Labour Day 2013 - supposed to be Lake Placid but..

:-(



Heading right for us and will get here over night.....and I left the kid's rain jacket in the hall closet...have to find a outdoor gear store in the morning.

Hot ride east..got off 90 minutes late and paid for it.
407 was fine tho drivers very aggressive.

401 was dismal - brightened by some chick in skin tight gear on a 636 - friendly too

Quite the pleasant eyeful.

DId a bit of filtering on the 401 but it opened up after 20 minutes and sunny but hot cruise to Kingston.
Missed the ferry there so did Gananoque and nobooooby at the border.



Kid's set up looks good.



Burgman was heavy with gear.



iPhone rig worked fine



Glad to see this place tho.....440 km since 1.30 pm ...decent given traffic.



now to plot the escape....

Hmmmph - rain the night
now gone east

Frying pan to fire.....wow - glad we pulled in when we did.

Had a few showers in the last 1/2 hour but then it lit up outside and looked at the radar...



Yikers...

Deja vue - few weeks back with the SV650

decided to stick with what we knew and the GPS knew how to find.
Same motel
even the same room



today with a soggy Fz8



and same damn weather



Tomorrow is another day...

I got back from the lake placid area today after a driving holiday. Do yourselves a favour and stay in Saranac Lake instead as its way cheaper and only 10 mins away. Plus this weekend it is HoboFest there, some decent live music and the bars are moe genuine and less plastic than in lake placid. If you're travelling further afield I can highly recommend roads around Stowe in Vermont. Especially the 108 passing through smugglers notch.

Thanks but we're a days hike away now with good looking weather.

Fog tonight but that's normal





Heavenly twists tomorrow

They oughta charge admission to 144.....tooooo much fun.

Just about perfect day. Got out just as the fog lifted and excellent run down to Renovo.
Took a break at Yesterdays.
Did Wycoff and almost got wiped out by a left turning Sunday driver about 10 yards in.....at 2 mph

That is 10 miles of mcycle heaven - great mix. Kid had a huge grin on his face.

So wandered west a bit then up by the Elk reserve - couple in the forest on the edge of the road including one beaut.
Pics later.

Then did Kettle Creek - much improved and some tight stuff - only one stretch with fresh tar and gravel - will be fine next year.

Hooked up with 144 again and had just flat out fun. I was tired and was going to go tourist but that damn road gets a grip on your throttle hand.
Perfect conditions all but the last few miles. No traffic that couldn't be blown by easily - suspension challenge at speed in some spots.

Just about timed it perfectly but hit the storm a few miles from the motel.
Kid of course was miles ahead of me....that FZ8 just goes . Not bad for 144



..it also eats gas big time at speed.
He of course waited out the storm in the ice cream store and missed me going by in the rain.
Moment of panic thinking him missing a corner and off in the bush somewhere but he soon showed up.

Packed in munchies at Sheetz and relaxing. Grins all around.

Not that we were entirely without redeeming qualities as tourists....

The Harem



The Emperor



The Royal Progeny



The Horse Guard



The Colour Guard



Needed a GoPro to capture the black bear that loped across the road in front of me......was coming into a settled area on 144 and thought damn that's a funny looking dog......then it dawned....
Guy was watching from down the road - gave a thumbs up and a grin.

Posted this in the Letchworth thread but it was a real treat on the way home from PA - broke up the ride nicely.

The scenery at Grand Canyon in PA is bigger but Letchworth is superb. Much larger and far more things to do and facilities.

And such meals at the Inn. We'll go back for sure. We just got back a few hours ago. Big park.



Some sepctacular scenery ( this was just below the Inn where we had lunch )



The Inn at the south end is on a par with a top class hotel including the setting.





and the food some of the best I've eaten anywhere

I had the poached Salmon



Kid had the steak salad and the steak was perfect and generous.



Total Bill including a watermelon cocktail we split and tea was $40 but get this

We present the park entrance tickets $8 each and get $16 back off the meal.!!!

Half hour later and still in the park we stopped for desert…..much fun



I think a good easy weekend is do this park and the Corning Glass museum not that much farther south.

Letchworth was really a nice treat on the way home from PA which can get a bit boring.
I decided to bypass Buffalo entirely and slide over towards Lewiston and Letchworth was enroute.
There are some nice roads going east from Coudersport as an alternative. Nothing like 144 et al but still some challenges and varied scenery.