Put on a little "Superjoint Ritual", and he started rockin' out.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Pics continued...
Custer (it's a town). In the center, were 4 buffalo statues; one on each corner. So...of course Snoop wanted to horse around.
Sitting high on the horn, in Custer center.
In control of the reigns...
Sitting high on the horn, in Custer center.
In control of the reigns...
Hiding in the shade. Snnop, don't look up!!
The wind kept blowing Snoop off of this guy, so I set him in place a third time, stepped back quick and shot the pic - and caught Snoop in mid-dive. Headfirst!
Snoop, hangin' wit his homies.
Chillin' out at the Cactus Cafe...
Bareback ridin' on a buffalo...
Snoop thinks there should be another face on the mountain...
Snoop, getting too friendly with my beer...
Pics, Pics, Pics!
Hanging out with (Back row) Guido and myself, (Front row) Starr, Zig, Paul & Bettina. And Snoop.
Long, long roads on the way to South Dakota
Welcome to the Badlands!
Long, long roads on the way to South Dakota
Welcome to the Badlands!
Wall Drug. What a frikkin' waste of time this place was. If you've never been here - good! Don't go!
Our bartender Jen lent me this sign when I had to...take a break, so to speak. Pulled it out of her own purse and everything. I thought that was nice.
Wrapping up the rest of the trip...
…so that we can get to the PICS!!
Saturday, we woke up fresh and refreshed…or, as fresh and refreshed as we could be after only a few hours of sleep. We fired up the bikes and pulled out onto the roadways which would bring us to our Labor Day mecca. Several short hours later, we found ourselves on the welcoming Coastal Rte 1, and closing quickly on South Thomaston.
Passing the familiar Dragon Cement plant, we signaled a right turn, tore the throttles open and rocketed down Buttermilk Lane. A quick right, a short left, a quick zip around the Keag store (followed by a few more lefts and rights) and we were sliding along the rocky path to The Clearing! We’d arrived! We’d reached our destination.
The rest of the weekend? Well, we had a fantabulous spaghetti and sauce dinner that night, courtesy of Rob & Tina, then we had the famous lobster feast on Sunday afternoon, courtesy of Russ & Katie. After that dinner, we assembled any first-timers into a circle and then welcomed them into the ranks with The Toast. We then took turns reciting words of wisdom, words of humor, and words of recollection of brothers lost.
Time in between all of this was filled with card games, sight seeing, tons of laughter, and just plain relaxing. Just what a weekend should be about.
Monday came far too early. Zig and I were up quickly, got packed, and said our goodbyes to the crew we’d shared the past fun-filled week with. It sucked to be leaving, but it was what it was. And we needed to hit the road ASAP to try and beat the holiday traffic. Which we didn’t entirely manage to do, but we didn’t get caught too badly.
And that wraps up the mega trip of 2008 for us. We had an amazing time and saw all kinds of unbelievable sights. My final tally for mileage was 5,453.8 – not too shabby. Not as much as I’d thought it would be, but not too shabby at all.
This is probably a good spot for some final thoughts.
I’ve never taken this much time off at once before in my life. Hell, it’s quite rare for me to take more than a long weekend at a time. So to take almost three full weeks is unheard of. But it was amazing and I wish I was doing it all over again tomorrow.
Some thanks;
Thanks to Paul & Bettina for hosting us and letting us crash (and do laundry, and eat, etc, etc, etc.) And thanks for the canoe invite in the first place!!
Thanks to Paul for his patience, especially on a Friday afternoon when he’s jonesing to get to the camp and he’s got two guests in the car who are starving.
Thanks even more to Paul for picking up the oil/filter for my bike so that I could keep on rollin’ down the line.
Thanks to Guido and Starr for buying us breakfast on the Sunday after - we’ll get the tab next time!
Thanks to the Michigan Crew for sharing their whikked pissa fun weekend on the river – can’t wait to do it again next year!
Thanks to King & Pat for their hospitality (and food and laundry, etc. etc. etc.) – seeing a pattern here, when we stay at folks’ places?
Thanks to Alyssa for soaking me in the super soaker battle. (I figured my chances against someone in elementary school were pretty good - I was wrong.)
Thanks to Lynner, Katelyn, GrandMama and Mary – bartenders extraordinaire at the club.
Thanks to Russ & Katie & Rob & Tina & Dave & Karmen for keeping the Labor Day tradition going. I think everyone is in agreement that we all want to see this tradition continue for years and years to come. Let us know of what projects are being undertaken next summer, and we’ll be there to assist.
What else…Thanks to the dink who stole my riding gloves from the bathroom in Indiana, that was certainly appreciated.
