The Journey Is The Destination

[BikerGeek99]

The Journey Is The Destination

That’s a term coined by the lovely and gracious Susan during our first road trip on the FJR. I think it’s very fitting.

We had been debating for . .. oh . . . minutes, at least, about what to do during Labor Day. The debate went something like this:

Me: What’re we doing on Labor Day weekend?

Her: Nothing.

Me: Let’s take a trip on the FJR.

Her: OK. Where to?

Me: I dunno. Ever been to the Finger Lakes?

Her: Nope.

Me: I’ve heard it’s a nice area. Let’s go there.

Her: Sounds good.

So the plan evolved into this:

* Leave on Saturday for Buffalo, NY, where her sister and family live. Go to the Buffalo Wingfest. Crash at their place Saturday night.

* Leave Sunday morning for the Watkins Glen, NY, area, do a lap of Seneca Lake, hit some wineries, and stay at a hotel in Painted Post, NY.

* Ride back home on Monday.

 

[BikerGeek99]

Pre-Launch

The Friday before we were to leave, I happened to get a call from a friend from out of town. He and his wife were coming to town for an impromptu gathering with some other people who all ran around together 20 years ago.

So we all met at a bar and grille for a few drinks, a few stories, and maybe a few lies here and there. h34r: It was great seeing people I hadn’t seen in years. What a great start to the holiday weekend!

Saturday

The impromptu reunion last night made getting an early start today a bit rough. So we got on the road only about an hour later than I had hoped, but at least the weather was absolutely perfect. Sweet!

I decided to slab it to Buffalo to give us time to go to the Wingfest. Heading this way out of Columbus:

We see this going southbound:

Bumper-to-bumper traffic. Luckily we’re going to other direction.

The only thing I can figure is it is traffic due to the season opening Ohio State football game.

We stop at Mickey D’s around Mansfield for a quick bite to eat. We saw your typical mish-mash… College-age guys and gals going to the game… Older couples moseying about their routine…. Families trying to keep the young’ns herded… And several other bikers.

There was a sign on the door, though, that caught Susan’s eye. Think about it…

Back on the road….

I wired my Sirius Stiletto into the Starcom so we could have some live satellite radio on the bike. One little thing I forgot… When it’s in the vehicle cradle, it needs to external antenna hooked up. For some reason, the internal antenna doesn’t work when the unit is in the cradle. Crapola…. Oh, well…. I have the antenna with me. I’ll put it on the bike once we get to Buffalo. In the meantime, we make due with a playlist and the superslab.

We make it to the Erie, PA, area, I’m watching the fuel gauge and we’re on reserve. D-OH!! A couple of exits up the road and we’re at a gas station feeding the FJR.

I had noticed a fella on a Road King chatting with some other people. After I fuel up I pull over into the shade near where he is sitting and Susan gets us something to drink.

While she is inside he and I start to chit chat. His name is Luther. He’s from Chicago. His original destination was Washington, DC, but he made a game-time decision to divert to Niagara Falls, NY. It turns out that his wife is at home, hosting something like 12 females, ranging in age from 2 to 17… Grandkids, nieces, etc…. No wonder he’s out for a nice, long ride!!

Nice to meet you!

More to come…

 

[BikerGeek99]

Saturday, continued…

Luther departed, and we did as well a few minutes later.

I had set a route in my Zumo to get us from home to Susan’s sister’s home in Buffalo. Looked pretty simple – stick to the slab known as I-90 and we’ll be right there. Somehow, and I don’t know if this was an eye-dee-ten-tee error or if the Zumo flaked out on me, but for some reason we detoured on I-86.

What a fortunate turn that wound up to be.

Sure, it made the trip longer by about 2 hours. Sure, it meant that we would get there and it would probably be too late to go to the Wingfest, which I was looking forward to. But the scenery in that area… Wow… After being stuck in the central Ohio area this was just what the doctor ordered.

I’m not really sure what road we exited I-86 on, but it was nice. And I-86 was nicer than I-90 due to significantly less traffic. We darn near had the road to ourselves.

We had sights like this:

Saw some cool homes…

Quaint towns, complete with gazebo in the town square. A gazebo with Christmas lights still hanging on it!

An interesting house way up on the hill.

Quaint towns…

Other motorcycles.

Note the bike on the far right – that has got to be the ORANGEST Gold Wing ever!!

Susan and I were watching the clock and we’re realizing that we’re going to be a bit later than we told her sis we’d be. Oh, well. No Wingfest, but we got scenery like this as a consolation…

HEY!

Or, I should say, HAY!!

Bogs a little way from the road.

A bridge under construction.

