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By noon I was leaving Ohio behind as I crossed into first Pennsylvannia, then New York. The traffic was remarkably light considering this was Labor Day weekend. I enjoyed having the smoother, clearer roads instead of the previous days shredded asphalt and concrete. I guess everyone got to where they were going the night before.
I was born in Jamestown, NY many years ago and really got a kick out of driving into town and puttering past the house I grew up in; and yes, it was much smaller than I remembered. Jamestown had seen better days. Much of downtown was out of business and looked pretty rough. Thankfully there is one constant in Jamestown: Van's Hot Dogs. I parked out front and stepped into my past for a couple of chili soaked hot dogs. The dogs were as good as I remembered but I swear to god, everyone in the place was a chain smoking retard. I spent an hour or so talking with the rebo's and then got back on the road. I was anxious to get to Albany before nightfall.
As planned, I took route 17 through southern New York. The last time I had taken that road it was a beautiful drive so I was really looking forward to the last 300 miles of my trip. As fate would have it they were tearing up route 17 nearly the entire way. What should have been a nice 5 or 6 hour ride turned into an endurance test.
Shortly after leaving Jamestown the sky clouded up and it began to drizzle. The temperature was just hot enough and the humidity just high enough to make me completely uncomfortable with my rain gear on and shivering with it off. I must've stopped 10 times to either put on or take off my rain gear before I said the hell with it and suffered until night fell and it cooled off enough that I wasn't boiling anymore.
With night came the rain. I was exhausted and fatigued and miserable, but still the bike felt good to ride and between holding my left hand against the cylinder or my right hand against the oil tank to warm them up I was perversely enjoying myself. I made it to my parents house by around 10 pm where they were waiting up for me. It was great to see them but it was about all I could do to unload my gear and drag myself off to bed. I slept until 3pm the next afternoon and felt remarkably good when I finally sheepishly made my way downstairs for a late breakfast. That night I was in bed by 10 and slept again until noon. Man, it was just like being a teenager again (sort-of). |
