Full Bellies find a Pot Belly

On Saturday, the temps had soared into the 60’s. Clear skies were above, and beaming sunshine all around. The texts had already been coming in; bikes were being fired up and miles were gonna be logged. Yet sadly, I stood in my yard with many chores laid out before me. I’d sworn an oath to myself earlier in the week that I would ignore the siren song of the road and would remain focused on the tasks at hand. It was difficult, especially given the roaring sounds of pipes flying up and down my street all day long, but I’m happy to report that I was resolute, and succeeded in accomplishing my goals.

Once nighttime had arrived and the tools were all put away, it was time to party! Ok, well not so much ‘party’, as just ‘gather’; to discuss our plans for Sunday’s ride. For you see; Sunday was forecast to be much chillier, but we were undaunted by this. We had set an auspicious goal for ourselves; we were riding to NH for breakfast. (What the? But it gets colder the further north you ride!!) Yes, this is true, and was one of the reasons necessitating a discussion. How did things turn out? Let’s find out…

The gathering spot was Zig’s back yard around a bit of a fire. Some folks who were not going to join us in our undertaking, still had the gall to attend this planning shindig of ours - Mike, I’m looking at you! (just kidding, but you shoulda made it!), but for those that were going, it wound up being a simple plan. Checking the weather, there were to be clouds and colder temps moving in as the day progressed, resulting in the warmest temps being forecast to fall early noon-ish, rather than later in the afternoon. Given that it should take us about 90 minutes to get there, we’d depart from my driveway @ 10. That would give us ample time to arrive, eat, and be headed back south, all while maximizing the temperatures. We all agreed it was a grand plan, and with that, it was off to our respective homesteads to get some sleep before our assault on the frozen roadways.

The next morning found me up early…much too early (stupid brain – can’t sleep before a ride!), but the good news is that it allowed me to get the wood stove roaring. In short order, the living room was soon experiencing its own little heat wave in anticipation of the frosty riders soon to appear.

While waiting for said riders, I figured a bit of preparation was in order. Our breakfast destination was a place called Parker’s Maple Barn, in Mason, NH. They boldly mention on their website that they do not have a license to serve alcohol, but you are more than welcome to bring your own. Well then, that sounds like a mighty fine invitation! And something that has always appealed to me on a frosty morning is a nice hot chocolate that has been enhanced with a bit of schnapps. So, with that in mind, it was time to pull out the trusty pocket flask and stock up for the event.
Additionally, and also in light of the expected chill, I pulled out some handy dandy hand warmers. Yep, we’d have things covered for certain!
Matt was the first to arrive, followed shortly by Zig and Chrissy. But wait; there was another attendee this morning; Mr. Sun! And he'd brought warmer temps than had been expected! In fact, Matt checked the temps again and noted that things had warmed up 10 degrees in a little over an hour. How sweet it is! (I still packed the hand warmers but they weren’t needed at all.)

We hit the road a bit after 10am and were soon hammering up 495. Traffic was light, but moving quickly, and we found ourselves enjoying a solid pace within the relative safety of the middle lane. We only had one missed turn (stupid highway numbers – I was looking for Rte 13 but got cornfused and took Rte 113 for a few miles until I realized my error). A quick back-track, a few more miles until we found our correct path once again, and we were back in business.

Now Matt had commented earlier that he didn’t have a flask to bring along for this trip, and as it turned out, Zig didn’t, either. But Providence provided for us, for when we pulled into a NH State Liquor store…

… they wound up having a tobacco store next door that carried flasks. Sweet! A quick trip inside and the lack of flasks was soon remedied.

Here’s something you don’t always see; the tobacco shop had a cigar room in the back. This thing was sweet! Recliners (which were facing a large flat-screen TV on the wall behind me), a poker table, and, off to the right (out of sight in this pic) was an enormous, walk-in humidor!

Anyway, a short visit to the liquor store for additional supplements (vanilla schnapps for Matt, and Bailey’s for Zig), and we were back outside. Zig opted to fill his flask at this time and we were certain that he would spill the Bailey’s all over the place as he tried to pour the thick fluid into the tiny opening, but he managed it without much product loss at all. We all agreed it was indeed an impressive feat, particularly given his many claims of being hungover from the evening before. After this, it was back to the road. A few short miles later found us pulling into the Parker’s parking lot.
We pulled up and off to the side, claiming some real estate within full view of the windows to park our rides.
Now our proximity to the windows is important to point out, for when Matt was filling his flask, he had a full bank of spectators who were enjoying the show from inside. No pressure, Man, no pressure! Sure the flask has a tiny opening, but you can do it – don’t spill!
(I’m happy to report that he also managed the task with minor product loss – these guys are pros!).

