Red Baron
09-19-2004, 02:53 PM
Friday night, it is raining cats and dogs, and Susan's wedding is tomorrow. It's going to be an outdoor wedding, and they were planning on riding to it. The weather radar prediction shows the western end of the storm will not pass before noon and the wedding is at 11AM. So, ok, lets find out what the plans are, because tomorrow, I don't have a cage to use. I write Susan and she writes back: "the pastor told us he is riding rain or shine, so Lee and I are also." Well, I did say I was going to be there. If the pastor and Bride and Groom can ride in the rain so can I. So off I go to collect all my rain gear.... For grins I check expected temps. Mid 60s at best. Ok it's going to rain and be cool, so I break out my fall riding gear, and get out both my waterproof Joe Rocket mesh liner and the Joe Rocket Revolution liner. I know I can ride up to 75 deg comfortably with the fall jacket and no liner with the vents open, so I decide to wear that and leave the mesh home. Get PA map, print out directions to Susan and Lees house and go check the bike over, oil, lights, tires. etc.. all set.
Friday night, toss and turn all night, every time I wake up rain is still pounding the windows.
Sat AM. Check email, no wedding cancellations, check weather, no change, western end of front still not expected to clear before noon. I look outside, rain has stopped. Great! :-) (Radar showed curved front and it was suppose to clear Bing by 9am, so front appears to be moving a bit faster. Should be an ok ride on wet roads.
I put on my gear, just the revolution jacket and regular liner, put on the waterproof 1/2 height hiking boots, nelson rigg rain paints, fall leather riding gloves and I'm off. Road wet, still cloudy, mountains misting & rising clouds, regular road spray, so staying a ways behind the cagers. First bridge..holy cow, the river is very high. I've never seen it that high in 24 years, even after the fast thaw and rain we had after that big late season snow storm that dumped 5 feet on us back in the mid 90's .. forgot which year that was, but I did not forget the TWO days it took to shovel out my driveway. Major flooding on that thaw and we had 3 feet of water in our basement when it did. I briefly think about turning around, thinking of water in my basement, but there was none there when I left and no water in my neighbors yard, so I continue on.
Going down route 11 I see a lot of flooding. Cars parked along the road because houses and normal driveways are underwater. Cars half submerged, did not make it out in time, house trailers in the water, etc... I've never seen so much flooding in the area.
Slow going, lot of gawker out riding around....
Getting into PA, cross another bridge.. Water is getting close to the bottom of this one. Man that's a lot of water. Glad it wasn't snow! Further down the road, water is rushing across the road. The two cars in front of me slow then straddle the line and go through the water. Now this isn't standing water, this is flowing line a stream after a normal spring thaw. First time I've seen that.
So I slow and watch the cars, water comes up over the axles... I think for two seconds and do a quick U turn.. ahhh, no thanks, all I'd need to do is hit a hole or something in the water and dump the bike there... ummm no... So I head back through the last town to pick up the interstate...clock is ticking, loosing my margin time... They *usually* build these high enough so that flooding is hardly an issue anymore. Well, I don't care for interstate riding, it is boring, and today it is wet, and a lot of traffic, probably because a lot of the secondary roads are flooded... But this time it is an interesting ride because the elevated view of the flood areas. Bike is running good, metzer tires don't seem to mind the road.. I slow and let all the traffic pass me till I get an opening where there is no traffic behind me and try a panic stop... No problems, these tires are sticking good. So on the throttle and let her rip. Got to start making up time... Get just north of Scranton, going up in elevation and temp is dropping and starting to get a light mist.. Oh oh, running into the top of that storm band that had cleared me but has not cleared the Scranton area yet. (That is the other reason I had wanted to take the secondary roads in PA, I was going to try to skirt the western edge of the storm front...).. Wind is starting to pick up... Ok, pull into the rest stop. I'm going to hit rain...
