Yep; all lanes stopped - our feet flat on the pavement, and the sun blazing above us. Luckily, we were able to make our way over to the breakdown lane, and before long, we were bopping along at a respectably-safe pace, along with a few other bikes who also seemed headed to the same spot we were (judging from their vests, and mounted flags).
We crossed the Bourne bridge and descended down onto the Cape, proper. A couple of rotarys, a couple of turns, a final u-turn, and we were in line and paying our registration fees. Hey cool, we also get a free t-shirt today - sweet! (These would come in very handy as it turned out, but more on that, later.)
We had a bit of time to kill before things got under way so we mosied about a bit, checked out some bikes, then took refuge in the shade beneath a tent. There were a ton of bikes here today!!
When it was time to get things under way, there was a pre-run prayer, as well as some introductions for the guys who were also in the Humvee, but survived the IED hit which claimed the life of the soldier in whose memory today's run was for. Powerful stuff.
From there, we made our way back to our bikes, and eventually made our way out for the run, proper.
The run was greatly supported by local LEO departments and there was ample blocking at all rotarys and intersections. Man, did we ever F up a lot of roads! This procession was so long, it took quite a while for the last bike to make it through. Traffic on the Cape is bad enough as it is, I can't even begin to imagine how much worse we made things. For the most part, folks in their vehicles 'got it', and were smiling, waving and beeping their horns. There was the occasional ticked off person sitting behind their wheel, waving their arms and hollering at the inside of their windshields, but oh well.
The very impressive thing on this run was the overwhelming turnout of civilians, lining the streets and waving flags, waving to us, waving signs, etc. Their were little kids, young adults, grownups, and senior citizens. This year was the first time I'd heard of this run, but apparenlty it's extremely well known in the towns along the route, and the turnout was quite impressive.
When we finally arrived at the end-point, there was a Yarmouth fire department ladder truck with it's boom extended, flying an absolute monster of a US Flag. I would have liked to snap a pic as we were approaching it, as the route was lined with trees, and at the end of this "tunnel', the flag was blocking out a good portion of the sky. Quite amazing! But, I had to settle for a couple of pics from the parking lot, as there wasn't any spot to pull over, due to the sheer volume of bikes that were flowing in.
We grabbed our grub (traditional fare; dogs & burgers) and found an open bit of shade under some trees. A decent feed, a visit to the lavatory, then some walking around to check out the goings-on. There was a bike being raffled off, and another that had a killer paint job that was for sale;
, a few vendors selling jewelry and t-shirts, as well as a band that was kicking out some tunes. And; there was a memorial wall on display;
This had all been done by hand; hand made frames, and hand-written names of all the Massachusetts' fallen Iraq and Afghanistan soldiers. A very touching tribute for those that gave the ultimate sacrifice.
Having checked everything out, we agreed to hit the road before the late-afternoon traffic started picking up. Returning to the bikes in the parking lot we found evidence of just how hot out it was. We'd only been here for about an hour. And the parking lot wasn't comprised of new pavement - this was older, very well seasoned stuff. But the day's heat and sunshine had proved too much;
I'm sure the town wasn't too thrilled with all the holes punched through the parking lot...
Anyway, we got some directions to get us back to familiar territory, and were soon ripping along the highways, headed back to the Post for "one" cold frosty.
As we were making our way back, we could see the skies ahead were beginning to turn a bit darker. The forecasts had called for some potential thunderstorms as a cold front moved in, finally bringing some relief from the week-long heat wave we'd been dealing with. And sure enough, just as we exited 495 onto 95, we felt the first plinks of rain drops. Ok, ok, no need to worry - our upcoming exit is only a few miles up, we should be able to...
Nope. Denied. Whoosh!
The rain hit us like a sheet of water. The wind was howling, visibility dropped to mere feet, almost instantaneously, and cars were jamming their brakes on, hard. And cold? Holy crap, it was a humid 92 degrees a second ago, suddenly my nips were like glass! The wind was blasting, soaking us completely, in no time. What the hell?? The only thing missing was...lightning! Flash! There it is! Now as long as the 'boom' isn't too close, we're ok..BOOM!!! Well, that wasn't too bad. A couple of seconds apart - it's not directly over our heads at the momen..FLASH/BOOM!! Immediately together! Holy shit - ok, time to get inside!!
We pulled into the Post parking lot and ran inside as fast as we could Once inside, we just stood there, water pouring off of us as the patrons inside began laughing. Again; the temp had dropped so suddenly, and so much, that we were shivering. We braved running back out to the bikes again to grab the run t-shirts that we'd been given earlier, then dried ourselves off with paper towels as best we could, and changed our shirts. We looked like a goofy group, all with the same shirts on, but at least we were a bit drier.
After a "few" nice cold ones, the weather had passed and we mosied all in our own directions. It had been a great run and a great day - complete with a nice heart-pumper at the end.
Fast forward to Sunday - this day's run was to raise funds and awareness of Multiple Sclerosis. One of our Riders, his wife has been diagnosed with MS, so this run was near and dear to us. We had a great turnout of fellow riders - it was going to be a good day! And a poker run, to boot!
We arrived at the destination point, paid our fee and got our first card. Mine was a lousy 6 of clubs. Bleah. Oh well - we ot our list of destinations, saddled up, and were off.
The first stop was at the Little Red Smokehouse, in Carver. A quaint little place, that was soon overwhelmed with the sheer volume of thirsty bikers, converging on the bar. But, they made do as best they could, and we were all soon milling about, contentedly.
One thing that was rather interesting here; they'd mounted old fishing poles to the ceiling, along with little fish decoys...
I got to thinking that maybe I should do something like this in my basement, but then remembered that I have low ceilings, and I certainly don't need to be mounting anything onto them.
I pulled my second card for the day...a 2 of spades?!?! Well, I'm certainly not in the running for anything today.
Next stop; the Ponderosa, in Acushnet. A greate looking roadhouse bar - complete with dirt driveway and lots of bikes parked in front. My kind of joint!
My card from this place was excellent; a 10 of hearts...alas, it was too late to do me any good at this point.
From there, we were off to Christopher's.
It was a quick stop because we'd dawdled, back at the Ponderosa, and were now running short on time (had to be at the final stop by 3), so we had time enough to grab our fourth card (a 9) and hit the road.
We pulled into the VFW that was hosting the after-party, grabbed our last cards (I don't even recall what I pulled - it wasn't like I was going to win anything) and ambled inside for the feast. More great fare; burgers and dogs, and a mini pig which had been roasted up and displayed for us to help ourselves to.
We hung out there for a while, watched the raffle prize winners gather their winnings (I had bought nothing but losing tickets again), and then kicked back for a bit.
Some of the group headed off toward their homesteads, but a couple of us headed over to a joint in Taunton that is pretty kick-ass. There was a band playing, the sunshine was out, and bikers go here to hang out. The beer was cold, the band was good, and there were lots of smiling folks milling about. It was a great way to cap the weekend.
So there you go; a good weekend, for good causes. Hopefully everyone out there had as enjoyable a weekend as I did.
Ride Hard, Take Chances
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