Dec 2004 - BMW Motorcycle Club of Nashville

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Big Ride 2004 For Patriot Dream… By Mark King From there we took NJ29 to US202 to I-287 and made a beeline for upstate New York passing within 30 miles of the Big Apple itself. We continued on the interstate to Montgomery, NY where you can ask anyone and they will point you to the Orange County Chopper store. We actually stopped for lunch at a little café downtown that was right out of the 40s or 50s. OCC has become big business in this small town and the waitress told us that they all drive H2 Hummers and are easy to spot around town. We didn’t see any of the Hummers in town so we went over to the store and found it full of OCC hats, t-shirts and other novelties. Of course, they funnel you into the store and not to the shop. There are also some of the bikes they have built on display at the store. Word around town was that they were already out in Sturgis and that would probably be true around this time in early August. We got back on the interstate until we could exit on NY81 going into the Catskill Mountains. Roads are poorly marked in the Catskills and we soon became delightfully lost as we wandered through beautiful two-lane roads which were almost all shadowed by mountain streams. We hadn’t wandered very far before rounding a turn and coming upon a down rider. Just the sound of those two words together sends a chill through us all. We stopped to find one rider who was OK and another that had stopped and offered our help but overshot a turn and gone down. The downed rider had been on some sort of sport bike and his buddy was riding an older BMW K bike. Of course we there really wasn’t much we could do. They had already phoned for help and were now just waiting for it to arrive. The downed rider thought he might have a dislocated shoulder but other than that he was in fair shape. His bike was in worse shape and could not be ridden as it was. All we could offer was half of a bottle of water that Ron had in his saddle bag but the guy was pretty parched and was grateful to get it. We wished them well and moved on. We began to notice Jewish people everywhere - crowds of them at gas stations and in cars on the road. I’m really not sure if it was a Jewish holiday or just someone’s big Bar Mitzvah. Mostly we saw Hasidic Jews with long sideburns and everything. Actually the Catskills have historically been the summer location that many of New York City’s Jewish population preferred as their summer retreat. We continued our wandering in the Catskills. My GPS kept us from being lost to the point of no return, and we weaved our way in the general direction of Woodstock, NY. I guess we’re just a couple of frustrated hippies. We finally made it to Woodstock, but we were only 35 years too late. Woodstock is now a touristy little town that is making a living on the name it shares with the legendary 1969 music festival. But the festival was actually held on Yasgur’s farm which is closer to the town of Bethel, NY some 30 miles from the town of Woodstock. We had planned to spend the night here, but we still had enough time to move onto Saratoga, so we kept riding. We actually rode into Saratoga Springs. The actual Saratoga Battlefield is outside of town, but we were unable to pick up the signs for it along the road and because of the late hour we decided to move on rather than keep hunting for it. But the battle there was one of strategic importance in our fight for independence. There the surrender of a large British force in October 1777 shocked Europe and helped bring the French into the war on the American side. In the town of Saratoga Springs we were looking for a good home town kind of motel, but this was harness racing season at the track there and even the dumpiest of little motels were charging $120 for a night’s stay. So, we kept moving up I-87 until we reached Lake George, NY where we planned to leave the interstate anyway. It turns out that Lake George is a resort town much like Gatlinburg, TN. We were able to find a passable room at Kennah’s Motel and settled in for the evening. Ron said the desk clerk reminded him of Norman Bates so we slept with one eye open all night. We will also remember this motel as having the smallest bars of soap 6
we have ever seen – I’m not kidding they were no bigger than a postage stamp. We rode 454 miles this day. Lake George was also the site of some military activity in Revolutionary War days. Located at a junction along one of the most historic water routes in America, connecting the Hudson River to Lake Champlain, the area witnessed military engagements during both the French and Indian War and the Revolution. From Lake George we headed north on NY9N along the bank of the lake toward Ft. Ticonderoga. This was a gorgeous ride along the lake on another beautiful falllike morning. It was the morning of Monday, August 9. We couldn’t have asked for weather any better than this. Lake George, NY At Ft. Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain on May 10, 1775, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold led the “Green Mountain Boys” to an easy victory over a small British force. Crown Point, another British fort a few miles to the north, was also taken without an engagement the following day. The capture of these two forts secured protection from the British to the north, and provided much needed cannons for the colonial army. The actual fort is in private hands and they wanted $12 to go inside, so we opted to peer through the fence at it for free. It is the classic star-shaped fort in that era of military strategy. Leaving Ft. Ticonderoga on highway 73 took us across the southern end of Lake Champlain on a ferry. The lake is also the state line between New York and Vermont. Continuing east on VT73 took us to what at first looked to be a long stretch of the road under construction and reduced to gravel. Hoping that this section would be shorter rather than longer we continued. Luckily the construction area was only two or three miles and we were soon back on good ole blacktop. Only about 25 miles into Vermont we turned south on VT7 at Brandon, VT to see our first covered bridge in Pittsford. This is the Cooley Bridge and is still in public use although it is on a side road that is lightly traveled. The architectural style is Towne Lattice and its 60’ span bridges Furnace Brook, on Elm Street. It was built by a man named Powers who was Vermont’s most famous bridge builder. If you are ever in this area just stop in town and ask for directions to the bridge. As we stopped and talked to the locals and in situations like this we were beginning to realize that our heavy southern drawls made it hard for them to understand us. Believe me, it was equally hard for us to understand them as they gave us directions or carried on any other kind of conversations at the stops we made. After a conversation with the locals, Ron and I would often then go off by ourselves and compare notes on what we think was said to us. We stopped at the general store in Pittsford after seeing the bridge. We needed a coffee break and this little store offered just about everything. Ron even picked up a bottle of authentic maple syrup in a little glass bottle in the shape of a log cabin – cute. The post office was next door to the store making this the one stop spot for all you need if you live in Pittsford, VT. Cooley Bridge – Pittsford, VT We continued east on VT73 which crosses the Green Mountains to VT100 for a ride north to the capital of the state, Montpelier. This is one of the most beautiful capital cities I have seen. And on this beautiful sunshiny day the gold dome on the capital was absolutely brilliant. I hope our pictures do it justice. 7
Page 1 and 2: THE BEEMER BMW Hotline 595-6203 DEC
Page 3 and 4: July 5 - Club Meeting - TBA July 21
Page 5: Bike Storage For some motorcycle ow
Page 9 and 10: eal thumpers every morning. Must be

Dec 2004 - BMW Motorcycle Club of Nashville

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