Strider's 2014 Trip Report Thread

Day Three

The Day Three alarm came early, as - once again - I had arrived late and we then stayed up late working on the bike, drinking beer, and looking at GoPro footage from our trip to The Dragon a couple of weeks before. Well, it was a work day after all, so I bid my friends goodbye, and they pulled off to work. I stayed in their driveway for a while, looking at the route, trying to figure out how I would work out grabbing Pennsylvania and Rhode Island on my way up to Maine. I was also looking for a bike shop that I might pass on my way up. I had been having trouble with the helmet mount for my Sena SMH10, and wanted to get a replacement mount. I use aftermarket speakers in the helmet that plug into one of their mounts that's made for use with earbuds. The connection is a dongle type jack, and is a known failure point - and mine failed. By this point in the trip, I had lost all sound from the right speaker.

With a route chosen, I set off for Maine. The plan was to cross the Delaware River in New Jersey, near Philly - to grab Pennsylvania, and then to run due east from Hartford, Connecticut towards Rhode Island. Along the way I got Delaware too. It was on this day that I really regretted not taking the time to mount up the GoPro. I mean, how often can you look over from atop your mount and see the New York City skyline? At least when your home is in Texas, twenty minutes south of Houston, that is. Anyway, seeing NYC from the bike was one of the 'this is PRETTY COOL!' moments that I had on the trip. I scanned the horizon for Lady Liberty, but couldn't see her from my vantage point.

As you might expect, traffic near NYC was heavy to say the least, so some lane splitting was in order to save a little time, and to save both the bike and me from the heat. Well, I knew it was tight in there - the lanes were Quite narrow at times - but I didn't realize until a couple of days later just how tight it was. I noticed these marks on my left side Givi case one evening in the hotel room ...





Needless to say, it looks like I just barely squeezed through one of those times.

As the evening wore on, east of Hartford and near Dayville, I encountered a disabled motorcyclist. He was the second guy I had seen on the side of the road with their bike. The first guy just waved me on as I slowed to see if he needed help. This young man though, was obviously frustrated, so I stopped. As it turned out, he had just purchased the bike about 30 minutes before, and was still an hour away from home. The bike's electronics just started going nuts, he said, and then it stopped running. I was able to jump his bike and get it started, but it wouldn't stay running, so I suggested that perhaps he needed a new battery. Either that or it was gonna be the R&R, and that would require a tow. His phone was dying, so he used mine to call for help. Fortunately a homeowner came out and offered us a spot on his driveway, away from the traffic of the roadway. Once he was all set with help on the way, and a safe place to wait - I was on my way again.



Taking 101 into Rhode Island, I was able to top Jerimoth Hill, the highest natural point in the state. From there I hightailed it towards Bradbury Mountain State Park in Maine, where I would camp for the night. Once again, I arrived late and set up in the dark. Having done this so many times now, I am actually fairly proficient at the 'night setup' drill. Here are pictures from the next morning ...





Another Houston Firefighter that I have a trip to Colorado Springs planned with, asked me what all I carry, and how I strap it down to the bike, so I took these pictures for him ...







 
Great trip report and great photos! It was great of you to stop for that guy. I often slow down and see if people need help and would like the same for myself in a time of need.

Your packing skills are fantastic! That's an OCD dream right there
 
Ditto! I know how it feels to be on the side of the road on a bike, stranded. I always slow down and wave to see if they need some assistance with most times being waved on. I will say the day I had the blow out on my friend's Hardley, no one stopped to see if I needed help! Hahahaha!!!, Not even other Hardley riders! Hmmm????

On a different note, Strider, I noticed the power plug from under your seat. Does that get "pinched" under there like that?
 
Strider, thats a bummer about your bike. Is your bike fixed now or were these pics before bike was flooded? Good luck with that. You are one funny dude!!
 
Nice to see another Rider sharing his travels. I like to think that these threads serve as inspiration for others; to get out and explore, if not document their adventures. Good stuff, keep it going.
 
YZFRiderNY said:
On a different note, Strider, I noticed the power plug from under your seat. Does that get "pinched" under there like that?
Click to expand...


No, it doesn't get pinched. There is enough wiggle room under there, and actually if you pop the seat off and look, there is kind of a drop in the little raise edge under the seat. You can fiddle around with the plug cord and route it so that it doesn't get pinched.

I use that socket to charge my Sena helmet comm while riding. I just run the charging wire inside my jacket, down the back side. You just have to remember that you're plugged in when it's time to hop off the bike for restroom stops! That's really the only time I need to get off the bike, you can stay on it for fuel stops.

And I agree - being on the side of the road, stranded, blows. It's always good to offer aid.
 
Lonney said:
Strider, thats a bummer about your bike. Is your bike fixed now or were these pics before bike was flooded? Good luck with that. You are one funny dude!!
Click to expand...


These pictures so far have all been before it was flooded. There's more coming! And OF COURSE, pictures of the aftermath of rain of 'Biblical Proportions'!

