Gypsy Stats:12 hr 47 min elapsed time
8 hrs riding time
378.1 miles
47.3 ave mph
48.0 ave mpg (Beemer based on gas receipts)
$4.03/gal ave for 92-93 octane
Beemer stats:
387.6 miles
47 ave mph
49 ave mpg
Tim: ’00 Triumph Sprint ST 955 Triple
Dave: ’99 Triumph Sprint ST 955 Triple (aka Smokin’ Red)
Lindsey: ’07 BWM R1200R
Rich: Yellow Buell
The day started with a heavy overcast and haze in the air, not enough to sweep droplets of moisture onto the visor, but enough to put a grey blur on the hills in the distance. Temperatures were in the mid to upper 60's so I dressed in low-summer garb, long sleeve base layer, suit with liners, summer gloves. I had parked the bike with 210 miles on the clock since the last gas stop. Given my experience in Oakland, MD, with 206 miles on, and not sure how far I would have to go to find a station open at 7:00 am on a Sunday, I decided to put about a quart of lawn mower gas in the tank before I headed out. A couple of years ago, the guy at the chainsaw store had convinced me that it was worth a couple of extra cents to use better quality gas in small engines; I had the Wawa premium in the lawn mower can, so no worries about the octane. As it was, I found the pumps on at RJ's Quick Stop (formerly Mike's garage) at the corner of 562 and Sunrise Lane and was soon filled up and ready to go.
Since it was a three day weekend and the opening of the summer season, the plan was to go long on Sunday. We had already seen the Tunkhannock Viaduct in Nicholson and the Roebling Aqueduct in Lackawaxan so we decided to have a look a the Starrucca Viaduct in Lanesboro. Rich showed up on Drippy, the Yellow Buell, with limited time and things to do on the day, so we settled on Nesquehoning Fire House for breakfast to give a reasonable short ride for him and a launch to the north for the rest of us.
Full of firehouse breakfast, we said goodby to Rich, who headed home, and made our way north. North of the mountain, Rhododendron was at its peak. Temperatures were rising into the low 70's and the sky remained overcast with occasional sunny breaks. We rode north and east across the Pocono plateau eventually heading up Rt 115 towards Blakeslee. Buck River Rd over to Rt 435 turned out to be a great run with twisties following the stream. Rt 435 is a reasonably nice blue highway crossing the Poconos with long straight stretches through the scrubby softwood forests typical of the area. Eventually it brought us to the east side of Scranton where we hopped on the Interstate to fly over the city. Our route north out of Throop essentially followed the Lackawanna River, past Stillwater Lake, and eventually up Rt 171 to Lanesboro. The Starrucca Viaduct was built in 1848 to carry the Erie Railrood across the Starrucca Creek valley. It is 1040 feet long, 100 feet high and is the oldest stone railroad bridge in use in the State of Pennsylvania today. It is clearly industrial construction. The quarried stone is not face dressed, still showing the drill holes from where the feather-and-wedges were used to split it into blocks. There are large corbels at the bottom the arch to hold the falsework for the arch construction.
By this time,the sun had come out, the sky was blue with white clouds, temperatures were climbing into the low 80's and we were stripped down to high-summer gear: short base layer under suit with liners removed. Time to head home down Rt 92 which just happens to pass through Nicholson, site of the Tunkhannock Viaduct visited last year, but more importantly, home of the Ice Cream Stand in the shadow of the viaduct. At 3:00 we took a half hour break for ice cream and a drink. Tim and Dave settled on Chocolate-Vanilla soft swirl but I held out for a scoop of butter pecan in a waffle cone - extrageniferous - with a cup of coffee.
Refreshed,we started for home. Leaving Nicholson, I checked the tire pressure with the on-board gauge and found the rear at 31 psi. Uh,oh. This was 35 and stable this morning. I rode about 3 more miles, monitoring the pressure and saw it drop to 30. Bummer. Off into a Denny's parking lot, up on the center stand, and sure enough, there's a big old fencing staple in my new Michelin.I was thinking this meant riding 100 miles home, two-up, to get the pickup truck and ramps but it turns out that not only did Dave spend his formative years in a tire shop patching tires, he carries a tubeless tire patch kit with him on the bike. In less than 15 minutes, he had the staple out and two patches in the holes with 24 psi still left in the tire, enough to ride a slow mile down the road to the Sunoco station and the air pump. OK, lesson for the day: picking up a nail is not a major catastrophe; picking up a nail without a tire patch kit on board is. I am definitely going to hit the back pages of the Aerostich catalog for one of these tonight.
We filled her up to 40 psi and resumed our trek. At this point it was getting late and we needed to make tracks, so we jumped on the slab (I 81 in this case) at Pittston and tuned 'er up. I have to say (in fact I think I said last time) that while I love the blue highway twisties, when it's time to get from A to B, the Interstate highway system is beautiful thing. And at the end of the day, these bikes are fun to ride no matter which road you're on. And they just eat up the traffic, of which there was not too much on a Memorial Day Sunday evening zooming across the Pocono plateau down into the Valley and Ridge Province.
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