Bangor ME – Zanesville OH
Tue June 20, 2023
(1242 miles)

It wasn’t a long rest, lying on the asphalt in front of that Circle K in Waterville, Maine, but it allowed me to close my eyes and snooze for a couple 10 minute intervals, which does wonders for alertness. It was 01:50 and sprinkling more steadily when I hit the road again, continuing north up I-93 to Bangor. I circled south of the city via I-395 to route 1A, travelling “downeast” now, towards the crinkled coastline of Maine, and out of the rain that was lingering inland for the time being. Fueled up in Holden, then continued southeast on the dark road towards Mount Desert Isle.

I minded my speed through Ellsworth, given that the local constabulary seems to keep active 24/7 at this busy crossroads town (and they were). ME 3 brought me across the empty causeway and onto the island. There was some overnight construction en route to the town of Bar Harbor on the northeast corner, requiring a short one-lane section with flagmen, but with no other traffic they waved me straight through.

I veered left on the appropriate street to parallel the waterfront and found Stewman’s Lobster Pound, bonus MEBH “Lobster – Bar Harbor”, right where it was supposed to be, at around 03:30. It took a bit of maneuvering to get the lighting correct again, but my tactical clip light was proving to be a great tool for illuminating the flag on these night shots.

When you think of Maine and food, lobster usually comes first to mind. Where better to grab some than in picturesque Bar Harbor?

The hanging lobster that was required to be in the rally photo was missing, but this was definitely the right place and sign. After taking a few snaps to document the situation, I packed up and had started back down the street from where I’d come, then spotted the lobster tucked down under the other sign. Usually, lobster (or bugs in scuba diver parlance) come out to wander at night, but not this guy. He was probably tucked away to keep from damage overnight in case of high winds (?). So I banged a uey and went back to snap off a couple more shots just in case. This was the huge 7000 point anchor for the entire leg, so I wasn’t taking chances on missing the points while I was here.

I headed back out of town and off island the way I had come. Back on I-95, just a bit past Bangor, I pulled into a rest area around 04:30 to get another nap. I’d actually scouted this one in advance on Street View and knew they had covered picnic tables. I stretched out on one of them and got a solid 20 minutes of shuteye under the pre-dawn cloudy skies. Moving on from there for the long run south through Maine, I hit more of the lingering weather pattern, with steady light precipitation but also light traffic.

My friend Jeff had invited me to call in the early hours to chat so he could help keep me awake and alert til sunrise. I’m afraid I wasn’t a very happy conversationalist at the time. Despite the uplifting Vermont sunset yesterday evening, my mood had declined again during the dark and rainy run through the night. Part of it was being back on my home turf so soon after leaving it to start the rally, and feeling like I wasn’t really seeing anything new or getting anywhere yet.  That, added to yesterday’s setbacks, feeling like I was way behind on the route, and the ongoing sleep deficit that was building since yesterday morning – all that had me stewing in the dark corners of my head. And this was just day 2! Lucky Jeff, getting to talk with me at that moment! 😂  However, his positivity and enthusiasm for what I was doing was a big help. and thank dog for friends willing to talk you through the bad moments!

The rain finally broke as I crossed south into New Hampshire and then Massachusetts. I fueled up in Danvers around 07:30 and continued south to deal with the Boston area during morning rush hour. 🙁  I should have known better here and gone around the 495 or even the 95 loop, but I had decided to trust Google to bring me through, and Google said “Thou shalt go forth into the belly of the beast!” Thus I found myself in even more misery and heavy traffic over the next 45 minutes it took me to clear the Boston metro area. South on US 1 through Saugus and Revere, then bailing on the horrific surface streets in Chelsea to try to get around some the jammed traffic funneling over the Tobin Bridge. It was almost comical now. Was I really attempting to cross the infamous Tobin Bridge during the Boston morning commute when there was no bonus within 30 miles?! 🤦‍♂️

I finally crossed the bridge, merged onto I-93 southbound and zipped through the tunnel, clearing most of the traffic and now travelling in reverse of the standard commute. In all fairness to Google, it probably would have taken about the same time to go around, but I’d have been moving the whole time at least. I zipped down the south shore area on MA 3 and crossed the canal via the Sagamore Bridge onto Cape Cod. At this hour, the bridge had little traffic and the hamlet of Sandwich is still pretty sleepy. I had no trouble reaching and snapping a pic of bonus MASA “Sandwich”, at the town’s post office (food-related in name only, I suppose).

