All spring we were planning on riding up North this weekend. The plan was to head up through Old Forge on Saturday, find a place to sleep, then finish the loop and head back home Sunday. Mother Nature had other plans, I guess. The weather wasn't going to cooperate up North, so we headed South.
I was riding lead on my VTX with my gf, Annie. Annie's brother, Ray, on his Sportster 1200, was 2nd in line. My step-dad, Pete (Shadow Spirit 1100) and my mother, (Shadow Spirit 750),
Bobbo (Kawi V2K) and Cindy (CBR600F4), Annie's dad, Otie and his gf, Joyce rode trail on his Electra Glide and trailer.
We headed South out of Groton on 38, then headed up over 79 to Whitney Point, then 11 South to the State line. We stopped in Great Bend, PA to stretch out a bit, and to get rid of the morning coffee!!! It was here that Ray discovered that he'd been riding since Groton without a cap on his oil tank. Without a Harley dealer in the vicinity, he hit up a hardware store in search of a bath tub stopper. He didn't find a stopper, but they did have a couple of corks. Hey, whatever works to keep the oil in the tank, I guess.
We continued down 11, then up over 106 to Lenox and had lunch at Bingham's, fueled up and kept going down 106 into Carbondale then hit US 6 East. There are a bunch of really small and narrow roads in NorthEast PA. and it's actually a really neat place to ride, so long as you don't desire to break any land speed records. In Milton, PA, we headed south on US 209 into the Deleware Water Gap National Recreation Area. 209 is closed to commercial vehicles, so we were under the impression that it would be steep and twisty. It wasn't. Don't get me wrong, it was a nice ride, but it wasn't what we expected. Of course, had we made the decision to head South, instead of North, before 6am on the day we were leaving, we'd have had more time to research our route. We did stop at Dingman's Falls visitor center and see some pretty impressive falls.
Once out of the Rec Area, we continued down 209 into Lehighton, then into Jim Thorpe. I really wish we had more time to see Jim Thorpe, looked like a really cool little town. I think maybe soon just Annie and I will head down that way.
We hit rain about 5 minutes before we hit the Ramada Inn in Hazelton, PA. The bartender was a royal bitch, but the sheets were dry, and the shower was clean.
Sunday morning we headed up into Wilkes-Barre then West on 6 to US220 back into NY then home. Sunday was COLD. This is Annie and Mom, all bundled up.
Overall, it was an awesome ride. I just think that 9 riders on 7 bikes is too much for a ride like this.