Thanks to the cops who had chances to cite us for speeding but opted not to.
I’m certain there are more folks that I should thank, but I’m forgetting at the moment. Thanks to everyone that helped us with our adventure. It was a time that Zig and I won’t forget.
So there you go! Sturgis 2008!
Ride Hard, Take Chances
Saturday, we woke up fresh and refreshed…or, as fresh and refreshed as we could be after only a few hours of sleep. We fired up the bikes and pulled out onto the roadways which would bring us to our Labor Day mecca. Several short hours later, we found ourselves on the welcoming Coastal Rte 1, and closing quickly on South Thomaston.
Passing the familiar Dragon Cement plant, we signaled a right turn, tore the throttles open and rocketed down Buttermilk Lane. A quick right, a short left, a quick zip around the Keag store (followed by a few more lefts and rights) and we were sliding along the rocky path to The Clearing! We’d arrived! We’d reached our destination.
The rest of the weekend? Well, we had a fantabulous spaghetti and sauce dinner that night, courtesy of Rob & Tina, then we had the famous lobster feast on Sunday afternoon, courtesy of Russ & Katie. After that dinner, we assembled any first-timers into a circle and then welcomed them into the ranks with The Toast. We then took turns reciting words of wisdom, words of humor, and words of recollection of brothers lost.
Time in between all of this was filled with card games, sight seeing, tons of laughter, and just plain relaxing. Just what a weekend should be about.
Monday came far too early. Zig and I were up quickly, got packed, and said our goodbyes to the crew we’d shared the past fun-filled week with. It sucked to be leaving, but it was what it was. And we needed to hit the road ASAP to try and beat the holiday traffic. Which we didn’t entirely manage to do, but we didn’t get caught too badly.
And that wraps up the mega trip of 2008 for us. We had an amazing time and saw all kinds of unbelievable sights. My final tally for mileage was 5,453.8 – not too shabby. Not as much as I’d thought it would be, but not too shabby at all.
This is probably a good spot for some final thoughts.
I’ve never taken this much time off at once before in my life. Hell, it’s quite rare for me to take more than a long weekend at a time. So to take almost three full weeks is unheard of. But it was amazing and I wish I was doing it all over again tomorrow.
Some thanks;
Thanks to Paul & Bettina for hosting us and letting us crash (and do laundry, and eat, etc, etc, etc.) And thanks for the canoe invite in the first place!!
Thanks to Paul for his patience, especially on a Friday afternoon when he’s jonesing to get to the camp and he’s got two guests in the car who are starving.
Thanks even more to Paul for picking up the oil/filter for my bike so that I could keep on rollin’ down the line.
Thanks to Guido and Starr for buying us breakfast on the Sunday after - we’ll get the tab next time!
Thanks to the Michigan Crew for sharing their whikked pissa fun weekend on the river – can’t wait to do it again next year!
Thanks to King & Pat for their hospitality (and food and laundry, etc. etc. etc.) – seeing a pattern here, when we stay at folks’ places?
Thanks to Alyssa for soaking me in the super soaker battle. (I figured my chances against someone in elementary school were pretty good - I was wrong.)
Thanks to Lynner, Katelyn, GrandMama and Mary – bartenders extraordinaire at the club.
Thanks to Russ & Katie & Rob & Tina & Dave & Karmen for keeping the Labor Day tradition going. I think everyone is in agreement that we all want to see this tradition continue for years and years to come. Let us know of what projects are being undertaken next summer, and we’ll be there to assist.
What else…Thanks to the dink who stole my riding gloves from the bathroom in Indiana, that was certainly appreciated.
Thanks to the cops who had chances to cite us for speeding but opted not to.
I’m certain there are more folks that I should thank, but I’m forgetting at the moment. Thanks to everyone that helped us with our adventure. It was a time that Zig and I won’t forget.
So there you go! Sturgis 2008!
Ride Hard, Take Chances
Friday, September 5, 2008
Slowly Catching Up
I tell ya - It ain’t grand to be back in the working world. Another long day today - worked late, then went and worked on that house we’re trying to fix up and sell. But you didn’t come here to hear me bitch, you’re looking for more updates/wrap-up on the trip. So let’s get moving on that, shall we?
Oh; I mis-spoke in my last post. I said we took Rte 20 out of NY, but it was actually Rte 23. Apologies for the error.
After our harrowing adventure in Great Barrington, we hit the road running the next morning and picked up Rte 202. This ran us right up into NH and into the heart of Concord. A quick stop into the local HD dealership for supplies, a phone call to our gracious hosts to let them know we were knocking on their door, and off we went.
