We hit the road on Thursday morning and both the traffic, and the skies treated us well. As we crossed over into the next state, some clouds began to appear above us, and when we still were about 100 miles out, the clouds merged and began to pee on us a bit. Nothing major, but enough to have us pull over and don the rain gear. (We happen to own the world’s best rain suits – no sooner did we put them on, than the skies cleared up.)
Arriving into town, we made straight for Mark & Mary’s house to say our hello’s and being the settling in process. This is how we know we’ve got the right house!
They treated us like royalty and soon we had full bellies and cold frosties in our hands.
Rob and his kids were due in town as well, but there was a bit of a mixup on things and he wound up at Steph’s house that night. Dave and Karmen did make it in, however, but we didn’t catch up with them until we’d returned from…say it with me; The V!!
By this time, the rain had returned in full force, so Mary was kind enough to lend us her vehicle so that we could head to the V and catch up with folks not seen in months. Our sister Sutton was tending bar, and we all set to getting the drinks flowing. The jukebox was cranked loud enough to wake the dead – I don’t know who makes the speakers that go into a jukebox, but I need to get a set of those for my bike. Unreal how loud they were.
Anyway, after closing time, Sutton brought us to a bar in-town (“Cajones” – great name!) There were a few kids on stage doing a jam session and…hey, we know that kid on bass! Turns out it was Spillers nephew who had just been out to the ‘Vous last month. We exchanged Hello’s and handshakes, and he gave a shout-out to the club, letting everyone know we were there (they didn’t really care, LOL). We kept the party going until almost closing time, before heading back to Mark & Mary’s for the night.
Friday morning found our bellies being filled once again; toast, eggs, bacon, juice, coffee, etc. I could get used to this kind of thing! But before we ate too much, it was time to hop onto the steeds and head over the state line into PA. Ahhhh, sweet PA…land of no-helmet-laws! We love PA!! But this was no ordinary ride down along the amazing roads of PA…we actually had a destination! The Straub Brewery, home of the “Eternal Tap”.
Mark had mentioned this place last year, so we put it onto our itinerary for this trip. His friend Aaron met up with us along the way (Aaron drives an ’83 Shovelhead Electra Glide – sweet bike!)
Anyway, we met up in…oh yeah…we met up in Lantz Corners! Lantz Corners, made famous by Russell, so many years ago (those that know the story, know the story).
So where was I…oh, right; we met up with Aaron along the way and were soon boppin’ along some majorly sweet roadways, finally arriving in St. Mary’s, PA. And why was this town important? Because it’s home to the Straub Brewery!
Just seeing this sign brought a tear of joy to my eyes…
Zig was quick to hop off his bike and let us know which direction to head in…
And look – it’s the Eternal Tap!!
After pouring a (few) beers, we began wandering around and looking at the time-worn but very reliable machinery laboring away pumping refrigerants, steam, etc. That place was something else – they let you walk around and really get up and close to the equipment! Right up until we were gently (but unquestionably) requested to go back to the visitor area and wait for the tour. (Ha ha, whoops.)
Anyway, it was soon time for the tour! The facility was small, but they sure did pack a lot of activity inside the 4 walls.
And here here’s the beautiful filling machine (it does the exact opposite of what we do)
Here are stacked, empty cases, waiting to be filled;
Look at these kegs!!!
When we got to this part of the tour, the tour guide asked us if we’d had beer right off the line before, and then went on to say something that sounded a lot like “would you like one?”. “Uhm..excuse me, but it sure sounded like you just offered us a fresh, cold beer, right off the assembly line??” She had! And sure enough, we had quite a few of us that were very much interested in having a fresh, cold beer, right off the line. Sweet!
When the tour had concluded, we made our way back to the Eternal Tap room and did a bit more quality control testing. Simply for scientific purposes, you understand.
From there, we rolled along some other great roads, found ourselves a nice pizza place for some lunch, then headed back to Olean (stopping along the way to put our damned helmets back on. Stupid helmet laws!).
Thankfully, we now had some free time, which allowed for the annual super-soaker water fight with Alyssa, back over at King & Pat’s house. We didn’t have water balloons this year, but the trusty soakers were laid out at the ready. A quick change into bathing suits and we were ready. Now a cardinal rule of the water fights is that Pat Doesn’t Get Wet! Well we wound up breaking that rule this year, and in a big way. Poor Pat got caught in some of the crossfire a couple of times and suffice to say, she probably needed to change. Sorry Pat! (LOL, maybe!)
Anyway, the highlight of the fight (for me) was when Alyssa’s soaker broke, leaving her basically defenseless against the merciless onslaught delivered from the barrel of my soaker. Ok, it wasn’t that bad, and she still managed to soak me entirely. And crikey, she’s about as tall as I am now! If she keeps growing at that rate, I think I’m going to be at a severe disadvantage next year.
