Visited Delaware – My 49^th out of 50 USA states

My motorcycle ride from Syracuse to Brooklyn, Southern tip of Delaware and home. A round trip of 867 miles (1,395 km)  Total miles for my motorbike now stands at 85,248 miles (137,193 km) since new in 2009.

Before this trip I had visited 48 of the 50 U.S.A. states. The U.S.A. is so diverse and the lower states is  3.1 million square miles (8 million sq km) and has a population spread of 103 people per square mile. (40 people per sq kilometer)

Australia is a little smaller at 2.9 million square miles (7.7 million square km) with just 9 people per square mile (3.4 persons per square kilometer)

Of the 50 U.S.A. states, I had visited 48 of the states but had not been to Delaware or North Dakota. My son offered to fly me to North Dakota but I like the odd idea of having one state left unachieved. I have been about 200 miles (322km) away from North Dakota a few years ago when I was in South Dakota but I didn’t realize the opportunity it was to visit.

One place I worked at years ago had two bowls of pebbles on the reception desk. One with all white pebbles and one with all black pebbles. I would delight in putting one pebble in the opposite colored (coloured) bowl. It drove one person in the office nuts and they had to move them back every time. She never knew who was doing it.

I have visited 38 states on my motorbike (As well as several provinces in Canada) Most of the big trips have been with the group that call themselves the “Wild Hogs” after the movie. In reality they are not too wild and consisted of mostly ex older bankers and engineers.  I have visited 33 different states over the last 16 years with this group of ruff riders.

The U.S,A, across the country varies greatly in climate, environment, accents and attitudes to name just a few variants. I have ridden through the most densely populated areas such as Manhattan & Chicago and the least densely states like South Dakota and New Mexico. Even out of my own backdoor the scenery switches from urban to rural in just a few minutes. Great Syracuse is almost half a million, (For reference Canberra 482,986, Newcastle 307,565)

Before every trip I pull up my list of items to pack with sixty four lines of essential items (considering my limited space) from a simple pen knife to clothes and complete wet weather gear. The list has not changed a great deal over the years but I never forget anything including the pre-ride motorbike check of oil, tires pressures and updating of the Garmin.

The trip to Delaware started on a Thursday with a stop at Croton on Hudson, Westchester, down south just an hour or so north of New York city. A very pretty area right on the famous Hudson river. We lived there in 1988 and 1990. This ride gave me the opportunity to visit some friends we had when our kids went to the same preschool with their kids. We have kept in touch and watched their five kids grow, get educated etc. I used to ride the train with George down to Manhattan when I worked and it was always a great pleasure.

The traffic to Brooklyn was “interesting”. City drivers are always far more aggressive than most places but no one pushes a ruff, tuff biker like me around. With my full helmet on I could be mistaken for a twenty two year old with tattoos and a bad attitude. My GPS Garmin shows where to turn but the type face gets very small near Manhattan and unreadable, so I made a couple of small mis-turns but got quickly back on the right track.

I arrived at my son’s workshop and warehouse around three. Ross’ shop has room for around 200 bikes where Manhattan type riders store their bikes due to inadequate or unsafe parking in the city. They generally ride in by train or Uber and then go for a ride and then return their bike to store for the week. Ross also has workstations for his mechanics and even two for his customers to use if they want to tinker.

I was a little tired after 294 miles (473 kilometers) of initially very cold riding but was looking forward to seeing my favorite daughter in-law Michelle and the three grand kids.  (A brilliant and talented four year old and very advanced one and a half year old twins)

Friday was spent delivering the babies to day care and taking little Fred to the park after school. Nighttime was so much fun with the kids getting used to seeing me again.

Ross has a street party for his customers and friends often and Saturday night was a big occasion. Very, very ,loud music, lots of motor bikes, great food and drink and a lot of “different” people. He even raffled off a motorbike for a very sick customer of his and raised over $4,000 for the client’s cancer treatment.

Michelle is a great walker around the highly packed and diversified Brooklyn . She is a very fast walker and loves to push the stroller with two babies and little Fred riding shotgun on a bike seat on the rear. The only time we stopped her fast pace was for traffic lights on most corners and I could catch up. Over the two days I must have walked miles and miles in very heavy motorcycle boots.

From L to R: Myself, Mary (daughter) Greg (son in-law married to Mary) Angela (Michelles mother) Michelle (favorite daughter in-law) Jude (grandson) Front: Fred.

My original plan was to leave early Sunday morning so that I could travel down the New Jersey coast road with water views and the possibility of seeing many quant beach houses. The original plan was also to catch the midday ferry from New Jersey to Delaware and head towards home before getting a motel for the night.

Unfortunately it rained all morning so with clearing skies I headed off at the crack of noon. It was sprinkling as I headed out and the big danger was the traffic lights on every block and the pedestrian crossings and stop lines that were shiny, white slippery surfaces. A treacherous surface for motorbikes.

I was running late down the Jersey shoreline so I headed down the non-scenic highway to save time. I arrived at the ferry terminal from Cape May, New Jersey to Lewes in Delaware at 4:15pm in time for the 4:30pm ferry but the toll collector said it was full. I’m sure there was room for a motorbike but rules are rules. A big decision. Should  I find a local motel and catch the morning ferry or catch the 6pm ferry? The booth attendant suggested a “great” meal at the terminal and I would be first in line for the 6pm ferry.

The meal in the terminal of fish and chips was very ordinary and the service was slow and poor considering I was virtually the only customer. The meal expensive as hell but I was a captive patron.

I was the first on and off. The sunset ferry ride to Delaware lasted for an hour and a half was very pleasant. You could stand on the vehicle deck next to my bike as we sailed along. I was the only bike onboard so I texted the Hog’s  group that I had the best looking bike on the trip. I arrived in Lewes going on dark and rode a few miles to a Quality Inn. It was inn but mediocre quality. It was a large hotel with about ten guests. The receptionist was very nice and I went to bed and slept peacefully.

I started riding at about seven thirty in the cloudy morning the next day and had 380 miles (612 kilometers) to home, I once again diverted from the scenic coast roads and headed up the freeway. The speed limit on the highway was 75mph (120 kilometers per hour) but most cars were doing 85mph (137 kilometers per hour) The highway up to Binghampton NY was very smooth but for the last 71 miles (114 kilometers) the road was murder with a lot of bumps and broken surfaces. I thank New York tax payers.

I arrived home in good time at around 3:30pm. A hot shower, great dinner and to bed early. One of our regular riders in our group has ridden over 1,000 miles (1609 kilometers) in a day on several trips in one day. I don’t know how he does it.

A great trip and such a pleasure to see the family.

Summary: 2 ½ days riding, Gas used - 22 gallon (83 liters) , Cost of gas averaged $4:01 (AU $6.06) per gallon. Total cost of gas (petrol) $89.45 (AU$ 136.90) Mile per gallon 38.6 (16.4 kilometers per liter) Average 38.5 miles per gallon.