Russian (Greek) Orthodox Church on the road between Pond Eddy and Forestburg
From: dje@mail.bellcore.com (Don Eilenberger) Subject: Fandango part Deux (Episode 4 of several) LONG!
Our motorcyclists had just arrived at the Hunt's Point Best Western Motel (and restaurant and bar) at Matamoras PA when last heard from, and were about to dine, drink, and attempt to make merry.
For once on this trip - I made Frank do the talking. Since almost every senior citizen is a member of AARP (American Association of Retired People - which to be a member of, you don't have to be retired, and can join at 50 years of age - qualifying me in just about a year), I figured that Frank could try to get us a discount. I asked him about this, and he said "I'm not a member!"[1] Undeterred, I told him that since I was wearing full riding gear (leathers) - he would look more acceptable to the desk clerk (in his pseudo motorcycle jacket, flannel shirt, jeans and now his ad-di- das sneakers).
He did manage to wangle a 10% senior citizen discount.
We got a ground floor room, first one off the lobby, with a window, which if I peered carefully through the bushes, I could see the bikes, which we had chained together (and carefully parked so they were in the night-lights, and obviously filling the parking space).
The room was a standard motel issue double, complete with plastic bathroom, moderately air-conditioned air, and about 100 channels on the TV (the request movies were $7.95 - for whatever - normal or "adult" - which seemed just a TAD high to me). Free HBO though.
I decided that I wanted to shower, since we'd been riding all day in +90F degree weather with leathers on.. but first decided to check out the pool. Frank hadn't brought a swimsuit[2] so he went along to watch. The pool at Hunt's Point is indoors, and again a standard issue motel pool, from 3 feet at one end, to 5 feet at the other end (NO DIVING!).
The dip in the pool helped to work some cramps out of my forearms[3] and finishing off with a really HOT shower worked all the kinks out.
We dined in the motel restaurant, and the food was good and inexpensive. After wandering the motel for a while, Frank decided to go take a shower and call it quits for the night.
I retired to the bar for a beer (not bad - $1.75 for Miller Lite!), and stuck up conversation with the barmaid and some local people.. turns out there were 4 gents in the bar, who at one point were actually UNDER the bar after falling off their stools, who had been stuck on business in Matamoras for FOUR YEARS.
The gents were ConRail employees - who were sent here to repair some switches (there is a large ConRail switch yard just across the border in NY at Port Jervis), and hadn't left yet. They had two rooms on a permanent basis - and although they occasionally traveled to other sites, they were basically stuck in Matamoras PA for eternity. Needless to say, they were `regulars' at the bar of the motel.
I left a call in to the desk to wake us at 7:00AM, and turned in at about 11PM. The next morning arrived fast - the day was overcast, and somewhat cooler than Wednesday was, with the weather guessers saying a 40% chance of rain/thunderstorms. We ate breakfast in the motel restaurant (about $4/each - for coffee, two eggs, meat, toast, etc.. not a bad deal,) and were on the road by 8:30AM. By 8:40AM we had crossed another state line, and were in New York (state), headed up the river on State Hwy. 97.
NY State Hwy. 97 is one of my favorite roads, I'd often traveled it by cage[4] and finally got to travel it by bike.
The best section of this road is about 10 miles north of Port Jervis NY, between Port Jervis and Pond Eddy. The highway here was carved out of the side of a sheer cliff that rises about 1,000 feet above the Delaware River. It twists and winds following the cliff face, with two narrow lanes, sheer rock wall on the mountain side, and low stone fence on the river side.
The road also takes a few dips and rises during the turns, allowing you to see ahead what the undulating road looks like. Most of you have seen this section of road at one time or another - it is often used in car ad's where it is used to represent a road climbing the Alps. Once you've seen and ridden the road, it is not one you'll forget. On a scale of 1-10 for motorcycle roads I've been on (and I haven't been to Deal's Gap), I would rate NY State Highway 97 a perfect 10 (especially in the early spring, during the week - there was no traffic to speak of on the road, the only limit to cornering was the bike and the driver)!
We too quickly passed through this section of 97, and continued following it up-river. Rt. 97 in this area mostly passes through forest land, frequently with the river to the south-west (at Port Jervis, the Delaware River takes a turn to the north-west. 97 follows the north bank of the river, so the river is on the south west). There are small towns and villages, and LOTS of canoe rental places - which is a major industry in the area.[5]
We continued up Rt. 97 until we reached an intersection I knew of, with a small secondary road (unnumbered on my maps) at Pond Eddy NY. This road leads from Pond Eddy to Forestburg NY (Forestburg is where the Scout camp my son and I go to in the summer is located). I'd spotted out the road on one of my morning escapes from camp - and again decided that it would be a wonderful motorcycle road.