Ha, ha!! Thanks! Guys I work with have described my 'comedy' as relatively corny, and often ill timed. One described my comedic attempts saying, "Bro, you shoot out these little corny one liners and jokes like a shotgun - and you only hit every ONCE in a WHILE!" Hey, I'll take it! If somebody laughs every 'once in a while' that's good in my book!
 
Day Four

So Day four is upon us! This is the day that my wife would arrive in Portland via an 'Airbus', we would get a hotel room and a rental car, park the bike under a cover until my return trip home, and run all around Maine eating lobster!

So, first order of business - Find food and a place to wait for the Missus. I rode around aimlessly for a while just taking in Portland, and it was really nice to be just cruising and taking it easy for a while. The last three days had been all business, running hard for time, a fuel and go kind of affair. I passed quite a few places, but none of them seemed to be what I was looking for ... Until I happened upon this ...



And a good thing too, because I was a tiny bit thirsty. I decided that their Hazelnut Porter sounded like it would do the trick, and ordered one.



They had quite a few other choices ...



After a little time discussing First Meal in Maine options with my waitress, Libby, we agreed that it should be a lobster roll. We'd had the same conversation over the beer, before I settled on the porter. And I should add, I got there just after the lunch rush cleared out, which was great for a guy like me that likes to talk to the waitstaff discussing local culture, places of interest, and of course food and drink choices. And I forgot earlier, but Libby also set me up with a sample of both their Bluepaw Wild Blueberry Ale and the Sunfish Wheat. Both were good.



The lobster roll was an EXCELLENT choice!

Somewhere during all this beer and food discussion and ordering, my wife had called, letting me know that she was on the ground in Portland. So a plan was hatched. I would wait there at Sea Dog enjoying my beer and lobster roll, until she could get the rental car and join me. She was hungry, so upon her arrival, it was Round Two! Another lobster roll all for her, a clam chowder for me, and we would split a fish and chips. All good choices! I ordered another cold one, this time opting for the Sea Dog Pale Ale.



Well, traveling is a hard life, and after such a good meal, somebody was all tuckered out once we checked into the hotel room.

 
Last edited:
After this the days start to run all together, so I'm just gonna post up the pictures, and narrate as we go ...

Another slightly different shot from Sea Dog Brewing Co.



Miscellaneous shots take while we were walking around near Old Port. The old buildings and cobblestone roads were cool!









It was supposed to be a rainy day, with rain coming in from the south, so we decided to head north and make a run out to Wiscasset to get some food from Red's Eats. Their lobster rolls are legendary. Decide for yourself ...

In line at Red's, looking across the street towards Sprague's Lobster. We ate there later, on another day.



Red's patio was closed due to rain ...



So many cars ... Fortunately, the line at Red's wasn't as long as it's reported that it can be. It was raining, and it was a middle of the week day, so we didn't have to wait in line too long.



OOOHHH! So close! The aroma was killing us, lol!



With food in hand, we left Red's behind us to go and eat in our car.



And what did all of that waiting and standing around in line yield, you ask ...

Fries, fried clams ...



and ... LOBSTER ROLLS!





There was more than one entire lobster in each of those lobster rolls. We should have passed on the fries, it was a lot of food with just the clams and lobster rolls. And as a bit of advice, have some cash with you, as some of these little eateries prefer and only accept cash.

Other shots from around Wiscasset





 
And the flood photos that you've been waiting for ...

After a rainy day out and about, we decided to head in and call it an evening. After watching a little HG TV together in the room, the Missus passed out - who could blame her, you saw the lobster rolls - and I started fiddling around on the intarwebz. Well finally around 10:30 pm or so, it finally registered in my brain that a car alarm had been going off for nearly 30 minutes. Concerned that it might have been our rental car disturbing everyone in the hotel this late in the evening, I grabbed the keys and looked out the window. From our 3rd floor room, and through the rain, I could see that there were in fact car alarm type lights flashing down in the parking lot, but when I clicked the keys, nothing happened. It was at this point that I realized that the strange reflection in the parking lot was actually water, and A LOT of it - over halfway up the car doors worth of water. My eyes pan left to where I had parked the bike, right in front of the main lobby doors, only to see that there is just a small corner of the bike's cover floating in the water. The bike was on it's side, fully submerged. This was the end of my mototrip I thought. And what a soggy ending.

Well, I alerted the Wife, threw on some shoes and went down to investigate. Just a couple of hotel guests were walking about in the third floor hallway. Most of the guests had yet to be alerted to what was happening - it was well after 10pm at night, after all. I hadn't used the elevator yet for the entire time we had been checked in - I'm more of a stairs kinda guy - and I certainly wasn't going try it out now. Entering the stair well I was greeted by refugees from the first floor who where clutching their soggy luggage and trying to make sure that they were being modest in their sleeping attire. Their distraught faces were filled with disbelief. I continued downwards towards the first floor.

Upon my arrival at the bottom of the first floor landing I found that there was about six inches of water on the floor. The hotel had been flooded. It wasn't just the parking lot, it was the entire first floor as well. Still thinking of the bike, I continued towards the lobby. Here's what I found ...



Six inches of water inside, and another eight inches outside the main lobby doors that desperately wanted to get in.