By now we had been riding 300+ miles for the day and were getting a little weary. Luckily, we were just about there. Once at Susan’s sister’s house, we were greeted by The Cat With The Poofiest Tail Ever….

Comingup - beer, food pron, and getting my butt kicked at Wii by a 15 year old…

 

[weekend rider]

That is a nice wrong turn you made :headbonk:

 

[wheatonFJR]

very nice ride report goin. The best paths are the ones you didn't expect to be on... but are...

 

[BikerGeek99]

Saturday, continued…

Susan and I arrive at the seester’s house. We are greeted by the seester and her husband, who we shall refer to as The Todd. The Todd is a great guy, and has prepared for our arrival by stocking the beer fridge in the garage with some Canadian beer that I can’t remember the name of. Sweet!!

This is my first time visiting their palatial estate. We were granted access to a tour of the gardens of the back 40, which includes a very cool raging torrential river / creek / drainage ditch. In the winter they even create their own ice rink in the back 40. Very cool! This is a cool place to raise kids, and they have kids. We’ll refer to their daughter as Agent E, and their son as Agent A. No pictures of the tour of the gardens of the back 40. They keep security tight!

OK – we both forget our cameras, but we did have beers, so you’re gonna have to deal with it.

After the tour, the consensus was to scrap going to the Wingfest and go someplace local for wings and pizza. Sounds good to us! We hadn’t had a bit to eat since that Mickey-D’s in the morning.

We pile in the cages and head to The Warehouse. To say the place was deserted is an understatement, but luckily it allowed the wait staff to have an extended B.S. session rather than serve us….

Eventually they get around to helping us and life is good. Beer is ordered. Wings are ordered. Pizza is ordered.

Mmm… Beer….

The seester pours us our tasty beverages.

The Warehouse also has video games and, kids being kids, off Agent E and Agent A go.

Being the new guy, I am suckered into playing a game of bubble hockey with Agent A.

I almost made it a game for him. Almost. Really.

Candid profile pic. What a stud.

And we got some wings. Mmmm… Wings…. Food pron!!

After we wrap up there, it’s back to the house. I get the Sirius antenna situation addressed, and we continue to sample that Canadian beer that I can’t remember the name of.

After much trash-talking, a Wii tournament is decided upon.

Game on.

What was I thinking???

The Todd observes the tournament from the Official’s Lair, AKA a bar made of broken hockey sticks.

Agent E and Agent A both have quite the competitive spirit!

Eventually I am suckered into playing. I whine and eventually we wind up playing a game I may have a chance at – bowling! Yeah!! I school Agent A and, after the bubble hockey earlier in the night, revel in my awesomeness.

After firmly establishing my dominance in bowling, we switch to baseball. Reality comes crashing back in. I was handily shellacked by 15 year-old Agent A. SON of a…

After the Wii tourney, we retire to the veranda for a sweet fire in the fire pit thingy and S’mores, followed by an awesome night’s sleep in the visitor’s wing of the seester’s palatial estate.

Total miles on the day is 357, and what an awesome day it was. That wrong turn, the one that took us the back way to the seester’s palatial estate… I think it helped both of us to chill, relax, mon, take it as it happens, decompress… Choose your verbage. It worked for us.

Coming up… The ride to the Finger Lakes region…..

 

[BikerGeek99]

MY how time flies…

EOM was a hoot, and we are glad that extrememarine and extremesightseer are comfortably at home.

So, where were we??

Umm…

Oh, yeah – the Finger Lakes.

Here we go!

Sunday…

We had a terrific night’s sleep in the guest wing at the seester’s palatial estate. After a hearty breakfast and some nectar of life (also known as coffee), the seester’s family see us off on our trek.

Susie and the seester.

]

OH – one thing we saw in the other palatial estates in the seester’s neighborhood that neither of us had seen before: a Polish Porch. (No, I’m not making this up nor being derogatory to those of Polish decent.)

Basically, instead of putting their garage door down, there was a screen across the garage door opening. This allowed the habitants of the palatial estates to essentially have an additional habitable room during the summer month.

I was told that they remove the screen and use their garage as am, um, garage during the winter months.

The seester and her family bid us farewell…

Next stop is Watkins Glen and Seneca Lake….

 

[BikerGeek99]

Buffalo, NY, to the Finger Lakes region.

Labor Day Weekend, 2008, Sunday.

The weather could not have been any better.

I had a route plotted in the Zumo avoiding main roads as much as possible. While it wasn’t the best route I could have planned, we eventually got out away from the city.

We got to ride a curve or two.

But not here.

Water crossing, the way FJRs are supposed to perform water crossings.

