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New York State of Mind: '09 Ride Reports From All Over!
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Moderators 6,450 posts swampy Moderators 6,450 posts
swampy
As ya'll know, I had to leave and head north to tend to Momma Swampy. And while this was more urgent than all the other trips, I do not head north and not bring a bike! This trip was no exception.

So packed amongst the other things and essentials was the trusty Triumph. I had it in NY back in '05 and it is just made for the roads up there! (BTW riding in NYS is better than N. GA & NC...street wise anyway...)

So let me take you along on my trip. I've picked out 318 pictures from over 12 days. And of those 12 days, I only got to put in about 14 hours of riding total!

Let's get started then! This is a fun trip full of history and adventure! Go get your Rand McNally atlas so you can play along. I'll wait....










Good, you're back! Just dancin to the band while we were waitin' for ya!  Now follow along...

It's a pretty basic trip, though I had a late start. Shoot up I-75 to Ocala, grab 301 to I-10 (I usually stay on 301 up to Yulee, but today I didn't) and take I-10 over to I-95 North....

My late start meant that I wouldn't reach my normal one-day destination of Pulaski, VA (or Roanoke) so I settled in and targeted something north of Charlotte... (I like I-81 over I-95. It adds a couple of hours but is well worth it, especially if you have to stop overnight with a bike in the truck!)

So away we go!

Trouble develops in GA! Traffic backed up and I need fuel. I pull off around Savannah on Hwy 21 for gas, then decide to bypass the rest of 95 and intercept I-26 somewhere in SC.

As Bert says: "Adventure is where you find it!" So break the routine and go look around!

I take 21 into Rincon then Springfield, then take a right and head north on 119....


119 eventually merges with 321 somewhere in South Carolina, and with a quick BL PR SR321, I'm still heading in the right direction!

Old southern small towns dot the trail I have chosen... brick buildings, railroad tracks, water towers.....



One little small town after the other... then in Estill, SC something catches my eye...a quaint piece of architecture and advertising, mixing together to form something totally southern in flavor....


I continue north on 321. Even in a truck there's an opportunity to explore places you've never been to before, and likely will never see again. As I think about it, it's sad really. For one brief moment, that's all you will have....

Anyway, I come through Fairfax, SC and what do I see? Seems our buddy Bert has branched out and expanded and has a well kept business secret! Did he tell you about it? Didn't tell me. Bert, you got some 'splainin' ta do!



So the sun is beginning to dip in the sky, I'm in rural South Carolina..... Hello?............. What's this?!?



Hummmmmm...... I never knew that!



...and in case anyone is interested (don't see many of these around nowadays!)



Welcome to Sycamore, named after the plantation as stated on the historic marker two pictures ago! Classic agrarian south here my friends.




Some signs like this one in Ulmer, SC you just don't see anymore....




If you're following along you can name the two European countries I visited along 321...

...and north of them, the sun began dipping below the tree line... I-26 coming up soon...



Darkness falls and I'm left with the glow from the flight deck. Some inane comedian on Sirius makes me chuckle from time to time. Night skies blurred by headlights.

Somehow I pass Charlotte and not even know it. I spend the night at the Comfort Inn up on a hill in Jonesville, NC...

Tomorrow, a long ride awaits...
The Honorable Mayor of Swampyville '13 Triumph Tiger 800XC,  '16 KTM 500EXC SixDays, '84 Kawasaki GPz750, '03 Triumph Speed Triple, '64 BSA Lightning-Rocket
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swampy Moderators 6,450 posts
swampy
Travel Day 2

So I spent last night in the Comfort Inn in Jonesboro, NC.... and what is sitting at the bottom of the hill...... tag another one my brothers!


I had breakfast at the Cracker Barrell down the street. Now I love the WaHoo, don't get me wrong... but if I'm gonna be cooped up in the truck... I don't want WaHoo working on the inerds... so to speak....

So I hightail it on outa Jonesboro at 1000...

I hit Fancy Gap by 1030. This just happens to be one of the reasons why I like to take  this route north....

Here's a view to the left side of I-77...



...and the view to the left side on I-77...


Time to BR on I-81 towards Pulaski, VA.... numerous times I've made the mistake and BL and headed into Wytheville... but not today!



Some random scenes through the Shenendoah Valley... it's difficult to take pics while driving, especially ones that could capture what the Shenendoah is really like.... I believe I will move here one day....






Almost Heaven!



For 40 minutes..... until I reach....

Home of Budd's Creek... you MXers know what I'm talkin about!


About an hour later I'm crossing into....


