Tuesday morning dawned overcast and grey, with the lady on the tv telling me rain was coming. Whatever, just gotta get through the first leg and things should clear up later in the day. The bike was packed, the adrenaline was flowing, and it was time to ride!
Met up with Zig at the prearranged rally point for a quick bite and last minute ride discussion. Based on the weather reports, we figured we’d make it to the Pike before having to don the rain gear. Walking outside to get moving, we found we needed to don the gear immediately, as the drops were already pinging off of our heads. Oh well, hopefully the rain starting sooner just means it’ll end sooner.
The nastiness kept pace with us all the way though MA, CT, and into NY. At times, it was raining so hard that vehicles were pulling over due to lack of visibility. No stopping for us, though. We knew blue skies were waiting for us somewhere down the road and we wanted to get there as soon as possible.
Finally, just over the NY border, we crested a hill and sure enough; far off in the distance at the horizon line, we could see a glimmer of blue skies. Excellent! All we need to do to break free of the wet and gloom is to follow this road a bit longer…this road that is…turning to the left and back into the storm. Wait, what?? But the good weather is straight ahead!! Nope, sure enough; the beckoning blue skies faded off to our right as we headed directly back into the slop.
About 20 minutes later, we once again were teased by blue skies off in the distance, only to have the road once again turn to the left and back into the mess. Stupid road. But we finally prevailed and eventually sailed out from under the dark, wet blanket of clouds and out into the sunshine. And man, what sunshine! Whereas the temps in the rain storms had been quite chilly at points, out here in the sunshine, the heat was blasting. We weren’t complaining, though!
Continuing on into PA, we settled in for a hassle-free ride across a couple more interstates, eventually reaching the exit we’ve been looking for. This was where we would pick up route 44 and enjoy some fantastic scenery through the Susquehannock State Forest.
First, though, we had to ride for a short bit through some beautiful farmland before reaching the forest, proper…
Saw this Amish guy rippin' up the roadways on his chopped lowrider.
Crossing out of the farmland and into the forest, proper. (Thanks for the pic, Zig!)
Ahh, finally! The State Forest! What can I say about this road, other than it was almost completely traffic free, had soaring climbs, dropping descents, and sweeping turns – all while surrounded by fantastic sights of hills and valleys on either side. I’d planned ahead for this; I’d brought my new Go Pro camera and was going to mount it for this stretch and have it snap pics as I rode along. Unfortunately, it somehow had gotten turned on in my luggage and had been snapping pics all morning long. Suffice to say that after taking 1,100+ pictures of pure blackness, the battery was dead. Damn. Well, I’m just gonna have to rely on my camera then. Of course, this means I didn’t get any good action pics from this stretch as I was too busy hanging on as the bike blasted up, down, and around the roadways. However, when we did reach one of the peaks, we stopped to snap a couple of pics. One of the sign, and then one of the valley beside us (I tried being fancy and took it with the Sepia setting ).
Now the plan was to meet up with Mark and Jerry at some point along this route and sure enough, we were rocketing down a hill and off to the side ahead of us was a pull-out. And in that pull out were two familiar ruffians milling about their machines. Braking steadily, we eased off into the lot and set our stands. It was time for hugs and handshakes! All fun aside, though; there was a serious price to be paid for stopping us in the middle of our fantastic ride along this road. Fortunately, our welcoming crew had the payment at the ready, and we were soon sharing some frosties and talking of our travels.
From there, the Interceptors took us on some back roads to extend our ride…or was it to delay our arrival? No matter, we eventually arrived back at the homestead of the Locksmith and his Lady – only to find that they were throwing a party! Sweet! Rather than have us boozing it up and then worrying about riding home (all after a long day on the road), they were hosting a party and many of the V crew had come to party (and partake) with us. It was a great way to wrap up the day, with food, friends and frivolity, long into the wee hours.
Although…there was the whole incident of the cruiser easing slowly past the house after everyone had gone to bed. But as soon as the spotlight shone in through the front door, it was clear who had come to visit. Bryan! Mark and I got up again (no, we weren’t in bed together, you pervs) and hung out with him for a while, catching up. A great guy, and a lot of fun. And wow, that new MP-5 is quite a rifle you’ve got there. How many bullets are in that clip?
The next day we awoke to find Mark once again manning the stove. He soon had us fed up well (or was he fed up with us?). We had plans to meet up with Ski for a mini bar run, as well as try and squeeze in visiting as many folks as we could, all while having to be back for dinner plans with the Sherriff and Barb. First up was to blast over to King’s house to catch up with The Queen and Alyssa. It was so nice to catch up with them as we’d missed them when we were out there in July. (We may even get to see Pat out in Maine next year! We’ll definitely be keeping our fingers crossed for that.)
Rom there, a short shot back into town to Mickey’s to catch up with Tommy and one of his amazing steak subs. He also had some good caps for me, for the home bar project. Ski arrived, as did King, and we all kicked back for a bit before parting ways.
