Running on Empty

Unknown overlook, NY

I had owned the ST4s for about a month, had the belts replaced and had ridden around locally enough to get comfortable, it was time to stretch it's legs. Two friends and I loaded up our bikes and headed to New York for a 4 day trip, using my birthday as an excuse. About 30 minutes after leaving we had already been pulled over on I-90 by a Statie for lane splitting. After leaving us to sweat it out for 20 minutes on the side of the highway, and I literally mean sweat; it was August, he returned with warnings for each of us. “You guys look like assholes, I look like a hero and all the people you passed got to yell insults at you (which they had)” If you don't want to sit in traffic, it's backed up until I-84, take US 20 to get around it” We thanked him and headed out, watching his light disappear in our mirrors

As soon as we thought he lost sight of us we went right back to splitting through the traffic and sure enough once we passed the I-84 exit the traffic cleared up. Everything went great until we got to the first gas stop in NY and it dawned on us that New York has automatic tolls and only one of us brought their EZ-Pass. Quick cut to all three of us jamming ourselves through a toll booth at the same time. It worked though, no one got fines. The rest of the day was OK, rode some good roads around New York headed towards PA until we got caught in a passing summer storm. Pulling over and getting what little rain gear we had we departed again until we reached an overpass and hid under it trying to find a hotel. Damien found it in Hancock, NY, a small strip motel for 120 a night for a room with 2 beds and a cot, sounded good. We roll up to the hotel which wasn't too far away and the rain hadn't let up. Guy in the office now says its 100 a night, and he’ll leave us towels to dry the bikes in the morning and will run to get food for us; this guy rules. As we go to our room two guys riding BMWs stop for the night and we talk for a bit, one of their wives comes shortly in a SUV as she is kind of their support crew. For the first time I hear “I had one of those, one of the best bikes I've ever had” in reference to the Ducati.

Hawks Nest, Port Jervis, NY

We decided on pizza for dinner and walked over to the office where we told the guy what we wanted and to order something for himself. He politely refused, also refusing gas money or even a tip. That night I got the short straw and slept on the cot in a grossly humid room because all our gear was dripping wet and drying out. We woke up and wiped down our bikes, before paying I bought my girlfriend an iron angel from the office and Damien paid, which was now even cheaper for some reason. We paid up and when the hotel clerk left we left a 20 on the desk and headed out. We left New York and headed south were we rode the Delaware Water gap, made the necessary stop at a Wawa, Buffalo bites and Iced Tea are life, and since we were down here we figured we'd stop by an abandoned resort in the Poconos.

We rode in and hid the bikes behind a building and explored the grounds for a bit. It was known as a resort for newly weds and even had it's own airstrip for the discerning guests. It was interesting as hell, some rooms feeling like they had just left. I’m glad we made the stop since just recently the main building burnt down, leveling the the bar, resturant and bowling alley, as well as other things I’m sure. After that we headed towards Wilkes-Barre and road the most insane road, just sudden turns out of nowhere. On the way there one of us almost rode into a reservoir when the road just suddenly made a 90 degree turn. On another turn I target fixated pretty bad and the other friend half followed me. We were joking that this is the road they do all the driving tests on: If you can survive this road, you can have a license. We had one last stop on my itinerary, that was route 414 near Slate Run. By the time we got there it was getting dark, and it got dark fast. Three of us were going down a windy road we didn't know in pitch black in no time, and than the first of us went on reserve, than the other, and than my fuel light started flashing. We had to stop to clean the dead gnats off our visors, mine being so badly smeared I had to resort to a pair of clear glasses and a open visor to see. We found our way off route 414 and used our phones to find the closest gas station that was open, seeing a huge fireball in the sky consistently on our way to the station, none of us can explain it or find its origin on google maps. When we got to the closest open gas station, we all had between a ¼ gallon and ½ gallon of gas left, we cut it way too close. From this point on, the trip was planned by the seat of our pants, we had made such good time the previous two days we had finished my planned route, about two days early. We found a room in a sketchy hotel in Mansfield, but it had a room with 3 beds! No cots for anyone this day, we ordered the worst Chinese food we ever had that night and packed it in.

The next morning, my birthday, we headed to Watkins Glen. The guard at the gate of the race track let us in and we watched the local Porsche club do some laps before getting BBQ in Watkins Glen. Nickel’s Pit BBQ was fantastic, I got a pulled pork sandwich and my friends got chicken wings and brisket, all great, definitely would stop there again. The plan after that was to head to Cooperstown and get a room for the night. We had loads of time as we didn't have much to do besides start heading home. Before leaving the Fingerlakes we stopped at Taughannock Falls State Park, where I scribbled down some notes to get us to Cooperstown. The waterfall there is absolutely stunning, and when we went to leave the ST refused to idle. After mucking with it far too long it decided it would idle and off we went. And promptly missed the turn and rode an hour north past our turn. The following ride was some of the fastest overall riding I've done off a highway, long mostly straight rural roads just headed west, making great time. But still, when we arrived in Cooperstown it was after dark, and as it turned out there aren't a lot of hotels there, you'd think there would be since the Baseball hall of fame is there, but they're not common near the downtown. We ended up staying on the outskirts of town in a hotel with yet another 3 bed room. They had a grill so my friends decided to grill frozen pizzas while I had a pre-made sub, no one ate well that night.

Remember to wash your vegetables, some random motorcyclist may have peed on it

The final day was boring as usual, spent heading home, making a pit stop at an abandoned art-deco train engine in Cooperstown Junction, with a fuel stop at Stewart's for some ethanol free gas and a gas station hot dog. With a blast down 87 to 90 to take us home, with the occasional gas stop mixed in. While most mornings were spent sleeping in while I like to leave early with the dew still on the road this was a great trip. Good company with good friends and some good memories, like getting pulled over ASAP or the fireball. We may have gotten annoyed with each other at times, but they're still the only guys I'm comfortable riding with. There's something about motorcycles that just bring friends closer, even if I'm the only one who had to sleep in a cot. But these minor annoyances can also make you appreciate traveling alone. If I'm alone I can do what I want when I want, no ones gonna bitch if I stop too much to take pictures, but if I wasn't with my friends on this trip I wouldn't have seen that fireball in PA, wouldn't have gone to a since burned out abandoned resort or had nearly the amount of laughs we shared.

Three bikes and an abandoned traincar