jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Gas and tolls!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I did, and it's more than I'm willing to pay.

As I said, we generally meet twice a year - just a three-hour drive away.

Canisdirus

Right now...the way the economy is teetering...you made a wise choice.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

The only economy I care about is my own, and that's too much to spend for two days.

Canisdirus

Same thing in the end.

Prudence is the correct mode right now.

cfusco3

My goal is to have the last check I write to BOUNCE!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

neillaubenthal

Me too…but the older I get the easier it gets to justify the cost since ya can't take it with ya…wife and I still skip some things that are not enough bang for the buck though.

koratcat

My husband and I spent the summer of '68 doing Europe on $5/day (which you could actually do back in those halcyon days). In Paris, we found the cheapest accommodations we could find on the Left Bank. Easily kept within our budget and had a great view of the Seine and the rear of Notre Dame to boot. Of course, it also had bedbugs, as we discovered to our dismay. :)

SteveFranz Loc: Durham, NC

I've stayed at a few of those motels. Sometimes it's better to buy a couple cups of strong coffee and push onwards.

traderjohn Loc: New York City

Then it's for the best.
We have reunions every other year. It started off every 4-5 years in a different state. Now it's every other. Age is taking its toll on old Marines. This November we hook up in Alaska. We bring our wives and it is about 3-4 days. We have it in whatever state the next guy is living in. We started this about 30 years ago we were finding out within the original time frame a lot of guys had started to pass away. Now every other is the way. I would never put a price on these reunions. When one of the group passes away we go to the funeral and that is the reunion time. To date, no one has missed either.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes, it is a shame when classmates pass away. The guys meet in the spring, and it's guys and gals in December.

Abo

I rode an 1100 Suzuki Katana Melbourne/Perth return in the early 80s. 6808km (4229 miles)

The trip West, Melbourne to Perth was easy, even though I added 404km to the 6808km by doing a Norseman/Esperance return detour on the way there. It was a "two night" journey stopping before the end of daylight and staying at motels overnight and heading off in the morning.

First night was at Port Augusta well NE of Adelaide South Australia. Second night at Eucla on the
Western Australian border. I Arrived at my Perth destination (My Mothers home) in the evening next day.
When I arrived mum said to me; "You must be tired after such a long journey." My response was; "No mum, watch this"...
and executed 50 regulation push ups on her lounge room floor.

The trip back, traveling in the opposite direction of the sun, shrank the days dramatically however!
That taught me a very stern "Catch 22" lesson... the faster one rides, the less time/daylight one has when
heading East... The bike was a race prepped superbike that had come second in one of the rounds
of the Australian Super Bike Championship... It really did make a day less than 24 hours.
On the first leg of the return journey I eventually found accommodation too many hours after the end of daylight, at a little hotel in an obscure one
horse desert "town". It was early Spring down here, and cold enough to freeze the balls of a billiard table.

It was just a matter of unlikely mathematical probability that the place was open...having some sort
of town meeting. The publican was kind enough to give me a glass of Scotch to warm my bones
and a room with a bed with an unforgettable, deep, enveloping kapok mattress.

Next day I only got as far as Ceduna before the end of daylight. I didn't want to suffer the cold
of night again so I bedded down there; which left me a very long leg to home in Melbourne
the following "day".

It had been dark for a long time when I arrived home... John Bertrand was on TV
Captaining "Australia II". He was in the process of making sporting history, taking the Americas Cup
from the USA.

A feat that had not been done in 132 years. A great welcome home. :-)

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

My longest ride on my Gold Wing was about 1,000 miles to a Gold Wing rally. I was riding west in the morning, so the sun was behind me. Coming home, I began the day with the sun in my eyes. That was during a hot summer.

Abo

Darn nice touring bike Jerry