Sandwich is the oldest town on Cape Cod.

Following MA 6A along the canal a few miles, I crossed back to the mainland via the Bourne Bridge with only minor delays before the rotary. Then it was interstate-grade cruising on MA 25 and I-495 about 40 miles up to my hometown area, where I planned to take my rest bonus. When scoping out this northeast route back in Pittsburgh, a primary consideration was avoiding the New York City area during the daytime. I’d purposely tried to limit my naps last night in hopes I’d be able to fall asleep this morning, despite the daylight. I could use some real rest before a well-timed night raid into the Big Apple.

There’s a Jersey Mike’s Subs in Mansfield, which was my next target. At 10:16, I pulled up to the curb, headed inside, and purchased a 6″ sub to eat later. As allowed by the rules, I was able to use that receipt for both my Bingo I4 bonus as well as for starting my REST1 bonus – a nice twofer!

A couple miles away, I pulled in to my own driveway. Char was at work, so I had the place to myself for the next several hours. This now makes my third IBR where I’ve stopped at my own house during the rally – what are the odds! I quickly showered, got myself horizontal ASAP, and then…. tossed and turned. It was a lot tougher than I’d imagined to fall asleep so early in the rally outside my normal sleep cycle, even after riding through most of the night. I dozed a bit, getting perhaps 2-3 hours of fitful sleep, before I realized it wasn’t working very well. I was still too jazzed up with rally adrenaline and everything that had happened over the past 24 hours – I wasn’t truly exhausted yet.

It would not behoove me to cut the rest bonus too short, as that would defeat its original intent and put me into New York City too early. I decided to use some of the downtime to examine my route options and do some tweaking while mowing down on my turkey & ham sub.

This screenshot of the group Spotwalla map from early afternoon clearly shows the three main routes that Jeff set the riders on for this leg. By now all the northeast riders were on their return journey from Bar Harbor. I am one of the few markers left in the Boston area due to my choice to take an early rest. I started to wonder if I’d slightly miscalculated the timing somehow.

My rest had begun 15 minutes ahead of my original jotted ETA, all delays and frustrations aside. However, I’d hoped for a more assertive pace throughout the leg to make up more time over the course of the three days to beat the penalties, so I was really running slightly behind where I needed to be. Something now had to give. I had lost the option of swinging south towards Memphis, and was going to have to stick to the most direct route. That involved charging west via I-76 and I-70 after getting through NYC, grabbing up a few decent Midwest bonuses along the way down to Tulsa. I was still riding my plan, but there was no room left for error.

I looked at the Bingo bonuses to see what else I could do there. Friendly’s is primarily a northeast chain, so I definitely wanted to grab that while I was up here. The timing hadn’t worked for Luke’s Lobster in Maine or Boston, but I suddenly spotted on their website that they have a location in Newport, Rhode Island. I had personally never heard of Luke’s, as they only have a handful of locations scattered around the country in select cities. There was no telling if I’d be going through Las Vegas, San Fran, or Chicago during later legs in this rally (or at what time of day), so it seemed a no-brainer (at the time) to swing down through Newport to pick it up.

After checking my route against the current reality and timing, I felt I should probably curtail my rest bonus a bit. The points weren’t worth all that much and it would already be a long hard ride over the next 24+ hours to make the checkpoint before penalties. I had to budget time for another nap tonight, since today’s daytime sleep experiment had failed so miserably. But I needed to strike a balance with timing my entry to NYC after the rush, so I figured ending the rest about 45 minutes early would do.