The first mile or so is a series of tight 120 degree hairpin turns, climbing up out of the river valley, probably rising 1,000 feet in a very short distance. It was 2nd and 3rd gear on F/C the entire way up. The road then travels along the ridge of one mountain for a short distance, before starting it's descent into the valley that Forestburg is located in.
Along the top of the ridge is a Greek Orthodox community, complete with a log church with the onion shaped dome on the top (a photo was taken of F/C in front of the church). The church most closely resembles photos I've seen of early Russian churches. Nearby is a Greek Orthodox summer camp/retreat. Shortly after the Greek village, the road passes through a series of what had once been "robber baron"[6] estates, now serving duty as summer camps and resorts for various organizations.
We shortly descended into Forestburg itself (one Post Office, one municipal building, one summer theater/restaurant, one blinker light) and headed south on Rt. 42 - another of my favorite roads, towards the camp my son and I spend a week at in the summer.
Rt. 42 (which I believe is a secondary state highway - is a marvelous motorcycle road, especially for someone who wants to go all out (which I couldn't do this time, since I had a riding partner to wait for). The road has perfect pavement, wide shoulders, wide grass strips along the road, and wonderful, perfectly banked sweepers, complete with some hills to make it even better. It is truly a go-fast road. I have never seen any traffic on the road, and rarely a police officer (and when they are seen, their radar guns seem to give them away several miles ahead). I have done the `ton' on this road in my cage - a BMW - more than once, for most of the distance between where it cuts off Rt. 97, and Monticello NY - a distance of about 25 miles.
We went south on Rt. 42 a short distance to the entrance to Forestburg Scout Reservation - which was closed, but a photo of F/C at the front gate should provide some posing value this summer with the scouts. We returned to Rt. 97 the way we came - but would revisit Rt. 42 later in the day.
I'll leave the narrative at this point - it has gotten rather long, and it has also gotten rather late.
Hopefully, the next episode will tell about the road through Woodstock and Bethel NY and where you can do 100 - even on FrankenCycle with warped brakes, and explain about how to order lunch in Monticello NY.
[1] Frank and thrift - It is rumored that Frank has come up with a scheme on how to `take it with him.' I've asked him about this, but he won't tell (and doesn't deny it). Frank is an inveterate clipper of coupons, so every time we meet for lunch (which is frequent - Frank only lives a few miles from where I work) - Frank invariably says "I've got coupons!"
Frank really ENJOYS getting a bargain. His latest bargain is a local movie theater complex that has an offer of a movie, complete with unlimited soda and popcorn, which Frank uses on his senior citizen discount on "date-night" to treat his S/O to an evening out. I think he enjoys the discount much more than he has ever enjoyed one of the movies - since his cost is only $3.00 each.
Frank's lust for thrift sometimes causes the only disagreements we have, mostly over me telling him to spend it, and him thinking of ways to keep it (so he'll have more to take with him). The occasional instances where Frank's thrift costs him more in the long run help to balance out the equation.
[2] What Frank brought - Frank doesn't have saddlebags on his Suzuki, all he has is a small chrome rack which he took off his last bike and mounted on the rear of the Suzi. On this rack, he had his traveling bag, a leather bag about 9"w x 18"l x 4"h. This contained everything (including his insulin) he needed for a three day trip. I never really tried to get a look inside, but I'd guess - toothbrush, underwear, insulin was about it.
On the other hand - I brought LOTS of stuff, some I didn't need. I brought a complete change of clothing for three days (never used the extra pants, but thought they would have come in handy if it rained), my winter gloves and liner for my jacket (never needed these, the temperature was above 80F for the entire trip), a camera (used this frequently), a box of cigars (don't want to be stuck in the boonies without them, used this), a first aid kit (didn't need it), a spare inner tube (didn't need this either - thank God!), a flashlight (used this), spare plastic garbage bags to put over my leather seat at night (used this - it did threaten to rain the first night), a bunch of shock cords (Frank asked me to bring them - his were the age of his bike and somewhat lax on shocking). This was just in the saddlebags. Under the seat were a spare plug and the wrench to use it, my normal tools, another flashlight (which is normally carried on the bike), a heavy duty bike cable/lock (which we used).
