Danbury
CT
Had
a light continental breakfast at the motel and met Dean Brant of PA and his
wife. We chatted about bikes and
traveling. Out in the parking lot as I
was heading to get on the bike and head out, Todd Bowden (may have last name
wrong) from Elmira NY stopped to chat.
He used to do subcontract work for Defense companies and is now a
corrections officer.
Departed Fredericksburg with in and out
sunlight. The weather was forecast to be
in the mid 70s so I didn’t put any jackets on and enjoyed the open air conditioning
that only bike riding gives ya J.
The
original plan was to ride to the beltway, go around DC and head
north to
Harrisburg and then to Scranton. But
looking at the map before going to sleep I saw a nicer circumventing route out
of Fredricksburg. VA17 to I-66 west to
I-81 and connect to I-84 in Harrisburg.
The total route was like 35 extra miles but it would eliminate the
frustration of the DC congestion on the Beltway.
Last
year I rode through NYC on a Sunday, 9-11 to be exact. Cut through there around 10pm and still had
to deal with crazies. Delivery truck was
ticked at me for not going fast enough over a bridge and barely missed me while
passing.
This
year I’ll just go around all that frantic congestion. And I am so glad that I did. I saw some beautiful countryside riding
through PA and then through upper NY into Danbury.
I
stopped at a Super 8 in Danbury and as I rode into the parking lot there was a
touring bus parked outside. Inside, the
clerk greeted me with “we’re full up.”
Seems the bus was loaded with Tourists from China and they took all the
available rooms. The clerk suggested
that I continue on to Waterbury where I should find available motels at
affordable prices. Seems that their
proximity to a train station that can take folks into the city in less than an
hour is justification for adding $25-30 to Super 8 rates (before all the extra
bed taxes!).
A
few more miles up the road had a Microtel sign for the next exit. I took the exit and ended up riding about
another 6 miles to a small town called Bethel.
Just a little CT town tucked away amidst the rural world nicely removed
from NYC. I finally found the motel but
a lady was walking out of the lobby and told me “I think I just got the last
room”…..she was right. Back at the
intersection I noticed a Days Inn and got the 3rd last available
room.
When
I went around back to park the bike the space in front of my room was taken
up….along with 5-6 other spaces…..by boat trailers. Some guys were standing around chatting and,
noticing a generous space between two boats in front of my room, I asked one of
the guys if they objected to my parking between them.
The
guys were very friendly despite looking repulsive like most boaters :) (oops,
sorry, I confused that with “bikers”), and we ended up chatting about their
boats. Seems they’re in a bass fishing
tournament and their team has these 4 powerful boats that they race to a spot
to claim their fishing area before others can claim it.
Anyhow,
they were getting up a 0430 and I didn’t feel like getting up at that hour to
move the bike. So I parked Sophia in a
no parking hash marked zone….who cares?
It was the back of the hotel anyhow.
Guess
sometimes you just gotta fish or cut bait J
C ya mañana,
Gonzo
Twitter:
@GonzoCrossUSA
Email:
GonzoCrossUSA@gmail.com
Cell:
949-433-0761
So entertaining.....love reading yr blogs. Makes flying actually seem boring in comparison......see u soon. Liz
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