Zig and I fell in behind Ski as he led us off to some majorly nice roadways, and some very cool roadside bars. Some were in the middle of nowhere and some were in the middle of an urban crush. But they all had great people, and there was more sharing of stories from the road.
After a few hours of this, it was time to head back and meet up with a few more guys at the Post. A quick cleansing of the road dust from our throats, and it was off to pay our respects to Chuck, Gapper and Dana. We trust you guys are mapping out some great rides for us when we get up there with you.
From there, it was back to Mark and Mary’s. Barb and Jerry had been kind enough to invite us all out for dinner tonight at a place called Beef ‘n Barrel. A great place for an end of day dinner, with great friends and great food.
But the night wasn’t quite over yet. There was still time to hit the post before we turned in. Mark, ever the smart one, opted to return to the house, leaving Zig, Mary and I to man the barstools. We bumped into Bird, a buddy of ours we haven’t seen in a couple years, and we all took turns belting out toasts to ourselves, to each other, and to the road.
Alas, all great days have to end, and this one was no different. (We weren’t too concerned, though. There were still many great days ahead of us on this trip.) We headed back to the homestead and had more laughs for a bit before turning in for the night.
The next morning dawned cold, damp, and foggy. Oh, and much too early. Man, we gotta be up already? We’re on vacation! :-D Before long, we all had our gear stowed and ready, and we were off to meet up with the rest of the crew at the Hibernians Hall, where Thomas was cooking up a great breakfast for us.
Bryan was there to make sure we were leaving town…er…to have breakfast with us and after saying his farewells (and unbeknownst to us), he snuck into the kitchen and paid for all of our breakfasts and then left. Sneaky bastard, that Sherriff. We’ll have to buy him a beer or three the next time we’re out there and he’s off-duty.
And now it was time to hit the road toward Maine!! Woo-Hoo!! The weather was still damp and chilly, but the air held a portent of better things to come. A bit of a growing warmth, the thinning of the fog and clouds….yep, was gonna be a good day to ride. And ride we did! The highways out there are really beautiful to ride and the roadside scenery is amazing. (You’ll have to believe me, even though my crappy phone doesn’t capture the bright colors while we’re zooming along and I’m trying to hold the phone and snap pics.) Anyway, here’s what I have to offer;
I wonder why I felt the need to take this pic? The profile kinda looks like two of my favorite things...
Mark and Mary, scooting along. Mark is nothing but focused, Mary is no doubt planning mischief.
Get those hands back on the bars, Mister.
When we reached I-88, Zig broke off and headed for home to pick up Chrissy, as well as meet up with McCarthy and his son Michael (Maine virgins! Woo-Hoo!) Their plan was to head out on Friday morning and shoot straight up to Maine. The rest of us, however, continued on, passing out of New York and into the green state of Vermont.
Ahh Vermont – how we love the roadways of Route 9. Mountainous and beautiful.
Hogback Mountain. On a clear day (like today), you can see 4 states (or is it 5? Maybe it's Canada). I forget, but it’s something like 100 mile visibility. Awesome, awesome, awesome!
Eventually, and without issue, we arrived at the usual hotel we stay at. We didn’t do too badly on time, either. There was still plenty of daylight left (there have been times when we’ve arrived in the pitch black of night, due to some mishap or other.)
We partied long into the evening with some one-card, a bit of food, and plenty of shenanigans (stacking empties onto stair railings, included). It was a fun wrap to a great day on the road.
I even managed to hide a couple more beer cans on Mark and Mary when they weren’t looking.
(Mark said the next morning when he started his bike, he launched the cans into the neighboring car dealership’s lot, impaling some old lady in the head. Thankfully the mess was all cleaned up by the time I rolled out of bed and into the sunshine.)
A nice breakfast and then it was across the border into New Hampshire. Freedom!! Sorry Vermont, we love your scenery, but we hate your helmet laws. And another thing we love about New Hampshire is the cheaper liquor prices. Just across the border; we stocked up our supplies for the weekend, gassed up the iron steeds, and pointed our front tires for The Clearing.
New Hampshire was largely uneventful, while still being beautiful and enjoyable. We clicked through the gears and racked up the miles, chasing some wet pavement in front of us, and watching storm clouds thankfully part over our heads. (Word back from the Mass guys was that they’d gotten soaked, no more than an hour and a half in front of us.) We were lucky in that we arrived dry and warm, set our kickstands to the grass and made with the hello’s and handshakes. McCarthy and Michael had done very well, I was told, and it was odd, but at the same time; awesome, to see them in the clearing. Now; time to get tents set up and get the party rolling!
( Ok, this pic is from Saturday, when the skies were nice and clear, but it's a good shot of the camp.)
The rain which we’d been chasing eventually caught up to us, so we all hid under canopies and popups, playing one-card, and regaling each other with grand stories and poor attempts at humor. Needless to say, we partied long and hard into the young hours of the morning, as one is wont to do when in Maine.