I walked in and put our name into the queue and was informed the “wait” was about 45 minutes. Zoinks! Ok, let’s check out the area while we’re waiting. I see they have a gift shop next door. (My conspiracy mindset kicks into full gear. Hmmm, a gift shop next door…could it be that this plays a part of why the “wait” is so long?? I wonder…) Ok, let’s check out the gift shop. Yep; it’s a gift shop, replete with all the kitsch you expect to find in a gift shop. Ok, back outside it is. How much longer, now? Well, the gift shop visit knocked off a whopping 4 minutes, so that leaves us…yes; quite a while, still.

Checking out the area, we found one tree that was adorned with various ‘distance to’ signs on them…

…and a second tree adorned with various terms of greeting…
Sadly, this was about all that was available for entertainment for hungry patrons left waiting outside. So, we passed the time by sitting on the cedar swingsets.

Zig and Chrissy…
…and Matt. Matt was deeply entrenched within his inner musings (IE: his phone) and looked a bit perturbed at being interrupted when I called out his name so that he would look up…
…yet once we were inside and had our hot chocolates (and flasks) in front of us, all moods were significantly improved!

A quick line-up of the offenders.
Food! The price for their signature breakfast was kinda steep, but the amount of food that showed up was quite impressive. (Being the fatty that I am, I’d already eaten half of my eggs and some of my home fries before it occurred to me to snap a pic.)
As we were emptying our plates, we bantered our next destination about. Where should we go? What else was going on today? When we realized our options were limited, we all agreed on where it was that we should next park our tires. (Where did we wind up? I’ll get there, I’ll get there…)

When our bellies were full, it was time to gather ourselves up and head back outside. Just as we were departing, a group of folks sat down at a table behind us and let me tell you; they had the whole “you can bring your own alcohol” thing down to a science! Out came an enormous container of red liquid (what could it be?), huge plastic cups, baggies of ice, baggies of celery stalks, baggies of olives, baggies of lemon slices, straws, napkins…what is going on here? Bloody Mary’s! Nice! They soon had themselves set up in grand fashion, and when they saw our looks of admiration, laughed and nodded in a knowing manner (they’d seen our flasks as they were walking by).

Soon we were easing our trusty machines along the same beautiful wooded roadways that we’d travelled not too long ago on our way to the maple barn. On our way in, I’d spotted a cool mini lighthouse set up on the side of a lake we’d passed. I wanted to snap a pic of it on our way out and did just that as we shot past. Unfortunately, it didn’t come out well. I’m not sure if you can even make out that there is a lighthouse in this pic, but I assure you there is one.

About an hour and a half later, we pulled into our next stop. Can you tell where this is? (Those of you who have been following our exploits of late might recognize the parking lot.) And there were other bikes there to greet us this time! Yes, it’s our favorite stomping grounds – the Pot Belly Pub! (And that means that we’d inadvertently squeezed another PBP run into this season!)
Just as we were setting our kickstands, the Mayor came walking out to the lot. Once again, he had many things to take care of and would not be gracing us with his presence inside. We were glad to have caught him so that we could say our hello’s, and we all wished each other good things, and agreed that with any luck, we might have some more decent weather still in store for a little while.

Inside, we said our hellos to the faces we've come to know, and then made a quick request of Bartender Chris for some of the (in)famous ducks. A snapped pic on the phone, and with that; a text was sent to Danno, to bust on him for missing today’s run.
The Pats weren’t playing until 8 that night, so we contented ourselves with watching both the Giants, and the Jets, and hoped they would both lose. We went 50-50 on that, as the Giants got pounded but the Jets eked out a lucky win in the waning minutes of OT. Damn.

At one point, we began to feel a bit of a vibration in the floorboards – what gives? A look out the window and sure enough; a train was coming along the tracks behind the bar. Huh, I didn’t even know those tracks were still active. That would make for a cool picture; the train gong by the bikes. Oh well, I realized that by the time I could dig out my camera and get outside, it’d already be past. Maybe some other time.

And that was when Matt came back inside from his smoke break - and guess who had been in the right place at the right time? Sweet!
After a bit of time, the darkness was beginning to really settle in so we broke for Chickie Flynn’s, much closer to home. Matt was hungry again (fat bast…er…I mean; poor guy) so appetizers and entrees were ordered all around. I’d planned on just having one beer and heading home, but then found out that these guys have a buddy who’s shipping out to Afghanistan in January, and he was going to swing by and say hello. I stuck around so I could buy him a beer (we wound up buying him a few), talk to him about his assignment, and wish him good luck. With any luck, we’ll see Jim back home safely.

Before we knew it, it was 8 o’clock and that meant the Pats were about to kick off! We settled up the tab, bundled up our bodies, and broke for our respective abodes. Back at home, I settled into the comfortable recliner as usual and enjoyed the show as the Pats manhandled the Steelers.

And now it’s Monday, once again…

Here’s hoping everyone was able to get some miles on this past weekend. We’ve got some messy stuff coming in this week, but the long-range shows chilly temps, but no precipitation, for the weekend. Maybe…just maybe…we might be able to get some riding in. But where to go?

I heard about this place in northern Maine that has a fantastic breakfast buffet…

Ride Hard, Take Chances