First Ride Report

[100mpg]

I hope ya like it, I did!

First ride (report)
I have been looking forward to this ride for quite a while. No work, Nothing to urgent chores, Nothing but riding.

I am used to getting up for work at 3:30, so I consider a 4 AM start Sleeping Late!
I open the garage at 5 AM, and suited up, ready to go. The mileage read 4486.



I have Gwen watching my back!



On the road, after gassin up, the sun comes up. Ah, beautiful Long Island. Home of streetlights
and telephone poles.



Here is where I should be making the dreaded right turn to the "Last Mile" to work. Not today
Sparky! Steady as she goes, Captain!




First stop, Rocky Point, NY. I used to live here about 1/2 block from the water so I know a few
good places to catch the runrise, over the Long Island Sound.





Heading on down the road, I kinda forgot about the bike never tripping a traffic light. So, here you are. I patted myself on the back for a few minutes, for NOT going through the red light. That got real
old, real fast, and I hung a U turn and bolted out of there.



Dead center, right behind trees...See it?



The world(?) famous, deactivated Shoreham Nuclear Power Station. Before becoming a Trucker, I drove a cab. I had picked up someone at a nearby small airport and drove them to
the most secure area in the Shoreham PP. On the way over, I asked him some questions,
nothing too specific, and he said, "Let me put it this way. When this things starts up, I am never
coming back here. This plant will never be safe." It was not his first trip to the PP.



Well, I figured the guards SHOULD have been after me by now so I went back down and headed out of there. Ya see, when you come to the gate where the guard is, there is a road that
cuts back to the right, BEFORE you get to the guard. So I went that way. He didn't chase me, he didn't even move from his booth. On the way out, I think I read the name on the security vehicle correctly.
"IDONTGIVEASHIT, inc.

Back on the road! Next stop, A Friend and former co-worker. He lives out in the sticks and my
memory being what it is, which is bad, I can never remember where the hell I make that left
turn. I have gone by several times in the last year, trying to find it and when I come upon the
road with the 2 brick towers, I think, Thats not it, I would have remembered those giant towers.
But today, I try THAT road. Well, I am not saying THAT road, WAS THE ROAD, but I will say,
he wasn't home...
At the end of THE road, there is access to the beach if you have a beach permit. Last time I
was here, the ramp was JUNK, barely able to get back up it with a 4 wheel drove, after doing
some surf casting. Well, surprise! Now it is paved with coble stones, not nearly as steep and
they have steps to walk down and a NICE Gazebo to sit and listen to the water kiss the beach. I
took this time to break out the cigar and relax. It was a very peacefull moment. Look! I told ya!





After heading down the road a few dozen miles, I am in Southhold, NY and I realize, all this
relaxing has made me hungry! I am supposed to meet someone for lunch way out in greenport
so I show some restraint and order a buttered roll. Too bad they only had a butter burger!
Butter spread (barely) as thick as a mickey d's hamburger! They charged 3 bucks for the roll
and coffee, but they made up for it with the tables and chairs outside. I unbuttered my butter
burger and woofed it down.




Heres the old iron horse. I am really starting to love the engine on this bike. After only drinving
30 minutes or so, this thing really run like a top! /sarcasism. Seriously, it does run near perfect
but it takes a good 30 minutes to reach operating temp!
Shes a beaut, eh clark? Like that top case/crate?



Southhold, NY. Home of the SUV. I must purge this info I have on my mind. ALL of these sheep
out here have a huge SUV. I understand, if you need one, then you need it. I myself have a
S-10 Pickup, because I NEED it. BUT, these people do not need a huge tank of a vehicle to go
to the deli to pick up some egg sandwiches. baaaaaaa.....
I know, I got the pics of the subaru, but they were flying in and out so fast, I missed the biggger
suv's and PU.




/rant

Down the road some, I meet stretch. In my 47 years, I have never seen such an active turtle. He
was standing in the middle of the road, with his legs stretched all the way out, and his neck
was all the way stretched out! I think this porr bastard was on the crack! By the time I slow
down, turn around and get back to him, he is making a bee line for the curb. This is abox turtle,
his shell is about 5 inches long. He hits the curb, stretches even further, and vaults up the 6
inch curb! Just then, a bird starts either attacking him, or alerting him to the fact that someone is
taking his picture. I know, it does not exactly look like a death match, but these are pics, not
video. The bird was flying quickly at the turtle, and backing away over and over, kind of
shooing him to the grass. He made it to the fence and stopped. Safe at home.







More to come.

