2010 Rendezvous!

Ohhh man…is it morning already? What day is it? And why do I feel like I was run over by a Mack truck? Oh right; the Rendezvous was this past weekend. I think my head is only now clearing up (three days later). But what fun was had once again!

Wednesday, Kevin and I had a great run out to Cobleskill – all except for a long frikkin’ string of traffic lights in Albany (we’ll definitely have to find a way around that city next year). Aside from that one setback, the ride out was relaxing and enjoyable. Great scenery and some long stretches of farmland are always welcomed by riders on a long haul.

We arrived at the motel in the afternoon, only to find that half of the NY crew had arrived earlier and secured the perimeter. Yep; our home base for the evening was ready to rock and roll! Kevin and I quickly shed our excess packings and shot off to grab beer for the coming festivities.

The rest of the afternoon was spent washing the road dust out of our throats and sharing plenty of laughs. A number of bottles that had been brought to enhance our weekend enjoyment wound up being sacrificed on this, our very first evening together. Oh well, it was the ‘Vous pre-party!

The night ran long, as they always do, and sometime around 3am, Kevin, Zig and myself looked around to find we were the only ones still standing. Wait, what time is it? 3am? Holy crap, we better get some sleep; we’ve got a long weekend ahead of us. As we walked into the hotel room, we exchanged nervous glances; 3 guys and only two beds. Hmmm…this is exactly the sort of thing that gets rumors started. (Zig offered to get his crash pad off his bike and sleep on the floor, and just like that; a crisis was averted.)

The next morning dawned bright and early. We strolled to the accompanying restaurant, shoved some fine fare down our gullets and were soon packed up and rolling through the winding beauty that is the Schenectady-area scenery. You don’t mind sitting at the occasional red light when you’re surrounded by the sights and smells of open farmland and fresh cut grasses!

All too soon we were rolling up the road that would lead us to the Vous entrance. Yep, only about another mile now and we’ll be…whoa, whoa, whoa…what the hell? The line is backed up this far? Already!?!?!? Oy! This could be a problem. Ok, those sitting atop four wheels assumed their rightful position at the end of the line while those of us on bikes continued our progress, passing the cars and campers sitting on the sides.

Our fingers crossed, we reached the traffic intersection and hung a right, eased around a few corners and came around to the straightaway where the entrance was. And hot dog! There was a staff member out in the road, waving us closer! Sweet! We’re back to ‘bikes first’ again! Yeah!! This is how things are supposed to be! This is how…wait…huh? Mr. Staff member, you’re waving us on PAST the entrance!?!?! Oh no, not again!!?!? This is an insult!! Why are there campers and 5th wheelers already inside??? Why are bikes being waved on by?! DAMMIT!!?! @&#$*%!?!?!?!

To make a long story short, yes; bikes were once again waved on by the entrance while campers were allowed in. What the Frig? We need to change the name from Harley Rendezvous, to Haul-A Campervous. Disgusting. But we made the best of things with our first jello shot @ 10am, and our first beer shortly thereafter.

As we were waiting in line, word came along that some bikes were now being allowed in. We sent Zig to check things out and made it in, but the rest of us were turned back when we tried. So, we made the best of things, enjoyed some road sodas, and once we’d moved up far enough to reach the Exit Row, we had Zig come down to the gate and meet us where we handed off as many tents and tarps as we had with us, so that he could get things set up and block off our space.

The sun was beating down on us pretty well for most of the time we were lined up on the road. There was one break, though. ‘Course, that one break consisted of a rolling thunderstorm which hammered us with precipitation. As I watched everyone else gearing up in their rain suits, I realized that transferring my rain gear over to Bub’s van (now miles away) to make room for more beer was not a prudent plan. I tried to find as much cover as I could under the underbrush along the side of the road, but it made no difference and I was quickly soaked. (I won’t make that mistake again!)

The only good thing about this entrance fiasco is that our chase vehicles made it into the site shortly after the bikes did, and we were all set up and partying while it was still light out (unlike years past, where the bikes are in early and then waiting until ~midnight or later for the cagers to show up with the food and beer).

