Well, the first pic I wanted to post was one that I've been trying to take for years and years. There's a nursery that we go by on the way up there, and each year, they put a message on their sign saying "Hurry, only (xx,xxx thousand) mums left!". Well, this year, I was able to snap the pic as I was riding by, and this year's current number of available mums was 17,625. It makes for a humorous photo, and I would really love to post it so you could see it, but this stupid hosting site is once again giving me problems, and it's refusing the load the picture. Whatever.
Moving on...
Jerry tears into a new member of the "Honey-flavored" family of liquors. This one was the Even Williams' whiskey. I hadn't seen/heard of it before. It wasn't bad, but my favorite is still the American Honey, by Wild Turkey.
A few of us headed into town to check out the Prison Inmate Store, where items made from the local state prison are sold. Many of the items are simple, churned-out-in-bulk kind of things like bird houses and cedar chests. Then there are the moderately difficult items, which are also in multiple-duplicate, and lastly; there are some items in there that are truly amazing. One such item is in the main window and features Poseidon atop a Harley, with his mermaid mistress behind him. (The item is not for sale, understandably.)
Behind the store are the grounds where the old state prison used to be. The area has been converted to an open park, but they left the very back-most corner intact as a memorial, and mounted a couple of placques detailing the institution's history.
When we left there, we were tossing around ideas for a place to eat and a local happened to overhear us, and pointed us to The Slipway, a restaurant just down a side street, located on a dock. Sounded good enough for us, and away we went. (I walked out onto the docks and then looked back at the restuarant to take these pics, obviously.)
Mmmm, beer! A 22-oz Gritty's Black Fly Stout! It was very dry, and overall; not bad at all.
On our way in, we passed this bathtub. A pump was keeping fresh seawater running through it, for the lobsters inside. Pick your own!
After we'd had a bit, it was back to the site to kick back for a bit and digest. I don't have any more pics from Saturday, but rest assured the day and evening were celebrated with lots of food, plenty of cold refreshments, and lots of laughter.
Sunday dawned wet and much of the morning was spent airing things out in the hopes they would dry in time for that evening's rest. Some folks were successful, others, not so much. But let's not dwell on that. Let's focus on the good stuff. Sunday's Lobster Feast was bumped up to be earlier in the day, again this year. It had been tried last year and seemed to go well; folks enjoyed it, and it gave the hosts enough time to get everything cleaned up while it was still light out. So with that said, let's get to the pics!
How's your cholesterol, LOL. Time to get the butter melting!
Sorry guys, it's the end of the line for you...
Random milling about while the water comes up to a boil
Burgers, dogs, sausage, fish...just about anything you can put onto a grille! (Rob added some pork and veggie skewers after I took this pic.)
The corn and lobsters are done - time to (carefully!) remove them from the steamers...
Look at this spread!
After a lengthy feed, and a little bit of cleaning up, a number of us headed off to the Breakwater, just outside of town. It's about 4/5 of a mile long, ending in a lighthouse in the bay. We figured it had to be exceptionally tall (underwater), considering it extends so far out into the bay, but it turns out it's only 50 high at it's deepest point. The base, however, is 100 feet wide. That's a lot of granite!
The really cool thing about this year, is the lighthouse was open for tourists (it wasn't, last year). We got to check out the inside rooms, which are all being renovated, as well as head up to the lighthouse tower and inspect the surrounding views.
Here's a couple of shots leaning out over the railing and looking straight down to the granite base, at the bottom of the lighthouse.
Here's a view looking back toward the shore...
And here's McCarthy, looking deeply into the light itself. (Now if only I can find the switch to turn it on...)
It's a long walk out and back, not to mention the time spent checking out the inside of the lighthouse, so when all was said and done and we were back at the bikes, a few of us felt we'd earned a rest stop back in the center of town. (The rest of the folks headed back to the clearing.)
As we were enjoying our restful break, I ambled off to the neighboring parking lot to snap some pics. The first one is of this massive anchor. I don't know what ship it's from, nor what the "1854" is in reference to (perhaps it's the year South Thomaston was incorporated), but I liked the shot. (Those of you paying attention, will notice the name of the spot we chose to stop and rest at, can be seen just over the top of the hill, in the background.)
