November 2025 – The Long And The Short Of It

By Joe Tatulli

With all the nonsense life throws at you there is nothing better than a motorcycle trip to calm things down and get to the best part of reality. On that note… Bill Kenney and I recently took a short three day ride through Upper New York State and Vermont. It started out in the planning stages as a weekend trip but turned into a mid week ride as we looked at the best days weather wise, and since we are both retired from regular scheduled work days this Wednesday to Friday ride hit the spot.

We left Wednesday morning, October 15th and headed west through CT on some more familiar back roads with the goal of reaching Newburgh, NY (Bill’s old childhood stomping grounds) and dinner that night at Billy Joe’s BBQ on the Hudson River. We had been there before a few years back during a visit to Motorcyclepedia and their collection of vintage and other celebrity bikes from the movies and some old TV shows. Think Batman with Adam West as the caped crusader, and Burt Ward as Robin, and Peter Fonda and his All-America chopper in Easy Rider.

We arrived via Bear Mountain and the Bear Mountain Bridge, West Point (locked down like Fort Knox), and even circumnavigated the Stewart International Airport, west of Newburgh, killing some time before settling down for the night at the local Red Roof Inn. The BBQ was great and day one was a shortish 270-or-so miles.

Day two would be more of an adventure taking us into the Catskill and Adirondack mountains and some great scenery and riding on some great roads. We did encounter some road construction sites that were mostly resurfacing the many two lane mountain roads in the area. One thing I really enjoy in the fall is the lack of any traffic out in the country, and we enjoyed those conditions all day on Thursday. The weather also cooperated as well with sunny skies and temps in the 50s most of the day.

The route for day two ended at the ferry dock in Essex, NY. The thing about riding with Bill is that sometimes you’re not riding with Bill. He can sometimes get ahead of the curve (so to speak), and with our long history of riding together over the years he is confident that I will sometimes arrive a minute or twenty after he arrives. The GPS ends at the ferry dock and I arrived just in time to catch the 4:30 boat. When I got in the short line Bill was at the pay booth with two cars between his bike and mine. After I paid my fair we both rolled on to the ferry for the short ride across Lake Champlain to Charlotte, VT. It was very windy and the ferry ride was blustery. So blustery in fact that when the bow crashed the waves we all got wet because we had to stay with the bikes and keep them from moving or tipping over. It wasn’t too bad but we did get a little wet thankfully with fresh lake water.

That night we stayed at a Quality Inn in Shelburne, VT south of Burlington and had dinner at Pulcinella’s, a fine Italian dining experience. Most nights we just eat and run. At Pulcinella’s we stayed for dessert and coffee. Bill had the Teramissu and I had the Maple Sugar Creme Brulee. It was a fine way to end the day.

Day three was the ride home. The route took us down RT 7 and eventually over to VT RT100 south. It was very cool on that Friday morning. It started early at about 7am with the temp at 26°. The sun was just coming up and it was tough to see much with that bright fireball just peaking over the trees. Little did I know we were headed to the Appalachian Gap road, RT 17 over the mountain. I’m talking hairpin turns, up and down that road, with freezing temps and the sun in your eyes so you simply couldn’t see the road ahead. I went slow to say the least. When I got to the bottom of the road Bill was stopped at a stop sign for a construction site. We were quickly waved on and continued on our way, eventually reaching VT RT 100 South. RT 100 is a great long road with all the classic VT scenery, farms, small towns; and things warmed up nicely for the rest of the way. When we crossed into MA near North Adams we grabbed RT 2 east all the way to Leominster, MA where I needed to either gas up or run out. The credo is everyone is responsible for their own gas. I pulled off RT 2 and gassed up and eventually picked up RT 140 to RT 190 to Worcester and home.

As always time on the road is fun and the perfect way to settle your mind on the things that can bug you; all alone inside the helmet. Whether you are riding alone, with another rider friend, or in a small group the ride is the thing that does the trick. This short trip was full of all the things that make riding a great adventure, and something I hope I can continue to enjoy for years to come.