Thursday night, the crew was settling in to the party mode at the campsite, jello shots were flying around like mini meteors, beers were disappearing as fast as our livers could handle them, and the beer pong/flip cup abomination was in full gear. Much later, when it was zero-dark-thirty, I packed up a sleeve of beer and headed off to find the vendors, in search of some items I’d seen mentioned on last year’s video. Specifically; some framed original invites to the first Rendezvous. Unfortunately, I didn’t find them, but I did find some sweet, vintage-styled Harley Davidson tins and I grabbed a couple. I did some more walking around the grounds, looking for anything that was open, but by this time, it was closing in on midnight and everything was closed up. (Hell, who am I kidding; it was still Thursday; half of the place didn’t even open until tomorrow.) Anyway, I made it back to the campsite only to find nobody around. Figuring everyone was sacked out, I stashed my tins on my bike and crawled into my tent to get some shuteye. (Only later the next day, did I find out that some of the crew had still been out partying, and I vowed I wouldn’t make the same mistake of going to bed too early, again!)

Friday morning broke early…but not for me. I didn’t finally wake up and come crawling out until almost 8:30. I guess the late nights were catching up with me (sucks getting old!) Fortunately, the cure was quick in the making; beer pong was soon up and running and all thoughts of hangovers were quickly washed away.

After we’d sufficiently seduced our sore brains back into oblivion, it was time to pack up some coolers and go check out the rodeo!

This is something that goes on every year and it’s a trip and a half to check out. They’d already finished some activities but here, we caught the start of the slow race. Pretty talented to keep your bike upright and within the lines all while going as slowly as possible.

This thing came rolling out at one point. Even the rodeo organizers had to stop what they were doing to check it out. It was one of those things that has 7 seats on it and everyone pedals. The guy in the back (in the left, in this pic) does the steering and you move around like that. Not too shabby (but it looked like far too much work for me).

Next; it was time for the tractor pull (they had both a trikes segment, and a bike segment). Most of the trikes looked like this…

But there was this one guy that had come up with some odd kind of creation. Check out the front setup on this thing!

At this point, we were treated with a group of skydivers that drop down several times over the course of the weekend.

The Tire Pull is always a big hit with the crowd. The ground was kinda damp and a lot of the bikes had trouble getting enough traction to really throw their tires around, but it still made for good fun.

We hung out for a couple more hours, watching things like the tire toss, figure-8 race, board race, etc. (Sorry, no pics of those) and then meandered along our way.

We headed back to the campsite, cooked up some grub and laid into the beer pong again. In between monster rounds of this madness, we’d sit at the table, munch on whatever junk food we could find, and basically just make fun of each other.

Here; Hurl does his level best to intimidate us while wearing nerd glasses. Nice try Hurl, we all know you’re too nice a guy to scare us. Besides, we’re too busy laughing at your shirt to pay much attention to anything else.

Poor Tim. He’s trying to quietly sip his beer and someone throws a baby wipe at him and it sticks in his glasses. Of course I had to take a pic.
More foolishness of this nature brought the afternoon to an end and it was once again time to pack up the coolers and head back up to the main stage and check out the bands playing that night.

At one point, I took a break from the music and went back to the vendors to once again see if I could find any of those framed Rendezvous invites, but no luck. Going back up to the band area, I wasn’t able to find anyone from camp, so I milled around until the bands ended, the beer taps were shut off and the lights were killed. I made my way down through the vendors one last time but by this time, they were closed up as well. No problem, I’ll just head on back and crash.

But as I was making my way out of the vendor area, I stumbled (literally) across the Handicapped Camping area. (It’s an area very close to the stages and vendor areas that is set aside for handicapped folks so they don’t have too far to walk to get to where the fun stuff is.) And who should I bump into, but a guy that I’d first run into, way back on my first trip out, 14 years ago. He actually remembered me, and more importantly; he was jamming on a banjo for anyone that would listen. Well hell, I had a few beers left and wasn’t going anywhere other than to bed, so I decided to hang out and enjoy the tunes. Vincent was his name and he played mostly his own stuff, but did toss out some covers once in a while. It was a cool way to wrap up the evening, and after about an hour (and after my last beer was gone) we shook hands and it was off to slumberland for me.

