Rendezvous 2016!

The weather looked really good, barring a “tiny chance of a spot shower”, and I was stoked.  Kevin arrived promptly at 8:55 and we were rolling out of my driveway at 9am, sharp.  Beautiful!

We rode some scenic back roads which brought us out to 495 for a bit before breaking off for some more scenic side roads which dropped us off onto Rte 2 where we’d spend the next several hours winding our way westward.  The skies were bright and sunny when we first hit the pavement but as we continued further and further, the clouds soon outweighed the blue, eventually blocking it entirely.  As we neared the summit of Mohawk Trail, the skies were ominously dark and foreboding and before too long, we were on the side of the road, gearing up in our rain gear as the water poured down around us.  I’d hoped to make it to our usual lookout spot for our annual overlook photo but the rain had been coming down too hard for us to delay donning the rain gear, so we pulled over a few miles early.  Making the most of things, I snapped some pics of an Elks memorial statue that was at this spot.  (Believe me when I say that despite the sky not looking very ugly in these pics, it was pouring on us.)

 

Once back on the road, it continued to rain for a bit before eventually backing off to just gray skies again.  We made it to our lunch stop in Troy for food and beerfreshment before heading out for our last leg of today’s adventure.

We arrived safely at the motel to find Tim and Lynner waiting for us.  We unloaded our bikes and made a supply run to Walmart…

Arriving back at the motel we found most of the rest of the Olean crew had arrived and we exchanged handshakes and hugs all around, and set to getting the night’s festivities into motion, and long in to the evening.  (I was pleased with myself for turning in at midnight, rather than staying up to the wee hours of the morning.  I’m getting older, and I dare say; marginally wiser.)

 

Panoramic shot, late-night.

 

After a shower and breakfast the next morning, our caravan was off!  Cruising along 88, I did the usual steer-with-my-feet as I snapped some picks of the countryside around us.  Man, this is just gorgeous!!...

We made it to Batter street and hung a right turn.  It’s at this point that I mentally cross my fingers and hope we don’t find cars and bikes lined up too soon, and are instead able to get pretty close.  Well, this year we cruised a few corners, and there was no line.  Then there was the barn that we’ve stacked up at before, and no line.  Sweet!  Then a stand of trees that we’ve stood under and hidden from the rain before…and no line.  SWEET!!  Next up was a stretch of a few houses that we’ve been feet-down at in years past, and still no line!  What is going on?  Who cares; no line!!

And then things just got weird…next up; we were cruising past the exit gate…and still no line.  Then the Vendor’s gate, and still no line??  How can this be?  There’s the entrance!  And no line!?!?!  What is going on!?!?

Well, a few more feet and we could see what was going on; the pen was open!  They were taking folks off the roads and stacking them up in the pen…and bikes were going to the front of the line!  Such a sweet sight, this is like the days of old!!  Oh how I’ve missed those days!!

We blasted up to the barn, dismounted, and…were met with staff members who were collecting tickets and handing out wristbands.  Are you serious?  We don’t even need to walk up to the shack?  This is getting better and better!

They were letting vehicles in as well, but bikes were led up the side and had our own weapons & glass check corridor and were soon through and on our way in!!  My mind was still trying to wrap itself around this, but from the time we’d left the motel until the time we pulled up to our camping spot was about an hour.  It’s Never, EVER been that fast!!

The down side was that it took about 6 hours for our vehicles to finally come in, and there was a lot of grumbling from the drivers, but c’mon folks.  Think back to the old days.  You’d arrive at 2 or 3 in the afternoon and wouldn’t get in until midnight or 1am (because the gate wouldn’t open until 7), so this year’s wait was actually less.  And those of us on bikes had made good use of our time by heading back out to the road, coming in the entrance, loading up on tents and such, coming in and getting things set up for the drivers.

 

So all in all, I would rate this year as a tremendous success!  (Oh, and another good thing; because we made it in so early, we were able to claim our original area, back up on top of the hill – sweet!!)

Once everyone was in and settled (and it was still daylight!), everyone’s mood picked back up.  We had plenty of space to move around in, the canopies and tables were up, and that meant it was time to party.

