NYC; Ground Zero

The planning for this trip had been in the works for months, and it was finally here!  I'd never been to GZ before and was eagerly looking forward to visiting, even if it meant going to the heart of NYC.  No, I'm not a Yankee hater or dislike NYC in general, it's just that I've found the city to be a shithole when I've gone through it before.  Time would tell if that opinion was changed.

The night before, I'd resigned myself to not getting much sleep, but I cranked up the AC, nestled deep under the covers, and amazingly wound up with a fairly decent night's rest.  Maybe I've stumbled onto the key?

Anyway, the morning of departure had arrived and I was up and ready to go.  The first rally point was the Post and amazingly; everyone was early!  So we hit the road to N. Attleboro to the second rally point, and those folks were early, too!  Which meant we were on the road about a half hour earlier than I'd hoped.  Sweet!!

The ride down 295 to 6 to 395 to 95 went very smoothly.  Merritt parkway was backed up in a couple of spots, but nothing like the traffic headed in the other direction.  Holy crap, that was miles and miles of continuous logjam and we were so happy to not be in it.

 

First gas stop; everyone still in good spirits, LOL.

 

Arriving at the outskirts of NYC, we encountered a toll booth which had gates.  WTF.  Who the F still uses these antiquated things?  They never work right, especially for motorcycles!  And sure enough; I arrived at the booth, approached the gate...and...nothing.  I pulled my transponder off my windshield and waved it around, but no luck.  The rest of the crew was stacked up behind me, and behind them; an ever growing line of cars.  Fantastic.

Eventually, a toll collector appeared, took my transponder and held it up to a reader on the booth.  The arm opened, I grabbed my transponder, and rolled forward just far enough to let the crew behind me stack up together so we weren't trying to catch up to each other out in traffic.  When the last person was through, off we went, picked up the FDR south, and were slammy-slammed in traffic.  And what traffic.  These idiots are bombing between lanes and just missing each other by inches.  We're only going 40 miles an hour, and there's nowhere to go!  What's the point?  And then there was the NYPD cruiser in the slow lane, ambling along with its lights on, paying no attention to anything around it, or anyone paying attention to it.  We even came upon a fender bender in the middle lane.  Cars stopped in the lane, other drivers working their way around them...and the cruiser just slides on by.  No pause, no look, no anything.  I guess they were on their way to something more important...which was surprising, given their utter lack of interest in speed.

And then word came up from behind; we'd lost Kevin and Heather.  Huh?  How??  I'd stacked us up in a single lane at the tolls, and...what's that?  Oh, they peeled off into a different lane?  Well why would they do that???

There was nothing to do but just keep on going.  We found our street, made the turn and found a place to park.  I texted Heather (passenger) and she replied that they were using GPS and would find us shortly.

Waiting for them...

 

About this time, a text from Mike arrived.  He'd taken the train from Jersey City and was in the neighborhood.  We were trying to locate each other and as a reference, he said he was standing at the corner of Broad and Beaver streets.  Ha, that stud. 

 

Kevin and Heather finally arrived, we got rolling again, and hit the hotel we'd be staying at.

We lined up in front of the hotel (in the taxi stand section)...

 

...and I ran in and asked where we were to park.  The clerk gave me the name and directions of their parking garage, and I ran back out, ready to get the bikes settled.  Some folks wanted to leave their bags here rather than carry them back (the parking garage was a few blocks away), so we pulled off some things and got ready to roll.  Wait, now we're missing someone.  Bob...where is Bob?  Nobody knew where Bob was.  But then one of the crew came out (had used the bathroom) and said that Bob had checked in and gone to his room.  Say what?  Oh, I'm going to strangle him!  He finally came back out, we got the bikes fired up and off we went.