Old School bike shop.

I find these towers out in the middle of nowhere to be kinda goofy looking.

Lush scenery, and did I mention the weather was picture-perfect?

As you may recall, while we were guests at the seester’s palatial estate, I wired up an antenna for my Sirius Stiletto II satellite radio. Let me say that it worked just fine and dandy, thank you!

I know that while not everyone out there likes to hear music – or anything else, for that matter – while riding, personally, I like music if at all possible. So we were listening to either Octane or The Big 80’s and slowly witnessed the terrain changing to look more like this.

We rode through multiple scenic small towns like this

With churches like this.

We are in no rush. No pressures. Just chilling on the bike, seeing sights that are out there to be seen.

Susie was just able to snag a pic of this sign. For some reason, I found it interesting / amusing / geeky to be going by a Morton Salt production facility.

OK, it’s geeky since I am, well, a geek!

Barns!

Town Hall in sunny, beautiful Caneadea.

Bartlett Library in Belfast.

By now we’d been riding for a while. I was focusing on the ride… Taking in as much scenery as I could safely take in… Then I looked at the fuel gauge…

CRAP! Veejer was on reserve, but only just so.

And then… A detour in the middle of nowehere.

&@^$#!!!

Luckily a gas station was right there!

WOO-HOO!!

Not much to it. A couple of fuel pumps and a small convenience store in the middle of nowhere, NY.

Check out the car behind me – IIRC, it was a Ford Galaxy 500. Liking classic cars, this one was kinda cool. Decent shape, didn’t see any bondo waves, rumbly but not obnoxious exhaust, older couple in the car…

Did I mention we had some terrific scenery?

I saw this and asked Susie to grab a shot of it. There is something in the middle of the field pretty much in the middle of the picture. We have no idea what it is. Really. No idea.

Another barn. I like barn pictures.

The roads were in terrific shape. Straights with some sweepers here and there.

‘Nuther barn.

Yes, I do want to go back.

Another small-town church.

We stopped in a small town to relieve the bladders and to refill them. This was the town.

While we were stopped, I got to chit-chatting with Joe here. Joe, as it turns out, owns 7 motorcycles, and is a flat-track racer. Cool guy to chat with! This day, we was riding his customized Honda cruiser.

I love this for some reason… The Main Grill, in nowhere, NY, where you can show off your mad Karaoke skillz…

Yep – another small-town church.

And another barn / farm nestled in a holler.

FINALLY – we’re getting closer! Note the Seneca Wine Trail sign.

By now we were in Watkins Glen, NY. This was my first time there. For those of you who haven’t been there, the town of Watkins Glen is a hamlet at the southern tip of Lake Seneca. All in all, it’s kinda similar to most of the other small towns we have been through, but considerably more congested.

Watkins Glen, NY.

There is an actual bar in this picture somewhere….

While there was a Beemer gathering in the vicinity, we saw all types of bikes on the road.

Including THIS! Is this one of Our Own, parked on the main drag in Watkins Glen back on Sunday of Labor Day Weekend:

Coming up, in a more timely manner, wineries, a wedding, and a race track!

 

[BikerGeek99]

Sunday, continued.

Watkins Glen, NY

Whattaya know – a festival! WOO-HOO!!

For our route around Seneca Lake, I decided we would head north on the east side of the lake.

A couple of pictures as we round the southern tip of the lake.

We knew there were wineries. I didn’t load them all into the Zumo, though. I figured we’d just mosey along and stop wherever. There were a couple that Susie wanted to stop at for sure, but they were towards the northern end of the lake.

So we pulled in here.

It was a beautiful day, and this is a very scenic area.

The winery building had an old-and-weathered look.

Being an authentic winery, there are – SURPRISE!! – grape vines!

The name of this winery is Chateau LaFayette Reneau. Cool place, if that’s your thing. There is an Inn there, as well, but we didn’t stay there.

We sauntered inside and one of the first things we saw was this pup. We wondered if any wine was consumed before this picture was taken…

For a few bucks each, we did their wine tasting, which included a wine glass to keep. Mmm…. We like wine!

After the tasting, we went out back on their deck and snapped a few shots.

This little pond was just at the bottom of the deck.

Susie cracks up when I take pictures like this. It’s tougher for her to do since her arms are shorter.

HEY! Who’s FJR is that hiding over there??

While I am certainly not a professional photographer, I thought this was kind of cool with the tree in the foreground and that little pond behind it. Yeah, yeah, I know – I’m a dork.

We headed back inside, grabbed a couple of bottles of their Proprietor’s Reserve Chardonnay and hit the road.