The lobby itself was about two and a half to three feet higher than the parking lot outside. If I would have know that the water was rising, I probably would have brought the bike inside the lobby, where it wouldn't have been flooded. As it was though, it was already too late. The front desk staff said that the water came up very quickly, too quickly in fact to warn the guests.

This was the result of three inches of rain in ninety minutes. Crazy! Rain of Biblical Proportions.

I decided that with such high water still outside, it made no sense to go outside to try to do anything with the bike, the damage was already done, and there was still a threat of danger. Who knew how much more water was coming. It was after all, high tide on a full moon. So, I went up stairs and started the process of filling an insurance claim.

Here are some pictures of the aftermath, the morning after. Every vehicle in the parking lot was damaged, many probably totaled. Quite a few were actually floated away from their original parking spaces.







I was told that the milk factory across the street in the picture above - you can see the large silver processing containers - had to throw away over 3 million dollars worth of milk that had become contaminated by the flood waters.

And finally, the bike ... Apparently floated and tipped over ...





Wreckers and flat beds all day ...



Water lines on the hotel





Vehicles floated about ... They didn't originally park at angles like that



From our room



And I finally unwrapped her, to pick her up and assess any tip over damage.







In a pool of her own blood ...





Oh yeah, there's water in that engine ...



The cover? Trashed. Full of motor oil.



No, that's not a melted snow globe, that is my gauge cluster.

 
Flood water makes your bike dirty ...







This frame slider and the right mirror stalk took the brunt of the fall. I'm not sure how much water was there when the bike fell, so maybe that slowed it down too. In any case, fortunately there was no physical body damage to speak of.





Dirt and rust. Rust happens fast.



We wasted pretty much an entire day waiting at the hotel for the rental car and the bike to be towed, but finally they were and we got a replacement rental. The bike was towed to Reynolds Motorsports in Gorham, which is just a town or so over from Portland. They are, among other things, a certified Yamaha Dealer.

More later ...
 
Holy Mother of floods! Never would have thought of that threat while at a hotel, that SUCKS!!!

May have to start looking for higher ground when I am back there next month.

GL with your insurance company, keep us posted.
 
Thank you for posting all these! Incredible just how much water there was! It's a bit sad to see your bike like that considering how awesome it looked when I saw it in April
 
OneSizeFitsAll said:
Holy Mother of floods! Never would have thought of that threat while at a hotel, that SUCKS!!!

May have to start looking for higher ground when I am back there next month.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I didn't think of that threat either. And get a load of this - the Embassy Suites, the hotel we changed to on Saturday, because the La Quinta was sold out on Saturday - they didn't flood! The Embassy was more expensive, like about $75 dollars more per night, but in the end, it would have been much cheaper to have stayed there for the whole week. But who could have know it was gonna flood?

But since it sounds like you are going to Portland, let me suggest the Embassy Suites. By no means is it the finest hotel I have ever stayed in, but it was pretty nice. The HOT breakfast buffet was awesome, they even had an omelet chef that would make you an omelet to order. And in the evenings? Um yeah, every evening from 5:30 to 7:30 there was an 'Evening Reception' in the main lobby that included light snacks and a limited OPEN BAR!

Humn, lets see clean and adequate rooms with a just ok basic breakfast buffet, oh AND the threat of flooding, OR a suite with an AWESOME breakfast and free drinks in the evenings ... Oh yeah, and no flooding. I think the winner is clear.

We really would have saved a lot of money if we had been at the more expensive hotel. But, who knew ...

And for you other 'distance' riders, if you don't have 'Trip Interruption' coverage with you insurance, I suggest you look into it. It is only costing me $15 annually per bike, and covers you up to $500 per occurrence. It kicks in once you are at least 100 miles from home. They pay up to $100 per day for lodging, $50 per day for food, and $50 per day for transportation. I have Progressive, and that's what their coverage offers.

I didn't have it when the bike was flooded, but I have now added it to my policy.

And since we're talking money ... The flooding of the bike has caused these extra expenditures: Tow to shop -$275, Insurance deductible - $500, Rental truck to get bike back to Texas - $295, Cost to cancel her flight home, so that she could ride in the truck with me - $200, Extra fuel to truck the bike back to Texas vs riding back - $250, New bike cover - $50. Plus whatever it's gonna cost to replace the owners manual that was under the seat when she went down.
 
Dustin said:
Thank you for posting all these! Incredible just how much water there was! It's a bit sad to see your bike like that considering how awesome it looked when I saw it in April
Click to expand...

You bet! And yeah, there was a FAIR amount of water, lol.

It is kinda sad, but she'll live to see another day, and many more miles of riding ...
;)
 
That is just heart wrenching to see! That poor Yami. Well that will be a trip to remember. Hopefully you'll look back some time from now and chuckle about it. For now I hope everything gets straightened out for you.
 
Hey man it sounds like it could have been alot worse. Good thing you where " watching HD TV" is that what they call it now days? Haha You could have been out riding in that crap !! ive seen floods happen like that working Victorian houses in Cape May NJ. Water can move alot of stuff quik!! If your ever nesr the Delaware bridge again your welcome to stop here!'
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top