Saturday morning was a rough one. I had to sit in one of the reclining camp chairs for a bit and let my mind try and forget what I’d done to myself over the past couple of days. All around me, I could hear the tops of beer cans being opened as one after another of us succumbed to the call of the hair of the dog. I resisted for as long as I could, but when the call went out for beer pong, I had no choice but to crawl over and support my team once again. That first beer went down like crushed glass, but I powered through it and miraculously, the hangover slid into memory as each can was finished…

From here, it was back up to the Rodeo to watch this day’s offerings and hang out until more bands were playing. The sky was overcast which made things more comfy, standing out in the middle of a wide-open field…all until it started to rain. It’s the ‘Vous, you’re going to get some rain now and again.

Oh yeah; I did see this bike when we were walking about. I really liked the fluorescent orange! If a cager hits you on this thing, he sure as hell can’t claim he didn’t see you!

In between the Rodeo and the bands, we checked out a favorite activity of ours; the Hammerschlagen game. It’s a game of skill (and luck, in my case). You have a circle of people around a slab of tree. Everyone gets a nail and has to sink the nail into the wood in as few tries as possible. Sounds easy, right? Well the hard part is that the hammer you’re using is pointed. Yeah, not so easy now, is it tough guy?

Here, Flex takes a swing at things.

I’ve played this many times before, and even won once or twice. But never have I won two rounds in a row! Sweet! See that cash in the middle of the table? That was my winnings from one of the rounds! Double that, and you can see that I made out ok!

That was the good news. The bad news is that since I was now flush, I was responsible for picking up the next 30-rack of beer. Not a problem, I love to share!

We ambled our way back to the main field to check out the bands that were playing. Not long after we’d made our way back to the grass, the last group of skydivers made their drop. This is one of the cooler things of Saturday evening’s drop; the last guy to come in always suspends an enormous American Flag and I managed to get close enough to his LZ to get a decent shot of him coming in.

Here’s a shot over King’s shoulder, band playing in the distance.

At dusk they did the annual playing of Taps. This is a cool story, too (if I have it right); for years, a local guy had been coming out on his porch every evening at dusk and playing TAPS on his bugle. His neighbors loved it and word eventually reached the ‘Vous. They extended an invitation to him to play it on the main stage on Saturday night and he accepted. And he’s been invited back (and accepting) every year since then. (I didn’t get a pic of this, unfortunately.)

When the last band wrapped up, it was time for the official ‘closing ceremony’; fireworks!! I took a bunch of pics, but due to either the darkness, or the fact that my blood alcohol content was running near 100%, they all came out blurry. Here’s the two best ones…

Figuring that was it for the evening, we headed back en mass to the camp site. Only when we got back to the site and found some of the crew playing a new (solo!) version of beer pong/flip cup did we realize we still had plenty of life left in us. We played a couple more rounds and then packed up the coolers and did another walkabout of the campgrounds, enjoying beers with anyone that was still up. We eventually found one last large group of revelers and we hung with them until…well…not sure what time it was, but it was dark out. They had jello shots left over, but after doing my part to knock out the ~450 that I’d brought with us, my system had had enough. (Whoever says “There’s always room for Jello” has never been to the ‘Vous.) When the beers were running low and our mobility was seriously in question, we headed back to our home away from home and turned in.

Sunday morning is usually a Get-up-ASAP-and-get-the-site-packed-up-so-we-can-hit-the-highways kind of morning. Not this year, though. This year, we all just kinda took our time getting things cleaned up and packed into/onto the vehicles. And you know what? It was kinda nice for a change. We’ll have to think about doing that again next year. No rush, no craziness, no struggling with hangovers while trying to tie stuff down so it doesn’t come loose halfway home.

When everything was finally packed and we’d made the rounds to say goodbye, we fired things up and rolled out onto Exit Row, eventually passing through the gate and back onto paved paths that would lead us back to civilization.

A bit of rain chased us out of Schenectady, but we managed to outrun it and enjoyed bright skies for the rest of the way home. Hell, we didn’t even lose anything along the way, there were no breakdowns, and no one passed out (completely) on the highway. That has to be chalked up as a good thing.

And just like that, another successful Rendezvous was in the books. Now we just have 360 some-odd days until we get to do it all over again. Can’t wait. In the meantime;

Ride Hard, Take Chances

One more Sleep...

