Riding the Adirondacks



At first it was just a patch of dark clouds which cut the sunset short and dimmed the sky as if it was suddenly a lot later than it really was. Then I could hear the rumbles of thunder and began hoping it was small enough of a storm where I’d be east of it by the time I turned south in PA. As the miles flew by, the Delaware began to vanish in the fog with only tiny openings from time to time revealing some of the homes along the southern shore. Otherwise I only knew of the homes by their muted lights glowing through the fog when they weren’t washed out by lightening. To the north I had small mountains with clouds pouring down towards me like flowing lava and it’s at times like this you begin to really feel small. I looked to the right again and the river was completely concealed in fog while a small flock of large birds appeared and then disappeared. That particular view looked like something right out of a “Lord Of The Rings” movie. As the lightning and thunder grew more intense I kept foolishly thinking rt. 191 would be my escape route and pushed on with growing anxiety. At last the town of Hancock, NY was coming up and within minutes I would be in PA. I was closing in on 9 hours on the road and all I want is to wrap this up with a decent ride through northern PA.

I pulled off of 17 and followed the signs for 191, soon I’d be back to the bridge were I entered New York and stopped for some pics. As I came around the corner I could see a bit of the dirt lot where I was just a day ago but where’s the bridge?!?! I slowed as I went forward and then like a ghost, some of the beams were revealing themselves in a wall of fog. All I could see were the first few beams, the rest of the bridge was hidden giving the illusion it was a bridge to nowhere. As I plowed ahead into the fog there was an incredible rush of icy air blowing up from the river below and I remember thinking it was unusually cold for a day like today. The fog got better after I got away from the water and I could see a store that was closed for the day on my right. A perfect place to pull in and let my wife know I’m back in PA. As I’m pulling in I notice the parking lot is chained off, I only have a little room off the road but it’s enough. I get off the bike, pull off my helmet, unzip the rain jacket and reach for my phone. As I’m dialing, huge drops begin to fall one at a time and I knew it was going to be one hundred at a time in just a few moments. Like some sea monster, this storm comes rolling over the hills in front of me like a waterfall. My wife answers and all I can say is “I’m in PA, the sky is opening up on me, I gotta go! I’ll call again soon!” I shoved the phone in my pocket before it got wet and started to zip up my jacket. “Damn, it’s stuck!” I force it as high as I can get it and just figured that’s good enough for now, there was nowhere to hide from this, I just had this feeling of wanting to move.

After slamming on my helmet I pop my gloves on and fire up the bike. I start pulling out of the edge of the lot and now I have two cars behind me. I creep forward but I have no visibility, have to pull up the face shield a bit to see what’s going on. That’s better, now ahead at about 20mph. I look back again and see some distance between the cars and me and next thing I know their headlights are gone. I’m thinking “where could they have gone? There’s nothing back there to pull into.” Then I figured they just stopped in place to wait it out. Do I stop? Well not if I can ride, even if I go ten mph I figure the more I can move the less time I’ll have in this as I was going south east and I knew this storm was heading north. As I crept forward, those wonderful trees that created a shady tunnel on the way up on Friday now just made a dark wet cave to ride through. I began counting the seconds after each flash of lightening until I heard the clap of thunder, “one, two, three….” Ok that one was ten, there’s another, “one two three…” Good, that was eleven. Now another “one, two, three…” “Twelve, ha! I’m pulling away from the storm! Here’s another one, maybe this will be fifteen. “One, two, three…BOOM!” Ah crap, this storm is everywhere! I look at my headlights and it’s as if there’s a water fall in front of my bike. It was too thick to make out any drops, it was just a flow of water as if there were monkeys up in the trees with buckets.

I move on ahead and see some lightning cracks in the sky ahead of me while at the same time flashes from behind. There’s an occasional silhouette of a mail box from the scarce houses I could see on Friday. I thought about pulling in but they were all very long driveways and made of dirt, which was now mud. I had a good rhythm going and so I decided to forge ahead in hopes I’d ride right out of this thing soon. Drops began to sting my eyes each time I didn’t hold my half opened face shield at the right angle. One way I couldn’t see much at all, the other I could see everything until I got an eye full of water. With a little practice I found the right place to hold my head. At this point I was fairly wet. The boots with their home made plastic lining gave out miles ago and that damn jacket with the stuck zipper allowed the rain to seep through my mesh jacket and onto my sweat shirt. It was warmer here than up in the mountains but I knew in time I’d have to do something about this.

The initial ferociousness of the storm passed as I made my way south east and it settled into a steady heavy rain. Finally I came to the point where 191 turns completely south which meant getting away from the tree covered area by the river. Once out in more open territory it was easier to feel your position despite the fact it was getting dark. I headed south and bobbed up and down with the road as it rolled through tiny towns and farm land. I had the town of Hamlin on my mind as that would be the first town I really knew this far north before Friday. On each hill top I could see the next town ahead thinking that was Hamlin but I was way off the mark. Eventually I see a lit Ferris wheel in the distance glowing behind trees obstructing my view. I had no idea what they were doing out here but that’s because my mind was way ahead of where I actually was. The Ferris wheel was part of the Wayne County fair, in Honesdale! “Ah this is only Honsedale!” I thought. While passing by the fair I could hear the voices of people even through my ear plugs and couldn’t believe there were people still there. I suppose it didn’t get as bad here. By the time I reached the center of town it wasn’t raining any longer and people were walking the streets.




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