What happens at the ‘Vous, stays at the ‘Vous so in summary; we had a fantastic time.  The bands kicked ass (including the one that went on at midnight on Friday, M-16; full-on metal cover band.  The weather was awesome, if not a bit too hot on Saturday, but it beat the hell out of rain.  King paid off his beer debts to me and Zig and even wore a Bills hat and a Sabres hat, to pay off each team’s portion of the wager.  I thought that was awesome and am planning on bringing my team’s hats next year in case I have to pay any debts off…

 

The new adult sized Jenga game was a huge hit but needs a little tweaking on some of the drinking rules (some are just too involved and need to be a bit easier).

 

Here we are, playing it late-night with my bike's headlight as illumination.  Which meant I had to get a jump the next morning and then go out riding to charge it back up.

 

Look at that lean!  (And pay no attention to Ed's head sticking in from the side, LOL.)

This guy had a fantastic ride!  Check this thing out!

Pay no attention to the hitchiker on the back of the hearse...

Even gas-lamp replica tail lights...

This thing was mint!!

 

Two things that stood out for me this year;

Aaron proposed to Chrissy on the main stage.  He’d spread word about his plan throughout both camps and we all made sure to be down there to witness it.

He used the excuse of having her sing Amazing Grace to get her up o n stage, and while she was singing, he dropped to one knee and presented his ring.
They were both choked up but she of course said yes, and the hill went wild, followed by a receiving line of sorts when they rejoined us outside the fence.

The other thing was on Saturday early-evening as I was strolling up to buy beer from the barn, I came across Brother Ed, sitting by himself and watching the sunset.

I stopped to let him know where the rest of us were (down the hill) and he explained that each year at sunset, he sits atop the hill and talks to those who have passed, that he misses them.
I was beyond-impressed with this idea and I plan on doing it as well, going forward.  (I won’t intrude on his spot, but there’s plenty of area for me to find a place.)

I did get a sunset pic from Friday night, though…

The rest of the evening passed uneventfully, which is not a bad thing after three days of all-out partying.  Sunday arrived all too soon as it always does and our camp was soon emptied of tents, canopies and everything else.  Intermittent rounds of hugs and handshakes as sections of the group began peeling off for their rides home.  Before long, it was our group’s turn and we slid in to the dusty, writhing snake of vehicles wending toward the exit gate.

Our first stop is always the same; the service plaza on 88.  The McDonald’s inside is our source for breakfast but this year they were thoroughly inept.  They only had one register open, and apparently only one person cooking.  The line stretched almost to the door when we walked in (I’m not talking about a normal McDonald’s, this is one restaurant within a service plaza, so for the line to stretch almost to the door…that’s one damn long line).  Anyway, it took us 20 minutes to get to the register and order and then over 30 minutes to get our food.  There were a lot of disgruntled people (not from our group) who were vocally upset, which I can understand.

Anyway, it was too stuffy inside for me so once I was done eating, I got my bike, gassed up and found some shade to hang out in while I waited for the rest of the crew.  As I was waiting, I could see all kinds of bikes and vehicles flying by on the highway and I began getting anxious, thinking about all the traffic that was getting ahead of us (possibly resulting in traffic jams).  The flip side of this was that I got to watch (and listen to) groups and groups of motorcycles roaring by, their engines and pipes bellowing off in to the distance.  Not something I get to enjoy very often, so that was kind of cool.

When everyone was all gassed and ready, a few of us agreed that we’d lost more time than we wanted to here at the plaza, and were just going to straight-shot the ride home.  A few others were going to stop at one rest area on the Pike, so we said our goodbyes there, and off we went.

Flex, Ed and me made good time on the return ride (only 3 hours) and majorly lucked out with traffic.  Not only did we not hit any jams, but none of the three accidents I saw in the opposite direction caused any problems from rubber-necking.  I was impressed, people!

Oh yeah!  I forgot about this until I was just going through my pics to load them.  Looks like even Santa goes to the 'Vous!  (This guy was a riot; running around with a bottle of whiskey and making friends, but he hit his limit and passed out on the hill.)

It was a great ‘Vous this year and makes me long for next.  To those that were there; we had a blast!  To those that weren’t; you can always make up for it next year.

 

Ride Hard, Take Chances

'Vous Bound!

Tuesday afternoon.  Kevin and I roll out tomorrow morning.  That means I've got limited hours left to get everything wrapped up here at work, everything packed up at home, lawn mowed, food shopped for, jenga blocks dropped off, and whatever else I can think of last-minute.

