaw ache.

After my snack, I rode over to the other side of the cape to watch the sunset.  After parking the bike and lubing the chain, I took up station at a bench.  Unfortunately, the weather system was rolling in and I only caught the sun dipping into the clouds as it got darker.

I stuck it out until dark before heading to the restaurant the rangers recommended.  Capt’n Elmer’s.  I looked at the menu and figured that I was far enough east to order lobster… Then I saw the Shore Dinner.  It seemed a bit much, especially considering my earlier ‘snack’, but it might be the closest thing I get to a clam bake.

Clam Chowder + Side Salad as substitute for the starch.

Steamers and my lobster.  Clams were very, very gritty.  Not sure if that’s just the style – ie, very fresh and not left around to soak to spit out the sand, or if I was just there at the tail end and they didn’t clean properly.

I ate half the lobster and the clams and packed the rest.   Stuffed to the gills again, I rode back to the campsite in the dark and called it a night.

Rough night.  Went to bed late watching Eagle Eye – not even a very good movie.    And I didn’t finish it.  What made it worse was waiting up at 4am with abdominal pains.  Dropping Mendy in the parking lot and picking it back up the night before pretty much accounts for the back pain.  Stupid mistake, helmet was jammed between the windscreen and the tank bag.  I pulled off without checking the steering lock and tipped it over when I needed to straighten out but couldn’t.

Tummy issues wasn’t from dinner the night before, more likely a legacy of my appendicitis.  Every once in a while, things just don’t work quite right and pain is the result.  When it gets really bad, I start throwing up and then it feels like I’ve been swallowing broken glass bottles.   Not so bad this time, but didn’t get much sleep and pretty much lost my appetite for most of the day.  And I’ll get to look forward to bouts of what feels like digesting glass for the next few days.  Yay.

I made my way over to Hershey’s World of Chocolate.   Neat place, good way to balance out the Park.

I can easily see people coming and spending an entire weekend in Hershey.   Lots of tourists on busses – bunch of asian ones gathered around me as I parked and asked a few questions.   Feeling cheap, I didn’t want to pay for any of the shows or activities – so I just took their tour and wandered around the gift shop.  I think if I was having a better day, I would have done some more.

Giant 5lb chocolate bars!

Short little detour back to Harrisburg as I went the wrong way before ending up in Lancaster.  I pulled over at the Costco to relax and figure out where I wanted to go.  Grabbed a hot dog and drink – managed to eat half of it before I just wanted to sit down and rest my eyes.  Never really managed to decide what to do, but since the Visitor Center was across the street, I hoped I’d be able to figure it out there.

Once inside, I grabbed a guidebook, sat in a rocking chair and promptly started to nod off.  In the condition I was in, riding wasn’t a good idea and I wasn’t about to come up with a better plan.   Fortunately, they had a guided bus tour.  I paid my fees and mostly sat in their mini-bus trying not to fall asleep.   It was still a good intro to the Amish and the county.  I had envisioned all the Amish together, rather than interspersed with the rest of the population.  Not sure I would have so easily picked out which houses were Amish and why.

As with all bus tours, there was the obligatory stop at a store.  I did manage to taste some home made root beer.  Tasty stuff, reminds me that I always wanted to brew my own.  Never got around to asking if they used the original ‘banned’/carcinogenic  sassafras root not…

Another covered bridge as part of the Amish tour.  We got to go through this one.

After the tour, I felt fairly well rested and took the 340, then the 30 East before turning north on the 1.  The one was just as bad as the 1 in Miami – only even less to see.  Lots of lights and traffic.  Stop and go.  I finished off the tank as I passed Trenton NJ and decided to call it a day.   Put together a more solid plan for tomorrow and put some solid miles then.  Hopefully the weather holds.

Checking into the Howard Johnson Express, it seemed a little dirty/cheap, but nothing worse than usual, I thought.  Then after I finished the paperwork, the manager asked me to to bring the bike back up to the front and park it near the office for the night.  So they can keep an eye on it.  Not a big deal, rather nice of them.

I lubed the chain, grabbed a shower and moved the bike back out to the front.  Asked for where to go for dinner and was told that it’s all highway.  No where within walking distance, but I could order in.   Okay, not ideal, but I can live with that.  The first thing they gave me was chinese food menu.  The other options were pizza – and they would take over an hour to deliver.  I settled on the chinese and placed my order.   Then the chinese restaurant wouldn’t take credit card – “Cash only for deliveries to Howard Johnson”.   Winner for sketchiest motel to date.

The food was, predictably, awful.

What came out of the bag – pretty sure the hot sauce was some louisiana hot sauce.

