Day 8 –Friday, June 21, 2013

 I GIVE UP!

OK.  I give up!  I am running out of descriptive terms that actually capture the beauty of this place.  I mean, how does one describe the majesty of the Rocky Mountains or the raw beauty of a mountainous desert terrain?  It really isn’t possible to portray the overwhelming sights that I have been bombarded with during the last two days.  It just seems like each day of this trip is better than the one before it.  Of course, I attribute a lot of that to seeing all of these things for the first time from atop a motorcycle instead of through the tinted windows of an air conditioned car.  The sights and smells assault the senses and it is just a different experience doing it this way.  So, rather than try to describe each sight, I’m going to post a few pictures and then give you an overview of what I saw today.

 

Before I start, I want to tell you that I had my first motorcycle accident today.  I’m all right, but it was a close one.  As I was tooling down some back road through a series of rocky canyons, a prairie dog (or some other sort of rodent) ran out in front of me in a zig-zag pattern.  I only had a microsecond to react and decide if it would be me or the rodent.  The rodent lost.  No one was charged in the incident, but a police investigation is ongoing.  I’m so ashamed …

Now for the serious stuff.  Today was a “mega day” starting at 7 AM and ending around 7:30 PM and I put over 350 miles on the tires.  I left Fort Collins and rode up to Estes Park – a lovely little town that borders the Rocky Mountain National Park.  Sadly, it has become much more commercialized than when I first visited years ago, but it is still a lovely little town that sits on the edge of a natural paradise.  I had breakfast at a little local place and sat on the patio looking at mountains that are stil topped with snow.  From there, I headed up to the park and what a ride!  Beauty that assaults the senses at every turn and roads that have a lot of those “fun parts” I told you about.  These winding roads take you to an altitude of over 12, 700 feet before beginning to wind their way back down.  Two lessons learned:

1.     If you are going to dismount your ride and walk a pretty hefty distance to get that “perfect picture”, remember that there is a lot less oxygen up here and you have to walk back to where you started (in my case, it was an uphill walk).  The paramedics say I'll recover ...

2.     If you are astride a motorcycle, remember to bring winter riding gear, because there is at least a 30 degree temperature drop from the bottom to the top.  This I was prepared for, with a “dickie” (again, let’s forego the crude remarks) for my neck, winter riding gloves, a riding jacket with a wind resistant layer and a quilted layer underneath that can be added or removed as required.  Am I glad I took up some of the limited space in my luggage for this stuff!

Also, did I mention the cliff hugging roads without guard rails?  But that's OK ... if you do drive a couple thousand feet down a ravine, I'm pretty sure that the National Park Service is required to retrieve you ...  Also, the high crosswinds that were blowing so hard, I had to lean my bike into them to keep going straight.

After descending from the high point, I came upon the Continental Divide – supposedly the point where, if water is poured on it, half will flow towards the Pacific and half towards the Atlantic.  I don’t know … I poured some water on it and it just sat on top of the ground for a while then soaked in …

 See the water I poured out?  You should have seen the look on the face of the lady who took the picture!

Once out of the park, I again stuck to my back road philosophy and rode through such places as Rabbit Ears Gap, Nine Mile Gap, the town of Rifle (who names a town “Rifle”), Steamboat Springs (a world famous ski resort and a pretty cool little town) and a whole bunch of other tiny little patches in the road that are referred to as towns.  By the way, I saw a sign in the men's room of a gas station in Rifle that sad: “Please dispose of chew in the trash can, NOT the urinal” … a sage bit of advice for all of us indeed.  By the way, gas is fifty cents per gallon less expensive in Colorado than it is in New York …

Another thing I saw while riding today was two huge forest fires.  Well, I didn’t actually see the fires but I did see the huge, billowing clouds of smoke rising over the mountain tops.  The girl at the gas station in Rifle told me that this has been one of the driest springs ever, coming on the heels of a winter that brought below average snowfall.  Hard to even imagine after the spring the Midwest and Northeast have had!  I’m telling you, I have the formula for the financial resurgence of the northeast … run big pipes from the Great Lakes to the Southwest and charge by the gallon!

