Wrapping up the rest of the trip...

…so that we can get to the PICS!!

Saturday, we woke up fresh and refreshed…or, as fresh and refreshed as we could be after only a few hours of sleep. We fired up the bikes and pulled out onto the roadways which would bring us to our Labor Day mecca. Several short hours later, we found ourselves on the welcoming Coastal Rte 1, and closing quickly on South Thomaston.

Passing the familiar Dragon Cement plant, we signaled a right turn, tore the throttles open and rocketed down Buttermilk Lane. A quick right, a short left, a quick zip around the Keag store (followed by a few more lefts and rights) and we were sliding along the rocky path to The Clearing! We’d arrived! We’d reached our destination.

The rest of the weekend? Well, we had a fantabulous spaghetti and sauce dinner that night, courtesy of Rob & Tina, then we had the famous lobster feast on Sunday afternoon, courtesy of Russ & Katie. After that dinner, we assembled any first-timers into a circle and then welcomed them into the ranks with The Toast. We then took turns reciting words of wisdom, words of humor, and words of recollection of brothers lost.

Time in between all of this was filled with card games, sight seeing, tons of laughter, and just plain relaxing. Just what a weekend should be about.

Monday came far too early. Zig and I were up quickly, got packed, and said our goodbyes to the crew we’d shared the past fun-filled week with. It sucked to be leaving, but it was what it was. And we needed to hit the road ASAP to try and beat the holiday traffic. Which we didn’t entirely manage to do, but we didn’t get caught too badly.

And that wraps up the mega trip of 2008 for us. We had an amazing time and saw all kinds of unbelievable sights. My final tally for mileage was 5,453.8 – not too shabby. Not as much as I’d thought it would be, but not too shabby at all.

This is probably a good spot for some final thoughts.
I’ve never taken this much time off at once before in my life. Hell, it’s quite rare for me to take more than a long weekend at a time. So to take almost three full weeks is unheard of. But it was amazing and I wish I was doing it all over again tomorrow.

Some thanks;
Thanks to Paul & Bettina for hosting us and letting us crash (and do laundry, and eat, etc, etc, etc.) And thanks for the canoe invite in the first place!!
Thanks to Paul for his patience, especially on a Friday afternoon when he’s jonesing to get to the camp and he’s got two guests in the car who are starving.
Thanks even more to Paul for picking up the oil/filter for my bike so that I could keep on rollin’ down the line.
Thanks to Guido and Starr for buying us breakfast on the Sunday after - we’ll get the tab next time!
Thanks to the Michigan Crew for sharing their whikked pissa fun weekend on the river – can’t wait to do it again next year!

Thanks to King & Pat for their hospitality (and food and laundry, etc. etc. etc.) – seeing a pattern here, when we stay at folks’ places?

Thanks to Alyssa for soaking me in the super soaker battle. (I figured my chances against someone in elementary school were pretty good - I was wrong.)

Thanks to Lynner, Katelyn, GrandMama and Mary – bartenders extraordinaire at the club.

Thanks to Russ & Katie & Rob & Tina & Dave & Karmen for keeping the Labor Day tradition going. I think everyone is in agreement that we all want to see this tradition continue for years and years to come. Let us know of what projects are being undertaken next summer, and we’ll be there to assist.

What else…Thanks to the dink who stole my riding gloves from the bathroom in Indiana, that was certainly appreciated.

Thanks to the cops who had chances to cite us for speeding but opted not to.

I’m certain there are more folks that I should thank, but I’m forgetting at the moment. Thanks to everyone that helped us with our adventure. It was a time that Zig and I won’t forget.

So there you go! Sturgis 2008!

Ride Hard, Take Chances