AMERICADE 2021-NY GROOVE

Many years since I was here

On the street, I was passin’ my time away

To the left and to the right

Mountains towering to the sky, it’s outta sight

Ridin’ in the dead of night

Here I am, and at this rally with a stful of dollars, and baby… you’d better believe

I’m back, back in the New York groove

I’m back, back in the New York groove

I’m back, back in the New York groove….

For days an odd south to north tempest had been soaking the eastern part of the United States from the deep south into Canada.

We had been down in Virginia, for a long-planned two days at VIR with CLASS, then Americade announced their late September dates for 2021.

That being the case and not missing an Americade in 31 years (Yikes, that was scary to write), we booked a room at a new to us lodging in Warrensburg – The Bond 1786 – and after making our way home from the Virginia / North Carolina border in a steady and very hard downpour, we parked the bikes for a day and waited for the never-ending rain to cease and desist.

Friday morning we woke to brilliant sun and puffy clouds if signi cantly chillier temperatures.

Shira surprised me when she asked if she could just ride pillion on my bike, but who would not want a sexy redhead holding on to them all weekend?!

We left early and took the big roads north, making a very good time indeed. It’s amazing what you will nd on the New York State Thruway – Bigfoot Hunters, all sorts of cars, and the men who do the incredibly tough job of New York State Trooper SCUBA Recovery.

We were in Lake George strolling into the Tour Expo by 1 pm. Although not as big as past years, they still had several folks selling some great gear and some that were not all that rider-related, but were some of the things we bought – go gure.

We ran into a few of our advertisers and a lot of friends and readers as well. We spent a few hours roaming around and then rode to Warrensburg, just a few miles north of the village, and found The Bond 1786.

The place was fabulous, with the most gorgeous grounds. A cup of coffee and a book nished off the afternoon on the large outdoor porch. Early evening found us back in Lake George and meeting our off-road maven Tony Lisanti and friends for dinner at The Barnsider on Route 9, just south of the village and where we

also met Shel Huber and Pam Johnson, the dynamic duo behind our local Bike Night at Jumboland, in Branchville, New Jersey.

The rest of the evening was spent doing a lap of Canada Street, watching the great reworks display, and pointing out the Lake George Mystery Spot to anyone who got close. It is amazing! It wouldn’t be a night at Americade if we didn’t get at least one scoop of ice cream somewhere.

We met our friends Fred & Cherrie for breakfast. Over the years we have met and made friends with many people in the motorcycle industry, and Fred and Cherri Rau are among the most awesome!

We walked around the Demo Area – Yamaha, KTM, Honda, Indian, Triumph, and BMW all brought machines to test – but we wished that BMW had brought a few other models than just the new R18.

We have been up this way countless times, yet somehow were unaware of a cottage just to the south, of great historical importance.

Atop Mount McGregor, just south of the town of Corinth, you will nd the nal home of President Ulysses S. Grant.

The great general and nation’s leader was suffering from throat cancer and the prognosis was bleak and getting darker by the day. He and his family moved to the cottage atop the summit for him to nd relief and allow him time to nish his memoirs that were published by Samuel Clemons, also known by his pen name Mark Twain, with his own funds. The book was a huge success and President Grant, when he died on July 23, 1885, passed knowing his beloved family would be well nancially. The tour and the grounds are well worth the visit and you will leave with a deeper understanding of the General who saved the nation and the President who help guide it as well. I had planned a slightly over-ambitious day trip, but we were able to seek out a bucolic ice cream stop for Shira’s Inside Scoop and scooted into Vermont and then, realizing we’d never be back in time for early dinner, we Plan B’d and re-routed back to Warrensburg. Our Inn, The Bond 1786, has one of the top restaurants in the region and we found out why that evening with a quiet meal – just the two of us. This is a sister establishment to the Gristmill, also of Warrensburg, which had a tragic re over this past winter. Thus our move to The Bond 1786.

Later that night we took seats for Alonzo Boden’s show. Alonzo is not just one of the sharpest and quick-witted comedians on the planet – but is a big-time lover and rider of motorcycles. You might know him from NPR’s Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me or his many cable specials; but he is one of us and he skewered everyone equally – especially those silly enough to sit in the front row. Take that as a warning!

Ice cream was sought out on Canada Street and surprisingly Alonzo showed up too, so we got to chat with him a bit before mounting up and heading out of the village that was getting a bit loud and raucous at that time on a Saturday night.

We were up and out at 8 am, riding over to Oscars to pick up some bacon and various sausages to bring home to Backroads Central.

We had come up to Lake George looking to make time on the Interstates, but this bright, if chilly, Sunday morning we had all the time in the world – well, at least till the sunset, to get home, so it was along the tiny, semi-unknown and forgotten backroads we rode. As always, we combined work and play nding another ice cream stop and taking in the site of the ‘Last Battle of the Revolutionary War’ – both in Johnstown, New York. Later on we stumbled upon the site of the Cherry Valley Massacre, something even O’Life did not know about. As we have said time and again… our history is right in front of us if we’d only slow down and really take a look. I pride myself in being a ‘Road Whisperer;’ but have been lax lately in nding fuel stops. Not a problem I thought, with 60 miles to go on the BMW’s TFT display. Then 50, 40… we had 6 to go and the station was more than a few miles past that. Seeing a big zero staring me in the face, and with the town of Margaretville on the other side of the mountain and Sunoco to be found there, I sipped precious gas over the peak and then did a long coast on the descent. According to the amount I lled this afternoon I was going to be pushing in a short while if not for the long and silent glider ight down the mountain. We found lunch in town as well at the Bun N’ Cone heading out of the town - which was excellent – and then we headed through more familiar haunts – Big Indian, Frost Valley, and then south towards the New Jersey border. The day was capped off with pie, ice cream, and coffee at the Elias Cole and then the short blast down 519 to home. We typically spend a good long week up at Americade, but CLASS took a higher priority this year, especially as we’d be up by Friday regardless keeping our Americade streak holding fast and strong at 31 years and counting. COVID be dammed. And, although we did our own thing this year, there was so much to be found at Americade. There always is. Charity rides, guided and self-guided tours, seminars, the Knights of the Round Table, so many bikes to demo, the Ride for Kids and so much more. Next year Americade will be back in its traditional time of year – June 7 through 11 – we hope to run into you there. ,