I ended the day by riding along Interstate 70 to Grand Junction, Colorado.  Now, I know I suggested staying off of the Interstates, but in this case, I had two choices … take the Interstate or don’t go to Grand Junction.  Pretty simple.  Anyway, I must admit that the ride down I-70 through Western Colorado was stunningly beautiful.  The road is carved out of some of the most unique and fascinating dessert rock formations I have ever seen.  Against my standard wisdom, this is one Interstate ride I must recommend.  The real problem is that there is absolutely nowhere to stop for pictures.

I finally exited for the hotel, took the bike to a  “do it yourself” car wash to clean of all the bugs (as well as any residual rodent stuff) and then checked into the hotel.  The most rewarding day of this trip yet was over, but I’ve got a feeling tomorrow will be a home run also.

I’m exhausted and going to bed.  My apologies for any typos.  I’m lovin’ this little adventure!

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Day 7 – June 20, 2013 – about 2,400 miles behind me.

Today was largely a repeat of yesterday … perfect.  As you read this, think of this advice:  if you decide to travel the country via car, stay off the Interstates.  These things get you there quickly (sometimes), but you wind up missing the best parts of America.  Better yet, stay off the Interstates AND do the trip on a motorcycle … like the billboard says, rolling down the windows ain’t even close!  But hey, that’s just my opinion.  It’s also my opinion that we live in a great country.

Departing the sleepy little burg of Hulett, WY I headed south and rode down more roads with “the good parts”.  I rode through more pine covered, rocky hills and then descended into vast plains of grass with herd after herd of grazing cattle.  After a couple of hours under the same blue sky that was there yesterday, the landscape turned into farmland as far as I could see and I began to make out the shadowy outline of the Rocky Mountains behind the thick haze in the distance.  The temperature climbed to nearly 90, but as I pulled into Fort Collins, I was much closer to the mountains and so the haze was considerably less.  I checked into my hotel and then hit the road again … I’m not here to relax in a hotel room.

This is what I call a "Sleepy Little Town" The only restaurant in town - but the steak was good

Fort Collins is a clean, growing, modern city.  It is the home of Colorado State University as well as to Sandy’s ex-wife.  Sorry Sandy … I tried to deliver your well wishes but couldn’t find her!  I’m very familiar with Fort Collins, having visited here multiple times during the period when Kodak had a plant in Windsor, CO.  I always like this town … a very nice place.

Another great place to visit is not seen by many tourists, but the locals sure know about it.  I first visited here when my Kodak friends told me about it and I promised myself I would visit it again on this trip.  If you ever get out here and don’t see this place, then shame on you because I feel it’s one of the most beautiful places in America.  It is Cache la Poudre River Canyon or as it is referred to by the locals, “Pooder Canyon”.  It’s a 40 mile ride up Colorado Route 14 through a rugged rocky canyon carved by the river.  I took movies of this ride with my “cycle cam” and as soon as I edit them (once I get back) I’ll be posting them to YouTube.  If you do get here, spend the day … it's free, it's not crowded and it is beautiful.  Go slow, take pictures, have a picnic next to the river and feel the place.  Another reason to stray from the beaten path.

 (Pictures don't even come close to doing justice to this place)

Tomorrow, I’m on to a truly beautiful small town, Estes Park Colorado and then I’m riding down the Continental Divide to Grand Junction, CO.  It's a huge ride ... over 7 hours, so I'll probably be too tired to blog when I get to the hotel.  I’ve been to Estes Park before but once I venture south, It’s new territory for me.

Day 6 – June 19, 2013

Went through Belle Fourche (pronounced bell foosh) on my way to Montana.  What’s the significance of this?  Well, it seems that old Belle is the geographic center of the United States, with the marker 20 miles north of the tiny town.  How is this the center of the US?  Well, it is NOT the geographic center of the CONTINENTAL US, but, when you consider the location of Alaska and Hawaii, you have the geographic center of the US (you just have to know what questions to ask).   And there folks, is today’s geography lesson.

I made a quick, short run into Montana, just so I could add it to my “states ridden through” list.   My turn point was some little burg by the name of Alzada and I wasn’t expecting what happened.  Instead of a boring ride through more farm fields that just smelled of manure, I got what turned out to be the best day of my vacation so far.