The weather tomorrow looks awesome for our ride out but the folks who are leaving on Thursday look like they're going to get wet.  Then I saw this morning that that weather pattern is going to stretch all the way out to the Albany area so it looks like we're all gonna get our rain gear tested.  And will be setting up in the wet.  Which sucks, but the rest of the weekend looks to be super hot and sunny so it ain't all bad.

I already cleared it with the boss to head out a bit early and get a jump on things so this is gonna be a short post.  I got stuff I gotta get done!

See many of you soon, others; I'll see after a bit.

It's time to get nutty.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

I'm only a Month and a half off...

Poker night with the boys tonight. We had a lot of fun, and a lot of nonsense. It got kind of muddled toward the end. Suffice to say that when the dust settled, I was outfitting one of the guys with my old riding gear so he'd be warm enough for the ride home.
Huh?  You're right, I jumped way ahead. Sorry; we played cards long...LONG, in to the evening...and then kept going...LONG...In to the morning. Some folks retired to bed, others wwanted to (myself included), but it was still fun to spend this kind of time with brothers not seen often enough, so we kept on, keepin' on.
So when it was super late and the birds were chirping outside (and the sky was getting light once again), it was time to send that one guy home, all bundled up with gear to keep warm. Yep, that guy.
Oh yeah, a bit of backstory; for a minute there, I thought we were going to come to blows. He was pretty pissed off, but he didn't understand that I wasn't going to take any shit. Not from anyone, and sure as fuck, not in my house, no f'n way.
Once he understood where I was coming from, we were back on good terms...and then it was all I could do to pad him up with riding gear to keep him warm for the ride home. After all, I love my brothers and I want them to be safe.
So now I'm waiting for the text, saying he's home safely.
It's 4:45, the daylight has arrived outside and I my have run out of time to sleep tonight...

It just dawned on me that the title of the post made no sense when compared to the (rambling) post.
The reason for that is when it dawned on me that I should write a post about tonight, it dawned on me that what I usually do is try and take care of people after the pig roast. However, unfortunately this year I way overserved myself amd didnt help anyone. t. So here I am about a month-and-a-half later trying to make sure everyone gets home safely.

Payoff

I mailed in the last payment on my Street Glide today.  Paperwork says it can take up to 14 business days after the pyament posts before I'll receive the discharge paperwork and title.  So at least I've got something to look forward coming in the mail that won't be a bill.

Something else to look forward to; only 12 sleeps until Kevin and I head off to Cobleskill to meet up with the NY Crew!

It's Friday afternoon, the beer at home is cold...life could be a lot worse.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Movie Review – The Revenant

Yeah yeah, this blog ain’t supposed to be about reviewing movies.  I realize.  But I’ve got nothing else for ya today (other than the supposed hail and possible tornado for the ride home today), so I’m gonna throw something at ya a little outside of the norm.

I watched The Revenant this past weekend.  I’d heard all kinds of things about it, it won best picture (or something like that), so I figured it was a safe bet…

Wrong!!!

The first couple of scenes were fine, and even had some decent action in them.  Arrows flying in from off-screen, piercing skulls (through the eye!!), etc.  Good stuff to start things off.

But then the entire thing just slowed down…way down….”way-down-to-a-crawl” down.  Short segments of dialog, followed by tremendously long, drawn out stretches of nature footage - which I can see plenty of on Nova if I choose – but not something I’m looking for as the main body for a feature film.

After the third or fourth time of picking up the remote in order to fast forward to the next bit of film that had any excitement (or bearing on the story, for that matter), I found myself dozing off.  I stretched a bit and bounced around some to wake myself up and then picked up where I’d left off; watching this snoozer…and fighting the urge to doze off again.

At some point, it dawned on me that I didn’t know what the definition of a “revenant” was, so I Googled it;

            “A person who has returned, especially supposedly from the dead.”

Interesting.  A person who has returned.  I suppose I could be considered a bit of a revenant as well.  For once the movie ended, I found myself returning.

Returning from the land of nod.

If you haven’t seen this almost 3-hour waste of time; do yourself a favor and just go lay down for a nap, instead.  You’ll save yourself a few bucks and feel much more refreshed, afterward.

Rolling Thunder 2016!

The weather looked clear and welcoming for the entire ride down.  Sure; as we got closer to DC the temps would be rising, but that’s always to be expected at this time of year.  We met at the Post bright and early and were soon hammering southward toward the coming Thunder.