Worst chow fun ever…

I don’t even know what this was… Szechuan Shrimp?

At least I had left overs for the next day!

Nice grassy KOA site.

I hopped onto the 30 back East.  Much to my surprise, the Flight 93 Memorial was just off the highway.  I considered going past it, but it was a nice surprise.

Memorial wall with names runs along the flight path, pointing to a boulder marking the crash point.

I’m glad I went to the Memorial, I was oddly choked up about it.  After so many war memorial, this one about innocents on an unlucky flight some morning touched a nerve.  Wrong flight, go see the wrong movie.  Never know how you’ll go out.  At least these people got the chance to fight back and give their lives to save others.

Back on the highway, I stopped for gas and lunch at Sheetz.   Given how long the lines were, I thought it would be a decent meal.  Not so much – I guess it was just the lunch rush.  I wouldn’t go back.

Gettysburg was less interesting to me.  I guess the real reason I went was all the map levels in Starcraft.  Figured I should stop by the actual battle scene and check out one of the highest casualty battlegrounds and the supposed turning point of the war.

I rode most of the Auto Tour, but realized I didn’t have enough context to understand what was going on.  I figured if I ducked into the Visitor Center and watched the movie, I might understand what I was looking at… But that stuff is expensive.  Certainly not something I was willing to pay for.  Wikipedia will have to do.

Site of the Gettysburg address.

After the rain stopped, I continued east to Hershey.  Went past Attraction Drive before pulling over for some gas.  The nearest KOA was too far and a call to the Hershey campground was $45 a night.  The gas station attendant suggested that heading north was the direction for cheap stays and I ended up at the Dutch Motel in Palmyra. They wanted $60, but some haggling got it down to a reasonable price.

Crossed the street for dinner at Tatiana’s.  Quick google showed some positive reviews and that was good enough for me.

Fairly plain looking Mushroom soup.  Tastier than you’d think.

Coliseum Bone-In New York.   Very good, and first time I’ve ever had New York that way before.  Was a little more well done than I would have liked(touch closer to the medium side of Medium Rare).  But topped with sausage and seafood, it was amazing.

It sounds like this is one situation where asking the locals wouldn’t have done any good.  The local ‘dutch’ community isn’t very adventurous when it comes to dining.  Chatting with the chef/owner, it sound like almost all his traffic is from out of town.  Strong reviews on Trip Advisor and I would agree.  Worth going, if a little expensive.

Took it under suggestion to take the 50 out west.   Swung past the Pentagon and Arlington Cemetery.  I think the thing that surprised me the most was how close everything was to the Capitol.

Pentagon

The 50 itself wasn’t much fun for the first little while.  Lots of traffic lights – but cleared up once I got past Winchester.  Nice road, twisty, not crowded.   Fairly shaded so it wasn’t too hot.  Solid riding.

At least until this little bastard made it into my helmet.   I don’t even know how he got in – normally the visor is open, I feel something hit my face and then slide into the gap.   So I thought I was imagining things at first – then it was a lot of riding down the highway smacking my own head.   I must have looked ridiculous.

Country Fried Steak at Log Cabin Grille.

Highway 26 from Marletta to Woodfield is a Ohio Scenic Byway.   I wasn’t really sure why it was in my list of goals, but I didn’t mind.  Beautiful little bit of road.  Twisty, shaded.. And then I passed a Covered Bridge.  Very cool, but I blew past it and pulled up at this one:

Only after did I realize there were marker posts along the way to turn off to see more things.  I guess if I had really done my homework, I would have that information ahead of time.  The few turnoffs I did see after this appeared to be dirt, so not something I had the appetite for anyway.

Pulled over at the McDonald’s at Woodsfield to grab a drink and figure out where to go next.   Found a KOA in Washington, PA, and realized I had some riding yet and not much daylight left.   Didn’t end up spending any money – the manager teased me about stealing wifi on my way out.  Not really sure what she said since I had my earplugs in…  But I’m sorry!  I meant to spend money!

I got to the KOA with a fair bit of time.  One of the better KOAs for tent camping – actual grass and level pads for tents.   Not so great for motorcycles, long ring road up and gravel roads down to the sites.   I actually got there with some time to spare and took a dip in their pool.  Very nice feeling, but really went to show how broken I was.  Even a lazy swim down a pool made me feel like I pulled something in my shoulders.  Two months of pretty much just riding and walking is starting to take it’s toll.

Makes me worried about an Iron Butt attempt. That was a longish day, but only 439miles.  Slow miles, so it’s possible I would have done a lot more miles given the same amount of time on a real attempt on big highways.  But I ached afterwards in the pool.  I suspect the real attempt is going to involve additives – painkillers and energy drinks…