Olean, Part I; The ride out...

I've got a lot of pics to post, as well as some vids (hopefully they will load as well!), so I'm going to break things up into several posts.  This first one will just be on the ride out and the pics I took along the way...

The weather had called for strong chances of rain in the morning, which was then to clear out as I got closer to NY.  Ok, I'll take that.  I'd much rather get wet at the start and then dry out by the end, than the other way around.

As luck would have it, I wound up keeping dry the whole way.  I danced with some very ugly clouds for the first half of the trip, but by the time I was deep into PA, things had started to break up nicely, as you can see from these pics.

Oh yeah - the route I took was 95 - 295 - 6 - 384 - 84 - 81 - 80 - 15 - 44 - 417.  It added 50 miles to the ride, but it was a nice relaxing route, and while I did have one section on 81 where traffic was stopped dead, there were lots of other sections of interstate where I was the only car as far as I could see, both in front of me and behind me.  I will definitely do this route again and may even make it my regular route for when I go to Olean.

Anyway, on to the pics!

These are from the almost-last leg of the trip; Rte 44.  Such an amazing and scenic route.  And this isn't even in the mountains yet, this is just the farmland leading up to the mountains...

Getting closer to the mountains...

You'll have to click on this pic to expand it.  I saw this way up ahead of me and had to rip the throttle wide open to catch up in time so I could snap a pic before they got too far away.  It was an Amish father and daughter, headed back to their homestead (I assume) from having popped into town.

I had to turn around to take a pic of this.  I don't know what to make of it.  Every 5th row was a much brighter green than the other rows.  Is it a different plant?  Is it fertilized differently?  What's the purpose of separating the rows into groups of 4?

The mountains!  Windy and hilly, this stretch of 44 is both exhilirating, and pulse-raising.  Some of the roads are in need of repair, other sections have had some modicum of repair work done.  Here; the 2nd highest elevation I came across (I didn't take a pic of the highest spot).

All in a day's work.

Fantastic scenery off to the side...

Another scenic shot...

Such sweet roads!

Another great overloo.  This first pic is with the bike...

...and again, without the bike.

Alas, there was no Olean contingent to intercept me this time, but that just allowed for heading straight into Olean, proper.  Oh yeah; the new saddlebag system?  It's fantastic for letting you open and close the saddlebags without having to stop.  This saves time when having to put your helmet on because you've reached the NY border.  No need to pull over, just keep on hammerin', reach down and retrieve your helmet and pop it on without missing a beat.  Nicey nice!

Ta da!  Arrival at Mark and Mary's.  And hey look; a strange blue car in the driveway...Rob and Natalie have arrived safely as well!

What's that?  Oh, the shiny blue can on the back of my bike?  Uhm...yes, Mary was kind enough to hand that to me almost as soon as I arrived.  I tell ya; they really know how to make someone feel welcome!

Stay tuned for part II...