WANDERING, WANDERING WITH A FALLS THROWN IN

The trip from Erie, Pa to Baldwinsville, NY would normally take maybe 4 hours, 6 on a motorcycle with the stops we would make. One of the joys of riding though, is that the best trips are never in a straight line.

We left Erie and instead of getting on the interstate, found route 5 which is a two lane road along the shores of Lake Erie. While there are not a whole lot of good views of the lake because of residential development, there were enough and the slow, easy pace on a beautiful sunny day made up for it.
After we crossed into New York, we headed south towards Chautauqua Lake. Now I didn't know about this lake but Kim had read an article about a hotel there that had a great lunch and beautiful lake views. Food? Lake views? Sounded good to me!

What we found is not just the Hotel Athenauem but a whole community. The Chautauqua Institute is a gated community of hundreds of homes, churches and shops on the shore of the lake. I holds each year a series of lectures and performances dedicated to a central theme. This week was dedicated to jazz music and the guest was Winton Marsalis. It was really interesting to walk around the neighborhoods within the grounds and the view from the hoteL was as promised-SPECTACULAR! (OK I left my phone and thus my camera on the Harley so you will have to visit yourself to witness the view) Unfortunately, by the time we got done exploring, the lunch hour was over so we'll have to go back ourselves to try that.

We spent the rest of Thursday afternoon wandering around the lake, visiting a Harley dealer or 2 (more dealer chips) and decided that we were not ready to go home yet so we headed for Niagara
Falls.

Some of my Booty of poker chips

As many times as I have been to The Falls I have never seen it at night so this seemed to be a good opportunity and good fortune was with us because just after we pulled under the awning at the hotel, the skies opened up. A few minutes delay and we would have been soaked! By the time we cleaned up and changed into shorts and sneakers, the rain had stopped so it was off to grab a bite and go on a walking tour of The Falls at night. I was amazed to find that by perspective it looked smaller all lit up at night. It was neat though to see all of the falls lit with colored lights. Even the people in "The Maid of the Mist" boats were in the spirit as they had hand held red lights of some sort. It was a fun and interesting experience capped off by a water/laser/music light show telling the history of the falls. Tired, we said good night and I got got to bed way past my bedtime!


Friday was another day of wanderings throughout western New York. I uncharacteristically slept in and we didn't get going until quite a bit later than usual. The day was bright, clear and sunny as we headed out and as usual, we roasted for probably 45 minutes as we waited to cross the border. a quick visit with a friend in Williamsville and we were off to do some last day exploring.

Kim can handle the "Big bike"

Coffee is always a good start to the day

We took in yet another dealer in Suburban Buffalo and decided to try our luck at Route 20a. That was a good choice. 20a runs east/west and south of route 20. It is rural, windy at times and affords some really spectacular views. In all my travels I have seen some really beautiful country but some of the best of it is right here in New York state. Eventually we cut up to route 20, stopped in Skaneateles for one last ice cream cone and said our good byes as Kim headed home to Lafayette and I headed to Baldwinsville. Another trip in the books. almost 3000 miles over 13 days!


An ice cream toast to a great trip and a great traveling companion!

So Joe, here's to you. I hope that you enjoyed it as you were along with me every mile. Next year, we will ride together in person!!!

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL? (AND BASEBALL)

I have passed by The Pro Football Hall of Fame several times and always applied the "someday I will go there" to it. Today was the day.

Of all of the museums that we have visited, I think this was the best laid out and had the most interesting stuff. Maybe that was because I identified with so much of it having always been a football fan or because it was so nicely laid out. It also offered the most technology in the exhibits.

Hall of Fame

The class of 2016 with SU representd

Add caption

The differences in equipment over the years is remarkable

Ken Stabler-one of my favorites

The "Hall"

There were a number of places where we couldn't take pictures, including a really neat hologram of 

Joe Namath doing a presentation in a locker room. The technology they are using is pretty impressive.

After the Hall we decided to find someplace to see a baseball game that was east of Canton. Erie Pa. has a minor league team. The Seawolves, and they were playing so that is where we headed for the night. A few hours ride and we found ourselves on the shore of Lake Erie and at a ball game on an absolutely perfect night.

Ice cream on the road is always a must

Beautiful night for a baseball game

Tomorrow we decide if we will extend another day or head home. I for one am not ready to quit yet.

ROCKIN' AND ROLLIN'

     














We have been blessed with the best weather throughout this trip and today was one more day. We stayed in Akron so our trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of fame was only about 20 minutes. Good thing because the traffic and roads were terrible around Cleveland.

I have visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before but this was Kim's first time so she was pretty excited about it. (OK, so was I, I love it) Actually, as with most museums there were a few changes and a lot of stuff that I missed the first time around. As museums go, this one is one of the best I have been to. It is laid out really nice and the exhibits are really well done. We ended up spending a good 5 hours wandering among the exhibits and then had a really nice late lunch in downtown.

