Last year I spent the 4th of July weekend down in Texas for the 1st Annual Blueberry Rally.  I had a great time and was looking forward to attending again this year.  Last July 4th I spent completing my first ever Bun Burner Gold ride (1500+ miles ridden in 24 hours).  This year, however, my family decided to have a reunion in Eldred New York, where my grandmother lives.  Eldred is a tiny town in the Catskill mountains of  New York, just across the Pennsylvania border. It is a beautiful area and is near the site of the internet BMW Rider's group gathering held in Barryville last weekend.  It is a beautiful area and I enjoy visiting there.  One of the most spectacular fireworks displays I've ever seen is held in Narrowsburg New York, just a short trip from Eldred.  It's a small town, as many are in that area of New York, and it's not the size of the show that is so impressive, it's the location.  Narrowsburg is surrounded by mountains with a valley heading off to the East.  When the fireworks explode, you are hit with the initial resounding BOOM... then it rolls around your right side... behind you, around your left side, then echoes down the valley.  They take full advantage of this natural phenomenon and wait for the echoes to die out before sending up the next explosive.  It is truly and incredible display, I am looking forward to it.

I left for New York at 8:30 am Saturday morning, July 1.  I intended to leave at 6 am, but slept in late.  I had decided to take the back roads to New York so my route would take me from I-80 to I-90 into Erie PA.  In Erie I would take US 19 south into Waterford then Route 97 East to finally pick up US Route 6.  As I entered the main downtown area of Waterford, I was struck with a scene right out of a Normal Rockwell painting.  There were two ball fields to my left and a little church with a whitewashed steeple just across the other side of the fields.  It seemed the whole town turned out for the games... there was quite a crowd on hand.  Two games were in progress and another team was warming up to take the field after one of them was finished.  There was a nice veteran park to my right and an interesting downtown strip ahead.  I turned and circled around.  I broke out the camera gear and took a few pictures.  I'm not sure I caught the mood of the scene, but the pictures will help it come alive again for me.

Just before I reached Route 6, I was getting hungry so I decided to stop at a grocery store to pick up some lunch.  I grabbed a couple packs of sandwich meat, and two bottles of water.  I headed back out to the bike and found a little park nearby and had a little picnic there.  I had a nice break and enjoyed the cool weather.  I got on the bike and continued on.

Route 6 was a nice road to take, some good twisties and not a whole lot of traffic but it wasn't nearly as nice as everyone had made it out to be.  I know a lot of people who prefer the back roads, indeed say they fall asleep on the interstates.  Me, I like to ride, I don't care where I ride or what roads I am on, how straight they might be or how dull the scenery.  I just enjoy being on the bike and riding.  There were some interesting places along the route to see, but I didn't see many worth actually stopping for.  One particularly nice area was Troy PA.  Coming through town, I hit a Y intersection and proceeded to the left, sticking to Route 6.  At the apex of the Y was a particularly striking building... a bank to be exact.  It was built to resemble a German Castle complete with a large clock set into it's roof.  At least, the building strikes me as a German Castle.  The image stayed in my mind and I determined I had to stop and get a picture of it.  I turned down a side street and doubled back.  I parked the bike right in front and then stood in the street to get a picture.  I hope it turns out well... it really was a magnificent building.

In Towanda I found a lot of people turning out for 4th of July festivities.  Banners advertising the fireworks show that night, people gathering up already with their lawn chairs to get ready for the show.  I thought about that... no one was sure when Narrowsburg was going to hold their fireworks show.  I was hoping  it would be Tuesday, however the Barryville area is a popular weekend retreat for the folks in the city and they may hold the fireworks on Saturday when the crowds are their largest.  My original intent to leave at 6 am was to make it to Eldred before dark, and if the fireworks were Saturday night I would be able to attend.  Now that I see everyone setting up, I revisit the thought of the spectacle.  If they are tonight, I
might JUST make it...

I had seen numerous other bikers on the roads and waved to everone.  Stopped at a light in Towanda was my first chance to have a conversation with one.  A guy on a Ducati pulled up alongside me at the light and we chatted for a few minutes.  His first comment was "You've been on the road a while!"  He was from the Western part of the state and would be reaching his destination in the next hour or so he said.  He was quite a friendly guy and as the light changed I wished we could have chatted somemore, but we both have places to be tonight.  I lost sight of him down the road a ways after I passed a string of 4 cars - I guess he wasn't able to make it around them.  Later, when I stopped in Meshoppen for gas, my Ducati buddy beeped his horn as he went by.  I looked up and waved and found a most disturbing sight... his right side bag was hanging open, completely empty!  Now, I thought only BMW's were known for that...  I was between the pump and the bike filling up when he passed and tried to get clear of the bike to wave my arms and get his attention... maybe to get him to stop.  We were only 16 to 20 miles from Towanda so he might still be able to retrieve his stuff.  I couldn't get clear quick enough and he disappeared down the road.  Damn... I feel sorry for the guy, what a miserable thing to have happen.  I'll keep a lookout for him down the road and at least maybe I can point out to him where he might have lost his stuff.  I never did see him again...

I arrived at my grandmother's house in Eldred at 10 PM.  As I pulled up I could see lightning in the distance... I'd made it just in time it seems!  I shut off the bike and removed my helmet to find that it wasn't lightning, because I wasn't hearing thunder.  I was hearing the explosions of fireworks!  DAMN!  The fireworks in Narrowsburg ARE tonight!  It's too late now... even if I hit the road again now I would make it to Narrowsburg in time for the finale... maybe.  So, I unpacked, and had a short visit with what family stayed up that late, waiting for me.  Well, there's always next years fireworks!