Arriving at Patch’s house, we commandeered many spots of his driveway, offloaded our semi-weary asses and broke into the coolers. Joe and Kathy soon appeared, fresh margaritas in hand. Hugs and handshakes, laughter and story telling ensued.
Joe and Kathy then exemplified once again why their palace is the place to be. They broke out the steaks, the chicken, etc. etc. etc. Feast! Just what was needed for our mighty hungers.
And once we’d stuffed our stomachs, there was only one thing to do – don our swimming gear and spend the rest of the evening swimming in the pool and soaking in the hot tub. Ahhh, this is the life! A gentle ride for the day, followed by many hours of suds with buds.
And that puts the wrap on last Friday. That leaves just Saturday, Sunday and the sad ride home on Monday. Oh yeah, and a ton of pics, too, right? Hopefully on Sunday – it’s late and I gotta hit the sack. Gotta roll out early in the morning and go help a brother cook a pig. Pig roastin’ time! Weather doesn’t look like it’s going to cooperate, though. No matter. It’s just rain. It dries off.
Ride Hard, Take Chances
Oh; I mis-spoke in my last post. I said we took Rte 20 out of NY, but it was actually Rte 23. Apologies for the error.
After our harrowing adventure in Great Barrington, we hit the road running the next morning and picked up Rte 202. This ran us right up into NH and into the heart of Concord. A quick stop into the local HD dealership for supplies, a phone call to our gracious hosts to let them know we were knocking on their door, and off we went.
Arriving at Patch’s house, we commandeered many spots of his driveway, offloaded our semi-weary asses and broke into the coolers. Joe and Kathy soon appeared, fresh margaritas in hand. Hugs and handshakes, laughter and story telling ensued.
Joe and Kathy then exemplified once again why their palace is the place to be. They broke out the steaks, the chicken, etc. etc. etc. Feast! Just what was needed for our mighty hungers.
And once we’d stuffed our stomachs, there was only one thing to do – don our swimming gear and spend the rest of the evening swimming in the pool and soaking in the hot tub. Ahhh, this is the life! A gentle ride for the day, followed by many hours of suds with buds.
And that puts the wrap on last Friday. That leaves just Saturday, Sunday and the sad ride home on Monday. Oh yeah, and a ton of pics, too, right? Hopefully on Sunday – it’s late and I gotta hit the sack. Gotta roll out early in the morning and go help a brother cook a pig. Pig roastin’ time! Weather doesn’t look like it’s going to cooperate, though. No matter. It’s just rain. It dries off.
Ride Hard, Take Chances
Thursday, September 4, 2008
A little closer to being caught up...
Catching up on last Thursday’s events…
Thursday we were up (6am!) and on the road early (leaving Olean, heading for a Mass overnighter, then Concord, NH on Friday night).
We had some excellent breakfast served up by T.C., then it was time to roll. The skies sprinkled on us a few times, but we finally broke through into warmer, nicer weather and enjoyed dry skies for the rest of the day.
There were 8 bikes and one van in our cara…van. (Get it? Van? Cara-van? Bah hah hah, I’m here all week, folks.) Anyway, we ambled along the highways and byways, even managing to bump into Bolivar Bob, Sharon and family, who were going to be camping with us up in Maine. They were going to straight-shoot it and meet us up there, so we (temporarily) parted ways again.
We took our exit onto Rte 20 and wound our way out of New York and into Mass. We stayed on 20 for a while, eventually arriving in Great Barrington. Daylight was running thin so we found a hotel with a nice welcoming VACANCY sign, and a big empty parking lot. Ahhh, home! Not so fast, though…when we went to the office, they took one look at the motley crew that is us, and said they were full-up. *Sigh* Ok, here we go once again; no vacancy for road weary bikers. So we kept rolling, eventually finding a place that would accept us. Nice layout, right on the main drag. Sweet! But there was another surprise in store for us; once we’d paid for the rooms, we were informed that we weren’t staying in the rooms we’d seen. Instead, we had to ride down to a back building, down a hill and far out of sight of the main drag. I guess bikers don’t exactly scream ‘come on in’ to passers by. So we blasted down to the out-of-sight building…only to be told that our 'rooms' were in the back, of this back building. In fact, our 'rooms' were nothing more than makeshift shanties, erected (!!) for the recently departed migrant workers that had been collecting the harvests. Damn. Apparently Great Barrington has no love for us knuckle-dragging two-wheelers. A guy could get a complex this way.
So we said screw it. F 'em all. Treat us like outcasts, we’ll act like outcasts. We set up a card table in the middle of the back (back) parking lot, drank beer and whiskey, shot our pistolas into the air, and molested any wilderness animals that came along. This continued until the wee hours of the morning, when the establishment finally relented and agreed to let us sleep inside.