The bike is packed, the jello shots are on ice, and I've mapped a route. Out of an original 5 (6) guys that were supposed to ride out tomorrow, things have now dwindled to just two of us; Me and Kevin (the rest are going out with the Thursday crew).

Since we have all day to work with, we'll take our time and enjoy the scenery along a non major-highway path; 140 to 16 to 20 to 7, and just under 240 miles. Current weather outlook has us dodging some raindrops in the morning, then sliding into (!!) clearing skies and sunshine.

At some point tomorrow, we'll arrive in Cobleskille, NY and meet up with the NY crew. And that's when the mayhem will begin to fall into place.

Thursday will find us up early and hustling up to Mariaville, where the real party will kick into high gear. The rest of the Mass crew will arrive as soon as they're able to knock out the 200+ miles it'll take them to get there. Then they'll throw their hats into the ring with the rest of us.

At some point after that, they'll open the entrance gate, and me and 30,000 of my closest friends will lay claim to the Indian Lookout Country Club once again.

Leave your livers at the door, and come on in...

Ride Hard, Party Harder!

The 2010 Patriot Tour

As mentioned in my prior post about the 2010 Unity Ride, we'd again crossed paths with Janice and Shannon - two of the Dragon Slayers that Zig partied with last year, and the same two folks that I ran into on my way down to DC a few weekends back.

It seems that while our day had ended over at Danno's house, knockinig back some BL's, their day was only half over, as they had another ride going on that evening. A group called The Nation of Patriots had organized a campaign where they would pass an American Flag through the lower 48 states, all within 100 days, to raise awareness and support for all members of the military, both past and present.

The flag's tour had started in Wisconsin, back in May, and had passed between many different groups of riders up until this point. Now it was the Metrowest HOG chapter's turn at things and they had a grand plan in mind to set themselves apart from the other chapters; their director (Shannon) would dress up as Paul Revere and would reenact his famous ride, announcing the approach of the British. Sweet! Sounds like a good plan!

So with that, I once again give you the guest-blogging of Janice and Shannon;

Janice: "OMG Dave! It was a riot! Steve and I went to Shannon's house to get her and ride over to the line-up. I laughed all the way to Paramount! She looked freaking adorable! You have to see the pics! LOL

We had a blast and no one got arrested. The police came by when we were at the Minute Man Statue, asking what we were doing and they thought it was cool. It was kinda eerie when the bells started at midnight, I got a little case of the goose bumps. Ha Ha Ha."

Shannon: "The ride Sunday night was awesome! We had 21 bikes with 25 people riding around Boston up to Lexington at 10 at night. And when we were taking pics, the clock was striking midnight...very fitting. I looked like a huge dork, but it was hysterical!

You asked how the flag held up...well...the original wood flag pole did not hold up at all! I didn't even get out of the parking lot at my condo! Jan & Steve had pulled up and once they were done laughing at "the outfit", I asked Steve if he could just check and see how he thought the flag would hold up. He gives the flag a little tug...just very little, and we all hear craaaaacckkk! Oops! Guess that's not going to work right! I ran inside to see what I could find to use as a flag pole. I came out with a broom handle, and one of those collapsible extension poles to use for changing light bulbs that are way up high. The extension pole won! Steve worked magic with zip ties and wire and voila! New flag pole! I should have taken a pic, but it worked!

So we go through the ride...all is well...the colonists are notified that the British are coming. On the way back down 128, it was me, Jan, Steve and Todd. Todd was in front, then me, then Steve & Jan. A Statie pulls up sort of next to me, then pulls a little ahead and stays even with Todd. I thought for sure that I was getting pulled over. I mean, how many DOT-approved Patriot hats are there out there? We get off at 109 and the cop pulls in right behind Todd. I figure if I stay behind the cop, then I should be ok. Blue lights start flashing...Todd pulls over and the 3 of us just keep going! Ha ha!! Good friends we are!! We did end up going back...Steve went first, as I had to stash the patriot hat! Anyway....Todd got a warning about engine lights or some crap like that. I think the guy was just checking things out and had to find something!"

(Ok, this is me (Dave) again): sounds like quite an intersting evening! The following day, they brought the flag to the USS Constitution, where it was raised to fly in the breeze above the deck of that historied ship. Not too shabby at all! After that, it was handed off to the next chapter that would carry the flag along it's planned course.

