LDEM - 48 States - Day 6 - ME to WV

Day 6 - Sunday, August 4, 2018

Manchester, NH to Martinsburg, WV

Google Maps (as planned route): https://goo.gl/maps/U1DiSS114hA2

GPS Distance: 628 miles  

Travel time: 12h 34m

States Claimed: MA, RI, CT, NJ, DE, MD, DC, WV

NOTE: Google Maps route link is the original planned route. From today forward, the routes are relatively unchanged, but the day they’re being done is changing. I’m doing more each day than planned.

Sound sleep for once...and now, time to go. I took a bit of time and saved to my laptop some of the data from the Nikon camera and from the GoPro last night. I’d just hate to lose this data, so a bit of time making a backup is good.
Obviously, the route is slightly changed as a result of snagging ME yesterday. Thus, Google Maps will help get me to a station in MA, then will get me to RI. From there, the primary mapping via the bike GPS will take over.

Misty pre-dawn morning in New Hampshire

Early morning foggy conditions in New England. The storms that had beat this area up over the last few days seems to have pushed offshore, so my mind is immediately back to the discussion on-line ‘the beach traffic is gonna suck’.

Sometimes clear...

...sometimes foggy.

I don’t know when exactly it’s gonna show up, my focus is just stay on the plan. MA, then RI, then CT. Only a gallon or two, then move on to the next one. It’s making stops reasonably quick, and that’s good.

Free lens cleaning from the humidity you can see!

Twelve minutes. That’s all it took to deal with a grumpy Yankee inside the convenience store.

Traffic is pretty sedate still - Sunday morning; gotta start getting bad soon.

CT gas stop. Enough to get me to NJ

A second shot at getting this sign

Once I hit NY state again, then I knew that I’ve hit that traffic suck mode. Now, it wasn't bad at 6am, but by now, there’s a lot of people out here. They’re not all going to church. In this region, it’s difficult to tell who the tourists are just by looking at vehicle license plates...so many of them in such a small region. I’m sure more than a few probably looked at the AZ on my plate and went “Wha?”

One of many carefully-planned directional changes on today's route.

The turn onto I-287, then the Tappan Zee Bridge. The original bridge from 1955 has been replaced with a modern structure opened in 2017; the old bridge is being dismantled. It would appear that that twin to the span I’m on now is going to be where the old bridge stood. I think I remember crossing the old bridge on a trip west - California? West Virginia? State-of-the-art in the mid 1960’s. I was one of those lucky kids that got to go a lot of places in the car, thanks to my parents both to see family, but to also relocate to the west coast.

(L) Old bridge being dismantled.

The NJ fuel stop was in a fairly remote stop in the northern part of the state. I killed off one of the gas cards that I had purchased with the intent to relieve my credit cards. I have enough to get me to my next state, Delaware.

My one fueling system professional to interact with happened here.

I've been pumping gas longer than that kid has been alive!

So, my routing was supposed to be I-287, then on to NJ-24. This then turns into I-78, and from here I was supposed to take The Garden State Parkway for a few miles, until it joined up with I-95 near Woodbridge. Obviously, I’m reading signs, not GPS directions.

Missed my prefered routing - kept looking at the I-95/NJT signs.

For those that have never experienced it, the I-95, I-78 interchange is an engineering cluster-**** from the 1950’s - maybe earlier! A single-laned fast right turn puts you on the right road. If you’re NOT on the right road? You get to see the “Welcome to Bayonne, New Jersey” sign, after exiting the Newark Bay bridge.
In just a few miles...traffic! Late morning...where in the hell are all these people going?? “Beach Traffic” - M’kay.
Suddenly, it dissipates and traffic is heavy, but flowing well. Another mid-morning need for food, so another service plaza for food and a few quick texts with my wife.

Brunch? Lunch? I don't know - it looked good at the time.

We have a guest arriving at our place on Thursday morning...and just wondering if you’ll be home to pick them up at the airport.
Fast math in my head “yes...think so.” Thus, my nine full days of doing this trip may need to be truncated by a few hours. I’ll need to see how today goes. I did know about this in advance of the ride.

