Here is my (very late) post about last weekend’s trip to Americade.

Did I ever tell you how much I hate riding in the rain?

I have some emotional reasons behind it, but mostly it just sucks. I don’t like not feeling in control and not being able to see very well, knowing that cagers are flying around me and might not notice I’m there.

This is what i was thinking as I headed out the Mass Pike last Friday morning at 6AM on my way to Springfield, MA to have breakfast at Cracker Barrel. My husband has this thing about starting a road trip with a Country Boy breakfast.

After we dried off and filled our bellies, we headed north up I-91 to route 2 where we got on the Mohawk Trail and the rain finally stopped (although it continued to be overcast). We meandered our way across the ass-end of MA, then cut the corner of VT up into NY. Riding through NY we rode through a plethora of farmland.

We pulled into our campground (ugh, camping) in Lake George, NY around 3PM. After unloading the bikes and setting up the tent, we made a beeline for downtown to scope out the activity. Having been there a few years ago, we knew the layout and the weird restrictions that the town has on bikes so we went to the Holiday Inn to get a parking pass (yes, you need a pass to park at this bike rally!) Once that was taken care of, we got a good parking spot and grabbed a much needed beer.

Around sundown the clouds finally burned off and there was a bit of blue sky. The temp dropped to about 80 degrees and the humidity went down a bit, too. About 10PM we were really pooped, so we got back on the bikes and hit the 8.5 miles down winding Rt. 9N (everything is route 9 up there, WTF?) and into our little home away from home. After battling the mosquitoes for space in the tent, I got as comfortable as I could and stared at the roof of the tent while my hubby fell fast asleep. The temp finally dropped around 3AM to a reasonable 50-something (and damp) degrees. In true camping fashion, we were up with the sun and back on the road.

Our first stop was the Harley-Davidson area over at the Ft. William Henry at 8AM. It was already 85 degrees out. A quick swipe of the HOG (Harley Owners Group) card and my man had his first ever HOG pin to add to his leather vest. Then we rode down to the convention center and we were the 3rd and 4th bikes parked. I guess we expected things to open a bit earlier than they did!

We hit the vendors at the expo center then took the shuttle bus to the beach, where we spent all day looking at vendors in 95-100 degree heat. It was brutal. That afternoon we went back downtown to get some food and people watch (two of my favorite activities!). That night we sat on a bench taking pictures, watching bikes go by and talking to people until midnight. We gassed up before heading back to camp because we knew it would be a mob scene in the morning.

We got up again way too early Sunday morning. I went to clean up in the lovely campground bathroom facilities (with all of the mosquitoes and water bugs) while my man broke camp down and packed up our stuff. We had breakfast at 4th Lake Diner, which was a real bargain. At 9am when we left, it was already 90 degrees out. While riding it felt like someone was standing in front of us with a hairdryer blasting on high heat. We opted to head back through NY and VT the way we came because the roads were so nice to ride on. Once we got to Rt 2, we just kept on it all the way home.

All photos copyright 2008 Rippin-Kitten.com and Forrest Frazier.