Our first gas stop was a bit premature, due to one of the guys being unsure how many miles he’d get on a tank.  We felt it best to be safe and fueled up after only 130 miles.  Finding that the guy still had almost a half a tank of gas meant we didn’t have much to worry about, going forward, which was great.  What wasn’t so great is that we got pretty lackadaisical about time, and our first quick stop turned into over half an hour.  This became indicative of what would happen on our way down; our stops dragged out too long and we soon lost the advantage over traffic we’d started out with.

We manage to sail through Jersey without issue, even at the dreaded 6-into-3 lane merge which usually ensares us.  Last year had been the best we’d seen, with only about a mile of backup.  This year blew that record away, though.  We didn’t even have to slow down at all!  Just cruised right through at top speed.  Sweet!

Not even at our next fuel stop, where we found that Chris’ headlight had all but fallen out of his fairing and onto his front fender, could dampen our spirits.  We soon had that thing jury-rigged in place and we were back out and sailing along.

Our exuberance was short-lived, though.  Nearing the Delaware Memorial Bridge, we quickly found ourselves stopped, feet down, and engines off...then on again…then off again.  We inched our way forward at a snail’s pace, eventually deciding to cut over to the right lanes as they seemed to be moving better.  That wound up working hugely for us, as once we were through the tolls, we found the reason for the backup; the left-most lane (the one we all wanted, of course) was blocked for construction.  Thankfully, having been in the right lanes allowed us to slide on by most of the backup and ease on over at the last minute.

We then arrived at our next bottleneck; the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.  Two lanes of creepy-crawly pace.  The heat and humidity was beginning to take its toll as it was nearing 11 hours on the road and the temps were flirting with triple digits.  Exacerbating things even more was that our friend with the small gas tank was now floating on E again.  Dang!  We’re only about 20 miles from K’s house!  But he was insistent; he did not have enough to make it.

We pulled off to get gas and found ourselves immediately thrust into the heart of the ‘hood.  The pumps wouldn’t take credit cards so we had to pay inside (with our credit cards) first, then fill up.  As we were doing this (and as Artie was returning the boot that fell off of Chris’ bike…you had to be there), we noticed the flowers…and teddy bear…and votive candle remains…and painted outline, off to the side.  Yup; an official memorial for someone who had recently…been shot/been run over/od’d…  pick one.  Welcome to the ‘Hood!  Now let’s get the hell out of here.

We made it back to the parkway, then 695, then 395, then VA7 and finally; Carlin Springs road.  We’d arrived!  Sweet jesus, we’d arrived!  And she had cold Bud Light….cans?  What happened to bottles?  Just kidding, we didn’t care – we’d arrived!!  12 hours on the road in this heat, but we’d arrived!

We kicked back for a little while, cleaned up, and headed out to get some eats, then off to a Veteran’s fund raiser that K had lined up for us.  This turned out to be a Nam Knights event so we occupied ourselves by hanging out in the back alley as the MC members milled about.  Later in the evening they had a surprise guest arrive; SSgt Tim Chambers!  The Marine who stands at attention on the corner of 23^rd and Constitution during Sunday’s Rolling Thunder event.  And this year he had his brand new wife with him.  She was going to stand with him this year, so we all shook hands (I think he said he remembered me from Boston but there was a lot of cross talk so I probably imagined it).  We chatted with them for a bit then decided to head on toward home as it was getting late.  When we arrived, some folks ambled off to bed while the rest of us stayed up too late, as to be expected.

The next morning found us still pretty drained.  The prior days trip had done a pretty good job on us.  Something else that worked against our “get up and get moving” was that one of K’s friends had come for the weekend and had brought food!  She cooked up an entire breakfast feast for the whole lot of us!  So rather than us being forced into motion to go get something to eat, then just continue on to the city to check out memorials, we were treated with a full cooked breakfast right where we sat.  Fast forward an hour or so and we’d made it out to the back deck, had full bellies, and a lack of motivation to get moving.  This carried us well into the early afternoon before we finally realized we needed to get moving to salvage something from the day.

Once we’d finally rallied our lazy asses up and out the door, our first stop was the Legion we’d hit a couple of years ago (here in Arlington).  We grabbed a late lunch (dogs and burgers), knocked back a couple of frosties, and enjoyed the music and vendor offerings.

Matt had been texting his progress along his trip southward.  Oh, did I forget to mention that Matt joined us this year?  He’d left that morning and was making decent time, even working in a brief stop in the Gettysburg area to take in some history and some sights.

