Weather starting to clear....glad I woke around 3 am....bikes were on a serious angle ( the Wee is lowered so usually sits too upright - something I have to fix as makes parking a pain. )
Rain had undermined the gravel on the driveway. Padded down in socks in the rain and found a couple of flat rocks. We'll get some can tops or some such for the hot pavement coming up. My other Wee had a really nice large pad on the side stand ...never had to worry about and Burgman could park anywhere. CBF generally easy to park as well.
Really - we're going from 13 today to 33 on Wednesday for going up Whiteface mountain near Lake Placid. I've been up before and weather is supposed to be clear. Considered The Mount Washington Auto road
The Mount Washington Auto Road (originally Mount Washington Carriage Road)[1] is a 7.6 mi (12.2 km) toll road that extends from New Hampshire Route 16 in Pinkham Notch to the summit of Mount Washington in the White Mountains of the US state of New Hampshire. The road climbs 4,618 ft (1,408 m) from an altitude of 1,527 ft (465 m) at the bottom to 6,145 ft (1,873 m) at the top, an average gradient of 11.6%. The road was completed and opened to the public in 1861.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Washington_Auto_Road
No guardrails !!! but checked and it was closed to motorcycles due to weather.
http://mtwashingtonautoroad.com/status-weather
Highest wind speed ever recorded in Northern hemisphere was set here in 1932 ....232 MILES per hour. Lot of people have died in the region due to crazy erratic weather ...it's the terminus of the Appalachian hiking trail.
http://sectionhiker.com/at-section-hike-zeta-pass-to-mt-washington-day-1/
http://sectionhiker.com/appalachian-trail/
There are some wild tales about the trail which is 3500 km long. Murders, lost hikers, ghosts and one famous grandmother who started hiking a 65 with no tent and just a hobo stick and bag. The book about her is an amazing and inspiring read.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandma_Gatewood
Emma Gatewood was the first woman to hike the entire Appalachian Trail alone, as well as the first person—man or woman—to walk it twice and three times and she did it all after the age of 65. This is the first and only biography of Grandma Gatewood, as the reporters called her, who became a hiking celebrity in the 1950s and '60s. She appeared on TV with Groucho Marx and Art Linkletter, and on the pages of Sports Illustrated. The public attention she brought to the little-known footpath was unprecedented. Her vocal criticism of the lousy, difficult stretches led to bolstered maintenance, and very likely saved the trail from extinction
excellent read
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Weather very nice mid 20s for his raft trip tomorrow....today is total veg day...playing Yahtze reading doing resort thing. Excellent ribs down the highway 2 minutes ..$12 for half rack with salad and corn and stuffed.....can't imagine chowing down on a full rack.
They make a Blueberry Beer here ....actually berries floating around....refreshing but I'm not a beer drinker....kid has been sampling the specialty brews
Turned away from the trip as a motorcycle riding adventure to searching out other adventures. He's frustrated with his chain stretching and it' either cold and wet and upcoming too hot.....
Coming home a few days early - get his bike sorted and reload for next year when we want to ride Toronto to Havana .....crossing on the ferry.
http://www.tbo.com/news/politics/port-manatee-on-short-list-for-cuban-ferry-20160409/
Catch Skyline Drive, Back of the Dragon, The Tail of the Dragon, NASA, Key West, then Cuba ....
Coming back do Barber Museum and the Smokies plus Ohio.
If the ferry not ready ....kid wants to fly the bikes to Vancouver and then go south and do the big parks and the Pacific Coast highway ....Bryce, Zion , Arches, Grand Canyon Colorado and then ride home.