Part of a group of people that were just staring at me as I prepped to leave...so I repeated the 30 second elevator speech.

Maybe they’ve never seen a responsible motorcyclist before.

The Delaware Memorial Bridge

Exit NJ, enter Delaware. This was another quick stop, but I made a wrong turn at the bottom of the ramp. Eventually, I get head in the right direction, and get to my gas station. If there was an unnerving time of this ride, this is one of them.

Note the sedan and the empty space in front of the exposed fuel island.

A single empty pump; I’m taking it - you see it in the image above. In the sedan in front of me, four adult males...who seemed like they really didn’t have anything better to do than block the pump in front of me. I went inside to pay (since pump didn’t want to take my card…). Went back out, pumped my gas, got my picture and got out of here.
Another slight re-route around a neighborhood gets me to a highway that leads me back to the Interstate. It took me a bit, but I do believe I’m now feeling the full effects of mental fatigue.
Delaware lasts about twenty miles, and then I cross into Maryland.
Just a few miles, then the sign for the ubiquitous sandwich shop - yeah, I could use some food. Now, those blue ‘logo’ signs that are along the Interstate are intended to advertise locations that are within a couple of miles -or less- of the Interstate. This place must have just barely made it within the two mile distance that food places are authorized.
I place my order, sit down and relax for a bit. Maybe I can relieve some of this mental fatigue by not having to think - even if it’s only for a few minutes.
A Bar-and-Shield rider and his pillion come into the shop. They’re both sweating profusely upon arrival - no ATGATT. Yeah, I’m sweating in this 88 degrees and 40-some percent humidity, but again, being accustomed to the desert, it’s not that bad.
Routing takes me along US-1, then back to Interstate. Within a few miles - low fuel light is on.
Now, I’d done a bit of pre-planning here. I know that I have right at one gallon of fuel and that gallon will last 35 to 40 miles if ridden sedately. I’m approaching the metropolis around Baltimore, and I *think* I can make it to the other side. A lot going on, stay in the middle and keep up with traffic, nothing more. Fortunately, traffic is moving well, I think I get out of the major metro area, and see a sign for a college campus. Oh, gotta be something there?
It’s a down-hill, so off goes the motor, playing the NASCAR fuel-save game. As I get closer? NOTHING but a closed college campus. STOP the bike NOW!

A tactical error to be corrected. Don't feel like pushing this 900 lb. pig!

I find a tree and hide under the shade. I know I don’t have many miles of fuel left, and I know this trip isn’t going to derail on some dumb move of NOT getting gas when I should have earlier - like around the area of that sandwich shop??
GasBuddy app - gas closest to me. I see a few in a cluster about five miles from where I’m at; fortunately the road I’m on is going to take me there. The road actually turns into a state highway, then into an Interstate. Zoom off at the first exit - hey, it’s US-1. Green light, turn right, and I see a green logo on the other side of the freeway. Fuel...the lifeblood of this little journey I’m on.

See it? Just beyond the stop light

How close was I to becoming a pedestrian? The answer is, I didn’t.
My next stop is the District. I’ll get enough here to be certain I can ride away from there if it’s not going to work out.
As I’m getting gas, a local pulls up to get fuel in her truck. This was a working woman (no, not THAT kind of working woman!), the truck seemed to have not only tools and such, but also some household items. She wandered over to get a better look - and was one of a few that noticed the plate.

A brief, but pleasant encounter with a local

“Is that Arizona? You rode that motorbike all the way here from there??”
“No, I was in Maine yesterday. I plan to be in every state - and the District in less than ten days. This is day six.”
I can’t write it as she said it, but it was ‘Lord have mercy!’. Another minute to chat as I geared back up, then we were both on our way.
I wander my way back to Interstate 95, then the turn onto Interstate 495 - also known as The Capital Beltway Inner Loop. Well, being this close - should not take much to do this. Sunday afternoon...seemed that a lot of people were out in the Silver Spring region. Last-minute shopping before the start of a work week, school shopping - who knows.
Follow the GPS. The southern end of Silver Spring is adjacent to the District. A convoluted Y intersection leads me onto Georgia Avenue - this will take me to the next route point.
I used Google Earth and Google Maps to heavily research this stop. As you enter the District, there is a small sign that welcomes you. This was another one of those “I really want this picture!” photos. It didn’t turn out great, but I got it anyway.

