The Road To Alice's Restaurant -- Day 5, PA to MA

Well, we are officially in New England -- I suppose you can tell by the covered bridge eh? Tonite we are in Great Barrington, MA, some 330 miles and across five states from Mansfield, PA where we left this morning just a little after 7am. We are just down the road from the old Trinity Church, known now as the Guthrie Center, but better known as the church were Alice lived with her husband Ray and Fasha the dog, and where the movie Alice's Restaurant and the song by Arlo Guthrie were set.

It was sunny and the temperatures were expected to hit record highs all across the North East today so we wanted an early start both for the cooler temps and the longer distance we had to travel today. After the free breakfast of Quality Inn "O's" and toast, we headed out in shirt sleeves, but only made it as far as the single stop light in Mansfield before deciding that maybe the jackets would be a tad more comfortable that early in the morning. Being that it was Sunday, the traffic was extremely light on US 6, and we rolled through the "Endless Mountains" region of North East, PA, through the rolling hills and quiet farms along the road. This is my favorite time to ride, the roads are quiet, the air is crisp and smells wonderful, and the sun feels good on my face. For some reason Tony always has me ride lead -- I think he assumes I know where I'm going, and usually I do, though I've been known to miss a turn or two from time to time. Being the lead, I see Tony in my rear view mirror all the time - and I'm always checking to make sure he's there and OK. It's very comforting, and reassuring at the same time, and so much a habit that when I am riding solo back home I still keep looking back to see where he is, and having to remember that he's not there.

Our goal was to make it to the Stockbridge, MA area tonite for Arlo Guthrie's concert, which was at 8pm, so we had plenty of time. We decided that since we were more or less in the area, we'd swing by Orange County Choppers in Montgomery, NY -- you know, the dysfunctional family that builds cool motorcycles on the Discovery Channel? The day got progressively warmer as we worked our way east through PA and down the Susquehanna River towards Port Jervis, NY. We ended up taking off our jackets about 11am and riding in T-shirts the rest of the day. We dipped into New Jersey briefly before picking up US 209 into New York and riding that up into Montgomery. Truth be told, the scenery was not great, the traffic heavy, and the weather very hot through NY -- in the low 90s. Had we realized that the OCC store was not all that great, we'd have chosen a different route up through the Adirondacks and stayed cooler and with less traffic. But we'd committed to the route and so we stopped there for a look-see and a break from riding. The bikes that were on display were cool, but the rest was a testament to their business and marketing skills, with OCC branded everything, including safety glasses and deodorant (you too can smell like Paul Sr.).

We didn't stay long, as we needed to get lunch and get back on the road. We swung into McDonalds where I noticed that my drivers license was missing. We racked our brains and figured out that I'd left it in my Sporran (or as Tony calls it a "Man Purse"), which was packed for shipping along with the rest of the kilt gear and sitting at Aunt Mary's house way back in Corning. So not only was I an "unlicensed driver", I'd have a devil of a time getting back on the plane home! Tony called her and the box had not been mailed yet thank goodness, so she was able to open it up, find my license and is overnighting it to our hotel in Provincetown, MA where we'll be Monday-Wednesday. I've avoided being pulled over so far on this trip -- lets hope it stays that way until Tuesday.

We got onto I-84 since we had to cover some ground AND had to get around New York City traffic. Well, we managed to get AROUND NYC, but not around the traffic. We ran into a big traffic jam outside Danbury, CT, which on the bikes, in 90 degree heat is just a ton of fun. The traffic cleared out eventually and we had a nice ride through the cool trees along the Housatonic River Valley and into the Berkshire's through Connecticut and into Massachusetts. We found our hotel in Great Barrington, right outside of Stockbridge and the shower and air conditioning was most welcome.

After resting for a bit, showering, and changing into shorts we headed off down THE real road to Alice's Restaurant and the church nearby the restaurant. The church is now home to the Guthrie Center, an educational foundation run by Arlo and his family that offers a lot of support and educational programs, and is home to way too many old hippies and others lost in the 60s. We hadn't had dinner yet and were just planning on picking up our tickets then going to town for something when we learned that they were offering food in the church and we could eat before the show. Without thinking, we figured this was a good idea. We forgot that this was an old "multi-faith" church (or as Arlo says, a "Bring your own God church"), run by a bunch of volunteer hippies wearing gauze skirts who, if they drive at all, are either in an old VW microbus or a Prius.
The menu featured "Vegetarian Chili" and "Organic Chicken Salad", and a "Vegetarian BLT sandwich" (the "B" was a soy bacon), and herbal tea. We decided to stay since it was open seating and we had very good seats. And nonetheless, the Veg chili was quite good, as was the BLT, as long as I didn't think about what the "B" was. We even had "peace" cookies for desert -- large cookies made in the shape of a peace sign (vegetarian of course, which I think means no eggs), and coffee (free trade coffee of course.)

Arlo put on a wonderful two hour solo show, going through some great new songs, and some of his old standards. The fun of an Arlo show is not only his music, but his fantastic storytelling, and he was his usual fun self. The show was in the old sanctuary of the church ("downstairs where the pews used to be" if you know the song). It had rained a bit during the show, and so we took a slightly longer route back to the hotel to enjoy the freshly scented by rain night air, with the concert still running in our heads.

Tomorrow we'll head out early again and scoot across the length of Massachusetts and head for Provincetown which is at the very tip of the hook of Cape Cod.

From the Travel Lodge in Great Barrington, MA, just a half a mile from the railroad tracks...

Gary and Tony