After this, it was time for some more fun back over at the V. Guess who got to guest-bartend again! (Ok, so pretty much everyone took turns behind the bar.) Here’s a shot of yours-truly, concocting some drink or other. I forget what it was supposed to be – we pretty much agreed it didn’t taste like what it was supposed to, but it was still pretty good.
Of course, if you’re gonna bartend, you gotta get the shots lined up, too. Look at those pours – right to the top!
And this is what happens when you’re at the V for a while. Someone puts karaoke on, and when you notice, you say “Hey cool – who’s singing?” and before you know it, they shove a microphone into your hands and say “YOU ARE! – MADONNA, LIKE A VIRGIN!”
Suffice to say I should not quit my day job. Or any job, because I will never have a future in singing.
At the end of the night, we reverted to our usual mischievous selves, and flipped all the chairs upside down, just like last time. Our intent was to screw with loveable Bub, but that act backfired because it wound up being poor Mary who had to flip them all back over. So that meant we needed to come up with a more direct method of screwing with Bub! But first, a bit of back-story; Bub loves his Pabst Blue Ribbon. I like my Bud Light. I tell him he needs to come over to some real flavor, and he keeps telling me I should really give Pabst a try, that I might like it.
So there we were, closing time at the V, on night #2. Bub had left a while ago, so what to do, what to do. Hey, I’ve got an idea; I’ll move all the Pabst out of its normal spot and leave a sign in its place. (I sent a pic of this sign from my phone, but it didn’t come out so well, so here’s a better shot of it.)
We thought it would be a riot, but alas, this one fell kinda flat. That’s ok, though, it just means we gotta come up with better gags!
Anyway, it was now Saturday morning and there was a surprise in store. Zig was getting the Dana tattoo, but didn’t know it. All he knew was that we (King, me and him) had to stop by Underground Tattoo to make an appt to get the tat done on our next visit out. Ahh, but the tricky devils we are, we’d actually set up the appt for today!
And here he is, in the chair and getting inked (I thought I’d sent this shot from my phone, but I found it in my Drafts folder when I got back from NY.)
Anyway, this is the Dana Tat, and there can only be three in existence at one time. Dana designed it and had it done on himself. Then he paid for it to go onto his twin brother King. Then those two go together and paid for it to go onto Russell. When Dana passed, King and Russ got together and paid for it to go onto me. Then Russ passed, so King and I got together and paid for it to go onto Zig.
Back at the V, preparations were in high gear. The pig was roasting well, the side dishes were getting assembled, and folks were arriving and setting up tents left and right. It was going to be a great night!
Soon, it was feeding time! The pig came off and a few of us grabbed knives and started slicing and dicing.
We laid into the food with reckless abandon and were soon satiated. Some quick cleanup and then it was bonfire time! And what a bonfire – this thing was enormous. We gathered chairs around and started swapping stories and jokes, and shared much laughter. At one point, a guy broke out a guitar and we all started belting out songs. This continued long into the wee hours of the morning, and sometime around 3 (or was it 4?), I remember checking the time and thinking Holy Crap, I need to get some sleep, so I turned my back on the folks still reveling by the fire, crawled into my tent and shut my eyes (and ears) to the world.
The next morning, I was amazed to find that I’d slept through until 10am! WTF, I never do that, especially on vaca! Stumbling over to the building, I found breakfast had already been cooked, served and mostly devoured. I managed to scrape a few scraps together – ok, I’m kidding. There was a ton of food left over from the night before, plus lots of breakfast-type stuff, too.
Once everyone’s stomachs were full again, the dishes cleaned and the tents stowed away, it was time to ride again! We saddled up and headed back to wonderful, helmet-free PA and took in more amazing mountains and valleys. Another great, great day!
Returning back to Mark and Mary’s house, it was time for a dip in their new pool. The solar warmer had been on it all day, and sticking a finger in, I found the temp to be amazing warm and so inviting! Quick change inside, then back out, and a nice dive, deep into…the frozen arctic! Hold mother of all that is holy! What happened to the warm water? This is c-c-cold! I was up and out of that water in no time, only to find Mark laughing, explaining that the solar warmer made the top 4 inches warm (hence why it felt so warm to my fingers), but the water underneath was still quite chilly. Yes indeed, it sure is! (That still didn’t prevent some of the more hardy folk from going in and enjoying the water – freaks!)
The evening wore down and soon it was time to turn in. The next morning would find us up and on the road, hammering the 500 miles to our driveways once again. (We’d agreed that we’d take things a bit easier on the way home, than we had on the way out…how do you think that worked? LOL).
Thus wrapped up another great motorcycle adventure, one with tons of miles and tons of smiles. And in only a couple more weeks, Olean will welcome my front tire once again, as we prepare to embark upon on our annual Maine Event pilgrimage. It’ll be another great ride, and I’m looking forward to sharing the highways with those great people once again.
Ride Hard, Take Chances
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