Beautiful scenery between Albany and Boston

The roads around here are absolutely gorgeous. Twisting and turning over and around all these hills makes for an awesome drive.

Posted June 5 2009, 12:17am via flickr.com.

Day 2

Was on the road at 9.30 this morning. Drove some of this best roads I have ever driven from south of albany towards boston. Great scenery and turn after turn after turn. Particularly in the North Adams area. Must be well known by local riders as it was 3 bikes to every car. Little to no traffic most of the way.

Drove into Boston area and decided it was more traffic and construction then I had patience for. Had a quick look around Cambridge. Harvard had its graduation ceremony today as the streets were filled with students in robes with parents. Saw some small boats sailing in harbor area, and lots of rowing teams practicing. The drive from Boston through Connecticut was uneventful but pleasant. Decide I didn't want to deal with more of the same traffic issues in NYC so drove as far as I could through it too New Jersey. Figure travelling in late evening would reduce traffic. Maybe visit some other time when I don't have to drive. Next up Washington.

Posted June 4 2009, 11:56pm via BlackBerry email.

Heading out on day 2. Stopping at grocery store for some fruit and some milk then its on the road.

Posted June 4 2009, 9:34am via twitter.com.

Day 1

Left waterloo around 1pm. Trong and Jenny pictured in previous post drove with me to the peace bridge border crossing at buffalo. I had stuck two canada flag decals on the luggage one on the rear and one on the side textured area. Trong says the side one fell off as soon as we got on the highway, doh. Had lunch, filled up the tank and parted ways. Crossing the border was smooth, only a 3 car wait/5 minutes. Just showed the passport, answered some questions about ATF. Oddly, they didn't even ask me to remove my helmet.

Drove on the i-90 for a little while before deciding that it wasn't very fun. Set GPS to avoid the motorway and recalculate. It took me down highway 20A east, which was a fantastic drive. Lots of curves and hills, especially in warsaw area. Past some a few windfarms, probably past more here then we have in all of Ontario. Overall, a pretty nice day on the road. It got cool around sunset, so I was glad I had layers to put on.

Bedded down an hour west of albany at a small motel. Should hit Boston tomorrow.

Aside: I am baffled without the metric system. I have no sense of how big a gallon is, whether 52 is warm or cool in Fahrenheit or how far is a mile. Apparently my tank takes about 4 gallons from empty. At least the gps can be set to display speed in miles, since my gauge only shows KM.

Posted June 4 2009, 12:05am via BlackBerry email.

Trong and Jenny rode with me to the border

Tags: ninja650

Posted June 3 2009, 3:51pm via flickr.com.

And I am off!

See you all in 5 weeks.

Tags: ninja650

Posted June 3 2009, 12:34pm via flickr.com.

Luggage mount finally arrived

Got the luggage installed, instructions were about as useful as the ones from ikea. Took a couple hours, but bike is running great. Can hardly notice the extra size. Will leave tomorrow morning.

Tags: ninja650 givi

Posted June 2 2009, 5:43pm via flickr.com.

Thanks to USPS spectacular 3-5 day delivery taking 7 days I am still waiting for a part before I can leave... it cleared customs yesterday.

Posted June 1 2009, 7:37pm via twitter.com.

Looks like I will need monday to finish packing, and will leave tuesday.

Posted May 31 2009, 10:36pm via twitter.com.

In at work finishing off the last of a project before I take off for 5 weeks.

Posted May 31 2009, 2:28pm via twitter.com.

Some excellent advice from Velimir

Velimir went on a similar trip a while back so I asked him for advice, below is some excerpts from his response. Thanks Velimir! Short version: The best advice I can give you is to pack light, don't overload your bike and stop often as you are riding (it is the hardest thing to adhere to as the time passes).

Longer version:

Sign up for CAA plus service - in case you ever have to tow your bike
Carry back up credit cards and notify your bank you'll be traveling so they don't block your funds
Zipplock all your documents and electronics
There are a lot's of tolls in US >> have a tank bag with easy access to coins
Get back up rain gloves
Have easy access to your raingear, sweater and tools!!
Lube your bike's chain every night
Throttle Rocker is great accessory for long highway stretches
Get into a routine: don't ride on empty stomach and take stretching breaks
Force yourself to always have breakfast, lunch and dinner this way you'll be better focused and more alert

Avoid:

New Jersey ;) >> worse roads and tons of constructions
NYC was one of the worse traveling experiences due to bad roads + heavy traffic (avoid if possible)
LA rush hour is the same thing as the above

Do visit:

I-80 (from Reno to San Francisco)
Route 66 and the Dragon in TN (http://www.tailofthedragon.com)
http://www.barbermuseum.org
Grand Canyon (South Rim, avoid North Rim)

In the beginning I use to ride long into nights to rack up more miles, but the second week I decided to switch and ride only during the day - it's better this way!! If you go to bed earlier, you will end up waking up earlier and riding in warm sunshine vs. sleeping in and being cold at night. Try to avoid riding during rainstorms (sit them out and do more trip planning and research). Watch weather and radar reports. Carry extra bungee cords, few garbage bags and roll of duck tape. Some states have "no helmet law" - but force yourself to ride with your riding gear at all times despite the hot weather - it would not be a fun trip back if you were to have an accident far away from home. Try to stay bellow 80mph in USA >> cops will have no sympathy for you if you speed more than 100mph! tip: at some USA gas pumps Canadian credit cards won't be preapproved for tanking gas without the proper ZIP code >> so use your bank card (which only requres your safety PIN) to get around this catch 22.