I stop, get out my mech jacket waterproof liner and put it over the other liner, break out my Joe rocket water proof insulated gloves and go to put the gloves on... oh crap
Product Report flash: The Joe Rocket Revolution gloves are really waterproof. But your hands need to be try to get them into the gloves easily. They have a fleece lining that really grabs your hand when wet and makes it very tough to get your hand in, especially when you are in a hurry. The tiny label on the glove does warn you about pulling your hand out slowly and holding each finger so the inner lining does not pull out of each finger. Well guess what? last time I wore the gloves I had not read the warning and my hands had been damp when I put them in the gloves so some of the fingers were jammed. Remember that a child when you had to use a wooden spoon handle, or a butter knife handle to push the fingers back into place? So the gloves were a pain to put on and slowed me down even more.
Joe Rocket Revolution Glove http://www.motoemporium.com/joerocket/gloves/revolution_gloves.jpg
http://www.dmtaonline.com/ItemMatrix.asp?CartId={2B6C8AB7-EVEREST5E04-4536-AA01-146C9C4A1EE7 (http://www.dmtaonline.com/ItemMatrix.asp?CartId=%7B2B6C8AB7-EVEREST5E04-4536-AA01-146C9C4A1EE7)}&GroupCode=AV4&eq=&MatrixType=1
http://tinyurl.com/4sjk5
Ok, back on the road.. As I enter the heavy traffic at the top end of Scranton, the rain really starts to come down. Close the vent on the top of the helmet, and concentrate on staying alive in this 70 MPH traffic... I've ridden in heavy rain before, but around down, never on the highway.. Metzler tires have no problem, bike is solid.. Wind is gusting all over the place.. I seem to be staying drive...oh, oh, my feed are getting wet... Hmmm, seems that at 70mph in pouring rain that 1/2 height waterproof boots are in sufficient.... The rain just worked its way up the tongue under the rain paints in into the top of the boot. Strange feeling to have your feet get wet from the top down.. Oh well...
3/4 through Scranton, in the far left lane the bike starts to sputter.... Oh Crap... now what.... I work way over to right lane and slow down, and bike keeps going.... Every time I ease it up and RPMs hit 5k, it starts to sputter and die.. Now I've done the ear shave and have the emgo cone filters on. So the air intake is not protected from the rain like they used to be. So I wonder if I am ingesting water and that is the problem.. How come no one ever mentioned this.... So I poke along at 60 through Scranton and into Wilkes Barre... Last exit for Wilkes Barre I decide to get off and get gas, and see if I can figure out what the problem is. I had adjusted the fuel/air mix screws the prev night to lean it out some since I had pulled the plugs and they were black..
I gas up and check the air breather vacuum hose behind the Right Ear. (notorious problem on the vn750)
Sidebar on the vn750 Air Cleaners (Ears) from earlier post today to the vn750:
{ Missing and popping at ~5k or sometimes even at 7k rpm is *usually* due to that stupid hose that runs to the back of the right air cleaner. Remember how I said when I re jetted, did the ear shave and put the engine back in my bike, and when I finally got it started I said it started to stumble at ~5k? Well I had taken the air cleaners off, and the hose was just hanging there. When I re-attached it to the ear, it took care of that.. But I still had the stumble at ~7k.
Well yesterday on my ride to Susan's wedding, in 65mph highway traffic in the pouring rain and very gusty winds the bike started to stumble at ~5k again. I thought perhaps it was the rain getting into the air filters that are no longer protected like the old ones were, or that I maybe had vapor lock in the tank, since I was down to about 1/2 tank.. After about 30 minutes of putting up with it, I got off the highway and pulled into a gas station to take a look. I filled the tank, and checked the hose. It was still connected, but not all the way in. So I jammed it in. Now I have cut the end at a 45 degree angle so it can't completely block. Then I got back on the highway, and guess what no stumble at 5k anymore. I was running late and started to crank it. }
Ok, I'm running late, not even to Interstate 80 again and bike is running superbly again... I am staying very dry thanks to my Joe Rocket Revolution Jacket which is waterproof, and today proved it. If anyone is interested, they are on sale here for a great price. I paid $150 for it last year at newenough.com, but this is an even better price. Waterproof, armored, lots of pockets, vents, and zip in/out lining and removable armor.
http://www.motoxoutlet.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=202
Joe Rocket Revolution Jacket Mens $99.
