Interstates, secondary highways and local roads

We left Wild Willy's in the rain and it kept up for most of that day. We started out on some windy local roads through the hills and small towns of West Virginia. Then found a state highway and finally followed some interstates east, then north. We drove back home from southern West Virginia in 3 days, stopping for the night in Parkersburg WV, then in Erie PA.
The only reason to get on an interstate is speed: to get there quickly. Set the cruise control (just a bit slower than the car that just passed you) and try to stay awake. Caffeine in any form generally helps! On our final day we covered 780 kilometers from Erie PA to Montreal, entirely on interstates, something that wouldn't be possible on the backroads.
Those backroads, however, are where the intetesting stuff happens. Small towns, farmer's markets or even a gun sale. The roads are fun to drive: they have curves and you need to constantly adjust your speed. And when you need to stop, you can walk into a local restaurant or gas station where people are generally happy to chat with strangers. Interstates on the other have these generic rest stops for food and gas with chain fast food restaurants.

There are always lots of choices as to how to get from point A to point B. The question is do you choose to focus on the journey or on the destination?

Wild Willy

Monday morning we left Manhattan and headed south. We rode just over 900 km in 2 days with a night stay in Hagerstown MD. We followed interstate 81 which is basically a truck route with as many 18-wheelers as anything else.
We arrived at Wild Willy's ATV Rezort (near Bluefield West Virginia) Tuesday night. Just in time too because withn 30 minutes of arriving there was a huge thunder storm and heavy rain.
Wednesday we rented a UTV and hit the Hatfield McCoy trails, a huge network of dirt and mud off-road trails through the hills. At one point we got stuck in a mud hole that was waist deep and had to push the thing out. Luckily it started once out of the water, but then about 10 minutes later the front axel broke and we needed to call Willy for a tow. To make it up to us, he gave us some chicken and BBQ sauce for our supper. 

Manhattan

Sunday started off grey and drizzly. We walked to The National September 11 Memorial and then to Battery park and took a tour in a water taxi. We got off the tour near Greenwich village and walked into the gay pride parade. We kept walking, and did a little shopping on Broadway.
Next we thought we'd ride to central park but the traffic and closed streets made me abandon the bike at 34th street, about halfway there. After some dinner in Hell's Kitchen we made our way to Time Square, then got back on the bike for a little night ride through town!

Adirondacks to Brooklyn

After a good night's sleep in the new tent, the Sierra Designs Lightning 2 UL, we started the day with a polar bear swim in Lake George then had some breakfast and coffee at a diner and headed south for 'The City'.

It started to rain from about 100 miles from NYC, so we stopped, got some gas and geared up for a wet ride. The Saturday traffic started from the George Washington Bridge all the way down the Harlem River Drive /FDR Drive and over the Brooklyn Bridge. Finally, we get to the 'good deal' I found on Expedia and quickly realize there was no way we were staying there. Between the line up of homeless in front of the building to the dirty looks we got on the street and in the Wendy's where we stopped, we decided we needed a better solution for the next 2 nights. So we spent a few hours driving around, calling and finally getting a room right near Wall street. It was pouring rain all evening and we were pretty soggy by the time we checked in.