Yeah, and about that weather. So much for the forecast looking good, two
days beforehand. No sooner had we hit NY
than I found that the forecasts had changed to now include heavy rain for Thursday
night (which thankfully hit us during the wee hours of Friday morning), but
also a major cold front which swept through and brought torrential rain and
nastiness from about mid-afternoon on Saturday, right through the long ride to
Olean on Sunday morning. Well, not for
everyone. Those that took their time
apparently broke through into sunshine half way to Olean. I’d chosen to just hit it, on the advice that
the front was moving west to east and that I’d eventually punch through to
sunshine. Well, the front lasted just
long enough to see me drenched all the way to Mark and Mary’s doorstep. Oh well, it’s only water. And they had beer waiting for me, so things
were good.
Zig and Kate arrived later in the day and we all caught up
and had laughs and fun. We didn’t do too
much more riding that day, but did get a visit from our favorite Sherriff;
Bryan! He even returned later that night
(on duty) to check on us and make sure we weren’t causing too much
trouble. (How much trouble can you get
into playing one-card, drinking Jack Fire, and reciting tongue twisters?)
Monday saw us get up to see Tommy at his restaurant, and
were joined by John Seth, and it was great to see him. After we’d had our fill of food, it was off
to the graves. And as an added treat,
Jerry was feeling good enough to break the Trike out and join us! That was a very cool high point! From there, we headed back to his house and visited
with Barb for a bit, then it was off to King and Pat’s house to say hello to
Pat for a while.
After that, it was off to the Hinsdale Legion to knock back
some frosties with Steve and Erin. King
joined us for a bit but, being smarter than we are; departed before the rain
came. Yep; more rain, but of course I’d
left my rain gear back at Mark and Mary’s to dry out. D’oh.
As we were headed back to their house, I noticed in my side
mirror that Zig had dropped back, and then pulled over. There was a car that had pulled up next to
them and they appeared to be talking to each other. Before too long, the car pulled ahead and got
up to where I was and who should be inside?
The Lampacks! Steph, Ma, and
Britta. Apparently the car had been
going in the opposite direction and Britta, jokingly, had said “Hey look, it’s
Dave” when they went by me. At the last
second, they realized it was me…and then saw Zig and Kate, so they flagged them
down. We all shot the chit for a while
and then it was time for hugs (Britta’s favorite thing) and goodbyes until next
time, and then off to Mark and Mary’s for the night.
Tuesday morning saw us up early and on the road…ok, not on
the road just yet. We sat back for a bit
to let the torrential rain (more rain, yay!) subside a bit. When it appeared things were settling down,
we took our chances and headed for the roadways…and didn’t even reach the end
of the Two Mile before the skies were peeing on us once again. Love/Hate NY!
:-D
The ride to PA wasn’t too bad; the rain peeled off after a
bit and despite some confusion with the directions, managed to meet up with
Kate’s father Larry. We all said hello
and headed off to his house. And then it
started to rain again. But not too
badly, just enough to make us wet enough to need to change before hanging out
and having lunch with the rest of the family; Rhonda and Ryan. And what a spread! Breads and cheeses for sandwiches, and beer
to wash it down with! Oh yeah, Larry had
had a cooler waiting for us as soon as we pulled into the driveway, packed with
iced beer. Yeah, that’s how you greet
dusty (if not dampened) road travelers.
After lunch, Bryan had a ride to take us out on. We’d been watching the radar and man, was
there ever a nasty line of storms sliding northeast, just below us. I joked that what would happen was that as
soon as we left and headed north west, the entire front would shift and chase
us. Ha ha ha…it’s funny ‘cause it’s
true.
Sure enough, we weren’t on the ride more than 20 minutes
before we could see the sky darkening.
At a stop sign, we checked with Bryan and he assured us we were turning
away from it and would be home before it reached us. Well…the best laid plans, right? Bryan was right in that we had plenty of time
to beat the storm. What nobody could
know was that the universe had other plans for us, and that the traffic
accident which we came across, would halt all traffic just long enough for the
front to catch us. We luckily were in
front of a landscape company and managed to pull into their parking lot and
find some shelter until it calmed down enough for us to head back home – still raining,
but not as hard as what the radar showed us was looming soon.
