The Road To Alice's Restaurant - Day 11, Washingtonians Crossing the Delaware

We woke up to brilliant sunshine and very warm temperatures in Goshen, NY today. One last time I wrote out directions on a yellow sticky note for the windshield -- this time a bit more detailed with Mapquest directions to our hotel in downtown Philly. After our free breakfast of generic "Holiday Inn O's" and toast, we loaded up the bikes. Two ladies enjoying a morning smoke came over, and sounding to the world like Edith Bunker with the thickest Brooklyn accents we've heard, asked about the bikes and how much they cost (one lady saying her son wanted one). We told them and they were surprised at the cost (the bikes we are on list for $18K), and we had a nice chat about our travels. They were here for one of the weddings at the hotel today.

Indeed it was so warm and sunny that we decided to attempt to even out our tans (our arms looking like they'd been dipped in brown paint) by riding shirtless. We sprayed what's left of our sunscreen all over and throwing all sense of decency to the wind, rode out of Goshen bare chested. The morning sun felt so nice on my skin, and the quiet back road we were on through the corn fields reminded me of the opening scene of the movie "Love Valor and Compassion" where the young Ramon enjoying a similar road takes his shirt off and sits on the back hood of a VW bug and throws his arms to the sun as his friend James drives them to upstate NY. Hard to do on a bike, but doable. We had to pause to allow Tony to cease his hysterical laughter. He had the camera so there is no corresponding picture of him shocking the NJ countryside.

We had a very short ride anyway today, so we took our time and enjoyed the NY, NJ and PA backroads, and went diagonally across NJ before crossing the Delaware into PA and riding down the west shore of the Delaware River along the old Delaware and Pennsylvania canal. (You will recall we went on the north side of the river when we left Philly last week.) We stopped at a nice biker friendly bar that overlooked the river for lunch -- there must have been a dozen bikes parked out front and we passed many other bikers enjoying the cool ride along the river.

All too soon we were nearing the outskirts of Philly and had to hop on the freeway to get into downtown. Riding on a freeway in a strange big city is a nerve racking experience, but it was Saturday and traffic was very light. We motored into town and right down past Constitution Hall where the Declaration of Independence was written. Tony, as always the showman, while we were waiting for the light, launched into his litany of tunes from the musical "1776", to which I had to tell him "Sit down, Tony, sit down..for God's sake Tony sit down..." the light changed and on we went to the hotel. The hotel itself was an interesting experience. Last night we'd booked a Rodeway Inn right down town at a decent price. When we got there we found a dirty little place with a malfunctioning elevator, a desk clerk who gave us a room already occupied (and did so to two other guests while we were there too), and no promised Internet connectivity. We left there and went to a real hotel, a nice Marriott three blocks away. Heck, we can splurge on a fancy hotel once on this trip.

Even Mariott's will take dirty bikers. And one thing you get while on the road all day is dirty, which is why it's so nice to check into a hotel and jump into a shower. Witness the washcloth that I used to just wipe my face when we checked in. Need I say more. A nice refreshing shower after a day on the road is why we stay in hotels while on the road rather than camping in a tent.


It's been a great 11 day trip. We took some great roads thanks to our friends at the Camden, NJ and Framingham, MA HOG chapters. Riding in today we passed a sign for the New Jersey Turnpike, which made me start to hum Simon and Garfunkle's song "America", with a line in it "...counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike, they've all come to look for America..." That's why we ride, and why we explore the roads. I'm not sure what exactly we are looking for, so therefore you can't really find it I suppose. However, we went through a lot of the country -- nine states and areas neither of us have ever been. We met some cool characters, and we ate some great meals. We racked up about 2200 miles on the bikes, and went through our country's early history along the Delaware River, the Boston Post Road, and the Pilgrim's landing at Provincetown. We went through the East's great mountain ranges -- the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the Green Mountains of Vermont, and the Adirondacks and Poconos of New York. We past countless Revolutionary and Civil War battlefields and old forts, and went through towns that were founded in the late 1600s. So did we "find" America? Like I said, I don't think you can find it, you can just live it, and so far I think we have. Remember, there is no wrong turn, as long as it leads to more pavement.

Tomorrow we'll take the bikes back to the dealer, hop on the train to Newark and then fly home to Seattle. It will be good to get back home, to the house and our bed and the dogs. We hope you've enjoyed coming along with us on this trip.

From the Mariott in downtown Philly --

Gary and Tony