He was getting somewhat close so we decided to leave the Legion and take a roundabout way back to K’s house.  Along the way we stopped at an Irish pub for a beerfreshment, then went to tackle the last leg home...

And that’s when Chris lost his rear brake.  No idea what happened.  All weekend long, all day long; it’d been fine.  Even coming into the pub’s parking lot; no problem.  Now, when he started his bike; no rear brake.  So we shut things down and took a look.  Absolutely no pressure at all.  Pedal was working fine, plunger appears to be working fine, no leaks or evidence of having lost any fluid.  Shat the F.

We decided to just get it home and then dive in, which we did.  When we arrive, Matt was there!  Huzzah!  Hugs and handshakes, and a beer or two.  We cracked the master cylinder on Chris’ rear brakes and fluid immediately began seeping out.  Ok, that’s good.  We then cracked the bleeder screw on the caliper.  Fluid immediately there, as well.  Huh.  And still no resistance on the pedal.  What gives?  For lack of a better idea, we discussed buying new fluid and completely changing it out but we were running out of daylight and decided to push it off to the next day.  Dinner was courtesy of Jeana again and we were soon filled to the gills again and ready for the night.

The backstory here is that Murphy’s, our usual Saturday night haunt, had let us down the past couple of years so we’d decided to find a new placed this year.  Nothing had been found as a replacement destination so the decision was made to give Murphy’s one quick shot.  If it did not show us something by the time our first round was done, we’d move on…

The first good omen was that halfway to Murphy’s, Chris’ rear brake started functioning again.  (We still have no explanation.  The line wasn’t hot, so the fluid couldn’t have boiled.  We dunno.)

The second good omen was when we arrived there was an open space, directly in front of Murphy’s, wide enough for us to fit all the bikes in.  How f’ing rare is that!  We maneuvered quick U-turns and tucked back against the curb and then set to taking some group pics.  Before long, random strangers were jumping in, photobombing, we were climbing over each other’s shoulders, just having a great time.  I glanced over at the bouncer – who’d had a bit of a surly look to him when we first started backing the bikes in, but he was now openly smiling at our antics.  When we finally sauntered over to head in, he didn’t even bother to card us, he just laughed and said to walk right in.

The third good omen; apparently when we’d first pulled in, a waitress had been in the doorway.  She asked (I forget who it was) how many we had in our party and said she had room for us and would go reserve the tables right away.  So when we finally made it inside, we had tables open and waiting for us.  Nice!

The fourth good omen was the singer who was playing tonight was the same guy from 4 years ago, who sung Boston songs to us when he saw our back patches.  And the place was rocking!  The drinks were flowing, the audience participation was strong – a great night!  (At one point, James headed upstairs to check out the music up there and came running back down; they’re playing Dropkick Murphy’s upstairs!  What?  Hell, let’s go check ‘em out!  When we got there; it was a two-piece ensemble.  Young kids and very energetic.  They’d moved on from the Dropkicks to another song so we listed for a bit then headed back to our group downstairs.)  And just in time!  The singer was just laying into the opening stanzas of The Irish Rover!  Outstanding!!

We wound up closing the place (big surprise, eh?) and I flirted with the waitress but the huge wedding ring on her finger assured me it was all harmless.  We made it safely back to K’s house and most of the group turned in.  Chris, Matt and myself stayed out on the back deck until a bit after 3am, just reminiscing about the day’s events; ours in DC and Matt’s trip to meet us.

Sunday morning arrived too soon, especially for the three late-night revelers, but we’d already agreed that we had to get in to downtown in time for the run.  We hit the usual diner for grub, then swung back to pick K up, and we were off.

We made it to downtown just before 11, so the exits which are usually closed were open so we slid right down into the thick of things and parked in the huge open field with so many other bikes.  We strolled around, checked out Thunder Alley, then positioned ourselves for the official Rolling Thunder run.  The bikes were soon rolling past and it was the usual mix of smiles and applause, mixed with poignant reflection of what today symbolizes.

After a couple of hours we decided to go visit the memorials so we peeled off and made the rounds.  Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, Korean Memorial, Nurse’s Memorial, WWII Memorial, Washington Monument (kinda – we viewed it from a bit of a distance), Reflecting Pool, etc.  Our group had gotten split into two halves, each headed in different directions, but we kept in touch with each other and eventually caught back up at the bikes.  It’d been a long day and it was time to beat feet for the roads that would lead us out of the madness and congestion.