I geared back up and left my house around 17:30, before Char even got home from work, picking up another receipt at Jersey Mike’s to end my REST1 bonus after 7.3 hours.

Then I took a few minutes standing by the bike to complete my CALL1 call-in bonus, leaving a voice message for the rally staff with my name, rider number, current location, previous bonus and next intended bonus. I was a bit confused by the voicemail greeting, which said something to the effect of “Everything is back to normal at the checkpoint in Tulsa. Riders should stick to the original schedule for the checkpoint.” or something like that. Well, I hadn’t known about any other plan, so I guess this is good? Anyhoo, no time to dwell on it now, gotta get west!

Leaving Jersey Mike’s behind, I proceeded to ride south via a series of my well-worn local roads, picking my way down through Rehoboth to Swansea, where I stopped in at Friendly’s for my Bingo G4 bonus.

The onramp to I-195 was right around the corner. I rode the slab a few miles east to Fall River, then MA 24 south into Rhode Island, passing through Tiverton and onto Aquidneck Island. I watched my speed along RI 114 through heavily-patrolled Middletown, but followed a local rabbit or two when the opportunity arose. The tourist traffic was surprisingly light into Newport, but knowing the dearth of parking spaces in downtown, I’d picked my approach. I found the motorcycle-only parking spots on Market Square (Street View FTW!), left the bike running, and jogged between a few buildings on Bowen Wharf.

The diminutive Luke’s Lobster really was just a shack on the small shopping plaza here. The guys manning the counter were super friendly and curious, especially when I requested they just ring me up for the cheapest thing they had, a drink or whatever, but without giving me the item. I quickly explained the rally, using the scavenger hunt analogy and they seemed pretty psyched that their place was a stop for a nationwide event. It sounded like they had seen at least one other rider already. I secured my receipt around 18:50 and took the photo for Bingo bonus N5 with the counter guys waving. I returned a wave in thanks as I jogged away back to my bike, documented the stop, and got back on the road.

I navigated out of downtown Newport to RI 138 to cross the bridges of Narragansett Bay, feeling pretty pleased with myself for spotting this location and finding quick and easy parking. I was glad I wouldn’t need to be tempted to hit any of the busier city locations for this chain on later days of the rally. Once I’d crossed Conanicut Island and reached North Kingstown on the western shore of the bay, I followed some lovely back roads directly west, to pick up I-95 at the Wyoming exit.

I blasted west on 95 down into and across Connecticut, putting the miles away quickly as evening wore into night. Char read me some of the official rally blog updates that had finally begun to trickle out, and this is when I found out that Lisa Rufo and daughter Molly had struck a deer that morning, taking them out of the rally. I couldn’t believe it and was so relieved that they were mostly unscathed. Husband Steven was continuing with his rally solo, so I guessed that meant Lisa was probably doing OK, all things considered, since she wouldn’t let him stop! I sent thoughts of healing to the ladies and good luck to Steven with his Unfinished Business.

I fueled up around 21:00 at a service plaza in Fairfield CT. 24 hours from now I needed to at the checkpoint hotel in Tulsa or face penalty points. My next stop was just off the highway in Darien CT, to visit a Shake Shack and secure Bingo bonus O4.

Shortly after that, I crossed back into New York state and veered northwest on I-287 to avoid the George Washington Bridge. Before tackling the big city itself, there was one mid-value bonus to bag in the northeastern New Jersey city of Fairlawn. This is a part of New Jersey where you don’t really want to be riding a motorcycle (or doing anything else for that matter). Dense urban, commercial and industrial landscape everywhere.

Taking 287 to the Garden State Parkway got me very close, and traffic on the local streets wasn’t too bad at all by this time of night. I pulled into the parking lot of the CALMAC corporation and got my photo for bonus NJFL “Hot Dog Rollers – Calvin Cal McCracken”.