Down two streets and took a right.  And there was the parking garage.  We pulled in...and were greeted by a steel grate gate across the opening.  What the...?  I dismounted, went up to the window and asked the attendant about parking.  They were full.  Huh?  Whaddya mean 'full'?  We've got hotel reservations and this is the garage they use and they said we'd have parking.  No luck, the guy was full and not accepting any vehicles.  Well that's just awesome as fuck.  Now what are we supposed to do.  Fortunately there was a patron hanging out and he informed us there was a parking garage on the other side of the building, so we rolled back out to the street, two more right turns, and there's the garage.  And the entry ramp was quite steep, but we rolled on down, found the very nice attendant who moved some cars for us and we were finally parked in our own two slots (crammed 6 bikes in) and set the kickstands.  Here, Bob made up for his past sins by breaking out a cooler and handing out very cold Bud Lights.  His timing was perfect for we were all hot, tired and sweaty.  The temps were in the 90's and the humidity seemed like it was 100%.  These frosty libations were just what we needed.  Ahhhh!  Oh Bob, you rapscallion.  You raised my ire before, but all is forgiven now!

 

Here's Ed playing "Hide the empties" while the nice parking attendant was printout out our parking passes.

Back at the hotel, a quick plan was agreed upon; everyone shower and meet back at the hotel bar.  Mike, not having had a bike to park, had already showered and was down in the bar.  I headed up to get cleaned up, and as I was opening the door to the room, I thought "I wonder how small this room is going to be...".  I was immediately answered as the door swung into the side desk, preventing the door from opening all the way.  Huh.  I guess that answers that question (as I turned sideways to make my way in).

 

Nothing says "upscale Wall Street hotel" like industrial plumbing...

 

And just look at that view outside our window...

 

Cleaned up and ready we assembled in the bar and laid in to the stores.  I needed something good and boy did I find it!  16 ounces of 8+ABV chocolatey goodness!

 

We discussed the trip down and the headaches of traffic and the parking, and agreed that next time; we do what Mike suggested in the first place.  Ride to Jersey City, park there (for free), get hotel rooms there, then just take the train into the city for GZ and then head back out.  Plenty of night life out there, he says, so we will definitely have to give that some thought for next time.

 

After about three or four of those Youngs, I realized I needed to switch to something lighter.  Having not eaten since this morning and then riding all day in the heat and humidity, they were going right to my head.

 

As can be attested to by the look on my face in this pic...

I don't know what the statue was there for but the hostess seemed intent on not letting anyone get up next to it so I had to surreptitiously keep an eye on her and when she left her post, bammo; I got my pic!

 

The bar also had this giant bull on display which seemed too cool not to take a picture of...

 

...and there was a placque describing the legend behind it...

 

Checking the time we decided we should get moving.  The Observatory was on tonight's docket (museum was tomorrow), so we needed to get rolling.  It was drizzling off and on but not too bad.  We came across a restaurant along the way and headed in for dinner.  The waitresses set us up at tables inside the place but its front opened up to the sidewalk so we commandeered a couple of small tables and proceeded to set ourselves up right there so we could watch all that was going on outside; mostly people.

Dinner was fun and then we were on our way again, off to Ground Zero.  We were a little early so we walked around the memorial plaza, looking at the reflecting pools and the grass and trees that now grew here.

 

 

We couldn't see how deep the center holes were but someone said they were as deep as the visibile (gray) side walls were, so it seemed they were designed to be just deep enough that from the street, it looked like they were bottomless.

 

The water actually flowed out from the sides, creating long slivers of reflections, before cascading over the edges and into the pool, below.

 

 

 

All along the outer edges were the names of all the people who had been killed that day.  Office workers, emergency responders, plane passengers.

Underneath the edges, there was open space where the water was being pumped up and out to the top flat level.

 

The cascades were very cool; the water was actually funnelled into thin streams as it crested over the edge, giving the impression of falling rain, rather than just a solid fluid fall.

 

Looking up at the new World Trade Center building, it was amazing to see the glass stories going up and up and up, seemingly right through the sky.

 

I found myself thinking of the people who had been forced to jump from the burning towers.  Was I standing on a spot where someone had landed?  What thoughts would they have been thinking as they fell?  How horrible their choices were if they were forced to leap to certain death, rather than stay and certainly die.  The mood was completely somber and sad, and it seemed everyone on the plaza felt the same.  Anywhere there were conversations, they seemed muted and respectful.

Our turn to enter the Observatory arrived and we strolled in.  This image was faded in and out on the wall at one point.  I tried to time it so I'd get a clear picture but you can see how I made out.  (If you click on and open the pic, you'll be able to read what it says.)