I pass Wilkes-Barre and start to wonder if I missed the exit to 80. So I pull over in the rain, dig out my paper map, with wet heavy insulated gloves, with trucks buzzing by and gusting winds. Ever try that? Interesting is the word I'll use to describe it. My poor map has seen better days... Nope I did not miss the exit. Cram wet map into pocket and zoom down the road to make up time.. Hopefully highway patrol is too busy dealing with floods to worry about an idiot riding in the rain zooming down the interstate...
I get down to 80 and it is 10:15 am.. They are leaving Susan's house in 15 minutes... Not going to make it.. Need to figure out how far I am from exit 222.. The smartest thing states have done in a long time, or is that the Feds, is to renumber the interstate exits to be mileposts. How intelligent and useful.. Ok I see exit 256.. lets see that is 34 miles just to the exit, much less through the town. By now rain as stopped. I'm coming off the back side of the mountain and I can see the blue sky in the western horizon. Yep it's going to clear off ...First good news this morning so far... Ok back to the problem at hand, 34 miles to cover, on interstate traffic, in 15 minutes, that is an average speed of...136 Mph... Hmmm, AJ could probably do it, but this vn750 with my fat butt on it isn't... 10:25, Better let them know I am not going to make it so Susan doesn't worry about me during her wedding.. I pull over and dig out phone numbers on my inkjet printed sheet with wet gloves... darn that ink smears so nicely, what is that number.... Call house, get ans machine...darn.. try Lees phone.. Ok get him, he is cutting in and out, says take exit 224 (yeah, saved 2 miles) ...cutting in and out... Then Susan gets on , gives me clear and quick directions to the wedding site. As I hang up and put the phone away (love those cell phones when they work). Just as I do this a car drives by, brakes, pulls onto the shoulder and backs up to me.. Out pops this BIG guy in what looks like an ABATE shirt and asks me if I'm ok. Hey what a great guy... I'm ok, he hops into car and zooms off, I put on my helmet and zoom off, but I never see him again. On 80 the people must be confused, the speed limit I am sure is not 80, but EVERYONE is doing that and passing me... Ok, enough of that, I'm late, so I get on it, and start passing back... big 45 mph corners... tractor and trailer flipped over in eastbound lane but off the road, State police there, driver ok walking along rig shaking his head, probably wondering where he is going to find his next job...
Get to exit, find the wedding, arrive at 11:10, gas tank almost on empty, a bit late but not really bad all things considered, and they are waiting for me. (Got to love the cell phones) Wedding takes place, Gold wing is playing the wedding music, sun starts to shine, Susan and Lee get married, I take pictures, reception line, ride to reception, eat great meal in boots that are sopping wet, hugs and kisses good bye.
Pictures here: http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeBNXLNk1ctnHg
I go out, the sun is shining, it is warming up, I pack the rain gear away, and I'm back on the road at ~3:15 pm or so..Heading up 15 to route 220, to Binghamton. No more interstates today... just back country roads and twisties, and the sun to my back. <BSEG>
Ride back north on 15 is uneventful. But a lot of flooding, some of which looks like it has started to recede a little. I am wondering how may detours I am going to have to take and If I can get home before dark and not have to play tag with the deer... I get on 220, it is a nice winding road, through a lot of small towns. Around every corner though I have to contend with small streams flowing over the road.. No problem, the first one I hit a bit to fast I found out that the metzlers just part the water like it isn't even there. I hardly even felt it. It was a couple of inches deep, not bad, but enough to give you problems in a cage if you were going to fast. Only had problem on one corner I had to lean in, when I came around it the entire lane had water on it, and I hit one of those darn tar snakes right along my line.. Bike did one of those little skip things when your front tire slips, then grabs and then your back tire slips and grabs.. Kind of feels like a whip oscillation if you know what I mean. I thought I was going down, but once the tires slid off the tar snake they re-grabbed the road and held fast even with the water on it...