North of Harrisburg I disike the drive.... but get on those side roads with a bike! Gawd... makes Western NC seem like a tricycle destination!


Here I'm coming up to Wilkes-Barre.....



...and a few hours later, I'm back in the New York Groove!


There's always something about going "home". Especially when "home" is as beautiful as Upstate New York, mainly the Delaware River valley and Central Leatherstocking Regions!

But you'll see as there's more to come....
The Honorable Mayor of Swampyville '13 Triumph Tiger 800XC,  '16 KTM 500EXC SixDays, '84 Kawasaki GPz750, '03 Triumph Speed Triple, '64 BSA Lightning-Rocket
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swampy Moderators 6,450 posts
swampy
Okay, so I've bored you with the trip up. But not really. Because adventure is where you find it. And this entire post is "re-finding" the adventure where I grew up. It's one of those ironic pieces of life where we grow up we never appreciate until we grow older. And this is a true-ism that can only be appreciated by those of us who have grown up in one place, and have made a life for ourselves a long way away.

While it's been said that you can never go home, and that life is a flowing river, it's good to get back and see the river, even though it's changed....

In today's episode, I'm going to expose you to a few things. In this post, I'm going to take you to Delhi NY, the place where I went to high school, spent my second tour in college, and have friends. The place I was so anxious to leave, yet is so inviting to return. So goes life....


While it may not be much, here's a shot of "up the road" where I grew up in Meridale. This used to be a dirt road, and this is a picture of a hill, or as we called it when we were 10, "up the hill" because we would ride our bikes to about here, then ride back "to the pavement" and do it again.... It's also here where I ran that little 3-speed automatic Kawasaki KV75 up to 50mph!



At the end of Lewis Rd it intersects with the Catskill Turnpike. An old toll road that ran from the Hudson River to Unadilla in the days of horse drawn carriages and stages.... today it is affectionately known as "Turnpike".... If I still lived there, it would make a great mile-by-mile report from beginning to end....




I make a left at Turnpike and head back towards Rt28. Along the way is this long field. We used to ride our snowmobiles out of the woods in the background and across this field. Wide op em, two stroke screaming sleds! In the middle was (is) a drainage "hump" where if heading one way we could bust snow drifts, in the other, we could launch! It starts early, doesn't it....



Now what we affectionately call "the top of the hill" is where Turnpike meet sRt28 at Meredith Square. Here's a view from the top.... unbelievable isn't it. Simply motorcycle pretty.... that white line in the distance is John Hamilton's farm, the ride just off to the right is the highest point in Delaware County....



Just another pic... sometimes my heart yearns for those long gone days...


So I take Rt28 to Delhi. Let me tell you about "28" it's a killer road all the way from Kingston to Cooperstown!

But, Now comes the time to orient you a little bit. While the south is rich in history and Civil War era connections, it's here, in upstate NY, where the Civil War is recent history, but the towns and villages were built on the French and Indian wars, and the American Revolution. By coming here, we step back another 100 years from where we are in the south. To the time of the founding of our country, and to the time of colonialism....


The classic town square. Couldn't fit it all in the picture, so bear with me as we make our way around.... here's the old Courthouse...


We reach into the development and the inner workings of our country!



The Civil War Memorial on the square...I'll let the picture speak for themselves...












A bandstand. Seemed so hokey while I was young, now a symbol of times long gone...



Every town square deserves a church/townhall with a broken clock. Much like Back To The Future. But indeed, since it's construction, how much history has happened here?



Now I'm including this as a contrast in post offices. You'll see others along the way. But colonial design and brick in construction....



A recent building, opened before I left... named after a State Senator. I went to school and played baseball with his son....


An example of the architecture around town...




Let's shoot up to my old school. When I went here it was grades 4 through 12. I graduated with 98 people in my class in 1981. The school in Andes on the other side of the hill had a graduating class of 8 that year.(Not a typo!)


It's also funny that I rode my bike to school today, just like I did so many years ago....


Couldn't get a good shot, but on the hillside across the valley from my highschool is SUNY at Delhi... This was my second college, the one I went to for Hotel/Restaurant Management....



Just a glimpse of the downtown area...



I cross a bridge and head towards Backriver Rd. Here's a view of the Delaware River (yes, THE Delaware river of George Washington fame, but we're closer to the headwaters than the Trenton!)



And here I'll pause for the next post... which includes a history lesson on the area, covered bridges, and architecture along with men who fought to establish our country in the face of British tyranny....