The next day broke clear and sunny and we broke up into groups to do our own things. Some headed off to town, some opted to kick back and relax in the clearing, and others headed off to do some sight seeing. Having been informed the night before about a breakwater which I didn’t even know existed around here, I was part of the latter group.
We secured directions from Rob, and headed off, finding it without any trouble at all. I was amazed. This was my 20th year coming up for this party, and I never knew this was here. It's an amazing! ¾ of a mile long, stretching out into West Penobscot Bay, and ending in a lighthouse. It was quite cool to walk out, seeing the rough and choppy waves on the outside of the breakwater, and the smooth, relaxed water on the inside. The breakwater itself was made up of ginormous blocks of stone, and we couldn’t tell how deep they went to the ocean floor. Whoever had built it had done a great job, for who knows how smooth the ocean floor is, or how steeply it may have dropped off, but the top of the breakwater was impressively level, given the materials used to construct it.
My admiration was only enhanced when, upon reaching the lighthouse, we found a plaque which informed us that this was created in the 1800’s!!!
If you can’t read the lettering, it says;
“Construction of this 4,300–foot long breakwater began in April 1881. Eighteen years, $750,000 and over 732,277 tons of granite later, it was completed on November 24, 1899. The lighthouse dates from 1902 and was placed on the Nation Register of Historic Places in 1981. The City of Rockland accepted ownership of Rockland Lighthouse on September 14, 1988.”
The plaque makes no mention of what kind of machinery would have been used to create something like this. I imagine barges would have had to be used, but what kind of crane would exist back then? Did they have steam-engined cranes? I dunno, but it’s all very impressive.
From there, we rolled up to Mount Batty for some amazing scenic pictures;
From there, we shot back into town for a bite to eat at the Water Works, a local brewery. The food was ‘ok’ and I didn’t sample any of their wares, being content to accept one of my favorites of this time of year; Pumpkinhead Ale! (Yes, it’s not local, but it’s the first time this year that I’ve seen it out, and I wanted it!)
After that, it time to head back to camp to hang out, get some one-card going, and kick about some revelry. As the afrternoon waned into evening, the food came out – and what a feed! Spaghetti, garlic bread, and Rob’s homemade sauce (that had been slow-roasting all day long)! With full bellies, we kept the party lasting long into the evening.
Sunday morning greeted us with more rain which lasted on and off for most of the morning and into the early afternoon. We had planned on doing another sightseeing jaunt but that plan was kyboshed due to the nasty weather, so we made do with puttering around camp, playing more one-card, and killing off the contents of the coolers.
At one point, a few of us checked out the woods to look at the old leftovers from when this place used to be a working quarry. There’s an old, deteriorating brace of some sort, made of oak and granite, that must have been used for hauling and moving chunks of granite. I’ve always been fascinated by this thing and always seek it out when I’m up visiting. But this year, there was an added bonus. We found what must have been an old chipper/cutter;
The spike at the end of it (top left of the pic) was pointed (well, as pointed as something that is driven repeatedly into granite can be), and our guess is that the rest of the mechanism would have been used to lift the iron plate (via cables hooked through the rings around the edge of the plate) and let it drop, over and over again, against the granite. Much like a pile driver works, but without the benefit of pressurized steam to help you. Very, very cool implement to have found.
But, back to the clearing. The weather wasn’t cooperating much at all, and this sucks because Sunday is the day of the big feed – but nothing’s going to stop that from happening, so tarps were set up and preparations were put into place. Before long the cookers were heating up, the grilles were going, and our hungers were growing. For those of you that haven’t made it here yet, here’s a sampling of what you’re missing.
Hi Guys, welcome to the party! Bad day to be a lobster, though… (This is just one of the crates.)
I don’t recall how many lobsters there were, but I think the total weight was something like 125 pounds. Here’s just a small sampling of the cooked ones…
There were tons and tons of chicken wings, and this 4’ long sausage that Rob kept trying to fondle.
And speaking of Rob, here’s a bunch of fish (mackerel?) that he’d caught, marinated, and stuffed with his (in)famous green sauce. I’m not a fish eater, but word around camp was that these were awesome.
I didn’t even snap any pics of the picnic tables covered with trays and crockpots of food. Do I even need to say that we ate to our heart’s content…and then kept eating?
When dusk began to settle, the fire was stoked, and we all gathered ‘round the stage for a bit of storytelling, joking, and plenty of camaraderie. There were introductions of new folks, remembrances of passed folks, and the making of new many new friendships. (There was also the renaming of one of the regulars – thanks King, we’ll see if it takes!). As in years past, it was the perfect way to end another fantastic trip.
And there you have it; a great trip with great friends. We didn’t ride hard all the time, but we rode long, laughed easily and created many great memories which we’ll keep with us for years to come.
Ahhh, the Labor Day Maine Event. The party that’s so much fun, even the cooked lobsters have a blast!