About 80 miles or so from Sayre, the road is blocked with a utility truck an flashing lights and traffic is stopped , and a single guy is talking to each car.. Ok great, road is flooded and I have to take a detour - right? Well no. It seems that some trees have come down and taken down some power lines.. And they are still there... The road is open, but only one lane at these points and I need to be careful when passing through those spots.... Umm ok,duh....thinking of course that I'm in NY and there will be police cars there, utility trucks and plenty of flashing lights and flares...right?.... Ummm, NO, wrong, do not pass go... I keep at the speed limit, or just under and come around a corner and see one orange cone about 10 feet from this tree in the road.. WTF.. Where were the warning flares and flashing lights?... Quickly straighten up, break, no problem, no on coming traffic, NO one, and I mean NO one in sight... wow...ok, on I go... a few miles down the road and we have Deja-vu... then a few miles later I pass the other end of the warning section... Now why didn't they have these guys a lot closer to the problem area I don't know. They were miles down the road from where the trees were... strange...
For a while all was fine until about 60 miles south of Sayre PA.. I was going up the side of a mountain.. You know one of those roads where you have nice wide lanes, and a slow lane, a passing lane and the other side is one lane down the mountain.. No intersections etc.. So apparently I did a brain fart and kicked up the speed a bit, to about 70, thinking it was a 65 MPH. road. I've never been on this road that I recall, but no problem, traffic is light, road is dry, long straight stretches... I come around a corner and guess who is waiting for me sitting in the shade at the top of the next long stretch? No problem I drop it to 65 just to play it safe... As I get closer, the headlights come on... Oh Oh... I get even closer and he starts to pull out... oh oh... I get closer and the lights come on...I slow down more.. Maybe it is the car behind me??? I get closer and he is still coming and out of the driver window this hand comes and points to my side of the road indicating that I should pull over... Ok fudge... pull over stop the bike pull of helmet and get wallet out. It was PA State Police.. Ok I'm going to get a ticket. In New York if the State Police pull you over, you are pretty much going to get a ticket unless they know you.. something about avoiding harassment claims etc... He says, I pulled you over because you were doing 69 in a 55... I said, I knew I was going that fast, but I thought it was a 65. He goes ok, I'll just be a minute... So off he goes to write me a ticket... It is starting to get cool again, so I take the opportunity to get off the bike and get my other liner out of the saddle bag... Now interesting, and I did not think of this later, but he did not jump out of the car, and say freeze, as I was going through the saddle bag, for the liner, which could have been for a gun for all he knew.... Oh well. He comes back with a ticket... Guess what, he did not cite me for speeding, but he did cite me for failure to obey a traffic control device (a sign).. He claims that is a no point ticket.. It is a $25 fine, with fees for at total of $75.. Ok phew, not a big deal.. In NY it would have been $150 plus easily. My last one 22 years ago was for $100 for doing 40 in a 30 MPH in NY...Yeah, I'm a bad boy, I know... geeezzzzz... Well I checked both Penn DOT and NYS web site. The citation does have points in PA, but guess what?, NY does not care...and they won't be transferred to my NY license... Ok, no biggie.. Note to self, either slow down , or get a radar detector, find a FOP card, or let the NJ ne-vroc guys lead next time *grin*.. He did take the time though to explain why it wasn't a 65 mph road, because there wasn't limited access on the road, etc.... Yeah, but here was NO access on this part of the road... oh well... now I know...
Rest of trip home was at speed limit, with a few coffee stops to warm up.. Got to get chaps., and a bigger wind screen.. Temp had dropped to 50 degrees and even with all my layers on, and the coffee I was a Popsicle by the time I pulled in the drive way at ~7:20 pm..