(I will say that despite all the hassle, they did have the most comfortable beds I’ve slept in, in ages.)
Ok, that was Thursday. Sorry for doing this piece-meal, but I just got home from work and it’s been a long, long week. I’ll get more posts up, and more pics, over the weekend.
Ride Hard, Take Chances
Thursday we were up (6am!) and on the road early (leaving Olean, heading for a Mass overnighter, then Concord, NH on Friday night).
We had some excellent breakfast served up by T.C., then it was time to roll. The skies sprinkled on us a few times, but we finally broke through into warmer, nicer weather and enjoyed dry skies for the rest of the day.
There were 8 bikes and one van in our cara…van. (Get it? Van? Cara-van? Bah hah hah, I’m here all week, folks.) Anyway, we ambled along the highways and byways, even managing to bump into Bolivar Bob, Sharon and family, who were going to be camping with us up in Maine. They were going to straight-shoot it and meet us up there, so we (temporarily) parted ways again.
We took our exit onto Rte 20 and wound our way out of New York and into Mass. We stayed on 20 for a while, eventually arriving in Great Barrington. Daylight was running thin so we found a hotel with a nice welcoming VACANCY sign, and a big empty parking lot. Ahhh, home! Not so fast, though…when we went to the office, they took one look at the motley crew that is us, and said they were full-up. *Sigh* Ok, here we go once again; no vacancy for road weary bikers. So we kept rolling, eventually finding a place that would accept us. Nice layout, right on the main drag. Sweet! But there was another surprise in store for us; once we’d paid for the rooms, we were informed that we weren’t staying in the rooms we’d seen. Instead, we had to ride down to a back building, down a hill and far out of sight of the main drag. I guess bikers don’t exactly scream ‘come on in’ to passers by. So we blasted down to the out-of-sight building…only to be told that our 'rooms' were in the back, of this back building. In fact, our 'rooms' were nothing more than makeshift shanties, erected (!!) for the recently departed migrant workers that had been collecting the harvests. Damn. Apparently Great Barrington has no love for us knuckle-dragging two-wheelers. A guy could get a complex this way.
So we said screw it. F 'em all. Treat us like outcasts, we’ll act like outcasts. We set up a card table in the middle of the back (back) parking lot, drank beer and whiskey, shot our pistolas into the air, and molested any wilderness animals that came along. This continued until the wee hours of the morning, when the establishment finally relented and agreed to let us sleep inside.
(I will say that despite all the hassle, they did have the most comfortable beds I’ve slept in, in ages.)
Ok, that was Thursday. Sorry for doing this piece-meal, but I just got home from work and it’s been a long, long week. I’ll get more posts up, and more pics, over the weekend.
Ride Hard, Take Chances
Monday, September 1, 2008
Quick Update
Zig and I made it back today without issue. A bit of traffic between Maine and New Hampshire but aside from that, we sliced nicely along the highways and found ourselves back in our respective driveways soon enough.
It took me two full hours of detailing to get the all the bugs off of the bike and to get it looking spiffy again. (I think Snoopy is going to need some detailing, too. He's a bit dirty from his adventures.)
I apologize for the lack of daily updates from the Maine weekend. Having run the laptop battery down by showing everyone up there the pics from the trip, and not having any tree outlets to plug the laptop into, I had to just make some notes from each day and I'll get things assembled on here in the days to come. I did sort most of the pics tonight and will start to get them posted as soon as I can (this week will be busy, getting caught up at work and all).
5,453.8 miles for the trip - a bit less than expected, but I'm not about to complain. In fact, I wish I was heading out to do it all over again, tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who helped us with our vacation, be it a roof and a bed, or a drink and a laugh. Or both!
So hang on - I'll get things caught up before you know it.
Ride Hard, Take Chances
It took me two full hours of detailing to get the all the bugs off of the bike and to get it looking spiffy again. (I think Snoopy is going to need some detailing, too. He's a bit dirty from his adventures.)
I apologize for the lack of daily updates from the Maine weekend. Having run the laptop battery down by showing everyone up there the pics from the trip, and not having any tree outlets to plug the laptop into, I had to just make some notes from each day and I'll get things assembled on here in the days to come. I did sort most of the pics tonight and will start to get them posted as soon as I can (this week will be busy, getting caught up at work and all).
5,453.8 miles for the trip - a bit less than expected, but I'm not about to complain. In fact, I wish I was heading out to do it all over again, tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who helped us with our vacation, be it a roof and a bed, or a drink and a laugh. Or both!
So hang on - I'll get things caught up before you know it.
Ride Hard, Take Chances
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