The Road To Alice's Restaurant - Day 10, "They went forth unto the land of Goshen"

Like the Children of Israel leaving Egypt, we left Montpelier VT, not knowing exactly where we'd go, what route we would take, and where we would end up. Though we weren't in bondage, we went forth, and ended up, like like the Children of Israel, in the Land of Goshen. Our Goshen is in New York however, but it truly must be a similar Blessed and Holy Land -- as there is to be a wedding in the Holiday Inn Express off Exit 127 of NY Route 17 tomorrow. In the lobby was the grand announcement. I suppose it's a step up from the Shiny Pines Mobile Home Court rec room -- with the proud father of the bride giving away his precious at noon tomorrow in Meeting Room A of the Holiday Inn Express.

Indeed the Holy Spirit seems to be everywhere -- Tony has been reading "Mormonism for Dummies", a real book from the "For Dummies" series that he found in Barns And Noble just before we left. He said he's learned more about my family, our vernacular, and our peculiarities by reading this book than in the past 11 years. He even said he was feeling a burning in his boosam at times, but I told him it was more than likely the chili covered nachos he had for dinner.

We left Montpelier a tad later than we'd wanted to. When we got up it was raining, but according to the Weather Channel, it was due to stop and so we waited out the rain after breakfast and hit the road at 10am. We rode past the small State Capitol, with it's dome gleaming in the sun, and headed south on VT-100. This road came highly recommended by both the HOG Road Atlas and other riders we'd talked to, so we were looking forward to it. It did not disappoint. This probably ranks right up with the great roads we've ridden both on this trip and elsewhere. The picture at the top of the post is from some point on the route, which heads more or less due south and runs through the heart of the Green Mountains, past great farms, along the Mad River, past small villages and covered bridges. We both agreed it is exactly how we pictured Vermont would be. We went past some of the great ski resorts of the east too -- Sugarbush, Killington, and Pico -- all large for the area but nothing like what we've got back home in the west.

When we got to Killington we had some decisions to make -- do we keep heading south on VT-100 into western MA, or do we turn west and go into upstate NY? We wanted to avoid NYC traffic, and we wanted to get as far south as we could without trouble so we would only have a short hop into Philly on Saturday. There was no burning bush to point the way, only our maps and intuition, and Tony's Blackberry which he was busy using to pull up radar and weather info for each route. We chose to head west into NY and then head south past Albany and end up somewhere close to the NJ border for the night. The weather looked clear with some storms far to the north. However, as soon as we went around Killington Mountain and into Rutland, VT, there was a doozy of a thunderstorm waiting for us and we hit it just as we crossed over into NY. So much for the accuracy of the weather.com. We got drenched as there was no overpass or pull out where we could pull off and put on our rain gear. However, the sun came out as we came into Whitehall, NY and we dried off rather quickly. We stopped for lunch in Fort Ann, NY, right along the Champlain Canal and had a HUGE meatloaf sandwich that kept me filled up until well into the evening.

We headed south on US-4, aiming now towards Albany. Yesterday we rode on US-1, US-2, and US-3 -- today we are on US-4, and we'd been on US-6 and US-7 already, somehow though we've managed to miss US-5. Just an odd observation. US-4 however was in bad need of some paving -- there was a BUmp evERy fiFTy feET regULar aS ClockWOrk whICh drOVe us QUite MAd foR At leASt tEN miLEs. These were caused by the expansion joints being paved over but not smoothed down. We ducked under I-90 which, although it was a freeway (or here a turnpike/toll road) would take us directly home if we wanted to, as it ends at Safeco Field in downtown Seattle. If it were me, I'd rather head west on US-2 or US-6 than I-90, but it will be good to get home on Sunday none the less.

In Albany we picked up US-9W and rode down the west (hence the "w") side of the Hudson River until we came to Woodstock. That's right, THE Woodstock, home of the 60s rock fest/drug party. There happened to be a Harley dealership too, so we stopped in for a rest and a t-shirt, and Tony used that time to try and find a hotel room for tonite. We'd planned on going to Port Jervis, NY, but since it's sort of a "resort" area and it's Friday night, we called ahead. None of the standard Quality Inn, Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn places had availability (good thing we'd called first), and so we were directed to this lovely Holiday Inn Express in Goshen, which is about 30 miles from Port Jervis. From Woodstock we had the choice of some NY back roads, or the NY State Thruway, which is a toll road. We debated for a while, but the weather was so nice, and the temperature about perfect, we decided to take the back roads. This caused us to wander like the Children of Israel all over Ulster county (hey, we got our "U" county for the Harley ABC contest anyway). The sun started to go down, and off in the distance we could see lightning from a thundershower to the east. We even ended up back at Orange County Choppers where we were on Sunday. Here we picked up I-84 for the short run to Goshen, where we checked into the hotel and went into the small town of Chester for a late supper.

Tomorrow we will retrace our steps from Day One, heading down the Delaware River to Trenton and into Philly. So, we've wandered pretty much all over the North East these past 10 days, and we've got just a short day of riding left tomorrow. It's going to be sad to take the Heritage and Road King back to Barb's, but it's going to be good to be heading home as well, after all we are down to two pair of clean undies!

From the Holiday Inn Express in Goshen, NY
Gary and Tony