North America: Riding a 21 year old Goldwing: 7 - Camping in an Orchard on Lake Ontario to Burlington, VT

I rode the parkway all along the shoreline and it was fantastic. Around 5:00, I was tooling around some back roads and saw some signs that looked interesting and then stumbled on a little coastal town with marinas and shops. I went in to grab a quick bite and a drink (if only there were sweet tea in NY.)

I walked into the bar and sat down to enjoy the lake view and the food. The people there all wanted to hear who I was and why I was there, so I obliged. A girl mentioned she had just ridden the Adirondacks and that if I was headed that direction, she should advise me on my route. After 10 minutes with her and my Atlas, I had the next 6 hours of riding planned. She told me I'd never make my destination by sundown and that I should camp there in Sodus Point. Next thing I knew, I was following her Jeep Wrangler down a dirt road through an apple orchard for a few miles until the road ended at Lake Ontario. The "secret spot" wasn't secret to locals, but a traveler would never find such a jewel of a camping spot. I set up camp and she gave me a lift back to Captain Jacks and then she took off and headed for home. I was there for the night and stayed until closing when the bartender gave me a ride back to my tent. It was clearly posted no trespassing, but the girl that told me about it knew the people that owned the land and assured me I would be ok. The view when I awoke was spectacular!

The panorama from my tent.

What a way to wake up at 7:00.

I walked down a hill to a beach that had amazing rocks which were smooth from the Lake's waves and multi-colored from some geological affect which I'm not familiar with.

A bit of whittling and subsequent discovery of driftwood yielded this sculpture.

I believe that I'll leave the artwork to mother nature. Here is a fine example of her work.

When wet, the rock showed more brilliant colors than when dry. It was pretty cool.

Spending the night in the orchard was nice, but waking up there was even better. Time to hit the road... but first, a few miles of gravel.

This pattern of waking up to gravel riding cannot be healthy for a twenty-one year old Gold Wing.

The ride down Maple Avenue was great. I headed into Sodus Point to take some pictures.

Here are a few. Perhaps you'll find them even more interesting without an explanation.

I left Sodus Point and headed North East along the coast. I would explore the Adirondacks and go to Saranac Lake and Lake Placid. I had to hang a U-Turn to photograph this though. This is for every New Yorker that told me Southerners were backward. I laughed for the next three miles.

The ride along the lake was beautiful. I was surprised by how many modest homes lined the shore. Sure, there were huge lakefront compounds, but there were also many homes with amazing views that looked as if the homeowners could work at one of the nearby plants or farms. Very cool. After riding the gulf coast over Christmas, and the Carolina Beaches earlier in this trip, seeing something in between the beachfront mansions in beach towns and the beachfront shanty's in the impoverished South was really nice.

No sooner than I made it to the mountains than it began raining. The fog was so bad, that even during dry periods, visibility was terrible.

My cell phone had died and wouldn't charge. I decided to make Burlington before sundown to get to a Verizon store. Surely in Burlington there is downtown camping.

My GPS sent me to a neighborhood rather than to a store. I asked a Dad and his teenage son for directions. They gave me none. Instead, (after hearing my story) the Dad told his son to get in the car and let me follow him to the store. It took nearly 20 minutes. What a nice guy. I wish I could send them a note.

I got a new phone as the sun set. My headlight had quit working so parking before dusk was paramount. I rode three miles past the University of Vermont and camped in a State Park on Lake Champlain and then walked downtown to eat dinner and drink beer like a civilized person. The craft beer was cold and delicious and the people friendly. I do like Vermont.

In the morning, I broke camp and rode downtown to the Chew-Chew festival. It's a food festival on the waterfront; a food festival with a funny name. I met Gino and Sophia, he is from Boston and she from Montreal. They married two years ago and have been on the road traveling the country selling custom jewelry at festivals. They were among the nicest people I'd met. They'd just returned from Mt. Airy NC (aka "Mayberry" from The Andy Griffith Show.) Between his Boston accent and her French one, the three of us provided eavesdroppers with a cacophony of regional sounds.