Ride To Young, NSW, 02/05/2023.

      Any excuse for a ride and this one was to give Mike Fittal some company on his ride to the Ulysses National Rally. Five of us fronted up for an 8:00AM Lilydale start in fine conditions which held right through the day. The brave participants were Mike, Steve Bailes, Colin Voss, Jeff Pav and myself. Early running was the back way to Benalla, joining the Hume Freeway there. Before getting to Benalla we were passed by ab oncoming Highway BMW X5. I was rear running and having a very untrusting nature I expected that he would spin an unseen u-turn and come back to try and make some money. Sure enough that occurred with him hanging back almost unseen but radar travels a long way. When I was making my turn onto the Hume freeway he was right there. It's a good thing that Ulysses members are always law abiding. Our fuel stop was at the large United just before Wodonga. Lunch was had at Holbrook on the Hume then off onto side roads to reach Wagga Wagga and Junee where Mike had us stop at the Junee Railway Station for a peruse plus tea, coffee. The old stations are worth a look as they are being well restored now. Young, our  destination was an easy run from there. The Australian Hotel proved fine with good rooms, good food and reasonable prices. All rooms had modern Mitsubishi Air Cons and large TVs.
   Breakfast next morning was across the road at Wilburs at 7.:00AM. Because we are such sober types we all made it.
     Mike continued northwards, planning to get to Tamworth for that day. the forecast going south wasn't good so we changed our plans to taking the most direct, safest route along the Hume Freeway from Albury after getting there via Wagga. Coming into Junee, Steve took over the lead into back streets. We followed and came to the Junee Chocolate And Licorice Factory. If you get to this area it is not to be missed. They are very friendly and ply you with free samples and I'm sure you won't get away without purchasing something. Even I did. The weather proved just as forecast. Strong, cold winds, intermittent showers and just cold. Fueling was again near Wodonga then stopping at the highway complex near Glenrowan for lunch, The remainder of the ride was battling the wind then the peak hour traffic coming into Melbourne and home. Thanks to all on the ride for an enjoyable time and if you need an excuse to get out on your bike for a trip, be like us. Any reason will do.