Stay tuned for more....
The Honorable Mayor of Swampyville '13 Triumph Tiger 800XC,  '16 KTM 500EXC SixDays, '84 Kawasaki GPz750, '03 Triumph Speed Triple, '64 BSA Lightning-Rocket
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RichardD Rain Dances With MiamiMike 251 posts
RichardD

No doubt , you grew up in a beautiful place !   Thanks for the pictures. Funny how 28 is one of the best roads in North Carolina too.   A northerner named "Swampy ".  Hmmm !!, It just doesn't sound right..............
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swampy Moderators 6,450 posts
swampy
So Backriver Road winds north towrds Stamford. A narrow county two lane road as compared to the state highways. It dips and turns, rises and falls along the east bank of the Delaware....

Roads like this are common in Delaware County....this one leads up over the hill to Federal Hill Road and then down to Rt28... I included this road as part of my Central NY Adventure Tour route sheet I put together a few years ago....



As the road sweeps around, my targeted destination comes into view....



Fitches Bridge, in the past it was painted red, but it has been refurbished....still, old covered bridges are always a welcome sight for me, in the north, in the south, it doesn't matter. I like old bridges...



As you can see in the sign, it's on the National Register of Historic Places and was refurbished in 2001....






Notice the time-period touches of the refurb.... wooden pegs hold the bridge together!



...and as for me, I believe I owe the $5 fine, but there's no one around to collect.... so I'll save it for next time...



More to come....
The Honorable Mayor of Swampyville '13 Triumph Tiger 800XC,  '16 KTM 500EXC SixDays, '84 Kawasaki GPz750, '03 Triumph Speed Triple, '64 BSA Lightning-Rocket
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DRIVER Moderator 949 posts
DRIVER

swampy wrote:



Swampy ... I know you are a deep thinker known to be sometimes become lost in your thoughts ... ... but you sat there so long the grass and weeds grew !!!  

Thanks for sharing the old stomping grounds with us.

Mike
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swampy Moderators 6,450 posts
swampy
The day, as you can see, was nearly perfect. Well, let's dispense with the "nearly". The temps were in the low 70's, a slight breeze, blues skies and high clouds. The fresh sweet smell of newly mowed hay wafting along the cool early summer breeze. Who could ask to be anywhere else at this moment...

Views like this splatter the valley. Old homesteads, farms. So many man hours of plowing, cutting, baling. Shoveling snow, sledding, running maple sap to the boilers for syrup...


Let's stop off here and take a brief look at how life was in the earlier days!




We're met with a rake which is constructed at a slight angle. So when pulled, it rakes the hay into wind rows for quicker drying and easier baling...



While this isn't a baler, it is used to pull the hay from the ground and drop it in the wagon....



Let's walk along the path shall we...

He look! A gun shop! Fishing and hunting were all part of the survival in earlier years. No Wal-Marts, no SuperMarkets. And they came in handy for shootin things like woodchucks (makes a decent stew), deer, the occasional bear, and tresspassers...















We'll pick up the next post with one room schools and the growth of consolidated school districts of the area!
The Honorable Mayor of Swampyville '13 Triumph Tiger 800XC,  '16 KTM 500EXC SixDays, '84 Kawasaki GPz750, '03 Triumph Speed Triple, '64 BSA Lightning-Rocket
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advcracker Swampy said it's okay.
How deep can it really be? 86 posts
advcracker
Keep them coming Swampinator! I'm enjoying the ride too!



The road's supposed to be here somewhere?!?
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rjohnson I know McPush, and you Sir, are no McPush! 926 posts
rjohnson
I'm loving this. Keep it coming.

You've given me an idea (or as we say in the South, You've flung a cravin' on me) that I should do something like this for my "home state" of Maryland......
Rocky
2004 BMW R1200CL, 2007 Ural Tourist, 2004 HD Road King, 2008 BMW R1200 GS, 2016 KTM 350 EXC F, 2017 KTM 690 Super Enduro
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EbarDP48 Moderator 3,407 posts
EbarDP48
I apologize that I've missed this thread for a few days. Not sure where my head was.
I must say Swampy that this is one of the best threads I've seen in a long time. I love the pictures and the commentary to boot.
Driver beat me to the punch on some of my favorite photos, but he did leave this one for me to vote as perfect.


I think this adventure is where you find it might be catching on.
Keep em coming.

Oh yeah...I'll have to fill you in on my little start up business.
Bert
Bert   09 KTM 530 07 Triumph Tiger 1050  06 Kawasaki KLR650 07 Yamaha YZ 250 1976 Husky WR250 1978 Suzuki RM250 1981 Honda CM 400 W/Velorex Sidecar Because the ride shouldn't end just because the pavement does! May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. -Edward Abbey Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Harold McAlindon
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swampy Moderators 6,450 posts
swampy
So here comes a long forgotten piece of American history. Community schools, one room schoolhouses!