[100mpg]

Next stop, Greenport, NY

Imagine life in 1682. That is when Greenport was settled. No cars, No electricity, No roads, No MOTORCYCLES! The horror! I wish I had a window that I could look into and catch a glimpse of life in the past. That could never happen (?) but I found if I squint my eyes, I can "see" into the past.
This chain, for instance. It is not from the 1600's or even the 1800's but maybe the early 1900's, used to anchor the whaling ships in the harbor, or haul a whaling ship out of teh water to scrape the barnacles off the hull. Making this chain, had to be one of the toughest job pf the day. Laying next to an old barn, there had to be several hundred feet of different size chain. I wanted to try to pick it up to feel the weight, but it had been there so long, I didn't want to disturb it.



There was a modern (compared to the chain!) ferry hauled up this very old ramp.



The yard is still active today, well, active meaning open. There were very few people around and most were just tinkering on their own sail boats.

Now this is a GEAR. It had to be over 10 feet tall, since it was almost as tall as myself, and half was below ground level. I have to guess that this is the remains of the old winch that hauled the boats out of the water, waaaay back when.




"ARGH! Ye not throw me in the brigg, with out a fight!" Oops, I have to stop squinting outloud.



The greenport jail. This place was small. About 15' x 25' it only had 4 windows. It was closed, and I am not sure they ever opened it. I really wanted to go inside and check it out.As you can see it was built in 1917. As bad as jail is now, it had to be hell back then. As Beretta says, "Don't do the crime, if you can't do the time" (Unless your rich)
The third pic is the maker of the jail cell. A little historic humor? E.T. Barnum?





I found this humorous. Why? I am weird.



Now comes the highlight of Greenport for me. I love working machines. Trucks of all kinds, cargo ships, fishing boats and tug boats. I have been casually searching for a small tug boat for a few years. Not to put to work, just a toy to have some fun with. I have only found them in pictures, untill today!

The little Tug that could.



I love this little tug! It is about 13 feet long, 8 feet (est) wide, and had a little 4cyl gasoline engine. I believe it was an Atomic 4. But anyone who knows tug boats, knows this baby needs a diesel engine with a stack sticking out of the pilot house roof. But looking at the condition of this boat, the owner had enough work to do.





More to come.

[GB]

[Georgiapeach]

Originally Posted by 100mpg

Next stop, Greenport, NY

Laying next to an old barn, there had to be several hundred feet of different size chain. I wanted to try to pick it up to feel the weight, but it had been there so long, I didn't want to disturb it.

This picture kind of looks like some kind of mutated squash!

[Deano955]

Good job on your first report. For the next one, your XR needs to be dirty!!

[dlew]

Nice report! Enjoyed the write-up and the pics!

[100mpg]

Originally Posted by Deano955

Good job on your first report. For the next one, your XR needs to be dirty!!

Only about half way done with this report, and being on Long Island, I would have to buy some dirt to throw on it or risk having the ATV/dirt bike cops coming after me. Or leave the island. Or, just ride through me yard at work and get more mud in 3 minutes then I could in 3 months in any state! I haven't washed it in over a year, other then rding in the rain. Does that count?
Going to put together the rest of the report. brb.

[RedneckGirl]

Nice report, 100!! I love seeing pictures of places I've never been.

[100mpg]

Ok. On to the Ferries.
From Green port, I went to Orient point. Not much to see there, except a LARGE ferry and if I
had timed it right, some protesters complaining about the ferry traffic.

The ferry has been there
for as long as I can remember. For some reason, the locals out there are up in arms about all
the traffic that coes through their town, since it is the ONLY road in and out of the ferry. To me, it
sounds like people who move in next to an airport or a Race track and suddenly say "Hey!!
Thats too noisy!" I don't know, but I also don't care! HA! If, in the future, I decide to move next to
an airport and complain, you can walk up to me and punch me in the face, because I will not
even know how stupid I really am, so it won't matter. BUT, you better make sure I moved in.
Cause i am not that stupid...
Orient Point, NY to New London, CT ferry



Surprising to me is that there were not many cars at all on line to board the ferry. But
people...There were plenty! They were walk on and I think they may have been headed out to
waste some money.



Fucking dragon flys.



/bugporn

Here I am, on the little ferry to Shelter Island. 6 bucks, 5 minutes, bam. I am on the Island.



Shortly after we left the dock, these boats were at the next dock down and they certainly
looked like Ex-military boats of some sort. I haad watched them down one of the side streets I
was puttin up and down looking for some adventure. They had regular people on them (as
opposed to military, not irregular people) so I am guessing it is a tourist business of sorts.
LOTS of wealthy people live on Shelter Island and have some amazing house to show off.