Ok, time for pics!!

Here's Shannon's bike, complete with "Billy" the horse, mounted on the bars. (Get it? A horse? Paul Revere rode a horse! C'mon folks, work with me here....)

Here we see Paul...er..."Paula" Revere, suited up and ready to alert the colonists about the Brits!

Here are Paul's cohorts, in front of the statue commemorating his achievement.

Solo shot of "Paula" in front of the statue of himself (herself?)

Here's a shot of the flag being raised on the USS Constitution.

Frikkin' Sweet! Excellent job, guys!!

And there you have the 2010 Patriot Tour. Thanks Shannon and Janice!

Ride Hard, Take Chances

2010 Unity Ride

The morning dawned wet and grey. Stepping out to the garage, my bike and I exchanged wary glances as I slid the garage door upwards. Rolling her out and setting her back on the stand, this is pretty much what we were greeted with...
But, we made do the best we could. The flags were mounted (!!), we geared up and headed off to Danno's for a bit of pre-game warmup.

We pushed things as close to the deadline as we dared, finally firing things up with scant time to spare! Quick, hit the roadways!! Pound the throttles!!! We gotta get there, Dammit!!!!

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Hearts hammering, sweat pouring from our brows, we wrestled those iron steeds for all they were worth, finally pulling up sharp...a staggering 3/4 mile down the road.

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The guys in charge of getting everyone safely parked had their work cut out for them. Luckily, we were able to find a small patch of open space to tuck our wheels into.

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Here, you can see the sheer mayhem that was the parking lot. We had to call on every ounce of nerve and endurance to navigate this madness.

Ok, so maybe I'm exaggerating things a bit. It seemed the weather had kept many folks away, which is a shame, really. C'mon you people, get on those bikes and get out there and support those that need it!!

We registered, picked up some raffle tickets and milled around a bit until it was time to mount up and hit the road. We had plenty of LEO escorts for this, what with two cruisers and two motorcycled cops...all to handle only 35 bikes. Oh well, the LEO's made the most of things by riding on the wrong side of the yellow line and forcing all oncoming traffic into the fields and driveways on the opposite side of the road. Good for you, guys! Way to make unneccessary complications!

Anyway, here's an action shot for you...

We made it safely back to the beach area and chowed down on dogs, burgers...and cookies! But no beers. Dammit, I thought this place had beers last year, but I was reminded that we'd packed our own last year. Oh well. At least they had a decent band to keep us entertained.

I felt badly for these guys; they'd come out in the bad weather, taken the time to set up shop and rock out with us, but the attendance was pretty bad. And once the raffles were done, the place cleared out in no time.

Speaking of raffles, check out this thing we won! An aw-then-tick Harley Davidson pic-a-nic basket/cooler type of thing. Came with plates, cups, a set of utensils, even salt and pepper shakers. (I must admit that I was disappointed to find the HD logo was missing from the utensils. That would have been pretty cool.)

From here, we said our goodbyes and made our way back to Danno's for the apris party, where we knocked back some warm milk and cookies (pay no attention to those blue cylinders scattered about on the table...).

Can you see the bottle of amber liquid on that table? Danno brought that out to tease us. It's a bottle of honey mead, straight from England. Apparently the makers of this fine libation travel to Scotland, where they lay claim to some authentic Scottish honey, which they then bring back and incorporate into their mead. MMMMMMMMMMEAD!!! We kept asking Danno if he was going ot open it, but we were only kidding him...or were we... Anyway, today was not the day for the insides of that bottle to meet the insides of my liver. Danno said he was working on obtaining a second bottle, which would be brought to next year's Cindo de Roasto event. I guess we'll just have to wait.

Once the Bud Lights...er...milk was gone, hugs and handshakes were exchanged and I rolled back out of Danno's driveway and headed back to the homestead.

This brought the 2010 Unity Ride to a close. Unfortunately, the weather scared a lot of folks away, but those that came out were treated to a not-too-shabby day, overall.

361 days until the next one. That gives you folks that stayed in because of the weather, plenty of time to grow a pair.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

'Vous Planning Party!!