 

The elevator ride up was amazingly quick (my ears popped 5 times in 30 seconds) and in no time at all, we were exiting near the top of the building.  The view was spectacular and we had a near 360 degree view around the building.  There were two floors which we could look out from, and folks were gazing out across the city in all directions, cameras saving memories, and excited fingers pointing out different landmarks.

 

Ellis Island in the middle...

...and zoomed in on...

 

 

A little Chinese Junk ship...

 

The city extends out seemingly to the horizon, and beyond...

The tickets allow you a specific time of entry so we assumed you'd be shuffled along and have to exit at a given time as well.  As it turns out this is not the case and you can stay put as long as you like. 

 

They had a mini cooler off on one side which actually served beer...well...sorta...

...Miller Lite and IPA.  I will pass, thank you.  But turning around, we found a full mini café and fully stocked bar behind us, so of course...well...you know what happened next.

I met a nice couple from Michigan and spent a fair amount of time talking to her beautiful blue eyes...er...I mean, talking to the guy (Scott) because that's the respectful thing to do (talk to the guy so he doesn't think you're interested in his girlfriend, which of course; I was).  They were funny as hell and not pretentious at all, so the conversation flowed easily and we had a lot of laughs with them.  I snapped some pics of the sunset as well as the traffic down below...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...and after a while (when it'd gotten completely dark and there wasn't much else to see outside), it was time to head on back down and join in the night life.

 

But not before taking in the sights of the reflecing pools once again; so unchanged, but so different at night time...

 

 

They had an awesome effect with the lighting.  At first, we couldn't figure out how they were making it look like a bank of lights were behind the water, as well as right at the bottom where it was landing.  After looking at it from another angle, we realized the bank of lights were at the base of the wall, thus behind the water.  The cascading water wasn't riding down the face of the wall, it was free-falling and landed several feet in front of the base.  So the light was actually behind the water when it hit, illuminating it from behind, but also casting illumination on the point of impact, where water was tossed up and the droplets would catch and reflect the light.

 

Another discovery; the names weren't just cut in the metal, they were backlit, once the sun went down.

 

From here, we slowly wound our way back up some streets, looking for a specific tavern that had been recommended.  Along the way, we came across some street art; a giant cube, standing on one point.  I tried convincing Nelly and Ed that we could spin it (and those of you on FB have seen those pics).

 

We found the bar and settled in, sampled some whiskey...

 

...we asked for Johnny Walked Blue but the bartender said they didn't carry any expensive whiskeys.  Huh?  In the heart of the city??  Anyway, he recommended this stuff...

 

It wasn't bad, but it was no Johnny Walker, either.

 

Hey look; more industrial plumbing...sorta.  Man, what's with the color scheme??

 

We tried several other things, had some mixed drinks, and fully enjoyed ourselves before deciding we needed to find another place to check out.  I mean, we were in downtown NYC, let's not spend the entire evening in just one establishment.

 

Besides, Ed was getting tired of this place...

 

The next place (I forget the name of it); we'd asked for a place that would have some good stouts, and man, this place didn't disappoint.  Just check out their sign!

 

We capped out our night here but lasted well into the evening.  I'm not quite sure what time we retired but I think it was about midnight.  I know; that doesn't sound terribly late, but it'd been a long hot day for us and we'd had an early start (~2-ish), so it was a respectable showing on our part.

The next morning we were up and looking for breakfast.  No food here at the hotel, and the hotel bar wasn't open yet, so we found a small breakfast place on a side street, filled our bellies, and headed off to the museum.

 

Along the way, we found this place...

 

And this place...

 

 

 

 

I kept hearing people talking about "Trinity Church" but didn't make any connection...until I overheard a conversation in a group of tourists "You know...from the movie National Treasure?"  Oh!  That place!

No visit to Wall Street can apparently be complete withouth visiting The Bull.

I think it's supposed to bring you good luck if you touch it, and judging from all the shiny spots, there's been a lot of touching going on...

...and judging from those shiny nuts; a lot of inappropriate touching, too.

