Friday morning I made my way to the marina on the cross island, where I met up with Diane, George and Randy at 11 AM. Paul was already up north as he got an early start. We rode up the Cross Island to the Whitestone bridge, then hit the cross county Parkway over to the Sprain Brook pkwy which became the Taconic. A quick lunch at the Daily Planet Diner off of route 55, about 10 miles north of the I-84 interchange, and we were on our way north once again. We pulled over again at the Mobil station at the top of the Taconic 50 miles later and after a quick drink break hopped back on the bikes and rode the remaining 100 miles to the Tiki in Lake George. we arrived about 4 PM . After a few people hopped in the pool we headed out to town, as Paul had now hooked up with us as well. We ate dinner at Marios, then walked around a bit. Paul and I stayed in town where Michael from Rochester met us (Always great to see you Mike!) and Rob and Cindy pulled up, as they had just arrived. This was around 9:30 I believe. After a while we all headed back to the Tike.

    The next morning we all met for breakfast at 8 AM in the Tiki's breakfast cafe' and then headed out by 9 AM Paul had a nice route planned from the Americade map and did a pretty darned good job of leading us throughout the day, one or two minor bungles aside. We ended up in Burlington, Vt , which is definitely a place I want to check out further at another time.. Ate lunch there at a nice air conditioned brewery, then headed to the ferry back to NY, which was decent enough, though if Lake Champlain had been calmer it would have been a spectacular ferry ride across the big lake.

    After we landed on the other side, we headed south towards Lake George again, but it was slow going with traffic as well as a pack of slow moving cruisers Rob was leading most of this leg, and I took over at the end. We were trying to get to the balloon festival in Glens falls, but the suddenly heavy downpour that soaked us as we were moving through Diamond Point put an end to that. Instead we went back to the Tiki, and the pool. Jerry, Dave and Lisa had arrived earlier in the day , about 12ish I believe and we were trying to hook up with them at this point. we decided to eat at the Holiday Inn across from the Tiki and have their Prime Rib Buffet. We exited and walked into town , where we finally met up with Jerry, Dave and Lisa. But the Balloons, which were supposed to be tethered in town by the lake and lit for a so called "moon glow" show never happened. It was still to windy , instead we all moved to the lake and watched a spectacular fireworks display that made us all into little kids for a few minutes with "ooos" and "Ahhhs" .

    We walked around a VERY crowded Lake George, which was at least as crowded as I have seen during Americade. then after that was all walked back to our respective hotels, and called it a night. Some of us sat out and watched the cars go by a little longer, generally BSing and just enjoying the great weather and the better company.

    The next morning we all gathered for breakfast at the Silo at exit 19. We said our farewells to Rob and Cindy who were making a day of it going back, and the rest of us were just beelining home the same way we came along the Taconic, with a break at the "daily planet" once again.  After lunch we separated in to smaller groups and continued on our way , with Randy, Paul and myself staying together.

    I want to thank George, Diane, Paul, Randy, Michael, Jerry, Dave, Lisa, Robert and Cindy for getting together this past weekend, we had a great weekend of riding and fun. Lots of laughs as well. Thanks again everyone for showing up and making this fun.