To start off with, I was blessed with a warm (hit 90 at Devil’s Tower), sunny day and azure blue skies with a few fluffy white clouds.  Clear as a bell with no haze at all and of course, there is no such thing as polluted air up here.  I had an absolutely perfect ride through America’s high plains, starting the day by riding through endless, rolling fields of prairie grass that were dotted with clumps of evergreens and herds of cattle.  This is where the premium beef comes from … the kind that you get in a great steakhouse, not the grain fed stuff we buy at Wegmans.  There were some bison and herds of elk grazing here also.  (Patti, I definitely won this round of “My Cows”).  All of this was truly a beautiful sight.

Now, there are rumors that Montana doesn’t have any speed limits but that has changed and they do in fact have speed limits, but very generous ones.  I am proud to say that I never exceeded those limits by being more than 50 mph over the limit … come on I’m only human.  Flat, well-paved back roads, straight as an arrow and empty as far as the eye can see.  I just couldn’t resist (by the way, I think that Montana only has 3 or 4 State Troopers, as opposed to one every 10 miles in New York.)

From Alzada, MT, I headed south and dropped down into the town of Hulett, WY where I am spending the night.  The ride here was stunning, through pine forest covered hills and valleys with beautiful red rock outcroppings.  This route is definitely the road less travelled and was exactly what I had in mind when I planned this motorcycle tour of the west … my bike and me on lonely back roads that wound through some of the most beautiful country in America.  What a day!

Along the way, on a particularly lonely stretch of road, I came across this:

It was easily visible from the road, so I snapped a few shots.  The large vehicle at the top with the missile on it’s back sure does look like a mobile ICBM missile launcher to me and the picture on the bottom looks like perhaps an anti-missile battery.  Very strange that these should be in plain view.

Once into Wyoming, I visited Devil’s Tower.  There is nothing else out here … literally; this thing is in the middle of nowhere.  However, ever since I saw “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, I’ve wanted to come here.  Perhaps the ET’s invited here, just like the movie.  If I disappear, never to be heard from again, you’ll know that I’m on the mother ship!

Devil’s Tower was our first National Monument and is an amazing sight.  You can’t really get a perspective of how big it is until you look at the climber I photographed.

I also spent some time riding over to Sundance, WY (the Sundance Kid supposedly got his name while being incarcerated here.)  The trip over was on a road that had a lot of “fun places” (curves) and I wasn’t stuck behind a bunch of travel trailers like I was yesterday in the Black Hills.  The front desk clerk at my hotel said that Mt. Rushmore gets about 4 million visitors a year.  Devil’s Tower only gets about a half million.  The roads I took today maybe get 10 or 12 visitors per year …  The previous days of this vacation were good … today was GREAT!  Much less "touristy".

This trip means I’ve ended the northern leg of the journey and have just commenced the western leg.  Over 1,800 miles in the saddle and still cruising strong.  Love it!

By the way, this vacation is truly invigorating.  Not only do I feel 45 years younger … I also LOOK 45 years younger.  And, I’ve lost a TON of weight.  This is truly amazing!  You be the judge.

 http://dickgaudy.blogspot.com/

Day 5  – The Black Hills- Mt. Rushmore and Deadwood

First, I’d like to apologize to anyone who may have been directed to an “adult” site when clicking a link I included in a previous post.  I don’t have a clue why that link did that to a few of you, but I hope there were no kiddies in the room.  From now on, I’ll do my best to verify each link.  For those of you who were not offended, you’re welcome.

Started today out with a trip into the Spearfish “downtown”.   For those of you who love visiting quaint little towns, this area of the country would be paradise for you.  I then went to historic Deadwood – yet another quaint little town that was settled during a great gold rush. Wild Bill Hickok was shot dead here and it’s also named in the National Historic Register.  The town is done up with all the businesses having period facades on a quaint little main street that is loaded with shops and other tourist traps.  Of special note is the fact that every shop, restaurant, bar and hotel also seems to be a “casino”.  Now, these aren’t big Vegas or Atlantic City size casinos … they are all small casinos (some of them with just a few slots) and they all promise a pot of gold.  Certain members of my family and friends of mine (and you know who you are) could arrive here and be lost forever.  I’m not sure, but I think I saw a Dunkin’ Donuts that had a casino in it!  Anyway, a nice place to visit with some historical significance, but I don’t have a clue what you might do after being here for a day.

 There are casinos on either side of this casino ...