After you go through this section, please keep this in the back of your mind. I'll be taking you to a little red school house in a future post!

So let's begin our tour of rural education of Delaware County!



School bells and flag poles. What ever happened to those I wonder. The open door on the building opens to the cloak room/boot room...



Real black board, not some white erasable marker board... after all, isn't that more environmentally friendly to have a piece of slate and compressed chaulk than some chemicals? But hey, that's just me....


Now I'll just leave the commentary to the following pictures I've taken from the story boards in the schoolhouse... Enjoy!

























I will ask you to keep in mind this next picture, especially the top one. I'll show you an example of that architecture coming up in a few posts.... pictures coming to life...









Next up, I'll show you around the farm...



The Honorable Mayor of Swampyville '13 Triumph Tiger 800XC,  '16 KTM 500EXC SixDays, '84 Kawasaki GPz750, '03 Triumph Speed Triple, '64 BSA Lightning-Rocket
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swampy Moderators 6,450 posts
swampy
I know, I know, you want to get back to the riding. But ya know what? It's not all about the moments on a bike. It's about THE moment that you're in, the one where you spiritually connect with where you are. The bike is a vessel that transports you through moments, and it's a chosen vessel because it allows you to become the moment....that moment may be while your astride roaming through the countryside, or it may be a place in which the motorcycle carries you to.

So let's take a moment to continue with the moment!

Let's take a further look around the grounds.... here's the old Frisbee farm....




But what is so special about the Frisbee place you may be asking.....I believe this sign explains a little...










Classic example of a one-seat variety....that tree's looking pretty healthy isn't it!



Up back around the barn we come to this somber place...



Enveloped in the shade of the maples standing guard, is the final resting place for those who settled here long, long ago....


Flags and markers like this dot the ground. Let's take a closer look at their being....



A recognition of noble actions in the past....where if they were victorious a new country emerged... if they failed, they would be hanged for treason...


Joseph Fiske stood for a cause and lived to see the outcome of the sacrifice. The birth of a new nation.


For many, it's just history in a book. When you arrive a place, and recognize the times in which people live, and connect with the moment, you'll understand the importance of a small out-of-the-way stone wall with eroded headstones...

We now know about Joeseph Fiske. A freedom fighter. Revolutionary. Farmer. Father. Builder. Dreamer. Citizen Soldier. A true hero in the establishment of a new nation, based upon the will of the populous, the rule of law, and the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

What you know today, was brought to you by Joseph, and many more like him. Many more forgotten names, graves and small cemeteries. This is where our freedom and independence comes from...from within these walls of fieldstone, from the the eroded headstones. Kept alive by small groups of people who take the time to remember...



We'll pause here at this somber moment and reflect on those who have come before, who have sacrificed, and who have given to us, that have allowed us, to become who we are. Let their importance not be forgotten in these uncertain times, and let their visions be the ones that guide us in our decisions of today.

It's not about government bailouts, handouts or health care. It's about standing for principles of what's right, in the face of oppression. For better or worse, no matter the outcome. To stand there with your total being, and from the heart saying "This is what I believe in, and here I'm willing to make a stand."


More to come...
The Honorable Mayor of Swampyville '13 Triumph Tiger 800XC,  '16 KTM 500EXC SixDays, '84 Kawasaki GPz750, '03 Triumph Speed Triple, '64 BSA Lightning-Rocket
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advcracker Swampy said it's okay.
How deep can it really be? 86 posts
advcracker
Damn Swampy, you got me ballin like a baby and swelled up with pride! My vote for Best Ride Report EVER!
The road's supposed to be here somewhere?!?
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mr_guns Brought To You By Tom's Yaller Snap-Off Foot Pegs! 414 posts
mr_guns

Very nice..
Guns / mr_guns
BMW R1200GSA (2014), Beta RRS-500 (2021), Jacksonville, FL
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EbarDP48 Moderator 3,407 posts
EbarDP48

This is fun...Keep em coming.


Quote:
I know, I know, you want to get back to the riding. But ya know what? It's not all about the moments on a bike.


Got that and you're right on.
Bert
Bert   09 KTM 530 07 Triumph Tiger 1050  06 Kawasaki KLR650 07 Yamaha YZ 250 1976 Husky WR250 1978 Suzuki RM250 1981 Honda CM 400 W/Velorex Sidecar Because the ride shouldn't end just because the pavement does! May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. -Edward Abbey Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Harold McAlindon
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