Oh yeah, neighbor's yard was full of water and street was flooded...but no water in my basement this time...Yea!
All things considered, it was a good day...stayed mostly dry, Great wedding, good company, good meal, safe ride, 6+hours of riding and quite a few lessons learned without pain or bodily harm, and not too much of a dent in the wallet, house not flooded..hard to ask for any more..
So I need some good waterproof boots... anyone???
Red Baron...
'99 vn750, rejetted, ear shave, V&H Cruzers,...
Friday night, toss and turn all night, every time I wake up rain is still pounding the windows.
Sat AM. Check email, no wedding cancellations, check weather, no change, western end of front still not expected to clear before noon. I look outside, rain has stopped. Great! :-) (Radar showed curved front and it was suppose to clear Bing by 9am, so front appears to be moving a bit faster. Should be an ok ride on wet roads.
I put on my gear, just the revolution jacket and regular liner, put on the waterproof 1/2 height hiking boots, nelson rigg rain paints, fall leather riding gloves and I'm off. Road wet, still cloudy, mountains misting & rising clouds, regular road spray, so staying a ways behind the cagers. First bridge..holy cow, the river is very high. I've never seen it that high in 24 years, even after the fast thaw and rain we had after that big late season snow storm that dumped 5 feet on us back in the mid 90's .. forgot which year that was, but I did not forget the TWO days it took to shovel out my driveway. Major flooding on that thaw and we had 3 feet of water in our basement when it did. I briefly think about turning around, thinking of water in my basement, but there was none there when I left and no water in my neighbors yard, so I continue on.
Going down route 11 I see a lot of flooding. Cars parked along the road because houses and normal driveways are underwater. Cars half submerged, did not make it out in time, house trailers in the water, etc... I've never seen so much flooding in the area.
Slow going, lot of gawker out riding around....
Getting into PA, cross another bridge.. Water is getting close to the bottom of this one. Man that's a lot of water. Glad it wasn't snow! Further down the road, water is rushing across the road. The two cars in front of me slow then straddle the line and go through the water. Now this isn't standing water, this is flowing line a stream after a normal spring thaw. First time I've seen that.
So I slow and watch the cars, water comes up over the axles... I think for two seconds and do a quick U turn.. ahhh, no thanks, all I'd need to do is hit a hole or something in the water and dump the bike there... ummm no... So I head back through the last town to pick up the interstate...clock is ticking, loosing my margin time... They *usually* build these high enough so that flooding is hardly an issue anymore. Well, I don't care for interstate riding, it is boring, and today it is wet, and a lot of traffic, probably because a lot of the secondary roads are flooded... But this time it is an interesting ride because the elevated view of the flood areas. Bike is running good, metzer tires don't seem to mind the road.. I slow and let all the traffic pass me till I get an opening where there is no traffic behind me and try a panic stop... No problems, these tires are sticking good. So on the throttle and let her rip. Got to start making up time... Get just north of Scranton, going up in elevation and temp is dropping and starting to get a light mist.. Oh oh, running into the top of that storm band that had cleared me but has not cleared the Scranton area yet. (That is the other reason I had wanted to take the secondary roads in PA, I was going to try to skirt the western edge of the storm front...).. Wind is starting to pick up... Ok, pull into the rest stop. I'm going to hit rain...
I stop, get out my mech jacket waterproof liner and put it over the other liner, break out my Joe rocket water proof insulated gloves and go to put the gloves on... oh crap
Product Report flash: The Joe Rocket Revolution gloves are really waterproof. But your hands need to be try to get them into the gloves easily. They have a fleece lining that really grabs your hand when wet and makes it very tough to get your hand in, especially when you are in a hurry. The tiny label on the glove does warn you about pulling your hand out slowly and holding each finger so the inner lining does not pull out of each finger. Well guess what? last time I wore the gloves I had not read the warning and my hands had been damp when I put them in the gloves so some of the fingers were jammed. Remember that a child when you had to use a wooden spoon handle, or a butter knife handle to push the fingers back into place? So the gloves were a pain to put on and slowed me down even more.
