This was a really fun adventure. I had woken up to a bright sunny day and the motorcycle already packed and ready to go!

It was nice waking up, pouring a coffee and just heading out on the road. From now on, I will always pack the night before. It just made waking up and going so much easier.

About an hour into my trip white fluffy clouds started filling the blue sky. They were beautiful in the sunlight but a harbinger of rain none the less. Luckily the rain held out for me all day.

That’s me in front of Geneva Lake just outside of Geneva NY. It was about an hour from my destination. I was getting a bit nervous about the clouds. I stopped for a stretch and to snap a couple pictures of Geneva Lake and take this selfie. The Finger Lakes region of New York is just such a great place to ride a motorcycle. So much scenery and great places to check out. This is also wine country and there are vineyards all over the place.  The above image was actually snapped outside the Geneva Lake information center along route 20 and it featured restaurants and a charming patio and microbrewery.

For the most part I took routes 5 and 20 out of Buffalo NY. I navigated the trip the old fashioned way with a paper map of New York that I picked up at one of the NY information centers on a previous adventure. I haven’t installed the charging port on my motorcycle yet, and honestly, I enjoyed navigating with the map. The downside was I had to pull over occasionally to unfold the map and make sure I was still on course. The other downside of a paper map is that it doesn’t auto-correct your course when you hit a detour in the road. I hit one detour though and fared pretty well.

The Scenic Byway was absolutely beautiful. What a great job. If you’re ever in the Central NY area and looking for a nice scenic ride I would strongly suggest riding this byway. There are lots of wineries, and overlooks with beautiful scenery. I also came across a weed dispensary at a gas station. Honestly, it was just a really nice adventure with no shortage of views and fun encounters. The Youtube video at the end of this post features a lot of the scenery so I’ll spare you the boring pictures.

I had gotten just outside of Cayuga Lake State park when I discovered there was no camping in the park. Well, you could camp, but not without an internet reservation. Apparently this is Covid protocol for camping policy. I was then informed that I could camp in Finger Lakes National Forest which was only about 20 minutes away.  The best part was, camping was free in the national forest. Win win!

So I spent the night in the forest. I tested out a new backpackers tent I purchased. It fit much better in my tail bag and saved a lot of room. That’s the River Country Products Trekker Tent. I found it for around $50 on Amazon. I have to say, I was skeptical of a $50 dollar tent. I only bought it because of the reviews. It lived up to it’s hype. It ended up pouring rain and the tent kept me warm and dry. The worst part was I forgot to bring water-proofing spray. I was super stoked when it started pouring in the middle of the night and I woke up to a dry tent.

I’ll post a tent review down the road. For now, I’ll just say I’m really happy to add this tent to my kit.

Well, that’s pretty much it. I ended up running out of room on my SD cards. The YouTube ends with part II and me waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of pouring rain. I couldn’t really film any of the ride home. I wish I would have too, it was pretty nasty. I almost got blown off the road as I left the campground. The good news was that I made it into a nearby town about 20 minutes away, had breakfast at McDonalds and by the time I finished, it stopped raining and it was a much more pleasant ride home.

Here’s the Youtube videos of the trip.

Part I – Riding To Cayuga Lake & Around the Scenic Byway

Part II – Camping Finger Lakes National Forest

I’m pretty new to posting to Youtube. If you enjoyed these videos please consider a like and subscribe. Thanks for reading! Safe travels!