Day 34- July 25

Day 34: July 25th 36,4?? on my odometer

Finally the weather is great and we head out. The roads are good and scenic with lots of hills and turns, but nothing real twisty. First stop on today’s agenda is Fort Ticonderoga. We miss our turn for Hwy 2 and have to double back a bit. The fort itself is a pretty significant part of colonial history and we spend a while viewing the grounds and earthworks, but decide the $30 cost of admission to the fort itself probably isn’t worth it. I’ve been here three times before and have still never been inside the fort.
Next stop is the nearby ferry to take us across Lake Champlain and into Vermont. We have to wait a while for the boat, but pass the time waiting by talking to some other bikers also waiting. One is on a Triumph Trophy 900 of a similar vintage as my Bandit. His looks a bit better cared for. He lets me sit on it for a bit to see how it feels and I like it. If I could find a nice clean used one for sale it would be a significant upgrade over my butt-busting hand-numbing Suzuki. Too bad Triumph hasn’t made one like this in quite a few years.
We head south through Vermont towards our next destination, the shaker village in North Hudson, Massachusetts. We pass through miles of rolling farm country hills. A lot of less than pleasant smelling dairy farms here, but the ride isn’t as bad as our trip through Minnesota. The Bandit isn’t running right, the idle is about 1200 RPM’s high. At least it’s running though, neither it nor the Chatterboxes liked the rain very much.
We get to the shaker village just as it closes. Rats. I’ve been here before and thought Ceci would like it too, but I guess we’ll have to catch it another time. The roads are still pretty good, though a fallen tree across the road at the crest of one hill gets my heart rate up and gives the brakes a good brief workout. As we get closer to the New York state line traffic begins to pick up. Not bad, but noticeable – especially in the small towns.
Our stop for the evening is my Aunt Bonnie’s farm in West Sand Lake. Unfortunately, I usually don’t come in from this direction so I manage to get us turned around a few times. After about 20 extra miles I finally get us there. It doesn’t help that yet another map has blown out of the map pocket of my tank bag. Ceci’s bag is the same model as mine, but is much newer and better design. Nothing is blowing out of her map pocket. I should make her the navigator.
We end the day with just over 36,700 miles on the odometer. Not sure exactly how far we went but I figure probably closer to 300 miles than 200.