Sure eough, no sooner had I taken this picture than a father had his two young kids go up and each kid held a ball in their hands and the dad took a picture.  Nice, a family portrait worthy of the mantle back home.

Oh yeah; here's that cube from last night!  (I'd been pretty lit up the night before and wouldn't have been able to find this thing again on my own, but it happened to be on our way to the museum.)

The museum is located right at Ground Zero, which afforded me another opportunity to take a picture of the new World Trade Center.

 

And with that; it was into the museum.  As with the Observatory, museum tickets granted you a specified entry time.  The info said to allow about two hours to see what's in the museum, so that's what we'd gauged.  We needed to get our bikes out @ 1 or else possibly be charged a second day's fee, so we were tied to a 2 hour deadline because that's what we'd planned for.  Unfortunately, the info was (in our opinions) misleading.  We spent the two hours inside and could have easily spent another two hours.  There were so many things I had to skip over because we'd run out of time.  Afterward, as we were talking about what we'd looked at (because we'd all split up, inside), we all found there were all kinds of exhibits, displays, etc. which we hadn't seen.

The museum is located underground, in much of what was the footprint of one of the towers.  They've excavated down to the bedrock where the steel beams were anchored.

They've cut the beams off just above the cement footing, but then in one section; went even deeper so you can see how the beams were affixed. 

 

The periphery of the footprint is lined with displays of the engineering required to build the buildings (giant slurry wall, still standing), as well as artifacts from the attacks.  Some of them were amazing, some of them were quite sorrowful.

 

Here, alongside the stairs going down into the museum were remnants from one of the towers.

 

 

 

 

One of the walkways leading from the first floor to the second, has some of the wall beams on display, beside it.  They were so tall that I couldn't get them all into one shot.  Here, I'd leaned over the railing and aimed the camera downward to the bottom of them.

 

Here's a picture from below, looking up.  I was able to fit them all into the shot but due to lack of perspective, they look small in this shot.  Believe me; they are not.

 

We were talking about the sheer force/weight that had to be exerted on these things to bend and twist them so much.  As it turns out, they were located right where the plane hit the North Tower...

 

 

 

The section of the slurry wall that is still original...

 

The last column..

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm sorry that some of these pics are blurry and/or upside down.  There were tons of people there and everyone was patiently waiting for each person to take their pics and then move out of the way, so I was kind of hurried.

 

Here; the Survivors' Stairs...

 

This is a section of the radio antenna from on top of the North Tower...

 

 

When I came around a corner and saw this, it almost stopped me in my tracks.

 

Fire truck from Ladder Company 3.

 

Due to the lighting, these look like different exhibits, but they're the same.  One side has a dark background, the other side is facing a lit up backdrop.

 

 

 

 

 

Within the center of the museum is where the bulk of things are to be found.  They stipulate that no photography is allowed inside so we weren't able to take any pictures of things inside, but it was amazing, in a respectful way.  Timelines of that day, voice messages left from those that perished (played over speakers), mini film-type displays playing audio from survivors, relaying the events of the day, pictures, newscasts, on and on and on.  And even a small area walled off from the rest, which cautioned that images within might be disturbing.  Here, they showed picture after picture of those who had fallen; all of them in various stages of tumbling, and I again found myself wondering what would go through one's mind in such a terrible instance.

There was so much more to see, to go back and revisit, to think about, to appreciate, to mourn...but the time had come and we needed to leave.  Texts went out to locate each other and we gathered once again out on the plaza, took in the reflecting pools again, and then made our way to the parking garage.  We retrieved our bikes without issue...

 

...even navigating the steep slope back to the streets above...

 

...returned to the hotel to collect our bags, and were then on the road headed home again.

The crew wanted to make more stops on the way back than we had on the way down, so the trip took a while.

 

The first stop, of many...

 

 

Another stop...

 

At one of the stops, we actully did a sit-down lunch, which is a bit of a novelty for me.  But, it gave me a chance to enjoy this fine specimen, and let me tell ya; it was delicious!