We dried off back at the house and then all piled into
vehicles and headed to a local bar for dinner.
It was quite good and we were all fully satiated before long. It was late, so we didn’t stay too long after
dinner and were soon back home and preparing for bed.
Zig and Kate’s plan was to take two days to get home, my
plan was to do a straight shot, as I had other destinations I was hoping to knock off before the week was
out. That didn’t wind up working out,
but no matter, there’s still time.
Suffice to say that my ride home was long, wet and really,
really sucky. Rain, dense fog, and
traffic. Oh what traffic! Only 630 miles, but it took me 10.5 hours to
do it. Three times, I was caught up in
construction-related jams which had my feet down and my bike off. Awesome. Anyway, it was not Thursday and I needed to get my bike to the dealership for a regular service interval. Of course, traffic into Boston sucked and it took me over an hour to get there. They then said I had to leave my bike overnight but they’d give me a loaner. Fine. Then it was an hour in traffic to get to work to get some stuff out of the way, then home for lunch. And the phone rings. It’s the dealership; my bike is ready. Wha? But you said….nevermind, I’ll come get it. So back on the road, over an hour to get there, pick up the bike, then two hours to get home. At one point on the way home (temps in the 90’s), I was stuck in the tunnel, four lanes inching forward and my bike is beginning to overheat. Then *bam*, the SUV in front of me starts blowing radiator fluid and steam; he’s all done. Ok, that’s it; time to get out of here or I’ll be broken down next to him. I rode the breakdown lane (not much of one, it’s only about 3 feet wide and has a concrete wall on one side), finally out of the tunnel but still not moving – and no more breakdown lane. Nope, this won’t do, time to split lanes. Oh what fun that is on a bike with crash guards! Man, sometimes I really miss that Shovelhead – nice and thin!
Long story short (too late, Dave!), I made it home and
decided to scrap the rest of the travel plans.
I had folks coming over in about 24 hours for a fireworks party and my
house needed some serious cleaning.
That was it for Thursday, and Friday’s party was fun. The Walpole Fireworks display was quite good
this year and we all agreed it was an enjoyable night.
The rest of the weekend was more laid back…and now I’m back
here at work…wishing I was still on vacation, even if it meant being rained on
again.
Pics and Vids! I’ll
toss up the pics I have (not too many) and will then post this…post. I’ll then see if I can load some vids I
took. They’re pretty decent sized so I
have no idea if they’ll load or not.At the onset; Me and Tim, lined up and ready for the madness which would ensue...
Dale wasn't too crazy about the way the names sounded out on his room. Although he did concede that there really wasn't any good arrangement of these names that would sound any better.
Color coordinated accessories...
Erin is very happy after her beer run! (LOL, she wasn't as happy in the morning...)
Hilary had a request which we remembered late, late in the evening...
Lined up and waiting to get in!
The mad scramble for turf has begun...
Uhm...yeah...
An inside joke for the guys who go to DC...
Nice setup, overall...
Loved the paint job on this bike...
Nice antique in the barn...
I liked how this looked in the nighttime. Grounds were deserted but the flag was proudly lit up brightly (I have no idea what time I took this at - could've been 4am for all I know.)
Home sweet home...
A baby blow up doll. Just the implications are sick enough, but the folks using it were going for a creepy/devil effect, and it worked..
As orange as this bike looks in the pic, I assure you it was even brighter in person.
Back in civilization; the offerings at Mark and Mary's!
Bikes lined up at the graves - Jerry's trike is on the far right.
Tuesday departure. Ahh, what a lovely day for a ride. (The rain doesn't really show on the pic, but it was pouring.)
Arrived safely at Larry's in PA! And cold beer is waiting!
The loaner bike from the dealership. I liked the color.
No reason for this pic, other than to point out that the food store near me (Big Y) sucks. I couldn't find the Pam cooking spray in the baking aisle. Nor could I find anyone who worked there to tell me where I could find it. After scouring the aisles, I finally found it - apparently it now falls under canned fruit.
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