The 7 P’s state that; Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance. So with that in mind, it was time once again for our Rendezvous planning party! Woo-Hoo! Rendezvous!! And you gotta have a planning party for this thing so that everyone knows what they’re bringing, what time we’re leaving, directions to get there, etc. So let’s get this planning party started!

The location was the usual; Zig’s house. Start time; 7pm. Instructions were to bring meat to grille and beer to swill.

However, Flex took it upon himself to bring something a little extra; a set of brake pads to replace the tired and worn ones that currently resided on his rear caliper. (Ok, so we’d discussed this earlier and, between myself and Zig, we’d have the tools to do the job…or so we thought.)

Here we see the bike, sitting at the ready. And look around; there’s plenty of daylight, too. No problems, right?

Hmmm…we yanked the saddlebag off and took a closer look at things. Damn. I’d thought his rear caliper setup was the same as mine. Nope! His caliper’s bracing method is that long arm which the rear axle threads through.
I tell you this; I’ll be damned if I’m yanking the tire, just to do the brake pads! And after a closer inspection, we knew we were in good shape. We should be able to just pull the retaining bolts, compress the pistons, drop the old pads out, slide the new ones in, bolt the retaining bolts back in, give a few presses on the brake pedal, and we’d be in business. Simple, right? Riiiiiight!

So here’s a shot of the stupid frikkin’ 12-point bolt heads that none of us had the right sized socket for (the two smaller ones on either side of the center bracket bolt). Stupid Factory!! Why can’t you make things simple?!?!?

A quick call to Kevin who hadn’t left his house yet, and we were in business. Ta da! Kevin arrives, with the socket in hand! (Zig is in awe of Kevin’s awesomeness.)

Ok, we’re moving again! The bolts are out, now we’re compressing the pistons, courtesy of a large, flat-headed screwdriver.

Yay! Old pads drop out…

New pads ready and waiting…

(Hey, why aren’t the bricks bathed in sunlight? Could it be because we’re running out of daylight??)

Retaining bolts are going back in… (And it looks like I had to use a flash for this photo? Could it be that it’s getting dark???)

Why yes! Yes, we’d run out of daylight because we’d had to wait for the right sized socket to arrive. But if HD had made things simple, then we’d have been done a long time ago. Anyway, the pads were in, and we worked the pedal to get the pistons tight again. Flex took the bike out for a test drive and made it back alive, so we counted the procedure a success.

But Flex wasn’t done with us just yet. Oh no; so far, we’d gotten off fairly easily. And we can’t have that! Let’s adjust the height of the highway pegs! Yeah yeah, what can go wrong with that? Ha!

I don’t know who the manufacturer of these things is, but they deserve a couple of nad taps. Instead of a simple one-piece compression bracket, these things had three separate pieces, including 5 (5!!) bolts. Oy! Needless to say that once one bolt was out, they all had to come out, and none of them wanted to thread back in correctly. Oh yeah, did I mention it was dark by now and we were working by flashlight? Oh what fun we’re having now. Frustration won out so I gave up and handed the tools over to Kevin for him to give it a try…

Kevin, with all his awesomeness still intact, succeeded in securing the bolts and we were good to go again.

At this point, it dawned on me that Flex had yet to lift a wrench, so as punishment, we made him put his own saddlebag back on. (I know; we’re tyrants.)

And with that, the rear brake job was done! Yay for rear brake job being done!! Whew, ok boys, let’s call it a night. Wait a minute…are we forgetting something? I could swear that we were supposed to be accomplishing something else tonight, too. What was it…

Oh hell…we’re supposed to be planning the ‘Vous trip!! Crap!! Ok, have any of you guys written down what your’re bringing out? Do we have a plan for where we’re meeting? Do we have a departure time? No? Sweet! This party is going just as well as all the ones before it! :-D

Grabbing the list of items that would be needed, we haphazardly assigned names with neither care nor concern. We had to get this done! (What the hell were these guys doing while we were working on Flex’s bike? Oh…right…they were handing us beers. Ok, I guess we can let things slide.)

By the time the last tire left Zig’s driveway, we had a sheet of paper with a bunch of names on it. Listed alongside the names were lots of words – most of which had been crossed out or written over, but some were actually legible. Would I go so far as to say we achieved a plan? Hell no, because this is all subject to change - not to mention there are still a lot of logistical questions that need answering. We’ve only got 17 days until we roll out, so it’ll mean a lot of running around, phone calls, emails, trying to track everyone down and get things finalized. There’s a lot of work still to do.

