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Well I'm back and Americade 2007 is behind me now and my new reality is that work sucks. I would rather be out riding.

All in all the week was great! The Tourer was great, the weather was great, the riding was phenomenal, the scenery was spectacular, you get the idea, everything was outstanding.

My brother and I hooked up early Sunday morning for breakfast. We were meeting 6 more riders from the Americade Forum to travel together to Lake George. We were travelling a little different route than my brother and I travelled in years past and this was refreshing. Our journey this year was going to take us over the north shore of Lake Oneida instead of the southern shore. A wise move on our part because the scenery along the north shore is fabulous.

We hooked up with our six other riders and I must say I was surprised. I found them to be an extremely hospitable group of gentlemen and ladies. All in our same age group too. We weren't on the road more than a minute and I knew I was going to have a problem. A couple of the riders in our group had very loud mufflers. So loud in fact I could not hear my own bike and consequently it started to affect my shifting. Since I had no Tach I could only gage my speedometer as to my shift points. I found myself shifting my T every time the loudest bike shifted. It was annoying but it was humorous too. I laughed it off and figured out how to deal with it.

After two hours into our trip the skies turned grey and the rain turned from a sprinkle to a pretty heavy rain. We all pulled over to put on rain suits and we all grumbled about having to ride in the rain. But it was good that we put on the rain suits because the rain turned into a downpour. It was then I learned a valuable lesson about my Tourer.

When I bought my Tourer it had an aftermarket Clearview windshield that I have come to like because of it being oversized. It causes me to look through the plexiglas but I don't mind because it protects me from all the buffeting I use to experience. So much so I don't need to wear earplugs and I can ride without my helmet visor. But in the rain I have learned that the Clearview is a nusiance. When it started to rain on me my Clearview filled with raindrops. They didn't blow off like I would have expected them too. They were somehow shielded from the oncoming air by a barrier. So looking through the Clearview windshield was terrible. And looking over the top is not possible. Not like that wasn't bad enough. The problem gets worse. The Clearview windshield protects me so well that it also allows the rain to accumulate on the visor of my helmet and it doesn't blow off either. So now I found myself trying to ride in the rain with a windshield full of raindrops and a helmet visor full of raindrops. It was practically impossible to see. Fortunately the rain was not too long lasting and after 10 minutes the raindrops would begin to evaporate.

This experience was threatening to me and I decided that when I get the chance I may install the original windshield again. Have any of you had similar circumstances?

The rain finally stopped and we arrived into Lake George after seven hours on the road. We parted with our travelling companions and proceeded to the motel. After we arrived and checked in I got the feeling that this was going to be one of the best weeks I have spent on a motorcycle. It felt good to be there and spending time with my brother.

Monday was pretty uneventful. We visited some vendors in the towns outside of Lake George because the official vendors show was not until Tuesday. We poked around but didn't find much. Once again it started to rain and so we made it back to the motel, but not before getting completely drenched and soaked. We got back to the motel and just chilled out for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Tuesday was great as was the entire rest of the week as far as weather. We spent Tuesday doing the vendors and we did manage to spend a few dollars. I bought a rain suit from Nitro that is just fabulous. I'll talk some more about this later. I also had to buy some new (spelled larger) chaps. It seems that my chaps from last year do not want to fit comfortably anymore. The biggest disappointment for me on Tuesday at the vendors was that there was no chrome items for me to buy. I was hoping that Cobra would be represented but they were not. To soothe my hurt feeling about no chrome I decided to buy a leather vest. Oh well!

Tuesday evening my brother and I hooked up with maniac317 (Rich) and his wife and son. NYMark99 called and said he injured his back and had to cancel his plans to attend. We had a great evening and spent almost three hours together at dinner.

Wednesday proved to be a spectacular day for weather. So my brother and I decided to head out of Lake George and ride around the Great Scanadaga Lake. On Thursday we rode north to Long Lake and found what proved to be a spectacular little road. It was route 8 again but this time from Long Lake to the village of Hague on the shore of Lake George. All I can say is WOW. There wasn't a straight piece nor level piece to that road. That one piece of road make it worth the whole week. I'm going to do that again. When my brother and I got to Hague we stopped to take a break and ran into another Tourer rider from Maine. I forgot his name but maniac317 will know who he is when I tell him that this rider said to tell Rich he was the trailer guy!. Hope that makes sense Rich? All total I saw 5 Tourers this weekend. Two of the riders I could not connect with.

Friday was vendor day again but it was proving to be too hot to do this. The temps were reaching 95 degrees. So we headed back to the motel and pulled up some lawnchairs on the edge of the beach, under a shade tree. We sat there for the rest of the afternoon and it felt GREAT!

Saturday we packed up checked out and hit the road to return home reversing our route. By the time I got home I was tired and a bit sore. I had just a little over 1,000 miles on my T. Overall my impressions of the Tourer is that it is infinitely better than my VT800 was on the same trip. I just loved the convenience of the saddle bags. Like many of you I did find myself looking for a 6th gear, a lot of times. My seat was comfortable at all times. Only after 6 hours of riding did I find myself getting a little sore in the seat. But overall I liked the stock seat. I don't know my mileage, I really didn't care. The max I rode was to 120 miles before refueling and I never had to use my reserve. I did find out that my seat with its Mustang (studded and fringed) cover was scratching my saddlebags. The fringe is doing this. I may have to remove the seat cover because the scratching will probably rub out but I don't want to have to continually be doing this, lest I wear off the paint.

I had a ball and I'm looking forward to my next riding event. Could that be Marion? Don't know just yet.

For now I can just sit here and reflect on all the time I spent with my Tourer this past week. It was great and I'm anxious to do it all again.

alepel