5/19/2012
My Friday morning started by having to sit in court. The meeting was adjourned about 5 minutes after it started because there was a misfiling. I will have to go back, but I had taken the day off from work so I didn't need to go back to work. Since I was a little worked up about having court even when I got home, I decided that I needed a ride.I pulled out the bike about 10:30am Friday and headed off in the direction of my dad's house (about a 45 minute ride). I zipped through the back country roads with no direct rout premeditated. The old roads I went down had farms and wooded areas. Very scenic. I even passed by my great grandmother's old house (now owned by a stranger). It stirred up childhood memories about playing in the front sun room and the creek that ran out front. Good memories.
Finally I made it to my dad's and my step brother was there with a friend. We all chatted awhile. It gave me a chance to vent, much needed. Dad also let me know that there was going to be a bike blessing at a church in the village of Cherry Creek on Sunday and that if I wanted to ride with him and his friends where to meet.
I took a different rout home. This day I was riding the bike a little harder than I usually do. Nothing dangerous, but a little rush helped clear my head. I came up behind a truck pulling a hay wagon so I decided to take a right, and found my new favorite road! Yocum isn't a long road, but it was cool. The signs said seasonal traffic only, so I had no idea what condition it would be in. Around here seasonal usually means a dirt road with many pot holes. Not so here. I did have to go slow, first and second gear mostly, because the road was narrow with tight turns and fresh gravel but this gave me a chance to take in the view. The road twists through a wooded area and down a hill. There were a few houses hidden in the trees. Very nice.
Carrie was there when I got home. She had taken the day off also and used her time to clean out a corner of the basement so we could paint. That is how I spent the rest of my Friday.
5/20/2012
Saturday I woke up, drank some coffee and watched the morning news. The news covered a story about an old building being tore down and how Buffalo Transportation had put about $8 million into the south Buffalo lake front and were expecting to sell it for $1 dollar.This got me to think I would like to see what they were talking about. Carrie and I hoped on the bike and headed out.
We do not live far from Buffalo so in about 10 minutes we were coming up onto the Skyway. I turned off and rode the new roads below on the lake front. They twist and turn under the Skyway. I pulled into a parking lot and we went for a nice walk.
The old building that is supposed to be torn down has a little history. South of Buffalo used to be big into metal smelting and forming. Bethlehem Steel owned miles of the lake front. I do not know an accurate account of the history but I do know a little. Bethlehem Steel closed down decades ago and some of the buildings have been sold to other companies, but most of it became a waste land. As a kid it was a joke when driving through the area because it smelled like sulfur or rotten eggs.
Now the area is used for storage and they are the site of several large wind mills. The building in question I believe is a 100 year old office complex.
The building is in rough shape and it would take a ton of money to rebuild/restore. It is also in an area where there is very little chance it would attract business if someone restored it, so I can understand it being taken down. It will just be strange to travel the Buffalo Skyway and not see it anymore.
After checking out the building we wandered the lake front some more. It isn't finished but I have to say they are doing a nice job. In the past you wouldn't come down here. It was covered in weeds, waste and about once a week a stripped down stolen care would be set on fire here.
Buffalo was known for it's canals and ship yards 100 years ago. Over the decades these had been filled in or left to deteriorate. This area is being restored so people could come and walk, bicycle or fish. Much better than the waste land it used to be.
My next plan was to get back on the Skyway and ride into the city of Buffalo where we could grab something to eat, but we had a problem when we were leaving. The road right in front of the old Bethlehem Steel building had a series of pot holes that caused us to bottom out hard (we were going under 10 miles an hour) that popped my rear brake light out, breaking the plastic tabs. Carrie had to hold it on for the ride home where we called everywhere looking for a replacement. On par for Harley Davidson, no dealers carry Vrod parts so I would have to improvise.
After about an hour I went out to the garage and tore apart the rear end of the bike to come up with some ideas. It didn't take long. I cut a piece of aluminum, drilled some undersized holes (so that they would be tight on the wood screws) and used the plate to drill some undersized holes in the bottom of the tail light. I used some locktight hoping it would bond between the aluminum and screws.
This caused small visible cracks to form on the underside plastic, but I wasn't worried because the light took some damage when it bounced down the road. I will have to replace it eventually, but needed something to get me through the weekend.
When I had the bike back together I went in the house and woke Carrie up from her nap, telling her we need to go now.... the sun was setting now and I wanted to take a ride down rout 5 by Lake Erie.
When riding down rout 5 we were able to watch the sun set behind the lake. It was gorgeous. As we rode it began to get darker and buy the time we got to Sturgeon Point the sun had mostly set. Carrie and I hung out there for awhile before riding off to Angola and then back home. We didn't get home until about 10:30 PM Saturday night.
5/20/2012
Sunday I woke up early, made coffee and feed the dogs before heading outside to wash the bike. This was the first time I used my Harbor Freight motorcycle jack to wash the wheels. That made it so much easier to wash, clean and dry.The day before I called my dad when the light broke and told him we would not make the blessing. I never told him I had made a temporary fix to the light because I didn't know how the light would hold up.
Carrie was excited about the ride. We don't ride with groups much and she is a social person. When she woke up I was finishing up cleaning the bike so she helped a little before we went inside and ate breakfast and had more coffee.
We headed out around 10 AM to Gowanda. I stopped at a gas station in Gowanda to gas up. A few minutes later a couple of bikes pulled in, one being my dad and step mom. They didn't see us as we were on the other side of the pumps. I able to give them a bit of a surprise.
After gassing up we cruised over to the meeting spot. About 8 bikes showed up, most were 2 up. We took rout 353 out of Gowanda, through Dayton and back roads to Cherry Creek. The roads through there I knew well, old stopping grounds. We stopped at the Methodist Church in Cherry Creek.
I would say about a hundred people showed up. I saw a few people I had not seen in awhile. The ceremony was nice. I would like to thank everyone for showing up. After the prayer we were asked to make some noise and head to Someplace Else, a new local bar in Cherry Creek.
Standing outside Someplace Else with my Pepsi in hand, I chatted with friends while guys with loud pipes ran up and down the street. After everyone had a few drinks we split up into a our riding groups and headed out.
Our group head south through the hills. The first stop was The Backyard Bar and Grille. A couple of other groups came and went too while we were there.
A few drinks later we headed south again to the outskirts of Jamestown. Our final destination was The Swamp. Other than the bar tender and 1 patron, our group had the run of the place. We ordered some food and hung out in the back. None of us remembered sun screen so we were crispy by now. This is where Carrie and I decided to head home since we had the longest ride by an hour.
We drove through the city of Jamestown and followed rout 62 north. I opened the bike up a little for the ride home. We ran into a few of the groups we met earlier, but we only stopped for gas in Gowanda. I took back roads from there, taking Carrie down Yocum for her first time.
When we got home I told Carrie thank you for coming with me. Her response was that she was glad she had a full face helmet because she was smiling from ear to ear the hole time and was afraid she would have looked like a dope if she didn't have the helmet. So easy to say she enjoyed the 7 hour outing.
Carrie had a few videos of the trip (she took the pictures I posted), but they are either at a right angle or upside down when I play them on the computer so I am not going to post them.
In closing I would like to thank everyone involved and the establishments that hosted us. We had a good harmless weekend that we will all remember until Alzheimer's kicks in.
Ride on and ride safe.
No comments:
Post a Comment