Hello good people of ADVGRRL. My name is Mani and I’m also a fan of Leslie’s great blog. When I met up with her a little over a week ago, she asked me if I would guest blog about our Sunday excursion. I said I would give it a shot even though I’m not a great writer. (please excuse my amateur spelling and (grammar!)So here after quite a few days late is my take on our ride. My apologies! I tend to procrastinate quite a bit. :(Here are a few videos I shot as well.

iPhone video:

GoPro video:

I woke up at 6am and finished putting together a few things that I take with me on trips. Leslie mentioned that her chain was feeling really tight and odd so I brought my tool roll in order to adjust it quickly before we head out. The ride out to Stony Brook, NY was a bit chilly but I had my vents open so that made sense. I arrived a bit early and met Leslie with a big hug. She was visiting her parents for a few days before making a u-turn and heading back to B.C. Canada. After chatting a bit and meeting her lovely mom (Who wanted to make sure I wasn’t related to Donald Trump before I visited) who thought is inconceivable that Leslie would want to meet total strangers and go for a day trip. I then went to check the tension on Leslie’s chain and it turned out that it was VERY loose. So I got my tool roll out and started to loosen the main axel bolt. There seemed to be a lot of lock tight or something preventing the bolt to be removed but I think there was a lot of excess chain wax that was making the removal difficult (and I think it was over torqued).

Tensioning the chain.

Leslie’s childhood friend Dean arrived next with his Harley, I finished with the chain, and we were then ready to go.

The 3 bikes.

Such a beautiful bike, and I want that front fairing……

We then headed out with me leading to go get some breakfast.

I had done a bit of looking around to see if there were any cool breakfast dives near Stony Brook
and I found this little diner called The Cook Room in Middle Island.

This old diner turned out to be quite cool, the perfect place for the start of a good road trip. As we ate omelets, sausage, toast, and many other delicious eats we all chatted about Leslie’s trip. I was quite fascinated to find out that Leslie was very open with her story and breakup which I think is the first thing you have to be in order to let go of the past and onto a brighter future. She’s been on a hell of a trip so far and it’s great to hear about the cool stories in person.

We then saddled up and we decided to take Leslie’s GPS route rather than mine since it had us going over ferries. (way cooler!)

Along our route we stopped by this roadside beach to take a breather and take a few photos.

As we continued our journey we came upon the North Ferry in Greenport, NY that would take us to Shelter Island.

We then boarded and made our way to the Island.

I always like taking ferries and when traveling by bike it makes it that cooler of a trip.

Ahh what it must be like to be vacationing here..

We then came to the South Ferry and made our way to Sag Harbor. (Leslie got onto me for taking too many photos and not taking in the scenery!)

We headed towards East Hampton and Montauk Hwy and saw a procession of quite a few people riding dirt bikes as well as firetrucks and other cars and trucks. Must of been local hero that had passed away.

As we headed into Montauk we came across a huge American flag hung from a firetruck latter.

We arrived in Montauk which is one of my favorite small towns. It is a wealthy beach town but doesn’t feel like it. No big skyscrapers, no lavish estates, just a quiet awesome little town.

We then proceeded to Montauk Point where the iconic lighthouse is.
After getting robbed paying $8 per bike we parked and made our way to the lighthouse. We could of fit all 3 bikes in one car parking spot but the lady wasn’t having any of our guff.

Such a beautiful place!

We had to purchase another ticket ($9) just to go up to the top of the hill to see the lighthouse!!

Leslie knew a boy she grew up with that was lost at sea and his name is on a statue here near the lighthouse.

There was a bit of a wait to go into the top of the lighthouse so we decided to skip it but we did tour the little museum.

After walking about the lighthouse and all we were getting hungry for lunch so we packed up and headed to this little seafood restaurant I had been to before.

West Lake Clam & Chowder House is where I had an amazing lobster roll before but they weren’t serving it this time. Must not be lobster season?? So I went with fish and chips, Leslie with a chicken sandwich, and Dean swordfish sandwich (more bacon than swordfish…..)

After a quick lunch and Leslie checking in on Facebook and this blog we headed out to more local roads back to Stony Brook. I had mapped out a route from Stony Brook to Montauk but I could’t for some reason reverse my route so I punched in the waypoint and told my GPS to avoid major highways and interstates. It actually turned out to be an amazing ride back! winging roads, huge fields with horses, at one point we drove through a golf course!

Spectacular roads!

After a bit we stopped and got some ice cream at Carvel to cool off and give us a bit of sugar boost which Leslie needed. (again I think it was $5 for a soft serve cone. Crazy!)

We then headed back towards Sag Harbor and around the bay back towards Stony Brook. We made great time thanks to the great local roads and skipped the huge traffic jams along Montauk Highway.

Once we got back we de-saddled and took another breather. I then met Mr. Sofarelli, Leslie’s dad. He had been looking online at the SPOT page and was seeing that we were getting close! We had a good ol chat about this and that while we downloaded the days photos onto Leslie’s laptop.

I headed back to Brooklyn and miraculously avoided the traffic with the help with live traffic updates via TomTom app. (I recommend this app for dealing with nasty city traffic!) As I was about a mile or so from home I noticed my left side case was lower than normal. Turns out my lock that secured my case to the bike had broken and my case was about to fall! Luckily I caught it in time and didn’t loose all my cameras and lenses! I had this happen about a month ago and I did lose one of my cases and lost my heated gear.

Overall it was a great day with great people to ride with! It was lovely meeting Leslie and her parents. Dean was a great addition to the group and was glad he was able to join our ride. Leslie is quite the spunky gal and I think it’s great that she’s doing this trip SOLO and moving forward after a difficult breakup. She’s going to to be even stronger after all of this. I look forward to seeing her latest stories! I can’t believe how often she writes about her experiences and posting so many photos. Here I am quite a few days late and I’m just writing a small blog. I commend you Leslie!

Travel safe and hope to ride again sometime!