Day 13 - August 18 Upstate New York

It was a beautiful morning in Niagara Falls with a temp of 71 when we pulled out at 7:40am.  We drove right back down to the falls to get some daytime pics before we headed out towards the Adirondacks.

When we pulled away from Niagara Falls we chose 18 as our route to Rochester.  This is part of the Lake Ontario Circle Tour.  Riding in the Great Lakes area has been really nice.  The roads are good and the little towns we slow down for provide quite a picture book story of mid-western lake life.  The lakes themselves are provide an incredible back drop. 

 

After hitting the Rochester, NY HD store, we continued on 104 towards Watertown. This part of New York is very much like riding in northern Wisconsin and upper Michigan.  I was surprised by how many roadside fruit and veggie stands there were.  The corn fields gave way to orchards and it became obvious to me that there's more to this state the just one big apple. There were bushels of apples.  It was also notable that there's an ongoing discussion in this area about windmills.  Neighbors voiced their opinions with signs that either read, "Harvest the Wind, Vote Yes" or "Too Large, Too Close, Vote No".  It must be quite the political battle as most the neighbors felt strongly enough to post a sign in their yard and the debate went on for miles. 

We took a break at FX Caprara HD in Adams Center, NY near Watertown.  From there we continued east on 3 into the Adirondack Mountains. The first thing I noticed about the Adirondack Park was the smell.  It had a wonderful scent different from the great smell I associate with Island Park, ID and West Yellowstone, MT.  As I looked at the trees I attributed the aroma to the large variety of trees that make up the forest here.  Unlike the forests around home, there are many many types of trees creating the woods here.  Torrey mentioned that they were also very dense forest areas noting that you couldn't see into the forest.  Thankfully, we didn't have any deer pop out at us.  If they had, we wouldn't have any time to see them coming.  Highlights of Olympic Scenic Tour include Tupper Lake, Saranac Lake, and the Lake Placid area.

We arrived in Plattsburgh, NY too late to visit the Harley store.  It was a long day of riding. There weren't any restaurants near our hotel, so we opted to find dinner in the nearby gas station.  Yum!

Total Miles traveled today: 434.4 miles
Time to travel that distance: 12 hours again, UGH!
Total Cumulative miles: 5198
Tomorrow: The splits