Day 24: June 25th Riding NY State’s I-90 Thunderstorms

The morning was dry and the loading went quick.  Breakfast with the Lodge was carbs….waffles, cream cheese and coffee.  Good enough to get me to lunch.  My plan was to retrace my steps and head north to VT-9 west and take that into NY where I would connect onto I-90 and ride it into Buffalo and then North Tonawanda, about 10 miles south of Niagara Falls, to my sister’s place. 

Not expecting much out of the ride I was happily surprised to find VT-9 to be a scenic joy.  Hills, woods, farms, small towns, gentle 2-lane curves with gradual sloping ascents and descents were nicely presented on this state road.  Later, when looking at the AAA map I saw that it is indeed marked as a Scenic Route!

Garmin got me to Old Bennington VT where I then passed into NY and onto NY-7 which took me north of Troy and Albany and into Schenectady where the 890 deposited me onto I-90.  So far the ride had been dry and warm, but I could see the clouds building into potential thunderstorms.

Somewhere between Utica and Syracuse I stopped at one of the service islands to mitigate my drowsiness with a Tim Horton’s coffee.  Once at the counter  however, I succumbed to temptation and also ordered a sour old fashioned.  Yummie!

I met another rider at one of the Service Islands.  He was South Afrikaner and was riding a BMW with his son on the back.  Their objective was Niagara Falls then south into Virginia if I remember correctly.  As we were suiting up next to our bikes the lightening started and rain began so we walked back to the building and sat under the overhangs watching the rain.  It finally lightened up to a point where I said, “That’s good enough for me!” and walked out to the bike, fired her up, and rode off with a wave good bye to Dad and Son.

About 20 miles later the rain and lightening got heavy again so I pulled into a rest stop and stood under a tree, praying for no strikes!  The downpour continued.  This east coast weather is not favorable to the SoCal Harley Rider!  As the downpour really got heavy the Beemer Dad and Son riders pulled in and ran under a tree also.  We waved to each other in our misery.

The old rain gear I was wearing was beginning to leak a little again.  Between that fact and the rain lowering its intensity I decided to head on out and see if I could ride through the storm clouds and find sunshine on the other side.  With another ‘wave goodbye’ to the Dad and Son I charged the rain.  10 miles later I was out of the downpour.  The next 50 miles or so it was an ‘in and out’ thing with light showers.

Finally the sun began shining through the clouds about 60 miles east of Buffalo and I made it to my sister’s place without another drop of rain.

I sure do miss SoCal……..where it ‘never rains’ J.

C ya mañana,
Gonzo
Twitter: @GonzoCrossUSA
Email: GonzoCrossUSA@gmail.com
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