Getting Ahead Of Myself

I realize that I hadn't posted anything about the 'Vous yet, before going on a tirade about my bike at the dealership (the same dealership that again didn't call me back yesterday, after AGAIN saying they would).  At any rate, I got the call this morning; the bike is done and ready and - in their words - sounds great and I will be very happy.  Time will tell (I won't be able to pick it up until Friday).

So let's go back a bit, to happier times, and talk a little about the 'Vous.  And what better way to "talk" about it than with pictures...

Kevin, his sons, and Hilary all met at my house on Wednesday morning for the ride out to the motel.  And what a ride out - just check out the sky in this pic!

And I snapped that pic on 495!  Where was the traffic?  Who cares!  It was a very welcome change from  years past.

Our first gas stop - a nicely re-purposed phone booth was sitting off to the side...

The highlight of the Mohawk Trail - it's no Tail of the Dragon, but it ain't shappy, either!

I think it was after this next pic that I noticed Kev had backed off a bit.  I didn't realize until just now when I looked at this pic, just how close I'd come to the edge of the road.

I guess for me; texting-while-riding isn't the problem, it's snapping pics.

At any rate, you can see the roadways were a bit damp through here.  We'd checked the weather that morning and were supposed to have clear, sunny skies the whole day.  Well, the weather was wrong once again, and the skies had clouded over a bit and we'd dodged a few showers along the way, judging from wet roadways.

Still, though - who cares!  Look at this scenery!

We made it to the top!  The three-state overlook.  Unfortunately, the undergrowth has become more of an overgrowth, so the visibility is blocked a bit, but you can still see some great distances on a good day.  Like for instance; all the sunshine that's way off in the distance, far away from us...

The obligatory bikes-at-the-overlook photo...

Like last year, we stopped at the Penalty Box in Troy for lunch.  We were pretty happy with the traffic in Troy.  Usually it's a real bear, but this time through, everything was flowing quite well.

All too soon, we were back on the road and after a few more miles - we made it to the hotel!

Skrobie with one of his trucker-bomb drinks.  "Here, drink this" he'd keep telling us.  And we did.  They tasted much better than they looked.  I think this one was a maple whiskey.

Gramma's naughty keychain...

I forgot that I'd rigged up this door holder until I saw the pic.  (At least, I think it was me who rigged it...)  (shrug)

Ahh, the showers.  Well, there's one way to have soap in the shower...

Check out that clean mountain water!  I even left it running for a while, hoping it would clear up.  Nope - if anything, it got darker.  The folks at the diner said it was because of the work being done by the town, on the water lines.  (We didn't see any work being done, anywhere.)

Suffice to say I took a very, very quick shower.

We're off to the 'Vous!!  Check out those clear roadways and welcoming skies!

And that scenery!

Whoops, I'm falling further behind...

And further...

We made it!  Lined up and waiting!

Things were moving quite well already.  We probably moved up about 6 times in the first 45 minutes we were there.  The gates were obviously open and folks were getting in!

Poor Ski - he'd been in such a rush to get out here, he'd left without his ticket...and his wallet...and his registration...and his phone.

Luckily, Bruce was coming out today and had swung by Ski's house to pick everything up for him.

Before long, we were in and set up.  And I lost my koozie almost immediately.  Good thing King carries spares on his bike.  And check this out - this guy looks familiar!  (I love seeing these koozies out and about!)

The Sobieski Vodka crew was out again.  Free shots!  I probably shouldn't have gone through the entire list, twice.  I blame Myszka!

A funny side-note; the girl in the pic; I got to chatting with her and asked what she did for a living.  Turns out she's a psychiatric nurse!  We laughed about that - I said she was probably diagnosing everyone she saw that day, and that we all needed to be admitted.

There of course were lots of other pictures taken, and laughs aplenty, but those things stay at the 'Vous.  I do have one last pic for ya, though, courtesy of Rex.

Ya see; I'd gone too hard, too late into the evening on Saturday night, so come Sunday, I was quite exhausted.  At one of the food/gas stops, I took advantage of the downtime to grab some slumber.  I never even realize anyone had taken a pic.

Guess I just need to be more selective in who I hang around with.  :-)

It was another successful year, made even better by the absolute fantastic weather we had all weekend long!  We brought some new friends with us this year, too, and I'm sure we will be seeing them again next year.

So until next year; What Happens At The 'Vous, Stays At The 'Vous!