Joe Rocket Revolution Glove http://www.motoemporium.com/joerocket/gloves/revolution_gloves.jpg
http://www.dmtaonline.com/ItemMatrix.asp?CartId={2B6C8AB7-EVEREST5E04-4536-AA01-146C9C4A1EE7 (http://www.dmtaonline.com/ItemMatrix.asp?CartId=%7B2B6C8AB7-EVEREST5E04-4536-AA01-146C9C4A1EE7)}&GroupCode=AV4&eq=&MatrixType=1
http://tinyurl.com/4sjk5
Ok, back on the road.. As I enter the heavy traffic at the top end of Scranton, the rain really starts to come down. Close the vent on the top of the helmet, and concentrate on staying alive in this 70 MPH traffic... I've ridden in heavy rain before, but around down, never on the highway.. Metzler tires have no problem, bike is solid.. Wind is gusting all over the place.. I seem to be staying drive...oh, oh, my feed are getting wet... Hmmm, seems that at 70mph in pouring rain that 1/2 height waterproof boots are in sufficient.... The rain just worked its way up the tongue under the rain paints in into the top of the boot. Strange feeling to have your feet get wet from the top down.. Oh well...
3/4 through Scranton, in the far left lane the bike starts to sputter.... Oh Crap... now what.... I work way over to right lane and slow down, and bike keeps going.... Every time I ease it up and RPMs hit 5k, it starts to sputter and die.. Now I've done the ear shave and have the emgo cone filters on. So the air intake is not protected from the rain like they used to be. So I wonder if I am ingesting water and that is the problem.. How come no one ever mentioned this.... So I poke along at 60 through Scranton and into Wilkes Barre... Last exit for Wilkes Barre I decide to get off and get gas, and see if I can figure out what the problem is. I had adjusted the fuel/air mix screws the prev night to lean it out some since I had pulled the plugs and they were black..
I gas up and check the air breather vacuum hose behind the Right Ear. (notorious problem on the vn750)
Sidebar on the vn750 Air Cleaners (Ears) from earlier post today to the vn750:
{ Missing and popping at ~5k or sometimes even at 7k rpm is *usually* due to that stupid hose that runs to the back of the right air cleaner. Remember how I said when I re jetted, did the ear shave and put the engine back in my bike, and when I finally got it started I said it started to stumble at ~5k? Well I had taken the air cleaners off, and the hose was just hanging there. When I re-attached it to the ear, it took care of that.. But I still had the stumble at ~7k.
Well yesterday on my ride to Susan's wedding, in 65mph highway traffic in the pouring rain and very gusty winds the bike started to stumble at ~5k again. I thought perhaps it was the rain getting into the air filters that are no longer protected like the old ones were, or that I maybe had vapor lock in the tank, since I was down to about 1/2 tank.. After about 30 minutes of putting up with it, I got off the highway and pulled into a gas station to take a look. I filled the tank, and checked the hose. It was still connected, but not all the way in. So I jammed it in. Now I have cut the end at a 45 degree angle so it can't completely block. Then I got back on the highway, and guess what no stumble at 5k anymore. I was running late and started to crank it. }
Ok, I'm running late, not even to Interstate 80 again and bike is running superbly again... I am staying very dry thanks to my Joe Rocket Revolution Jacket which is waterproof, and today proved it. If anyone is interested, they are on sale here for a great price. I paid $150 for it last year at newenough.com, but this is an even better price. Waterproof, armored, lots of pockets, vents, and zip in/out lining and removable armor.
http://www.motoxoutlet.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=202
Joe Rocket Revolution Jacket Mens $99.