Ok, I have to explain this pic. After ordering some refreshments at the bar, we sat out back on the patio (chained-in section of the parking lot) and were watching the sights going on around us. This minivan rode by slowly, and the driver glanced warily over at us as he rode by. He was wearing an eye patch, and we all started chuckling, commenting about how we must have just seen an authentic pirate. Then, to our surprise, he parked his minivan and set about disgorging a wheelchair from its innards. He then set himself inside it, and begin cruising the parting lot in a big circle. When he went by us again, headed back to his minivan, we got a look at the back of it, and that's when it really got funny. He had a "Pirate" sticker on the back of it, and, there was a little stuffed monkey hanging out of the back pouch, looking backward, and it had an eye patch too. All this was pretty amusing, but then it dawned on us that we were missing the true irony that was going on. The name of the restaurant down on the dock, which he had parked in front of, was called The Pearl. The connection to that movie "Curse of the Black Pearl" was too good to pass up, so I tried zooming in as much as I could and snapping a pic. It didn't come out too well, but with the backgropund information, you get the idea.
Aiming the phone to the right, I thought this made a decent shot; the bikes lined up in the foreground, and the bay with its moored ships lined up in the background.
Back at camp; just a random shot of some of the bikes gathered together.
Another random shot of the clearing. The skies were very gray and folks were hanging out underneath the canopies. Some were munching a bit, others were playing some cards.
Another random shot of the bikes...but wait...there's geen an addition...what is that little thing in between Aaron and my bikes?
Ta da! Dave bought his first motorcycle! I'm not sure what year it is, but it's an old Honda. Apparently it's been leaning up against a tree in some yard that he's been driving by for years. He always wondered what the story was with it, so he'd stopped in and finally asked the guy. The guy said he used to ride it daily, that it had given him some trouble, and that he'd finally just parked it and left it...for years. Dave asked if he was willing to sell it, and the guy told him that for the price of a case of Budweise (bottles!), the bike was his. Dave couldn't pass up that offer and the deal was made. And now, the process of restoration, begins...
It was getting close to the Sunday Ceremony time, and folks began gathering around the stage. Lynner had brought out an old banner from 2004 that she'd made, and it was great to see the old pics again!
On the left side; the Maine Event family members we've lost over the years; Dana, Gapper, Russ, Rosie, and Chuck.
On the right side; a small collection of the folks that are still with us, and who hopefully will be for many years to come!
The ceremony went off without a hitch, we had 4 more inductions into the royal family, and there was much rejoicing and reveley, finally wrapping up with another boisterous and hearty rendition of The Toast Of Life.
Upon completion of that, it was time to kick back and get the final party night into motion. Games of one-card were played, stories were shared, and wood was added to the fire. It was a great way to cap another great year!
And lest you think we were done with the food...hell no! There was everything that was left over from the daytime, plus additions of pulled pork, and other crock pots full of roasted and simmered meat. Just what happy revelers need to keep their strength up, late into the evening!
Another shot of the party, late-night. I believe folks were taking a break from one one-card game and refueling their bellies in preparation of another game soon to commence.
The sky above gave us some fantastic light shows, with distant lightning lighting up the clouded skies above us. We knew we were in store for it eventually, as was plainly evident from the lightning show getting brighter...and louder. We simply cracked more beers and settled in to squeeze out the last bit of fun that we could.
Eventually, folks began to amble off to bed as the night wore on. I'm not sure what time the last holdout finally succumbed, but I think it was around 4am or so.
And then it was the next morning. Monday morning. Time to arise and get everything packed up and head out. And the weather? Not cooperating at all.
Here; a shot of a couple of the puddles. You can't see it in the pic, but the rain was coming down quite well, off and on, to boot.
The actual ride home was a mess. About an hour in, the group wanted to pull off and grab something to eat, so we hit the Burger King in Bath. And it was appropriate that we were in a town called "Bath" because we'd been taking a bath the entire time we'd been on the road. Here's a shot of the bikes in the parking lot, looking out the window of the BK;
No, the windows aren't smudged, that's how much water was pouring down them from the torrential rain coming down. We'd made such a wet mess on the floor, I asked one of the employees for a mop so we could clean up, but they were very friendly, and gracious, and said they would take care of it.
After an hour-long break, the decision was made. Most of us would soldier on, Aaron, Chrissy and Matt were going to wait out the storm. As we said our farewells to each other, they secured directions to the closest bar, where I'm sure they had a better afternoon than those of us did that returned to the roadways.
Here's a shot that McCarthy took of us (he was in his work truck riding behind.) Man, it doesn't get much wetter than this...
And there you have it. The skies eventually stopped pee'ing on us as we neared our respective homes, but it didn't matter. Everything we were wearing was soaked. Oh well, it was still worth it to have been a part of the 2014 Labor Day Maine Event.
Can't wait to do it all over again next year!! (Hopefully with a lot less rain, though...)
Ride Hard, Take Chances
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