From Deadwood, it was on to more of the Black Hills – Sylvan Lake, Black Hills State & National Parks and of course, Mt. Rushmore.  If you are a biker, this place is loaded with the fun parts (also known to non-bikers as “curves”).  Lots of twisty roads to challenge ones ability but there’s only one problem.  It’s tough to run the curves when there is a guy in front of you towing his 30’ travel trailer with an underpowered pickup truck and nothing but double lines for as far as the eye can see.  Yes, I know that the road wasn’t built as a trial course for bikers …oh well.

For those of you who are not motorcyclists, the Black Hills consist of hundreds of verdant rolling hills and rocky tors.  There are beautiful landscapes wherever you go.  If you are a camper, this would be ideal, but my take of the place after spending most of the day there is that it’s overcrowded (and this isn’t the “busy” season yet) and spending more than a day there would probably get dull quickly.  That said, it is a beautiful park and a national treasure.

Of course, Mt. Rushmore requires no comment from me other than to say it is so much more impressive in person than it could ever be when viewed in any form of media.  It is truly massive and an accomplishment of monumental proportions (get it?  It’s big and it’s a monument … a little play on words … never mind …)

These are just a few of the new friends I've made on this trip ...

A comment on South Dakota.  Lovely place with lots to see and do, especially if you are an outdoor type of person.  The biggest problem is that everybody here owns a Harley (remember, this is the home of the annual Sturgis Rally) and every one of them has straight exhaust pipes, making them obnoxiously loud … seems like everywhere you go, you are assaulted by the ridiculous roar of an unmuffled engine, including throughout the Black Hills..  Don’t get me wrong … I like the throaty sound of a big bike engine as well as the next guy and I've got modified pipes on my ride, but there are limits.  Reminds me of the South Park episode about Harley riders … (Gary and Jose - not you Harley guys ... the other ones!)

Now for today’s interesting side story.  I took this picture of a motorcycle in the Mt. Rushmore parking lot but I didn’t see who the rider was.  Note my caption.

  “If you need a beaded butt massager for your motorcycle saddle, you might be getting to old to ride …”

So far, this has been a great vacation and a great ride.  Tomorrow, it’s on to Montana and Wyoming, with a stop at Devil’s Tower, completing the northern leg of my trip.

Monday, June 17 - Spearfish, SD

OK, so shoot me.  I lied and I’m back again today, but that’s only because it was a really interesting day.  It started out as just a boring, “eat up the miles day”.  I started at 7 because I had an9 hour ride on Interstate 90 through flat farmland.  Not my idea of a good time.  But then, all that changed.  Before I got to Spearfish, SD, I hit the exit for The Badlands and figured I’d do that today rather than wait until tomorrow.  After all, what’s another 50 or 100 miles when you’ve already done 500+?  Good move on my part.

This place is stunningly desolate and stunningly beautiful.  A picture is worth a thousand words, so here’s a few thousand words:

If you ever get out this way and don’t spend a couple of hours here, shame on you.  For those of you who like to camp, this would be a beautiful spot to do it.

After the drive through the park, the road hooks up with I-90 at a little town called Wall, SD.  In that town, there is a place called “Wall Pharmacy” and it is supposedly famous, having been featured on “good Morning America” and a few other TV shows.  For those of you who have travelled to Florida via I-95 and stopped at “South of the Border”, you’ll know exactly what “Wall Pharmacy” is all about.  The roadside signs start in Minnesota and there must be at least 100+ of them.  This place isn’t a tourist trap … it’s a tourist black hole that sucks the money right pout of unsuspecting visitors pockets.  I thought it was kind of neat.

 There's much more to it than this - it's a whole town.

Also, I took a quick ride through Sturgis and it is absolutely amazing to me where they put a five hundred thousand bikers (that’s not a typo) for the annual rally.  As wild a time as that probably is, I’ll pass.

As of day 4, I’ve got over 1,500 miles behind me.  The highways in South Dakota have a speed limit of 75 mph, which we all know really means 85, so I made great time.  Tomorrow, I’ll be visiting Deadwood, Mt. Rushmore and taking a long ride through the Black Hills.  Tonight, maybe a casino (Patti, eat your heart out).

dickgaudy.blogspot.com

Sunday, June 16 2013 - Mankato, MN

Well, day 3 and over 900 miles behind me.  Today was a lot more interesting because I was off the Interstate for a lot of it and I got to wander around Wisconsin and Minnesota quite a bit.  I started out with a visit to my cousin Tom who lives in Appleton.  Tom’s a good guy, even if he is a lawyer and to prove it, he even bought breakfast.

