The Journey Begins

6/20 I didn't sleep very well with the anticipation of leaving very
early. I knew that if I got on the road at 4:00 AM that I'd be able
to ride to Ohio (about 700 miles) so I was up at 3:15 to get going. I
finished the couple of things to load the bike, had a cup of coffee
and a bowl of cereal, and woke everyone to say goodbye. Ruth came out
and took a "so long" photo.

The first trajedy occurred as soon as I got on the MassPike. I had a
map of AK that didn't quite fit into the map pouch of my tank bank so
there was a gap at the bottom of it. I also had the picture of Ruth,
Alena and Kira in there. Well, the wind caught it and the picture
went flying. Ruth, can you bring me another one when you fly to AK???

Interstate motorcycling is boring at the best. I have a cruise
control on the motorcycle that some friends and I installed last year
and that works wonderfully! I set the cruise at 66 mph and just hold
on.

I ran into a little spitting rain west of Springfield and it even got
heavy for a few moments but my Aerostich suit did awesome!

The sun came out when I was about at Rochester, NY and it stayed out
mostly for the rest of the way.

In Seneca Falls, NY is a National Parks stamp that I wanted to get to
add for my National Parks Tour (NPT). It's the Women's Rights
HIstoric site. Ruth and I were there to see the site a few years ago
so this was a stamp and go but the two ladies running the visitor
center wanted to chat (I was the only visitor) so I told them about my
trip for about 10 minutes.

I rode back to I-90 and headed west again. In Buffalo, I stopped at a
toll plaza to pay the t(r)oll and forgot to rezip the sleeve on my
jacket. About two minutes later, the second trajedy of the day
struck. I saw something fly past my nose and then realized it was
about $7 that was in that jacket sleeve for tolls.
I did get one more NP stamp at the Garfield National Historic Site in
Ohio. I did walk through the exhibit quickly (they were getting ready
to close but they said they'd wait for me) and then I got back on the
bike and headed west. I was starting to drag about 5:00 PM so I got
off and found a campground to spend the night at.
I've not set up and tent and camped for quite awhile so I was
apprehensive about how long it would take. Fortunately, I was able to
get it all done in about 20 minutes or so.
I think I've got about 8 hours of riding tomorrow to get to my Dad's
in southern WI. I've not seen him in over a year so it will be good
to be there again.

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Todd Ryan; Hudson, MA
Westborough HS Science Teacher
MSF RiderCoach