I pass Wilkes-Barre and start to wonder if I missed the exit to 80. So I pull over in the rain, dig out my paper map, with wet heavy insulated gloves, with trucks buzzing by and gusting winds. Ever try that? Interesting is the word I'll use to describe it. My poor map has seen better days... Nope I did not miss the exit. Cram wet map into pocket and zoom down the road to make up time.. Hopefully highway patrol is too busy dealing with floods to worry about an idiot riding in the rain zooming down the interstate...
I get down to 80 and it is 10:15 am.. They are leaving Susan's house in 15 minutes... Not going to make it.. Need to figure out how far I am from exit 222.. The smartest thing states have done in a long time, or is that the Feds, is to renumber the interstate exits to be mileposts. How intelligent and useful.. Ok I see exit 256.. lets see that is 34 miles just to the exit, much less through the town. By now rain as stopped. I'm coming off the back side of the mountain and I can see the blue sky in the western horizon. Yep it's going to clear off ...First good news this morning so far... Ok back to the problem at hand, 34 miles to cover, on interstate traffic, in 15 minutes, that is an average speed of...136 Mph... Hmmm, AJ could probably do it, but this vn750 with my fat butt on it isn't... 10:25, Better let them know I am not going to make it so Susan doesn't worry about me during her wedding.. I pull over and dig out phone numbers on my inkjet printed sheet with wet gloves... darn that ink smears so nicely, what is that number.... Call house, get ans machine...darn.. try Lees phone.. Ok get him, he is cutting in and out, says take exit 224 (yeah, saved 2 miles) ...cutting in and out... Then Susan gets on , gives me clear and quick directions to the wedding site. As I hang up and put the phone away (love those cell phones when they work). Just as I do this a car drives by, brakes, pulls onto the shoulder and backs up to me.. Out pops this BIG guy in what looks like an ABATE shirt and asks me if I'm ok. Hey what a great guy... I'm ok, he hops into car and zooms off, I put on my helmet and zoom off, but I never see him again. On 80 the people must be confused, the speed limit I am sure is not 80, but EVERYONE is doing that and passing me... Ok, enough of that, I'm late, so I get on it, and start passing back... big 45 mph corners... tractor and trailer flipped over in eastbound lane but off the road, State police there, driver ok walking along rig shaking his head, probably wondering where he is going to find his next job...
Get to exit, find the wedding, arrive at 11:10, gas tank almost on empty, a bit late but not really bad all things considered, and they are waiting for me. (Got to love the cell phones) Wedding takes place, Gold wing is playing the wedding music, sun starts to shine, Susan and Lee get married, I take pictures, reception line, ride to reception, eat great meal in boots that are sopping wet, hugs and kisses good bye.
Pictures here: http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeBNXLNk1ctnHg
I go out, the sun is shining, it is warming up, I pack the rain gear away, and I'm back on the road at ~3:15 pm or so..Heading up 15 to route 220, to Binghamton. No more interstates today... just back country roads and twisties, and the sun to my back. <BSEG>
Ride back north on 15 is uneventful. But a lot of flooding, some of which looks like it has started to recede a little. I am wondering how may detours I am going to have to take and If I can get home before dark and not have to play tag with the deer... I get on 220, it is a nice winding road, through a lot of small towns. Around every corner though I have to contend with small streams flowing over the road.. No problem, the first one I hit a bit to fast I found out that the metzlers just part the water like it isn't even there. I hardly even felt it. It was a couple of inches deep, not bad, but enough to give you problems in a cage if you were going to fast. Only had problem on one corner I had to lean in, when I came around it the entire lane had water on it, and I hit one of those darn tar snakes right along my line.. Bike did one of those little skip things when your front tire slips, then grabs and then your back tire slips and grabs.. Kind of feels like a whip oscillation if you know what I mean. I thought I was going down, but once the tires slid off the tar snake they re-grabbed the road and held fast even with the water on it...