We headed towards the northern end of the lake…

Susie suggested we visit a place that has a couple of wineries and a micro-brewery all at the same site.

After the Zumo gave us bogus directions, we found it the old-fashioned way: we went by it once and followed the damn signs!

Made it!

Directions, anyone?

We’re not sure what was going on, but there were several limousines in the parking lot. At least one of them looked like they could have been a wedding party, but most of them were just regular schmo’s. I wonder if the local limo companies do a winery crawl or something? There were limo’s and party busses there.

Having driven limousines in a former life, if it was a winery crawl, that would be a living hell for me as a driver.

It was getting late in the afternoon and we hadn’t had lunch yet, so we went in to see what they had available.

The weather was fairly warm, and it felt good to sit in some air conditioning with the jacket off and a nice cool water.

FOOD PORN!!

Susie got this turkey sandwich:

I got some ribs:

Since we both like the micro-brews, we went to investigate.

The brewery is in the, well, you know….

People were walking behind Susie as she took this picture. Judging by the odd looks they gave me, I think they thought I’m weird or something.

We did their sampler of these beers:

On our way out, I took this one for posterity.

Veejer with more grape vines…

We headed out and rounded the northern end of the lake. Since it was such a beautiful holiday weekend, there were quite a few boaters in the water.

The final winery stop for the trip was at Belhurst Castle. There are 3 hotels on the property in addition to the winery.

There are several buildings joined together. This is what appeared to be the old part.

A picture from the back yard.

While out back, there was a small wedding going on.

For you boaters, there is a dock.

My attempt at a picture that is slightly artistic.

And another… This time there was a bee in the flower doing its thang….

A wider-angle shot of the place.

The wedding was happening just to the left of this shot.

The day was wearing on, so we grabbed another bottle of wine and headed out.

We were now headed south along the west side of Seneca Lake.

Boats docked at the south end of the lake, back in Watkins Glen.

Cool mural in Watkins Glen.

We pulled in here hoping to get Susie some post cards at their gift shop.

But, it was too late. The gift shop was closed. Looks like we’ll just have to come back for another visit!

So, we head south towards our hotel. It’s been a great day, we’ve seen some awesome scenery, ridden some terrific roads, and we’re starting to get a little weary.

But first – a detour here:

More to come!

 

[hecpilot]

Great ride report! Makes me long for somewhere up north, different than East Texas... wait... winter is coming... well, makes me long for a ride in your part of the country during the summer.

Ride safe and thanks for the time and effort to show us your ride.

 

[raclow]

Great Ride Report. Wish I was with you guys for the wine tasting. Thanks for sharing.

 

[weekend rider]

Great report and what beautiful country you are in and that castle is one beautiful building.

 

[El Toro Joe]

I did the wine country tour the first weekend in October, great area...stayed on the northwest end of Keuka Lake. Did you checkout the gorge when you were in Watkins Glen?

 

[BikerGeek99]

I did the wine country tour the first weekend in October, great area...stayed on the northwest end of Keuka Lake. Did you checkout the gorge when you were in Watkins Glen?

Were the leaves changing? I imagine that would be a perfect time to be in that area.

No, we did not check out the gorge. Where is that / what is it? We really didn't have much time to explore the area, since we rode there from Buffalo avoiding the slab. But we would like to return and do some more exploring.

 

[dcarver]

Woof WOOF! Great ride report!

 

[dsmack]

Great report! The area around Watkins Glen is truly scenic. Haven't been there for about 15 years, but it doesn't look like it's changed much at all.

Lots of good roads to ride in the area, for sure.

I laughed at the pictures of the wineries, recalling a similar adventure years ago with a group of college buddies exploring Napa Valley and the wineries in Cali. We were on bicycles, and by the third winery were getting pretty loose... by the fourth or fifth, it was just rediculous!

Don't think I'd want to try that with the Feej between my legs!

Looks like Good Times!

Don

 

[BikerGeek99]

On our way into the town of Watkins Glen, Susie wanted to stop by the race track and hit the gift shop. I had never been to the track (Susie has yet to go to a race. ANY race!), wasn’t sure how far off the beaten path it was, and was concerned about daylight. So, rather than hit the track on our way in to the area, we kept the track visit for later in the day.

Having absolutely no idea where I was going, and confusing the hell out of the Zumo’s Cyber Sally, I just followed the signs to get to the track.

As we pulled in, there were a group of Harleys hanging out.

No biggie. We rolled up and Susie hopped off. As I was getting off the FJR and taking off my helmet, one of the guys with the group of Harley riders approached us saying, “No, no, no, no, NO!”

