Trying to squeeze any kind of road time before the harsh winter sets in Tuesday the 23 October looked as good as any. Couple problems...1) getting home at midnite usually don't go to bed till 3am and while it was suppose to reach 60 by mid day that means it'll be no more then 35-36 degrees or even less in the morning.

Co worker at work and who has 5 kids recently purchased a 1999 Kawasaki something..it looks like a road king, windshield,hard saddle bags and all. With 3 kids he's lucky to even have that. He was wanting to get together and if I could take him about agreed Tuesday was good for him too. We agreed to meet at 0730 hours.

I didn't get that mucxh sleep. When you work 2nd shift you don't come right home and go to bed. I probably got at the most 3 hours sleep. I was up at 0630 hrs peeing the dogs and getting ready. It was 36 degrees,lol.

Met my friend at Dennys for 0730 hrs, had a big breakfast and headed off towards Laconia by 0800hrs.

On the way we see this 200' lumber jack by a saw mill. We parked the bikes for the photo op. Go to take the picture..battery dead..yeah. Any ways get to Laconia HD and there closed for the day. We hemmed and hawed about goinbg further north or poke around weirs beach. Its still not even 40 degrees.We decided to head towards N. Conway and the https://www.whitehorsegear.com/ to pick up motorcycle stuff.

During the summer the ride from Laconia to White horse gear in N Conway is grid lock with ass hat tourist s-bags every where. Much to my happiness it was a straight unhampered ride to WHG. No traffic no cars and the scenic moutain foliage while on the way out but still panoramically enjoyable.

Got to WHG and I bought my wife a heated vest, for the bike a solid portable air compressor and complete tubeless tire repair kit. Those guys at WHG are 110% hands. You tell them what you wnat, they go with you to the warehouse and show you the options. Good thing cause I would have never figured the best combo for the heated vet on the bike for my wife. I didn't want to hard wire it or have it on the battery posts either.

After spending some time there we back tracked and ran over the Kangamangus highway to Lincoln,NH and on to I-93 south, to 25A in Plymouth,NH to 118 thru Dorchester,nh and home. Started out at 7am and got home a few minutes before 4pm. About 250-275 miles for the day. The sun did come out at 11:00 and hit its predictable 60-61 degree pinnacle and which made it most enjoyable.

The Kangamangus https://www.kancamagushighway.com/ was particularly enjoyable and reccomend that for anyones bucket list. And if you ever want to consider me your contact local HD guy.

Way back when I was living back in NY, I went to Laconia '95. My buddy lived in Hudson and we rocketed up on of those highways @ 100+ chasing some sport bikes that trip. Nice countryside from what I could make out of the blur. It was June so everything was green and lush.
I loved the ride from Albany to Hudson. Rt 2 east started it and after my first time I knew the road by heart.
I kinda miss those roads, out here they really don't exist.
I DON'T MISS THE WEATHER. 38 is about the coldest it gets here, although mid/late winter I will see frost on the roof before the sun hits it and even a little ice in a puddle of water. Never on the road though - thankfully.
Wier's beach is nice, I'd like to go there when it's not as busy - there aren't thousands of bikers - just to enjoy a nice time.
Good trip.

Sounds like you guys had a great ride. Your buddies bike sounds like a Kawasaki Nomad. My old boss had one and he swore by it.

Been meaning to ride that Hudson Valley route.

Another enjoyable romp is the Mohawk trail, st rt 2 in Massachusetts: https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=moh ... ORM=HDRSC2 as all scenic rts this one gets equally congested in the Summer and fall leave changing seson. Also Mt Greylock is a slight detour but worth it. Spectacular views. Mountain Lions/ pumas/ catamounts have been sighted in the area.

Definately Laconia is way better in Spring or late Fall (after the leaf peeping seson). All other times and especially bike week is BS. You go during those busy seasons they'll be no enjoying oneself for all the defensive manuevering.

Again any members here venturing this way please feel free to use me as a rider friendly point of contact. I'm about 60 miles from Laconia.

It kinda sucked at first. From 0700hrs to about 1100hrs it was ass biting cold, dark and over cast. 36-38 degrees. Finally the sun came out and our spirits were invigorated and the juice was worth the squeeze!

Yeah I thought he got one heck of a deal on it. Clean,low mileage and just in need of TLS which my friend did when he first got his hands on it. We both knew the previous owner and he was a negligent ride it hard and no PM kinda rider.