About 80 miles or so from Sayre, the road is blocked with a utility truck an flashing lights and traffic is stopped , and a single guy is talking to each car.. Ok great, road is flooded and I have to take a detour - right? Well no. It seems that some trees have come down and taken down some power lines.. And they are still there... The road is open, but only one lane at these points and I need to be careful when passing through those spots.... Umm ok,duh....thinking of course that I'm in NY and there will be police cars there, utility trucks and plenty of flashing lights and flares...right?.... Ummm, NO, wrong, do not pass go... I keep at the speed limit, or just under and come around a corner and see one orange cone about 10 feet from this tree in the road.. WTF.. Where were the warning flares and flashing lights?... Quickly straighten up, break, no problem, no on coming traffic, NO one, and I mean NO one in sight... wow...ok, on I go... a few miles down the road and we have Deja-vu... then a few miles later I pass the other end of the warning section... Now why didn't they have these guys a lot closer to the problem area I don't know. They were miles down the road from where the trees were... strange...
For a while all was fine until about 60 miles south of Sayre PA.. I was going up the side of a mountain.. You know one of those roads where you have nice wide lanes, and a slow lane, a passing lane and the other side is one lane down the mountain.. No intersections etc.. So apparently I did a brain fart and kicked up the speed a bit, to about 70, thinking it was a 65 MPH. road. I've never been on this road that I recall, but no problem, traffic is light, road is dry, long straight stretches... I come around a corner and guess who is waiting for me sitting in the shade at the top of the next long stretch? No problem I drop it to 65 just to play it safe... As I get closer, the headlights come on... Oh Oh... I get even closer and he starts to pull out... oh oh... I get closer and the lights come on...I slow down more.. Maybe it is the car behind me??? I get closer and he is still coming and out of the driver window this hand comes and points to my side of the road indicating that I should pull over... Ok fudge... pull over stop the bike pull of helmet and get wallet out. It was PA State Police.. Ok I'm going to get a ticket. In New York if the State Police pull you over, you are pretty much going to get a ticket unless they know you.. something about avoiding harassment claims etc... He says, I pulled you over because you were doing 69 in a 55... I said, I knew I was going that fast, but I thought it was a 65. He goes ok, I'll just be a minute... So off he goes to write me a ticket... It is starting to get cool again, so I take the opportunity to get off the bike and get my other liner out of the saddle bag... Now interesting, and I did not think of this later, but he did not jump out of the car, and say freeze, as I was going through the saddle bag, for the liner, which could have been for a gun for all he knew.... Oh well. He comes back with a ticket... Guess what, he did not cite me for speeding, but he did cite me for failure to obey a traffic control device (a sign).. He claims that is a no point ticket.. It is a $25 fine, with fees for at total of $75.. Ok phew, not a big deal.. In NY it would have been $150 plus easily. My last one 22 years ago was for $100 for doing 40 in a 30 MPH in NY...Yeah, I'm a bad boy, I know... geeezzzzz... Well I checked both Penn DOT and NYS web site. The citation does have points in PA, but guess what?, NY does not care...and they won't be transferred to my NY license... Ok, no biggie.. Note to self, either slow down , or get a radar detector, find a FOP card, or let the NJ ne-vroc guys lead next time *grin*.. He did take the time though to explain why it wasn't a 65 mph road, because there wasn't limited access on the road, etc.... Yeah, but here was NO access on this part of the road... oh well... now I know...
Rest of trip home was at speed limit, with a few coffee stops to warm up.. Got to get chaps., and a bigger wind screen.. Temp had dropped to 50 degrees and even with all my layers on, and the coffee I was a Popsicle by the time I pulled in the drive way at ~7:20 pm..
Oh yeah, neighbor's yard was full of water and street was flooded...but no water in my basement this time...Yea!
All things considered, it was a good day...stayed mostly dry, Great wedding, good company, good meal, safe ride, 6+hours of riding and quite a few lessons learned without pain or bodily harm, and not too much of a dent in the wallet, house not flooded..hard to ask for any more..
So I need some good waterproof boots... anyone???
Red Baron...
'99 vn750, rejetted, ear shave, V&H Cruzers,...