You know them, you love them, the hot dog rollers you see in every convenience store. Those were invented by Calvin McCracken, owner of 80 patents including designs for the combustion chamber of the world’s first jet engine. McCracken founded his company, Jet Heet, in 1947, later renaming it CALMAC.

I continued on NJ 4 to cross the Passaic River and turned south on NJ 20 to parallel the stream. After several miles, I turned east on NJ 3 through Rutherford and merged onto route 495 to cross under the Hudson River via the Lincoln Tunnel. That’s always an experience and still crowded even at this late hour. I had to put my foot down a couple of times, but got across in fairly short order, emerging onto the always-crazy streets of Manhattan just before 23:00. Once my GPS signals were re-acquired (always an unnerving few minutes), I had Google pick my route through the city.

It took 15 minutes to pick my way through the city grid and pull up in front of Katz’s Delicatessen on East Houston St. Amazingly, I found an empty parking spot directly in front and proceeded to snap my photo for 1200 point bonus NYNY.

A $25 Pastrami sandwich? Katz’s legendary sandwiches are that good.

Unfortunately, sampling said sandwich will have to wait for another time when I’m here during the day, and likely not on two wheels in the middle of a rally. Sure sounds delicious right about now though!

My sights were now set on getting down to Coney Island, so I continued to follow Google Maps’ directions to get through downtown, away from the hubbub, and across the East River to Brooklyn. Taking I-278 and the Belt Parkway felt a little bit familiar from past rally incursions, so I had some comfort in knowing what to expect. I just kept my pace steady, focused, and reasonable while all the hot rods with young bucks driving them went peeling around me at breakneck speeds, looking for attention, trouble, or both. My inner mantra for forays into NYC is: Chill out to get out (alive).

About 30 minutes from Katz’s deli, I peeled off the parkway to Coney Island. Within minutes, I was pulling up to the curb at “Nathan’s Famous”, bonus NYBR, worth a hefty 1400 points. Things were quiet here compared to Manhattan, and even compared to the last time I was here in daylight to kick off my 50CC Gold ride in 2017.

Nathan’s Hot Dogs are one of, if not the most, famous hot dogs in the world.

Quickly documenting my stop, I glided down the block and around the corner onto Stillwell Ave, where I’d waypointed a convenient White Castle right next door when scouting my approach to Nathan’s. They were clearly open for business, so after snagging my photo, I went in for a receipt to document Bingo bonus G5. The counter girl was practically speechless that that I didn’t want to wait for my drink. “You go ahead and have it yourself!” I called out to her as I strode back out to my running bike, checking that the receipt was good.

I made my way briskly but carefully off of Coney and Long Islands, via the Verrazano Bridge, then across Staten Island and back over into New Jersey, hitting I-95 around 12:10. So it took me about an hour and 20 minutes all told to swoop in and back out of the NYC metro area for three nice bonuses worth 3000 points – a reasonably successful night mission! Now it was time to simply twist the wrist for as long as I could remain alert.

Zipping down the New Jersey Turnpike was a breeze at this hour. I stayed with I-95 after Trenton and then picked up I-276 to I-76 for the run back across Pennsylvania. There was a small daylight-only bonus in Hershey that was useless to me at this hour, so I just kept turning those wheels, taking advantage of the empty highways while I could. Fueled up in Carlisle and continued west, joining I-70 into West Virginia, where I stopped just over the state line for a quick nature and stretch break at a TA truck stop.

Pushing on into Ohio and entering the Midwest, I finally felt like I could get bit of sleep and pulled into a westbound rest area east of Zanesville. It was almost 07:00, the sky was starting to lighten, and I didn’t have a lot of spare time to work with. But I laid down on one of the few picnic tables, set my alarm for 20 minutes and closed my eyes for one final nap to get me through to the checkpoint.