As you might expect, I have a number of statistics of note from the last few months:
1 motorcycle
4 corners of the US
(Key West, Mexico/CA border, NW most point in WA, E most point in ME)
49 States
108 days
450 gallons of gas
4,500 pictures
20,000 miles
and tons of great memories
Yesterday I spent the morning with two couples on Goldwings from Montreal riding the Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. This has to be one of the best and least developed stretches of road along the East coast. And they should stay that way because of their protected status.
The Goldwingers stopped at the same hotel to get out of the rain the night before. By chance I got the room next to them and was walking in as they were going to dinner. I asked if I could joiin them at the Tastee Freez next door. After a dinner that bounced between French and English, they invited me to join them early the next day.
We set off around 8:30 for the last 85 miles of the Skyline Drive. We rode along the ridgeline for a several hours with occasional fog and rain. As lunch approached the weather cleared, yielding great views, many from above the clouds. I certainly didn’t expect to have clouds in the valleys below from an elevation of 3,000 feet.
You may think a Goldwing with a trailer looks pretty funny, but when it comes to space, they have a ton. In my bags I have enough room for a Camelbak bladder and some Powerbars. These two bikes had large coolers that were powered by the bike, so they didn’t have their food swimming in melted water. When we stopped for lunch they set up an entire picnic buffet on the wall of an overlook with a valley below. With self-service sanwhiches and Hall and Oates on the bike stereo, we all enjoyed a tasty sun-filled lunch.
Still having a ways to go to get to my 49th state, I set out on my own after lunch. Without a passenger I can go a little faster. I drove for another 9 hours or so to the end of the Blue Ridge in Virginia. I stopped for BBQ in Galax, Virginia and had the best homemade banana pudding I’ve ever tasted.
This morning I’m about 100 (twisty) miles from my goal, Kentucky. After I cross the border and take a picture, I’ll be able to point south again. I have a couple more parks to hit before this adventure winds down.
I crossed the 20,000 mile mark today after reaching my 48th state on the trip. The last 1,000 miles have taken me from Maine through New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Conntecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, DC, West Virginia, and finally to Virginia. This has been a crowded area of the country and I’ve ridden more big roads than I like.
Today I started the 100 mile Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park which connects to the 460 mile Blue Ridge Parkway, so at least half of the next thousand miles will be twisty, two-lane, truck free roads. Plus the next thousand should put me very close to home.
After a great drive from Maine to DC, I took a pause from Ginger one last time before going home. I’ve now visited 47 states. With Virginia and West Virginia left, I’m on track to drive through all 49 drive-able states.
To celebrate my friend’s Zach engagement and to have one last hurrah with the boys, Zach wanted to ski. The summer is a bad time for skiing in the northern hemisphere, but not in the southern. Matt knew of a resort in Chile for us to visit called Portillo, 100 miles from Santiago on the Argentina border.
The two hour drive from Santiago started in a valley surrounded by mountains and slowly progressed into arid desert-like mountains. The newly repaved four-lane road eventually turned into two-lanes which later on lost the line. We began to see snow covered mountain tops as the cacti disappeared. The steep sharp turns really gave us elevation as we approached the resort. The last few miles were slow as our intrepid driver took his half out of the middle pushing our minivan to the limit. He took turns as fast as possible occasionally passing the semis three wide with other cars.
Starting at 9,000 feet, Portillo is a single lodge mouintain with a reasonably large ski-able area. There are two main parts, the left and the right serviced by several lifts and some
Our room in the employee quarters is dorm style with 4 bunks and less than a bed’s width to the other wall. Our roommate Mike is a firefighter from New York and dedicated skier. He’s definitely in good shape and hiking has been no problem for him. A short walk down the hall yields the bathroom with frigid tiles.
The weather here is rumored to be 80% sunny; we’ll have more data soon. After our first day was very snowy and overcast, we’ve had a couple of clear days and even a snowy one.
After heavy rains in Manhattan, a number of subway lines are closed, limited, or flooded. In a city where public transportation so often functions like a well oiled machine, hiccups can derail the busy system. Whenever there’s rain or when work gets out, getting a taxi becomes impossible. So when there’s rain and limited subway flow, you can imagine the city gets busy above ground.
When I decided to head downtown, I thought I’d try the bus. Unfortunately so did everyone else. Adding to the gridlock streets, completely full busses only stopped when requested and even then only let a few passangers switch with crowd on the street. I eventually got on a bus only to ride in front of the white line in the doorway with 6 other people. I had to wondering about the engineering and testing of busses. Do they fill them so full that everyone is touching his or her neighbor?
I got off the bus after 20 blocks after feeling like walking would be faster when throngs of passing feet filled my view. I was neck and neck for a few blocks, until the traffic cleared and the dinosaur-wine drinking bus pulled ahead to a clear lead.
I overheard throughout the day that a number of people were hours and hours late getting to their destinations. In a Lush store near Union Square I overheard the manager talking to a worker from another store who couldn’t get in because the boss hadn’t shown up. At the “They Might Be Giants” show the frontman said it was a good thing his master plan included being two hours late today, so the delays didn’t cause him trouble.
All-in-all it was a hassle, but I really enjoyed my walk through the southern half of Manhattan island.
Over the weekend I drove with my dad and stepmom to the French speaking part of our continent, Quebec. Even after years of French class, I somehow missed that French is their primary language. It certainly has a strong accent to someone who is used to the French French accent. The difference reminds me of British English compared to American English, only less extreme.
The Circuit (French for track) Gilles Villeneuve (a famous Canadian driver) is usually used for Formula 1 and thus is not the usual NASCAR turn-left oval. I really enjoyed the first turn which would look like what would happen if you or I tried to take a 90 turn at full speed without thinking it out in advance. Right after the start-finish line a gentle left turns into a very sharp right arc, perfect for slinging an inexperienced driver into the adjacent wall.
With a day in Maine on either side of the race, I got a chance to review, sort, and begin to tag the few thousand pictures from the last few months. While I still have a long way to go, I made some serious headway. I did enjoy the brief rest in Maine, but my bike called from the garage, ready to head south.
Bound by rain and a lack of DHL, I’m nearly a day behind leaving Maine. Fortunately the rain has nearly passed. Unfortunately I just learned that DHL has no record of the package for which I waited almost the entire day (but at least I know there’s no use waiting for it any more).
On the bright side, I’ve had a chance to work on my site and photos a little . To show what’s in store for my geotagged images, I uploaded a couple of new ones here:
5 Pears Flickr Map – Uploads 2007-08-06
I’m writing this post for those of you who see my page only through RSS. I’ve had a couple of days to play with my computer and was able to download my GPS tracks, finally. I made a map for my front page with where I’ve been and my planned route home.
in situ: http://5Pears.org