My initial reaction was, “WTF is your problem there, Skippy?” Susie told me later that she though he was coming to tell her she had done something wrong when hopping off the bike.

Keep in mind that Susie rides with her camera on a lanyard around her neck.

While we did not get the name of the fella who approached us, it turns out he is a former professional photographer. Specifically, a track photographer. As we were chatting with him, he told us how he used be a track photographer at tracks such as Virginia International Raceway, Pocono, and a couple others that I can’t remember.

The reason he came over with the whole “No, no, no, no, NO!” thing was because he saw the camera around Susie’s neck and said, “I’ll bet that since you’re the one with the camera, you’re never in any of your pictures! Let me have that thing and I’ll take a couple for you.”

He took this picture of us.

I didn’t feel like telling him that I carry a little tripod in my tank bag that I use for getting pictures of the two of us, but he was a hell of a nice guy. Partner, whatever your name was, thank you!

The Harley riders eventually saddled up and headed out. The fella who took our picture is in the far right of this shot.

While we couldn’t get inside the gates (dang it – that’d be a hoot on the FJR!!!), we could see some of the seating towers.

And there was a worker inside the little shack mahoogy, otherwise . . . well, let’s just say the FJR is narrower than a car.

At one point, this truck and trailer pulled up to the gate where the worker was in her shack mahoogy.

Dunno what the deal was, because they just backed up, turned around, and left.

By now, the shadows were getting longer….

And it was time to head for the hotel.

Saw this somewhere along the way…

I had the route in the Zumo to get us to the hotel. Let me go on a little rant here – WTF is it with the F’n Zumo wanting to go around in circles??? It gets REALLY DAMN OLD!!!

Anyway, we head towards the Hampton Inn in Painted Post, NY. Now let me do a service for ANY of you who stay in this hotel and are relying on the Zumo to get you there:

1. When the Zumo tells you to turn left, look to your right, because,

2. The damn hotel DOESN’T HAVE A SIGN ON THE ROAD AND IS BEHIND THE DAMN DENNY’S ON THE RIGHT!!

How do I know these things, you ask? Simple – after we got off the highway, Cyber Sally said to go ¼ mile or so and turn left. That left would have put us right back on the damn highway…. Sheesh.

So, that didn’t seem right to me. We stayed on whatever road that was, looking for the hotel. Nothin’. As near as I could tell, we should have been right there, but no sign, no nothin’….

WTF?!

So we mosey down the road and eventually get to the point where we realize something ain’t quite right. I was a wee bit tired and frustrated at this point and just wanted off the bike for a minute to grab a smoke. So just as I notice that we’re now on reserve, we found a little spot to pull off the road, grab a smoke, and think about this for a minute…

OK – this isn’t any kind of a sprawling metropolis or anything, so come the hell on. Give me a break. So we get back on, and ride back the way we came. Sure as shit, Susie sees the hotel behind the damn Denny’s with no stinkin’ signage at the road. No wonder I missed it, and Cyber Sally can shove her damn impromptu round-a-bouts up her . . something.

So we finally made it to our hotel. As Susie was checking us in, I went and filled up. I wound up having quite the conversation with a guy at the gas station about the FJR. Seems to me he had a Connie at one point several years ago. He was intrigued by the GPS, and downright amazed by the Audiovox cruise control. He cracked me up.

Back to the hotel, put the cover on, and to the room to take off the gear and chill for a bit…

Coming next, the trip home.

 

[FjrVfr]

BG,

What a fantastic trip report. You really saved me from my cabin fever (as I sit looking out the window at the snow).

Way back in '01 I took my VFR across country and spent a little time in the Finger Lakes region. What beautiful country. As I got close to Watkins Glen I noticed there were a hell of a lot of BMWs on the road. In town the streets were literally lined with them. I stopped a fellow (also) wearing an Aerostich and said: "What's going on? There are more Beemers here than Stuttgart!"

He looked at me like I had three heads and said: "Aren't you here for the BMWOA rally?"

"No, I'm just passing through on my way to Colorado."

"You're riding that to Colorado?"

Man, that really brings back some memories. Thanks!

 

[BikerGeek99]

What a fantastic trip report. You really saved me from my cabin fever (as I sit looking out the window at the snow).

Thank you very much. I'm glad you are enjoying it. Working on it is a help for my case of cabin fever as well!

He looked at me like I had three heads and said: "Aren't you here for the BMWOA rally?"
"No, I'm just passing through on my way to Colorado."

"You're riding that to Colorado?"

That's funny as hell!! Gotta love the BMW guys. :crazy:

If the weather is crappy, I'll try to wrap 'er up this weekend. So if you don't see any updates, I'm out riding...