Someplace - there must be a compromise to the two extremes..
[3] Painful forearms - this was something new to me. I'd often taken 6-8 hour rides before, but had never experienced pains in my forearms. It was bad enough that frequently if the road allowed it, I rode single handed (I have a throttle lock on F/C - which I keep dialed in for neutral throttle), shaking my free arm to relieve the pain.
I finally found out the cause - the speed we were traveling on. At speeds above 50MPH, my weight is almost perfectly balanced on F/C, so that I really only steer and hold on to the bars. At speeds less than 50MPH, I found that I was supporting my upper body weight on my arms, which was causing the pain. There wasn't a good answer for this on this particular trip - since we were traveling lots of back roads with limited speeds.
I'm still thinking about a possible cure, such as different bars, but this is a difficult decision to make, since I would have to order the bars without trying them. Gonna think about this one some more - I don't think `barbacks' are the answer, since they would require hacking up F/C's padded dash - which I replaced when I removed the ugly barbacks the first owner had installed.
[4] NY Highway 97 - I first found this terrific road when I was too young to drive. At that time I was a member of a Boy Scout troop with a passion for canoeing. One of our favorite trips was on the upper Delaware River, putting in at Long Eddy NY, and traveling about 50 miles downriver to Columbia NJ. Our route to the put-in followed this road, and I swore when I learned to drive, I would come up and drive it.
During a few canoe trips I took while in college, I was able to fulfill this dream.
It took a few years (actually about 30) to get back to NY Rt. 97, when my son started going to a Boy Scout camp located in the lower Catskill mountains. By this time, I had returned to motorcycling after a 10 year hiatus, and found a new dream - traveling Rt. 97 on a bike.
While I mentioned in the beginning, that the trip really had no destination, it actually did - the destination was a ride on two wheels on my favorite section of road, NY State Highway 97.
The road fulfilled all my expectations. I was tempted to turn around and run my favorite section of the road (just above Port Jervis) several times, but didn't, deciding that it would be better to save the anticipation of the road for another ride, another day.
[5] Canoe Rentals on the Delaware River - when I was young, the only way to canoe the Delaware River was to do-it- yourself. Bring your canoe up the river on a car, arrange that you have a second car where you want to get off the river, and do it. There is now a thriving business in providing canoeists with all the services they would ever desire.
There are several LARGE canoe rental places along Rt. 97, the biggest being Kittatiny Canoes - who I would guess is capable of putting several thousand canoes on the river at one time. They also own large tracts of land on both sides of the river, and across Rt. 97 in New York, which are used for launch facilities and camping for canoeists. The company is large enough that they now advertise on billboards in my local area - over 200 miles away.
I recently saw numbers from the National Parks Service (who administers a lot of the land along the upper and middle Delaware River) that stated that on a summer weekend, over 10,000 canoeists will travel along the river, which is fairly amazing since when I used to canoe it regularly, there were probably only 100 people on the water. Recreation on the river has become a major business.
[6] Robber Barons in the Catskills - long before the Catskills became a popular summer retreat for the masses - it was home to the summer "cabins" and "lodges" of the wealthiest of the wealthy from New York City. While in college, I worked at a YMCA camp not far from where this trip took us - the camp was located in a private valley, over 10,000 acres.. and had a mansion of about 50 rooms, 4 floors and an elevator.
Also on the property were various stone outbuildings - such as a 12 car stone garage, gatekeepers houses, stables, etc.
The property had originally been the summer retreat of the Forstmann family, who made their money in textiles, and was purchased by the YMCA for use as a camp around 1958 - for $50,000! They paid off the debt on the purchase by selling several of the oriental rugs from the mansion - it came fully furnished, complete with gold bathroom fixtures. Last time I was at the camp (about 20 years ago) the mansion was still being maintained in perfect condition as a conference center for the YMCA organization.
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Don Eilenberger (dje@mail.bellcore.com)
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'79 R65 FrankenCycle - der Beemer
'87 535i BOHICA - der Bimmer
'75 25' Hunter - das Boot
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DOD#1177, BMW-CCA#104316, BMW-MOA#64000
President - New Jersey Shore BMW Riders
NJ-DOD-Cycles, Fossil Riders of NJ Inc.
"A glutton for clubs.."
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