We hit a pub on the way home for a beer and a bite.  The weather had been calling for thunderstorms to move in over our heads and by the time we came back out to the bikes, it had started to rain.  Thankfully it was a short ride to the house and we weren’t too damp as we set out kickstands to the concrete.  We covered the seats with plastic to keep them from getting thoroughly soaked, event though the forecasts for our ride home were calling for 100% chance of rain (yeah; 100%.  How often do you see that?).

A couple of K’s friends popped by to say hello and we all milled about in between conversations as the rain came down pretty hard outside.  As the night wore on, K’s guests bade us farewell as they headed out, and most of the group turned in.  Then there were the usual suspects who stayed up too late once again, unwilling to pull the curtain on the weekend just yet.

The timing of our departure had been a topic of discussion the night before and it had been agreed that we’d aim for being up at 7, with the hopes of being out the door at 8.  Imagine my surprise when we rolled out of K’s driveway at 8:02…

Oh yeah; the skies were blue with patches of clouds!  No rain!  And the seats were dry from being covered!  Man, what a nice surprise!!

A quick pop over to a local DD’s for some breakfast base, and then it was back to the road.  We zipped back past K’s house, each of us blasting our horns as we slid by; our way of once again saying “until next time”!

The ride home wasn’t too bad.  We hit small pockets of traffic but nothing like what we’d encountered on the way down.  Not to mention we’d chased the rain ahead of us the whole way.  A couple of times we got close to catching it, but we’d then hit a gas stop or a meal stop and kind of linger a bit to give the rain a chance to put more distance between us.

At our last stop, where we’d be splitting up, we said our goodbyes.  Matt suggested we hit Natty Greens for a celebratory end-of-ride beer so Chris and I agreed.  Upon arrival, though, we found they were closed for the holiday, so we decided to just head to Matt’s for that beer.  Just as we were about to pull out, Dennis and Lisa pulled up, so they joined us.

It was a great way to round out what had been a great weekend.  Granted, it was a bit of an ‘off’ year for us since we’d basically vegged most of Saturday daytime away.  If there’s anything I’d change, it would be that, as I like to get out and about and see as much as possible while down there.  Still, though, it was a fantastic time and we can’t wait to get down there again next year.

Don’t forget to thank a Vet!

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Ok, ok, here are some pics...

Finagling Chris' headlight back into place...

That's an odd outline for a body...

We've arrived!  Cheers!

Lined up outside our first beer & a bite place!

Hmmm...this place could be trouble...

Im so excited I can't keep the phone steady!

Poor Artie.  He can't play on the field with us...

Round and round and round they go...

Breakfa...er...no, this is out of order.  Dinner!!  Grilled steaks, potatoes, fixin's!!

Lined up in front of Murphy's!

James is intent on the score, but still aware of what is going on around him...

WWII Memorial...

 

Field of flags for fallen soldiers (multi-national)

Korean War Memorial...

When it came time to leave, we almost had to stand on top of K's recylce barrel to get it to close...

Lined up on Sunday morning, gearing for the long ride ahead...

Not my favorite stout, but when in Rome (or Murphy's)...

Ok, there you go.  Rolling Thunder 2016!

Cinco Pics!

I was doing some cleaning up on my phone and found some pics I'd taken and had forgotten to post.  So, here ya go...

Before the carnage, things looked calm...peaceful...inviting...

Late night one-card shenanigans, after dinner and drinks at Chickie Flynn's...

While the throng was occupied out back, I thought I'd take a pic of the bikes and flag, out front...

Back out back, they were still at it...

The quarters pile was getting bigger.  Not for me, though.  I was out, and my quarters were in the pile already.

Saturday morning at the pig farm.  The person taking the pic cropped Tom out almost completely.

A full-crew pic!

Then at breakfast...Slainte!

An awesome sign, courtesy of the NY crew!!!

A random pic of some bikes in the driveway, before the full-on party started...

Zig, taking advantage of some quiet time to recharge.  I should have followed his idea and snuck in a nap as well, but didn't...

That's all I had on my phone.  There are tons more on FB which I'm sure you've seen.

Ok, back to regularly scheduled programming.  Next up; the Rolling Thunder trip...

Ride Hard, Take Chances