Most of the weekend was spent visiting with family, traveling to Newark NJ to pick up my dad at the airport (in a car, my bike couldn't carry his luggage!) and just hanging out.  On July 4th I did head out to hit some of the backroads in the area. The Eldred area is packed with nice, twisty, mountainous roads.  I headed out for the Mongaup valley and got to the southern edge, but then missed a turn and ended up in Forestburgh on Route 42 North going in to Monticello.   I saw some interesting sites along the way and got some photos including a Motoman in Monticello holding a giant rainbow trout, a one room school house and an interesting house made completely of stone.   I picked up Route 48 East to Route 209 to pick up Route 97 in Port Jervis.  The Hawk's Nest is one of the most incredible stretches of road I've ever traveled.  I remember it since I was a kid and my grandparents took me there every time I visited.  It's a very curvy road (25 MPH speed limit) hanging off a cliff overlooking the Delaware river.  You won't forget this stretch of road if you ever travel it.  The actual stretch known as Hawk's Nest is only about 2 miles long with a sign at the east end marking it's beginning and the western end marked by a  restaurant appropriately called the Hawk's Nest Cafe, which itself hangs out over the cliff giving parts of the restaurant and unbeatable view of the river.  I stopped at the restaurant after my first ride through the Hawk's Nest and got a picture of the bike in front of it.  I've eaten there many times, but won't be stopping today... we've got a BBQ planned back at the house.  I started back East for another pass at the Nest and stopped for a photo-op at one of the shoulder scenic overlooks.  I got a nice shot of the bike with the Hawk's Nest in the background, then climbed the cliffs to get a shot with the river in the background.

Twice I'd gotten a good ways up, gotten my picture, then couldn't figure out how to get down!  I eventually made it... obviously!  I waited for traffic to clear then took a quick run through the nest.  At the eastern end, I turned around to make yet another pass, this time at faster speeds.  The curves are marked 25 MPH, I was determined to do it a bit quicker than that.  Heading west on this route is your better opportunity to take this route quickly... there are no pull-offs so traffic continues to move.  Heading east, people slow down, stop, pull-in, pull-out of the scenic overlooks, etc.  I waited a full minute after the last vehicle passed me.  I opened her up to 55  MPH approaching the first curve... just as a group of about 10 Harley's was coming from the west.  I was just getting ready to lean into the curve when two of them swung across the double yellows into my lane... DAMN!!  I braked and corrected my line of travel, avoided the two oncoming Harley's and then took the first turn... at 45 MPH.  I continued through the rest of the route between 45 and 50.  It was INCREDIBLE!  Much too short... but thrilling just the same!  I continued along Route 97 until I hit  Barryville at which point I swung south on 434.  About a mile down, I picked up Twin Lakes road and really nice twisty piece of asphalt about 12 miles long which ends on Route 6.  I followed Route 6 back West to pick up 434 and took that back into Barryville.  Route 434 is a great road too, plenty of 25 MPH curves without too many long stretches of straightway, watch out for the traffic though... people like to pull out right in front of you along this route sometimes!  In the evening keep your speeds down... there is a LOT of wildlife along here.  I headed up Route 55 through
Eldred and back to where I started, 130 miles traveled all told today... it was a great ride!

Tuesday evening I started to pack up the bike.  Grumpy, grumbling clouds hung overhead and threatened rain.  I covered the bike and hoped for a dry day Wednesday.  It never rained and my trip home started as a dry one.  Having had my fill of the backroads, I decided to slab it back home... I-84, I-81, I-80, I-69, to I-94 and home.  I was making incredible time and the scenery was beautiful.  Pennsylvania has a lot of interesting bridges overlooking some beautiful little towns planted alongside rivers.  I even spotted the first wildlife while traveling on the bike off the interstate, two spotted fawns feeding in a grassy patch off the side of the interstate.  I hope they are smart enough not to get any closer to it!  I didn't see the mother around anywhere, but I'm sure she was watching them.  Traffic was light and I was facing 10 hours home.  That thought ended when I was 20 miles East of Toledo.  There, traffic came to a screeching halt.  Three lanes of traffic literally parked for 1.5 hours due to an accident 4 miles west of my location which killed two people.  Apparently a camper pulling a trailer behind it broadsided a van and the two blocked all three lanes of traffic.  Many people got out of their vehicles to visit with other travelers, some took a walk, pets were being exercised, someone got a beachball out.  Fortunately, it wasn't too hot out... the temperature was in the mid 80's and comfortable.  I had a nice visit with a few of the people parked around me.  Finally the shoulder was opened for traffic to start moving again and we were on our way.  I said goodbye to the new friends I'd made and waved as I passed them later on.

About 150 miles from home, I noticed my clutch lever was getting mushy.  Hmmm.  I'd see this before and it's not good.  Last year at the Dells rally in October was my first encounter with a clutch cable that snapped all but 2 strands and that's exactly the feeling I was getting now.  I didn't want to jinx myself, so I didn't look at it, I figured it could wait until I got home, OR it snapped completely!  Well, I made it back home without further problems, arriving at 8 PM, 11.5 hours spent on the road.  I inspected the clutch cable, and sure enough, only three stands were still intact!  I'd had been intending to get a spare since last fall, I guess I'd better order 2 now!  The total distance I traveled on this trip was just over 1500 miles.  I'll be looking forward to doing it again next year!

Web page created and maintained by: John A. Brown  Copyright © 2000