Wisconsin is a nice place … but basically flat as a pancake ... at least the part I went through.  There is some geographic diversity ... it goes from an extensive Lake Michigan shoreline (unfortunately, I didn’t get to see the northern part of the state which I hear is beautiful) into vast farmlands (and I mean VAST – miles upon endless miles of farms) to La Crosse on the Mississippi River.  Here’s just a couple of places I snapped:

 Right in the middle of Wisconsin surrounded by nothing but endless, flat farms, sits this thing - 

Ship Rock

 Are the people of Sparta, Wisconsin just weird or is this proof of an alien presence among us - you be the judge.  Does this look like something straight out of "The Twilight Zone" or what?  And yet there it sits - right in the middle of nowhere.

I crossed over the Mississippi into to the rolling hills of Minnesota that were covered with thick green forest.  But, much like Wisconsin, that didn’t last long and I was right back into farmland as far as the eye can see.  The description of the Midwest United States as the “Breadbasket of the World” is indeed very accurate.  The amount of food produced here boggles ones mind, especially when you consider that the Great Plains not only extend to the Rockies but from our northern border almost to Mexico.  While the terrain isn’t the most fascinating, the function that these farms serve for the entire planet is truly monumental.  Again, I ventured off the highway and rode through a lot of  typical, small Midwestern towns … very clean, mostly older buildings, well kept homes with lots of small businesses and very few “mega stores”.   Classic Americana.  Wherever I stopped, the people have been very friendly and love to talk (not shy and withdrawn like me)!

Todays “Adventure Tale”:

So, I’m bombing down the highway at a leisurely 75 mph when all of a sudden, something starts flapping around in my right peripheral vision.  I grab it with my clutch hand and it’s a cord of some sort, so I give it a tug, which is when things got interesting.  Turns out that this was the leather “shoelace” that is used to adjust my leather vest on each side .  These laces essentially hold the front and back panels of the vest together.  What was flapping is a piece of this lace that had come loose and worked it’s way out of the eyelets.  When I pulled it, the rest of it came out and in an instant the front panel of the vest flew up into my face.  Now this isn’t as hairy as it sounds because I quickly pulled it down, got off at the next ramp and handled it.  But, it did make an otherwise calm day much more of an adventure!  (I hope I can get a refund on the vest…)

Tomorrow is a huge ride (8 or 9 hours with random thunderstorms expected to pop up all over the place) and then I’m in South Dakota, with the Badlands, the Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore on the agenda for the following day.  My body, my mind and my motorcycle are holding up just fine.  Things are getting more interesting every day and I wouldn’t trade this trip for the world.

 I won't update tomorrow because I'm just grinding out a lot of miles on I-90, but Tuesday's update should be interesting.  I'll be touring South Dakota all that day.

 If you want to look at stuff beyond the daily update, just go to dickgaudy@blogspot.com where all the daily posts are together, you can see a map of the states that I go through, look at the weather where I'm going, etc.

Saturday, June 15, 2013 - Milwaukee, WI

Good day today.  Started out from Port Huron, MI and took the Lake Michigan Ferry to Milwaukee.  Hit about an hours worth of rain in Michigan but I didn't melt.  The bike cruised at 80 mph all day and just ate up the highway - smooth as silk.  Met a bunch of other bikers on the Ferry and I now have new friends from Oregon - they invited me to visit if I ever got out that way.  This husband and wife have been cruising around the country for quite a while (Patti, get the hint???)!  Right now, there is an incredibly violent thunderstorm outside, but not to worry, I parked the bike in the no-parking zone under the front entrance canopy.  I sweet talked the desk clerk into this ... seems when she divorced her husband, she had to sell her motorcycle ... she misses the bike but not the ex (it's Milwaukee - the home of Harley Davidson - everybody owns a motorcycle!).  And that is as interesting as it gets today.  Overall, a non-eventful and pleasant day and I'm about 600 miles into the trip.  Tomorrow, I'm off for a long ride to Mankato, MN.  Right now, I'm just bombing down the Interstate to get to the fun part.  The trip really starts getting interesting the day after tomorrow when I hit South Dakota and the Black Hills.