 

We pulled out of NYC around 2 and I didn't roll into my driveway until 8:30.  Ordinarily, doubling a trip's travel time isn't something I've very crazy about, but this time I didn't mind.  We'd tried to find ways around traffic backups (according to GPS) and had stumbled onto some very scenic roadways.  We hit a couple of gas stops where instead of just gassing-and-going, we stood around and chatted for a bit, and we stopped in Danbury (for that full sit-down meal where we got to reminisce about the trip some more).  It was definitely something I'm not used to but it wasn't bad at all.

 

If the success of a trip is gauged by the level of enjoyment and the desire to return, then this trip was definitely a huge hit.  I can't wait to go back and immerse myself again.  In the museum, not in the city.  The city can kiss my ass.  It's still a shithole - we were staying in the Wall Street section!  You'd think it would be classy but no; there was trash all over the streets, scaffolding on all the buildings, lots of potholes and lousy drivers (any city where cars have "bumper protectors" attached to their rear bumpers is not a city that is motorcycle friendly).  So yes, I want to get back, but when I do go again, I'm going to talk to Mike about Jersey City.

 

And speaking of which, Mike sent us this pic once he'd returned to the other side of the river.  It's a great shot, and seemed fitting to wrap the day up with.

There you have it.  The run to NYC and Ground Zero.  It was amazing.

 

Ride Hard, Never Forget

Pigapalooza Pics!

Ski's Camp!

Here is the upstairs, with a very cool walkwak (gangplank!) to the octagonal window.  It extends across the open area below.

 
 The bar area.  Along the left wall are a bunch of recliners, along the right wall is the bar itself.  And I must have been moving when I snapped the pic.

Here, looking up at the gangplank, above.

At the V, here's the smoker that John and his nephew had built.  Lucky horseshoes for handles (which worked great and didn't get too hot to touch)...

Inside...smoked pig!!!

The vents underneath.  They were spring loaded so you could open or close them as much or as little as you wanted, and they'd stay put.  Very, very cool.

The fire pit at the V.  Each side has a steel header, flipped on its side, and the end panels have slots in them so you can slide them in our out to give you as big or as little a cooking area as you like (or; split the heat zones if you like).  Also very cool.

Black IPA from the 4 Mile Brewery just outside of downtown Olean.  I'm more of a stout and porter kind of guy, but this stuff was tastier than the porter they had on tap.

Oh yeah; I pussied out when I went to the brewery from the V.  It was pouring out so I accepted McCarthy's offer to take his truck.  I should have paid attention to the backup camera rather than the side mirrors.  I did a great job in getting close to the chainlink, but didn't realize the corner of the building had one of those concrete protectors on it.  I didn't hit it, but man, I sure came close...

Back at the V.  The local (Town of Olean) Fire Dept was doing a boot drive out front.  Which seems like a poor location because it's a 55mph road!!  But folks were stopping and contributing, so I guess it was worth it.  (Word on the street is these stops net the dept $2k each time!)

Me and Tim's bikes were tucked under the overhang to keep them out of the weather...which was getting nicer and nicer, thankfully.

Grilling corn in the front, throwing Cornhole in the back.

There was a function going on at the Sharon Post, back home.  Bill texted me at one point, asking me if I was going to the Post.  I replied that I was at the Post.  He replied, asking where, because he couldn't see me.  Then I took this pic and sent it to him.  He replied "Oh, gotcha. Tell everyone I said Hey."

Breakfast the next morning.  Mmmmmmm!!!!!

You'll have to open the pic to see it, but the exhaust pipe inside has dropped below the exit port of the muffler, exposing the batting above.

The dealership said both pipes were rotted inside, that they'd never seen this before or even heard of it.  And insult-to-injury; my extended service plan doesn't cover performance parts, even though they were installed by the dealership at the time of purchase.  Awesome.

Here's the loaner I chose; a Road Glide.

It's not the first time I've ridden one but I wanted to give it another try.  Still don't like it.  There's too much weight extended forward from the bike.  In straightaways, it seemed to feel better than the Street Glide, but in corners; no where near as good.  The center of gravity is definitely impacted by this.
And that little tiny windshield?  Yeach, it doesn't do a damn thing other than shovel all the wind (and rain) right into your face.  Good times.

