Cracks in the Concrete: A Motorcycle Odyssey Through Modern America

In Savannah, I was hoping to meet up with Jack, a friend from college who I haven't seen in a number of years. Unfortunately, he was out of town on a business trip - doubly a shame cause he’s done some pretty cool/unique stuff that I think y’all would have enjoyed reading about. Hopefully he’s in town when I’m back on the East Coast later this year. Though he was out of town, Jack was kind enough to let me crash at his place, which was a  great location to explore Savannah from.   I had heard that Savannah was nice and worth a stop, but admittedly hadn’t heard much beyond that, so I didn’t really arrive with many expectations. Still, Savannah managed to blow the picture I had in my mind out of the water. It just might be the prettiest US city I’ve ever been to: Spanish moss covered oaks & palm trees, colorful colonial architecture and stunning churches, parks galore, fountains and statues. It seemed like a third of intersections had been turned into squares with small...

Ok, back to the present. My goal this year is to keep up with the blog, so I’m planning to write my post for a place soon after I finish up there. As I still have a long backlog of posts to get through from October and November, I’ll sprinkle those in when I have time to write them during longer stops. So it’ll be a kinda random mix of the past and present going forward, because just being 3 months behind wasn’t confusing enough.  So I’m currently in a Waffle House in Waynesboro, GA. I started riding again last Sunday (1/18), from Black Mountain, NC. And on Sunday, I set a new record for the coldest weather I’ve ridden in: 30 with a real feel of 21ish. Within 20 minutes I was pretty miserable. Fortunately, it warmed up a bit when the sun came out in the afternoon. Unfortunately, it hasn’t gotten much warmer. Last night it dropped to 28 at my campsite, and right now it’s 48 with a real feel of 38. Even in Savannah, my target destination for the evening, the high today is 55. At leas...

It was nearly dark by the time I boarded the ferry from Plattsburgh, NY to Grand Isle, VT. While the fading colors on the boat ride were beautiful, I didn't realize how much more natural beauty the darkness was hiding until I returned to the shores of Lake Champlain the next morning.  The view from the ferry. It was a tad chilly being out in the open air on the water at 7:30 pm.  In Burlington, I had my first success with Couchsurfing, when Jamie offered to host me for the evening.  Jamie was born in Texas but grew up in Connecticut before going to college at UVM (University of Vermont - as I learned from Jamie, it's abbreviated UVM for it's Latin name: Universitas Viridis Montis, which translates to University of the Green Mountains). After college, Jamie moved out to Boulder, CO and later Leadville, CO for the natural beauty and outdoors recreation opportunities on offer there (he's big into skiing and mountain biking). While in Colorado, Jamie worked for Bernie Sande...

Watkins Glen/Finger Lakes National Forest My first stop in upstate New York was Watkins Glen on Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes region. I hadn't heard about this place until Chris Kay recommended I stop there, and boy, I'm glad he did. Watkins Glen was surreal - it felt like it was straight out of Rivendell in Lord of the Rings, a medieval estate, or the Garden of Eden.  As twilight approached, the visitors thinned out, and I found myself virtually alone in the park ... so naturally, I had to go for a swim. New Yorkers have done a great job of keeping this place a secret; it was so beautiful and secluded that it was hard to believe it was real - the whole time I felt like I was walking through a fairytale or medieval epic. To add to the storybook feel, I heard more foreign languages than English from my fellow visitors at Watkins Glen. As my attempts to find a couch surfing host in the Finger Lakes fell flat, I set up camp in the Finger Lakes National Forest. I found a great di...