Anyone know what they are?
The only pictures I took on Shelter Island were the "Action" shots. That is, me trying, for the first time, a picture on a moving motorcycle. How the hell do you people do it? I was only doing
35 and in the famous words of Rosane Rosanna Danna, "I thought I was gonna die"
But although I did get 6 pics, only two are worth posting.




I was surprised on the roads out on SI. They were smooth, no traffic and under shade trees
which made for some very cool low speed twisties. Yeah, I know, but I ride easy and this was
fun for me, because it was a surprise and it was a surprise!
Just another ferry ride off the Island. For most people. But me, being the observer of things
most people don't notice, I would like to point out the angle of the ferry. When you have a 25
car ferry and only put on 8, the boat is going to lean. Well, maybe I was hungry, getting a little
tired or this is actually funny to somebody else, but all the cars were towards the bow. And that
lifted the back of teh boat up a little higher then level. Ok, WAY higher. Not sure if it shows on
these pics here they are anyway. It felt like we were preparing to dive!!





'Ye ol' abandoned house. It looks less spooky in the pic then it did in person. Not that I ran
away from it after talking the picture, but it looked "cool" spooky.




On to Montauk Point.
It is a nice ride out to the end of the south fork. Some spots acually get back up to 55 MPH! And
before you get to that super high speed slab, you BETTER do the POSTED LIMIT! East
Hampton police have no leeway. They will write you for 1 over the posted limit. I always do
anyway so I have no problem with that.
Here is the first stop after the cool house. It is the over look at Hither Hills State Park. Wow, you
know this is what an over look SHOULD look like! You can see the Atlantic ocean to the south
and and the bay to the north.






Into the park. Well, being the thrifty adv rider that I am, I say to the guy at the parking lot. "Hey,
bikes don't have to pay, do they?" He says "Yes, 6 dollars please". I uuie the hell out of there.
There is more then one way to get my pics. The place is a big loop, once you leave the lot,
you are headed for the egress. I see the turn around and I take it. Loop back to the Light
house, stop and click. Six bucks? ha.






I have some pics, somewhere, of the inside of the light house. I did the tour a few years back
and climbed to the top. and yes, I am out of shape. I was 45 atthe time and it kicked my ass!
STEEP spiral cement steps, that never seem to end. Once you are at the top, it is an amazing
view. (checking to see if I have the pics...) Nope, must be on the lap top. Another day maybe.
On the way home, I get stuck in some east hampton traffic. All the East Ender going back to the
city so soon? It is usually only this bad on sundays. Ok, Its hot. But I have the cure for that. A
chocolate carvel cone. yum.



One more stop. The friend that was not home in the begining of the trip, He is now home and is
not happy with pics so I had to be bery bery sneaky. We talked, caught up with live and I am on
the way, but first a quick pic. Got it, cya! He didn't know what clicked 'em.



So there you have it. I could have taken more pictures, seen more sights, but I really needed
the "Ride" portion of this ride. There will be others, soon enough and I know I can't wait.
209 miles, in about 11-12 hours. Lots of stops, S L O W speeds most of the day and a bit of
traffic. Not bad, not bad at all.

[MountainClimber]

are yard patrol craft used by the Naval Academy to train the midshipen how to navigate on the open ocean. the "regular" people you saw on them was probably the crew in civies getting ready to head out for some liberty.

http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_di...&tid=2500&ct=4

[100mpg]

Originally Posted by etj_mountainclimber

are yard patrol craft used by the Naval Academy to train the midshipen how to navigate on the open ocean. the "regular" people you saw on them was probably the crew in civies getting ready to head out for some liberty.

http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_di...&tid=2500&ct=4

They did have the YP on them. But I would swear they had some touristy lookin senior folks on em... Parents maybe?

[MountainClimber]

might have been. Might also have been just some looky loos. I never went out on the YP's, I did the sail boats and we got our fair share of dock people coming by for a visit and to take a look below decks.

[100mpg]

Sorry about digging this up, but I was going through my subscriptions to delete some and found the pictures were missing. I re-posted the pics, and they are still not working? Anyone else see the pic, or a red X or just a blank space, which is what I see... I got Firefox.

[PWRCRZR]

Originally Posted by 100mpg

Sorry about digging this up, but I was going through my subscriptions to delete some and found the pictures were missing. I re-posted the pics, and they are still not working? Anyone else see the pic, or a red X or just a blank space, which is what I see... I got Firefox.

Pics are there, it's that Firefox thing

[100mpg]

Originally Posted by PWRCRZR

Pics are there, it's that Firefox thing

turns out, it is the 100MPG thing...I had them in the wrong directory...