Oh yeah; one last pic from the adventure.  Here's the sign that Mary made and we texted to Ziggy.  She did this all on her own.  :-D

Wish I was headed out there again this weekend...

Ride Hard Take Chances

Olean Pigapalooza!!

This year saw a return to Olean for their annual pig roast. I brought McCarthy with me, and Aaron & Chrissy made the trip as well. It was gonna be a great time!

A&C had some things to take care of so they were going to split the trip and do halfway on Thurs, stay in Utica at a buddy's house and then arrive in Olean on Friday. Me & McCarthy hit the road around 7:30 and the plan was for him to hit the highway from his house and I'd meet him along the way. Unfortunately, we encountered a major (probably fatal) accident right out of the gate that set us back about an hour. (It was a portent of things to come.)

Once we got past that, we made pretty good time. First gas stop was @ the 'Vous exit and then quickly back on the road, through Binghamton and beyond.

At one point on I-88, we came up behind a rolling roadblock; a tractor/trailer in the right lane and a car in the left that just wouldn't speed up. Miles ticked by and I'd had enough. I dropped a gear and blasted up the rumble strip on her left side. Once beyond her, I cut back over, turned in the seat until I was facing her and gave her an emphatic middle finger. Turning back ahead, I noticed two things; I was now doing 90mph, and there was a Statie in the median who'd witnessed the entire spectacle.

Fcuk.

Well, nothing else to do but hit the brakes and ease down into the mid 70's and mentally cross my fingers that the Trooper was in a good mood....or asleep.

I saw him start to pull forward as I shot by, and kept my eyes on the side mirrors to see if the lights came on. He did pull out, but it took him a bit, as there was a lot of traffic backed up behind the car I'd passed. Then I saw the car move over, and who was next in line? McCarthy...and he was dropping back. Sweet! He was intentionally mucking things up so the Trooper couldn't easily come after me. Sure, he could have thrown his lights on but I guess he didn't feel it was worth it. Whew! Got lucky once again!

From there, we made it safely to M&M's house and settled in, catching up on stories and goings on. Bryan showed up with his son Hunter and the conversation soon turned to guns, and soon after that, we were out back, shooting a couple of guns that he had in his car (of course).

They had to head off after a bit so we settled back in and soon Mark had dinner up and ready (Mexican this time). Yum!

Jerry and Barb came by and we sat around the table reminiscing of timed gone by. The time was passing pleasantly and it was shaping up to be a low-key night. Certainly not the norm while here, but not unwelcome, either.

It got to be almost 11 and Barb asked Jerry if he was ready to call it a night. He got up, started to head for the door, then paused. He looked back at us and said "Anyone up for cards?" And just like that; BAM! Shots, beers and cards until 2am. Haha, now this is more like it.

The next morning,  Mark took us over to a little smoke shop where the owner sold small breakfast sandwiches.  Usually I'd want about three of these but I wanted to hit Mickey's for an early lunch, so a small breakfast was perfect.

McCarthy and I did make it over to see Tommy, but we'd just missed him as he had left for a family wedding in NYC. We made do with the usual steak sandwich (Yum!) then headed back to M&M's to meet up with A&C who had just arrived. Hugs and hellos, and catching up before heading off to the Post to for more hugs and hellos with folks not seen yet.

A little after 5, we headed over to Ski's house for dinner. He had a tray of chicken marinating, and some Pulaski potatoes. McCarthy took on the grilling duties and we were soon enjoying grilled chicken and taters out in Ski's back yard.

From there, he brought us up to his camp. The side road leading up to his road was lined with fields...of deer. These things were everywhere!  It was like there were herds of them (ok, so that's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea).

As we neared the turn off for his road, Ski stopped his truck to let me come up beside him. He wanted to let me know that there was "some" loose gravel on the road ahead. I said ok and off we went.

Well "some" gravel turned out to be multiple inches of loose stone, which parted easily and hugged my tires like a lonely lover welcoming home a weary traveler. Egads, thus ain't fun!

We made it up (and then back down, later) without issue. Ski's camp was pretty sweet! A nice setup like a man cave, but with enough class and amenities that any woman would be happy there as well. It would have been nice to hang out longer than we did but it was getting dark and we wanted some light in the sky for the return trip down the gravel road.

