Wilkes-Barre (not so nice)

Last night we stayed at a really cheap motel and Dave got a kick out of the Indian guy laughing at me when I asked if there was a AAA discount. I really couldn't read the bill without my reading specs so didn't realize how cheap it was to begin with ($34). No frills here, but clean and quiet.

Today we tried to both get some miles under our belts so I could get back in time to see Hannah before she headed to California and still see a little PA and NY country side. We also had an ugly wet looking storm headed our way so we bolted early for Harrisburg and beat the storm (it passed just behind us, I love weather radar on the iPhone). Then we turned north and ran through some PA back roads and found mostly dead farms but a few live ones (Holsteins). It is amazing how you get off a main secondary road with wall to wall trucks, turn left, climb a little hill and you are on a nice back road with no traffic. A lot of these little back roads have filled out with commuter houses, but there is still a lot of country side left. Again the farms are gone but the fields get mowed for hay (big round bales). So the mid-day was pleasant in the rolling country side, but Wilkes-Barre was ahead of us so we told the GPS to get us through it, thinking she would find some tricky side roads. Pocahontas let us down. She actually did exactly what we told her to do, find the minimum distance through Wilkes-Barre. We saw every gritty back street and neighborhood in stop and go traffic and finally made it out the other side.

Some more pretty back roads before crossing into New York. This part of NY is Sullivan County which is not so well off. We decided to land in Monticello NY where for some reason there were a bunch of motels. The reason is there is a casino here and the town is in the midst of face lifting itself so planters on the street, a few nice looking buildings, some new pavement. It is 89 miles to NYC so it looks like they are trying to spiff the town up to get tourists up. There is also a race track (surrey / horse) that looked active. You can still see the rough edges of town but they are half way to a nice face-lift.

Dave borrowed my taxi driver bead seat to try it out. He said tonight the damage was already done, but sounds like it might be an improvement. I missed it today since we were dripping hot during the Wilkes-Barre debacle.

We stopped and got some oil for my bike (only needed a cup or so) at an auto parts store that was hopping with locals standing around telling jokes and solving the political problems of the state. A guy chatted up Dave outside who had a Triumph (triple so it was a new one) and was riding it to an air show in Oshkosh, WI later this summer. He said would be easier than last when he flew a bi-plane up there. He could only carry 17 gallons of gas and stopped every 150 miles to re-fuel. You meet the most interesting people just walking around.

So a not so interesting day focused on getting home. Another Super-8 motel (clean and Wi-Fi) and hit the local diner for our last dinner out on the trip. The plan is for both of us to get to our respective homes tomorrow night.