The sign is on the right; obstructed by my windshield

Lucky shot by GoPro on the same sign! Okay, do what I came to do - get gas!

Next on the agenda - fuel stop. I see the place on the left side of the road, easy to get into the lot, but then I see the problem. This is a small, neighborhood gas station - four pumps total, which means a max of eight fueling at a time. There’s a single open spot; I take it.

Busy place on a Sunday afternoon

It also seems that the clientele here doesn’t often use pay-at-the-pump. The gentleman in front of me had walked back from the store, then proceeded to pump his fuel. Several others were awaiting access, so let me just help facilitate the issue by getting my fuel & getting the heck out of the way for the next individual.

I backed away from the island as soon as I was finished; more cars were wanting to fuel.

I walked up to the pump - hey, a receipt. Now, this part of the story became very clear. I left that receipt on and proceeded to pump my fuel, then I took my receipt and moved off and took my photos. Only then did I look at the prior receipt, then placed them both into my receipt repository.

A tangent for a few moments, based on what I wrote above:
One of the ways that the IBA controls cheating is by the magic behind the scenes they do in order to make certain (as best they can) that everyone is on the up-and-up when these types of rides are done. It would have been exceptionally easy for me to have taken that receipt, turned around and headed away - but I didn’t. After I took the photos of my receipt, I flipped it over. It was for much more than the 6.6 gallons of gas that my bike can hold.
It would be so easy for there to be help of various means along a route as complex as the one I did for this ride. When I turned in my logs and receipts earlier, I also had a signed statement noting that what I provided was the truth of the ride. Anyone that does an IBA ride is aware of this. There may be some that want to get into this association by less than honorable means. Even if it’s a simple certificate and a license plate backer - honor still means something.
Now, back to our story!

This was the challenge of the day, and it’s accomplished. Getting that receipt, getting that photo, and getting out of here. Another missed mark from Bubbler...eh, tracking will have me here. Now, the focus is getting out of here and onto the Interstate.
Getting onto I-495 was easy, this led me to I-270 and west toward the very corner of West Virginia. Then - traffic - dead stop.

The dreaded traffic really started getting thick here on the Beltway as I was leaving the region.

I’m not sitting here; I see some alternative roads, so another idiot (me) out wandering around western Maryland. A lot of farms; pretty country, but very slow going, as others have also done the same avoidance I did.
I work my way back to a convenience store which is close to the highway. Today is really the first day in several that heat & humidity is beginning to have an effect on my thinking. The water jug should have been pressed into service earlier in the day, but in a bit of an accident, I finally figured how I should be strapping the jug on the bike.
Instead of it being directly behind me, strapped to the backrest, I should use the backrest post to hang the jug off to the side, and be near the rear footboards. There’s nothing in the jug; that will be resolved tomorrow. Right now, I need to get out of here & get to my room.
I probably went a bit out of my way, keeping on Interstates, rather than looping thru Harper’s Ferry. I had a bit of a thought of cancelling the reservation and continuing on a bit further into Virginia, but no.
There was nothing close for dinner, so another bag of popcorn, and more data archiving from camera memory was the evening’s entertainment.

Tonight's lodging. I wanted to do more, but just too fatigued.

A good night of sleep - I think tomorrow, I’m gonna stay in L.A. - lower Alabama. In billiards, the term “run out” means pocketing the remaining required balls and win the game without the opponent getting another chance to shoot. I’m gonna run out the southeast United States and try like hell to finish this in 8 days!

THE RIDE CONTINUES - CLICK HERE!