Back at M&M's, we settled back in for more cards and libations. At one point, Mary knocked her (full) shot glass over. Shortly thereafter, McCarthy knocked his (full) over as well. Then Mary knocked her (refilled) glass over again. At this point I commented that since I was the only one who hadn't knocked anything over, that I probably needed to give lessons on how not to knock things over. I handed a roll of paper towels to Mary who promptly tossed them back at me. They bounced off my head and knocked my glass over. I guess I was in the club now.

At some point it dawned on me to prank Ziggy. I has McCarthy Draft up a text, saying that I was #1 son, that he (McCarthy) was #2 son, and that Ziggy was a very distant third. Mary took it a step further by drawing up a nice sign to send with the text. Ash yes, good fun!

The next morning Mark cooked up some breakfast for us before we headed off to the V to check in on how preparations were going. It was raining pretty good but a party is a party so off we went, after saying our goodbyes to M&M (our plan was to camp overnight and then hit the road straight off in the morning).

Things were going well at the Post so our help wasn't really needed. I still wanted to check out the new brewery in town so I met up with Myszka, Tom and Tracy. A&C met up with us and we sampled and enjoyed a number of the brewery's offerings before heading back to the official party.

The rain had stopped and the weather was improving nicely. Lynner was organizing a corn hole tournament so me and McCarthy signed up as partners. He's better at the game than I am but toward the end I didn't do too badly. Fortunately for us, there were no pros there because as it turned out, we won! That's right, we win the tournament and the $8 (apiece) that came with it.

Soon after, it was time to eat and it was a hell of a spread and we all had our fill. Some folks drifted off but others showed up to take their places. Once things were cleaned up, a fire was started and we gathered around. Jerry regaled us with poems and stories for a couple of hours and a few of us tossed a tale or two into the mix. It was a great, great time and felt much like the nights on Maine, years back when Russ was still with us.

After Jerry and Barb had left, the group split up; some stayed fireside, others headed inside (myself included) to make sure the bartender was kept busy slinging shots and beerverages. This went long in to the evening and good times were had by all. As the hours got on, folks began to either head home or to their tents. I would have loved to keep going long into the wee hours but I knew a long road awaited the next morning so I turned in shortly after it became Sunday morning.

The next day was the day to go home. And ordinarily I'd try to be out the door as soon as my eyes open. Not this time, though. The Post was putting on a breakfast and I was interested in trying something new. Rather than bolt immediately, hang out for a bit and then hit the road. And that's what we did. The feed was good and our bellies were happy, but all too soon (10am) it was time to get rolling.

The ride home...well, suffice to say it sucked ass. It rained from about Horseheads til after the Mass border. That alone would have been bad enough but the road gods must have felt that I needed to pay more penance for my idiotic stunt on the ride out (passing on the inside), so they tossed 3 separate,  miles-long traffic jams into the mix. Nothing says "fun" like sitting in the pouring rain as your bike begins to overheat.

Oh yeah; at one point, McCarthy came up beside me, pointing to the rear of my bike and motioning to pull over. I did, and when I looked, I saw I was dragging a 5' long rats tail...from the inside of my right muffler. What the...it's the batting from inside! How is it that that's coming out??

Well, the side of a two-lane, in the rain with traffic rocketing past, is not the time or place for non-emergency repairs so I cut the stuff off, tossed it into the saddlebag, and off we went.

(As it turns out, my muffler pipe had broken inside, exposing the batting. Also, as it turns out, both mufflers are rotted and needed to be replaced. How do I know this? Because I'm at the dealership having my 30k service done. Also as it turns out,  my extended warranty doesn't cover performance parts, even though they were installed by the dealer at the time of purchase. And one more kick in the nuts; traffic jams and rain in the ride in here this morning. And, I just got word that my bike is ready, so of course it's pouring out again.)

Without question, the trip was still worth it, though. Great times with great friends is not something to be taken lightly, for it happens all too rarely.

Can't wait to get back out there again!!

Pics to follow, I've gotta go get wet now...

Ride Hard, Take Chances