 Of course I look like hell - I just rode through a rain storm

 Look!  A Fast Ferry that makes a profit.  Somebody call former Mayor Johnson

 Like I said - not a very exciting day.  At least I had a couple of hours to catch a nap.

Why is this man so happy?

 

Because he left today!

Well, day one is in the bag.  After 308 miles and about six hours, I can safely say that this long awaited trip has finally started and I feel great!  The power of positive thinking turned our lousy weather into a clear (but cool) day without one drop of rain.  Weather was good except for the last 40 or so miles, when straight out of the north comes a crosswind that blew me sideways on the highway and it kept up for the rest of the ride, also dropping the temperature at least 10 degrees.  I ended the day in Port Huron, MI ... just the other side of the border from Sarnia, ON where I had originally planned to stay.

Today was pretty uneventful, but I do have one story for you. 

It’s early in the trip and I stop at the Lancaster, NY rest stop (just east of Buffalo).  As I stand by my bike adjusting my luggage, I notice 4 obviously foreign gentlemen staring at me. They finally approach and say, in very broken English that they are visiting from India.  One of them smiles, points at the bike and says something I can’t understand.  I think he’s complementing me on how good it looks, so I smile and nod.  At this point, he sits on the bike, grabs the handlebars and his friends start shooting pictures while I’m wondering what’s going on.  Then, smiling and talking in barely understandable English, each one takes a turn doing this.  But, wait for it … this gets even better.

Right about the time the fourth guy finishes posing, four more of these guys come out of the rest area and … you guessed correctly … they also pose on my bike for pictures.  By this time, I’m laughing so hard I can’t talk.  Finally, three or four of them proceed to pose with me in front of the bike.   About this time, I’m thinking I should charge for this photo op!  The session ends, we all shake hands, they hop in their van  and they are off to their next stop, which I think was Philadelphia.  Once I’m back on the road, it occurs to me that while I didn’t want to unpack my camera for this, I did have a cell phone that takes pictures … oh well.  Anyway, stuff like this always seems to happen to me!

Tomorrow, a short 220 mile ride to Muskegon, MI and then the Lake Michigan Fast Ferry to Milwaukee.

Pre-Trip Information: The Route - YES! I will be camping - meaning I'll be staying at Holiday Inns instead of Marriotts. To all of you who suggested that I camp out during this trip, thank you very much!

Day 1 - Pittsford, NY to Sarnia, Ontario (285 miles)

Day 2 - Sarnia, Ontario to Muskegon, MI to Milwaukee, WI (via Lake Michigan Ferry) (337 miles + Lake Michigan)  Look Rochester!  A "Fast Ferry" that makes money!

Day 3 - Milwaukee, WI to Mankato, MN (345 miles)

Day 4 - Mankato, MN to Spearfish, SD and Mt. Rushmore (560 miles - a VERY long ride today)

 

Day 5 - Spearfish, SD just riding the Black Hills & The Badlands (about 250 miles) 

Day 6 - Spearfish, SD to Devil's Tower, WY (263 miles)

Day 7 - Devil's Tower to Ft. Collins, CO (322 miles)

Day 8 - Ft. Collins, CO to Grand Junction, CO (343 miles)

Day 9 - Grand Junction, CO to Moab, UT (113 miles)

Day 10 - Moab, UT to Alamoosa, CO (310 miles)

Day 11 - Alamoosa, CO to Santa Fe, NM (237 miles)

Day 12 - Santa Fe, NM (surrounding area and Taos) (about 250 miles)

Day 13 - Santa FE, NM to Clinton, OK (381 miles) - OK ... this could be boring ...

Day 14 - Clinton, OK to Conway,AR (407 miles) - Not too excited about this one either ... but the Ozarks are next

Day 15 - Conway, AR to Tullahoma, TN (419 miles) - Getting pretty again ...

Day 16 - Tullahoma, TN to Sylva, NC (283 miles)  In the Smoky Mountains and Riding "The Dragon" today - 318 curves in 11 miles !!!  Looks like fun ... right?

I've been warned - DO NOT DO THIS! while riding The Dragon (click video)

                                              

Day 17 - Sylva, NC to Harrisonburg, VA (388 miles)

Day 18 - Harrisonburg, VA to Bushnells Basin, NY (441 miles)