(Originally posted September 2015 on the New England Riders Dephi forum)
For the past year or so, I’ve been planning this two week riding vacation to get to a wedding in Guntersville, AL on Sept 12. At first, my only goal was to ride the entire Blue Ridge Parkway and pick up some grand tour bonuses, but then realized how well the overall route direction lent itself to exploring many more other famous and recommended roads as well. My wife decided to join me for the ride south and then fly back home.
After laying out several overall route options in Basecamp, I decided to avoid instate highways as much as could be arranged, according to the schedule and the roads and stops I wanted to hit. I like the idea of “blue” highways and wanted to experience more of them firsthand. The VTX is no Goldwing in terms of pillion comfort so I tried to keep the daily mileage as manageable as possible – thus keeping my marriage as manageable as possible. 😉
DAY 1
9/5/15 – Southeast MA to Wind Gap, PA
Another beautiful clear but hot day, same as the (then) recent trend. We had a nice morning ride across CT on Saturday. Stopped in at the Aero Diner in Windham CT for a solid breakfast after a couple hours on the road. I like the parking arrangements there.
Crossing the Connecticut River in Middletown.
Route: From 295 in RI, hopped on 6 to 66 thru Middletown to 91. Zigged down to 68, Chesire/Jinny Hill/Rte 42 (great stretch of roads), hit some really nice roads around and through Redding CT, and crossed over into NY on Rte 35. Followed US 202 along Bear Mountain Bridge Rd (awesome), crossing the Hudson, and continued south along the river to Mott Farm Rd, then Old Gate Hill Rd through Harriman State Park. Route 94 across northern NJ and over to Wind Gap PA, our stop for the evening.
Dam on the Housatonic.
Bear Mountain Bridge Rd
Crossing the Hudson
Scenes from the state park roads in NY:
Red Carpet Inn was basic, clean, adequate, and overpriced. We don’t particularly recommend stopping in Wind Gap for the night, but if you find yourself here along the way somewhere, Sals Pizzeria makes a MEAN cheesesteak sandwich on homemade bread. Overall, I was pretty happy with the route to get through CT/NY/NJ fairly efficiently while avoiding interstate. I’d probably want to explore a few alternate roads to skip some of the towns near the CT/NY border that we did end up hitting.
We stopped for a couple Roadside Americas along the way. “Pacem In Terris” (NY) was a cool little (free) sculpture garden/exhibit next to a stream. They requested “no screens” inside, including cameras and cell phones so the entrance pic is the only one I took. We enjoyed the stop, stretching out our legs while taking in the peaceful atmosphere created by the (deceased) artist.
We also stopped to gaze upon the Paulinskill Viaduct (NJ), a huge raised railroad trestle made of concrete. Now overgrown and covered with graffiti, but pretty impressive and worth a quick detour.