Maybe we should have a planning party…

Rolling Thunder - The Forgotten Tale

Now how could I have forgotten this part of our weekend adventure?? I'd mentioned in my previous post that on Saturday night, we'd checked out a couple of bars and then made our way over to the docks, where we met up with Jamie, the very cool boat captain. But I forgot to mention a very cool happening that occurred in between the bars and the docks.

We were strolling down the sidewalk and a limo/town Car pulled up to the curb just in front of us. The driver and the front passenger both jumped out and did a quick scan of the area to ensure things were safe. Who could be in the back of the car? Who? Who? Well, the window slid down just as I walked past and lo and behold; it was Ben Stein! Frikkin' Ben Stein!! I turned to say to Kerry "Hey, that's Ben Stein!" but Kerry was not behind me any longer. Where was Kerry? Why, she was AT the car, with her head stuck into the back window!! Ok, so she hadn't stuck her head into the car, but her head was right at the window, and she was saying hello, and that her brother thoroughly appreciated what Ben had done for him, and did he remember her brother, etc.

Well this in-your-face approach seemed to catch the two guys that had jumped out of the front of the car, completely by surprise. Ha ha, they came right up to K but quickly realized she was not a threat and they backed off. And here's where things really get cool.

Ben (I can call him Ben, we're tight now) stepped out of the car and right up to K, hand extended, saying that yes indeed, he definitely remembered her brother, and how was he doing, and where was he currently. Man, for a someone as important and famous as this guy is, he was incredibly approachable.

(As a footnote; Ben, who is very supportive of the troops, was contacted by Kerry's brother (who is in the military), requesting that Ben speak at a Serviceman's event, and Ben gladly accepted. But things went even further than that; K's brother wound up picking Ben up at the airport when he flew in, and spent the whole day with him.)

Ben spent more than a few minutes talking with K and asked that she pass along his well wishes to her brother. How cool is that? We were all blown away. And even after he moved on, he paused for others on the street and let them take pictures with him. I gotta say, he was one nice guy.

This is a great story, isn't it? But there's nothing like a little proof to show it really happened... So here you go; here is Mr. Ben Stein, alongside our lovely hostess; K!

Not too shabby, eh?

Rolling Thunder 2010

I succeeded in my attempt to hit the road early, sliding out of the driveway and onto the roadways at 5:55am on Friday morning.

I'd expected to be delayed in New York but it was more of a token delay than anything. I had feet down only once, I think, and the rest was just a slowed-pace until I cruised over the G.W. Bridge. New Jersey was more of the same; decent traffic volume but nothing that couldn't be dealt with.

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However, Jersey did involve a pleasant surprise this year. I'd stopped at the first (second?) service plaza to fill my tanks and belly. No sooner had I put my kickstand to the tar than I heard a woman's voice say "Dave?". Looking up at the two smiling faces that were approaching me, I had no idea who my welcoming party consisted of. All was explained in short order, though; it was Shannon and Janice, two members of Zig's Angels, from his Tail of the Dragon adventure last year (Shannon being the guest blogger from that trip, too).

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Apparently they've been sneeking peeks at my blog from time to time and knew that I'd be on the hiways and biways at the same time as them, and they'd been keeping an eye out for me (they were making the run to DC as well). We shared some brief laughs and then said farewells as they were heading back out onto the roadways, while I still needed foooooood. but I felt badly afterwards as I realized I should have exchanged phone numbers and seen if we could all meet up somewhere in DC. So to Janice and Shannon; drop me a note to say hello if you get a chance, we'll have to see if we can all catch up for a ride sometime. Oh yeah; and consider your crew invited to next year's Cinco de Roasto, too!

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Anywho, the rest of the ride was uneventful; traffic got heavier as the hours passed along, with things culminating with my feet once again greeting the pavement of the 495 Beltway (We hates the 495 Beltway!!).

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Nevertheless, roughly 10 hours after pulling out of my driveway, I found myself sliding into Kerry's driveway. She was there to give me a big welcoming hug and make me feel welcome, and there was an added bonus; John and Judy (K's parents) were there, too.