My best riding buddy lives on the cape now. We grew up together, rode mini bikes etc..., my best rides were with him. He's the one I went to Laconia with when he lived in NH.
He moved out here for a couple years because of business but then got transferred to MA.
While he was here we toured the west coast - he had a 95 RK with some minor differences - pic is in my album of the 2 bikes.
Back when I first bought my bike he was in NH and I was in NY - I used to visit him on a regular basis.
I took that trip many times, rt. 2 out of NY -> VT -> NH. Stops along the way at a candy store, a cafe and some really cool antique shops with nautical stuff.
Can't say what the trip would be like today, but they were doing major work to the roads while I rode them. It should be even nicer now - wider - safer (hopefully).
I did have one very close call in all those trips. As I was coming around a blind corner at 45mph or so, a jeep grand Cherokee was passing over the double yellow coming right at me. I pushed that right side handle bar almost into the dirt... missed by mere inches - no exaggeration!! After that the ride changed for me- I was never as relaxed. So, long story short - Its a beautiful ride each way as long as you stay extra vigilant.
The Hudson Valley riding is really nice, I lived in Albany the first year I had my bike. I went everywhere within a 100 mile radius at least once that year. You cant go wrong with upstate NY. Always a nice road with good food and services. I went apple picking - Oct is a great time to tour Upstate. Lots of farm land and wooded areas to venture through. Mohawk valley kinda flattens out into central NY and the Finger lakes area. I preferred the Heidelberg Mountains to tour through. Very rolling scenic and easy to navigate.
I'd like to ride through the whole area again - don't know when...
North of Albany towards Canada is more like your neck of the woods - literally. Hard to tell the difference the trees all look the same. Great roads though. We used to go to Lake George for a day with the gf's. RT 9 north was busy but had nice stretches in between the towns. 87 - the Northway always had cops on it so we were careful not to speed. Probably no different now.
If you get a nice day you can easily round trip it in daylight or take the wife for a BnB overnight. Win - Win, you get some great saddle time AND points with the girl.

You can spend days in the Finger lakes...a little known region. Adirondacs,Lake Placid and surrounding area's too. The Northeast is in some cases, spooky,lol. Yeah spooky. Whether upstate NY, rural Maine or podunk Vermont there are some scary remote sections that bring back memories of those inbred killer cannibal movies and you're looking to expediantly get back to civilization as quick as possible,lol. Quite frankly some northeast rural roads start off with great expectations and end up 15 miles later blocked by a large pile of impassable dirt. The last 5 miles was dirt. Wonder why that is? West Virginia ain't got nothing on the rural Northeast...A'm I lying? (When in rural Maine you can feel Stephen Kings inspiration).

I know what your talking about it being spooky out there in the wooded back roads... can't tell ya how many times I made that work in my favor, way back in the dating days of my youth...

As for West Virgina... if you have ever heard the term "Long Pig" you know why I'll never set foot there without armed friends on 24 hour guard.
Now that goes way past spooky friend.

True that.

I remember one time I was leaving Manhattan,KS and eventually heading northeast. I was in my early 20's, the mid 1970's, wasn't married yet and didn't have a GF at the time, I think I had 3-4. I didn't take my normal route to my moms house in Rhode Island as there was another person with me and who wanted us to ride together. Problem was he lived in NC. So we dropped down and took the I-40 east. Somewhere in NC he got home and I took some generic st rt north off of I-40 thru WV and came out somewhere west of DC.


The weird thing about the connecting st rt between NC and western DC was the part thru WV. Middle of nowhere, dense and unpopulated forrest and then "POOF" in the middle of no where would be this blazingly lit up truck stop complete with shower room, restaurant gas and hookers. I did stop but didn't linger. Didn't get a good vibe. Then as I was getting closer to DC I crested this densely forested and rural incline, there was the brite lites of DC in the far distance shining up at me. Can't remember for the life of me what rt that was. It was not an interstate either. Moral of the story is rural WV is weird and spooky. PArts of Virginia are pretty suspect too in my experience. Best traveled in the daytime and with freinds. You needs friends to make the sequel,lol. Glad I didn't know about longpig at that time,lol.

Its been awhile so my recollections of to many specifics and particulars are vague except for that truck stop in the middle of nowhere and winding and rolling thru the backwoods and coming upon the distant bright lites of DC.

My favorite memory of that trip would have been the site in the rear view mirror....