Monday morning came faster than I thought it would. I had packed, re-packed, and done it all over again three times before I got the bike setup properly for the trip. Half a gallon of emergency fuel, and extra helmet, a basic tool kit, air pump, camelback, and enough clothes to last two weeks without doing laundry rounded out my gear. I also carried a helmet cam, my Canon rig, and a spare weatherproof point-and-shoot. These first few days of the trip are unlikely to need cameras for anything.
I had my EZ-pass ready for the toll roads ahead but hitting the first toll outside of New York proved something I knew already: I hate toll roads. New York and Pennsylvania were largely uneventful. It is still frustrating to have to stop at a toll booth while on a motorcycle, but the transponder worked well. I-90 is a reasonable road up until Ohio. That is when the weird things start.
Most of this involves construction. For several years I was driving through I-90 in Ohio for work. In that time the same exact portions of the road have been under construction. Nothing of note has changed. I wonder if any work really is being done on the roads or if the funding ran out and they just left all of the equipment and signage. It certainly seems that way.
Then came the toll portion. In Ohio, as well as Indiana, the toll booths have crossing arms that are normally down. This wouldn't be an issue except that the EZ-pass didn't work on any of the entry gates (worked on the exit gates just fine). In Ohio I had to shut my bike off and lean over to have the booth print a ticket... which I quickly dropped as, you know, you wear gloves while on a bike and thin crappy pieces of paper tend to fly out of them. I'm not sure how this will effect my EZ-pass bill. But I have an idea on how to solve this issue. First another toll story.
The toll entry in Indiana was a nightmare. First the EZ-pass didn't work, then the ticket wouldn't print, then I was stuck on hold after pressing the "help" button at the toll booth for 5 minutes. Meanwhile cars are backing up behind me as I wave the EZ-pass in the air and come up with new kinds of swear words. 5 minutes of this and I finally decide to ride around the crossing arm. I'm hoping to get a letter in the mail with a picture of me whipping around the asinine barrier.
So this brings me to my point about toll booths. Why in the hell do they still exist? Just snap a photo of my vehicle entering and exiting and send me the bill. Hell I'm on EZ-pass already and my plates are registered, why do I even need a freaking transponder? And on a bike this coming to a stop crap is annoying. Trucks must be equally frustrated with this but I can't tell you how annoying and byzantine this toll booth system is. I feel like we are living in the steam engine era. It, so far, is my biggest frustration about trying to ride a motorcycle across the country.
My second would have to be wind. Not the kind of wind that you feel normally riding. The 30-mph headwind and cross-wind variety. Having painstakingly adjusted my Madstad windshield for freeway riding, I find it almost comical that most of the first day's ride involved so much wind coming almost directly head-on.
The first few fuel stops revealed how much was getting sapped by the wind - I hit 46mpg. Normally I'd expect about 52-56 out of the bike at these speeds. Hoping this improves.
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