Not far from the hotel there is a Harley dealer and we added to our collection of dealer poker chips.

We ended the day with dinner at a really nice Italian dinner at a neighborhood restaurant in Akron with one of our friends from the police ride we worked for this spring.

The hallcronicles the history of Rock from the beginnings....

...to the middle beginnings

and to current music.

and of course ZZ Topp is there

One of my favorites is Jimi Hendrix

and a bit of crazy...

Downtown Akron treated us to some neat sidewalk art.

Our next stop will be the Pro Football Hall of Fame and then we are eastbound.

CHANGE OF PLANS.....

We woke to the sad news that Cherif's brother in law had passed overnight so our plans changed and we headed out without our friend.

Our first stop of the day was The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Acres. Since we were in Detroit, this was a must stop and it didn't disappoint.

Greenfield is like a small village of historic homes that Ford has either moved there from around the country or re created on the site. Some of them have a historical significance to our country but most are of people and groups that had influence on Ford

This neat vintage train provides transportation around the park

You can also take a trip in a Model T

One of the originalFord factories

The Ford family house had a "modern" kitchen

one of the attractions is this original covered bridge from New England

An early 1900's carousel with a chicken!!!

Wright Brothers

Display case with parts

Of course one of my favorite stops was at the Wright Brothers Bike Shop that was moved here from Toledo.

Some really cool tools

Drive shaft driven bike from early 1900"s

The Museum is a trip through the cultural and agricultural history of our country and of course....cars!! I was mildly surprised to find that while it is the Ford Museum, their collection is comprised of a wide spectrum of cars and manufacturers, telling a great story of the automobile history in our country

The Museum has a great entry hall

A great collection of early autos

.

A really nice blow up of an early Ford

Lindbergh's "Spirit of Saint Louis

The Aircraft section is pretty neat

Add caption

The Kennedy Limousine

My Favorite

Cars in the museum cover all aspects of the automobile history.

We spent nearly 5 1/2 hours at Ford and because it was still early in the day, we decided to head for Cleveland. The plan is to visit first The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and then The Pro Football Hall of Fame.

GOAL REACHED, ON TO THE NEXT........Detroit

SATURDAY

Saturday was a "casual day as we stayed a mile from the ferry and had the morning free as we didn't sail until 1:30pm. After breakfast  it was time to get a weeks worth of grime off of our bikes. It is always interesting that the hotels are more than happy to provide the use of their hose and housekeeping can usually be counted on to provide old towels for our use. Make it a lot easier than having to carry wet towels and rags.
As soon as we started there was a torrential down pour! Fortunately we were under the canopy in front of the hotel but it is always a good opener for a conversation with other customers when you are washing the motorcycle while it is pouring.
After washing and organizing the bikes it was off to check out the local dealer. We do that a lot and one would think it is the same from dealer to dealer but there is always something unique that we have not seen before. This time I found a pair of waterproof gloves that I have been looking for and Kim got a neat pair of Harley sneakers. Cherif didn't hold up his end cause he didn't buy anything! The other thing that we always look for is 'Dealer Chips"  Most dealers have poker chips with their name on them and it is fun to collect them from each dealer that you visit. I have a drawer full from my travels and a bunch of new ones from this trip.

The calm before the storm(look in the distance)

#-4 foot waves really rocked the boat

After getting our to go lunch at Subway we boarded the boat. Normally we find ourselves waiting in line to board but this time we were ushered directly into the hold which was nice. The crossing was rougher than normal with a lot of movement on the boat and a lot of passengers with a green tinge to them. Fortunately none of us were affected and we weathered the storm well. One thing that we normally do is to plan ahead for our hotel rooms early but today we didn't as we hoped to ride out the day when we got back. Unfortunately, we could see that there was a storm coming AND quickly found that there were no rooms in the area, the closest being in Muskegon, some 70 miles away. We high tailed it south and almost made our hotel but with 3 miles to go we got soaked with a blinding rain. What a way to end our day..........

SUNDAY

Sunday morning dawned crisp, clear and cool, a great day to ride. We immediately headed for the coast to complete our goal of traveling around the outside of the state. Unfortunately, along this route our views of the lake were few and far as most of it is residential. When we were able to stop at a local park, it was really windy and the lake was churned up into some pretty big whitecaps. Eventually we got to New Brooklyn and then headed east on Route 12. We had the option of making it a quick trip to Bloomfield Hills outside of Detroit where Cherif lives but decided on this route which proved to be a really nice, quiet ride with very little traffic until we reached suburban Detroit. We were treated to some great hospitality by Cherif and his wife, Linda. A really good home cooked meal with good friends and some comfortable accommodations, what more could one ask for at the end of a long day of riding?

Amazing what you see on the road sometimes