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I brought my bags to the bedroom I'd be taking over this weekend, and what did I find waiting for me? None of those wimpy chocolates that you get in some fancy places! Nope, here I had a gen-you-wine Pentagon shot glass!

How frikkin' cool is this! Thanks K!!

Here's a shot of my bike in the driveway, resting and cooling off from its long ride down. (Hey, what's that object in the lower left corner? Ha ha, thanks John!)

And speaking of John, here he is, taking a rare break and enjoying some beerverages with the tired travelers.

The rest of the day was spent unwinding and gnoshing some fantastic nachos and chicken, cooked by Judy. Thanks Judy!!

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That night, K took me out to Murphy's, an Irish bar, and the guy working the stage was frikkin' amazing. He had us all belting out songs at the top of our lungs, all while doing our best to empty the pub's stores of beer. Yes, a great time indeed and we have to hit that place again next year!!

Saturday found us doing a bit of yard work and then bringing John and Judy to the airport for their return flight home. We hope to see you guys again soon!

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That night, we went into DC and hit a area called Oldtown (I think I've got that right...or maybe it was Georgetown...or Old Georgetown...anyway, it was some kind of 'town'). The first bar we tried (Old Glory, I think? Maybe?) didn't really do it for us so we mosied along to a second one; "The Rhino Bar". This place runs with a Boston, MA theme and it was decent...but us Massholes were hard to please and the decision was made to meander further and see what the night held in store for us.

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We hit the docks and checked out the boats that were lined up and whose passengers were partying hearty. Personally, I haven't witnessed this kind of thing before but I guess it's pretty common. Boats come in, tie off to the wharf, and the party begins! We were strolling down the line and happened upon a very cool, World War II era personell carrier/boat. The captain invited us onboard and offered us a beer. And that is how we spent Saturday night; rocking gently on the waters, listening to Frank Sinatra, all while beers (and mixed drinks for the ladies) were offered graciously. Hell, he even had a mini grill and cooked us up some late-night dogs! So K, please tell Jamie, the very cool captain, that we said thanks again!

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Sunday found us up and rolling into DC ahead of the run. We'd opted to do the spectator thing this year, instead of the actual run. It gave us some time to check out a few things ahead of time. Things like the Washington Monument...then the Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool...

After these, we walked to the Vietnam Memorial and absorbed the emotions that come with walking those sections of black granite. To see the pictures, the flowers, the mementos, the people doing charcoal rubbings, the notes...and the folks standing quietly with tears on their cheeks. It's very touching.

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From here, we stopped on the corner where the Marine stands at attention for the duration of the run. This guy is truly amazing (Tim Chambers is his name, you should do a Google search on him when you get a chance). Here, he's just stepped over the crowd barrier and is making his way to inspect the spot he'll be standing in.

But before the bikes began rolling through, he even had some free time so what did he do? He walked around, shaking hands and letting folks take pictures of him.

But then the call came in; the bikes were approaching! He quickly strode over to his spot and took up his position...the position he'll be standing in for 4+ hours...in full dress uniform...at full attention...in the blasting heat and humidity. 4+ hours of this! And he volunteers for it, too!

And the bikes responded, with many of them waving, beeping, saluting him back, passengers taking pictures, etc. An amazing display of strength and intestinal fortitude.

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From here, we meandered our way back to where the bike was and did the spectator thing for several hours. Sadly, we weren't able to watch things in their entirety as we had to get back to K's homestead, for a planned cookout. So we fired the bike up and took a back way out of the city, headed back to Arlington, VA.

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There, the night ran long, with many of K's friends coming by to share a drink, a bite, and a story. And one thing which seems to be a ritual at K's parties (or maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part); there was another friend there again this year with bagpipes! Nice!! Big Mike was more than happy to break them out for us and play some great tunes. I could get used to this!

And that brought us to the end of Sunday night. I helped with some of the cleanup and then retired to sleep the rest of the darkness away...what little there was left of it.

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Monday, I was up @ 5, had the bike packed in short order, and then pointed my tires northward. Thankfully, it was another uneventful trek, with traffic not hampering me badly at all.

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Once again; major thanks to you, K! Thanks for having me down! Can't wait to do it all over again!