"Houston, we have a problem"

So this is a picture of Dave after we installed and tested the new helmet mounted communication kit this morning. They are 2 clip on little boxes that we each put on and in our helmets. We can talk back and forth (or eventually could) and Dave linked his headset to his new GPS system (more high tech stuff) so the GPS talks him through traffic and directions. The GPS asks if you want it to figure out the quickest way (interstate, no!), or the shortest way (remember not quickest), The third option is what I call "Machete" mode which requires occasional excavation and/or tree clearing skills. He chose the seconds and it turned out to produce some confusing but fantastic directions.

So after a half hour of failure with the headsets we suppressed our MAS (Male Answer Syndrome) impulses and read the manual. That got it mostly working. So that was it, last goodbyes and we headed north toward Bratleboro with a destination of Albany NY so I could get a new key cut for my bike (down to the last one). So all the way to Brattleboro, Dave could talk and I could listen, but when I talked he heard nothing. We quickly realized when we stopped that they were in "spouse mode", corrected that and then they worked perfectly.

We went to Bennington over Route 9, Rt 7 to Albany (Max BMW was closed for the weekend, hence no key), and then Rt 10 and lots of beautiful tiny back roads (really beautiful) to Deposit NY. From there we went south into Pennsylvania landing in Forest City for dinner at a restaurant that also sported a bar, a motel and a used car lot. We asked about a room (all 4 were booked) and got the impression (correct as it turned out) that there were no rooms to be had (remember the Memorial Day thing?). So we got on 81 south and headed for civilization where there were lots of hotels. We dodged some rain and stopped at Clarks Green where we serially called every hotel in Dave's GPS told that there were graduations going on at the 3 area colleges and our best bet was driving an hour away. We finally found 1 expensive, really nice room in Dickson City.

We discovered today that southern NY and northeastern PA have some hidden beautiful valleys and rolling hills with lots of medium size dairy farms, and what looked like veggies being grown. So nice to see the land being used. We also passed a huge reservoir for New York City that was tucked away in a valley. And no traffic at all once we left Albany. The GPS and radios work great and reduces the stress of not knowing where you are going. And Dave lets me lead now (as long as the radios are working)!!

OK, plug in all the gadgets, scrub the teeth and off to bed. Free breakfast in the morning, woohoo!!