Posto Ghosto

We’d been having a lot of rain lately, but lucky for us; things cleared out and the sunshine came in – and came in with a vengeance.  Friday wound up being near 90 and mid-to-high humidity – so much so that I actually put my main AC unit in to cool the house off for the arriving guests.  They were pretty warm by the time they arrived but between the shade from the trees and the beerfreshments in the cooler, they were soon comfortably settled in.

A few of the locals stopped in to catch up with us but most of the party was going to meet us at the Eagle Brook for dinner.  (We weren’t able to do Chickie Flynn’s this year due to the Volbeat & Metallica concert going on at the stadium.)

We got caught up and relaxed a bit before heading off for some grub.  Fortunately, Matt had suggested a reservation because that place packs up hard, especially on weekend nights, but his foresight resulted in a nice open swath of real estate waiting for us and we were soon seated and the night was in full swing.

At one point, Lynner asked if she was able to go out on the deck and have a cigarette.  I said I didn’t think so, as I’d never seen anyone out there.  But she asked, and sure enough – we were outside and enjoying the fresh air and sunshine (except for the cigarette smoke).  :-D

We ate and drank and had such a great time that we may have to mix things up between this place and Chickie’s, going forward.  Or maybe we incorporate both, one on one night and one on another.  Time will tell.

When it was time to head back to the house, we got set to go but as sometimes happens when you get a ton of bikes assembled; one of them won’t start.  It was Flex’s bike this time, and we soon had a circle of flashlights illuminating things while we took to removing the seat to check the battery connections.

 

They were fine, so we thought maybe the battery needed a jump (this was its first sojourn of the year).  Flex lived the closest so we shot over there and he grabbed a set of cables from his neighbor.  When we got back, we discovered that they must have been stored outside because the contacts were fully rusted and corroded.  We tried cleaning them up as best we could, but still got no spark off of Aaron’s bike.

Then we got to thinking more; Flex has had problems with his ignition switch before so we took that off.  Everything seemed in order but as soon as he bolted the tank panel back down, the bike came to life.  Ah ha!  So we know that he needs to get in there and clean things up again.

With no more holdups, those of us making it back to the house, made it back safely, and we wiled away the rest of the evening with cards and laughter in the (nice and cool) basement bar.

Ater getting everyone to bed (including a couple of crashers from the Metallica concert who needed some sleeping bags for their car), I thought it'd be a great time to snap a couple of pics...

Managed to catch a little bit of breeze on the flag in this one!

 

Saturday morning dawned too early as usual when hanging around with this crew.  We didn’t have anywhere concrete to be until later in the afternoon so we took our time getting moving and off to breakfast.  After that, we headed back to the house for a bit to get cleaned up, and then headed out for the first stop of the day; Alberto’s for lunch.  Wait – lunch?  But we’d just eaten breakfast about an hour and a half ago.  No worries, those who weren’t hungry just shared apps, while some of us fatties (including myself) managed to eat a full meal again.

 

More friends arrived and we’d soon cornered more than half of the outdoor seating area – never a bad thing.  We also had another breakdown in the parking lot but it wasn’t one of us this time, it was an SUV, and it was a dead battery this time (you can see his hood open in the pic above).  Did anyone have jumper cables with them?  Yep, Cindy did!  She’d thrown a set into her car when she’d gotten home the night before, after the issue with Flex’s bike.  So the SUV was soon on its way and we’d done our good deed for the day.

From there it was off to BOG Iron brewing to see Erin and Rebecca.  We filled the place up pretty tightly and Rebecca invited us all back to the vat and fermentation area to take a group picture.  Too cool!

 

 Zi hadn't arrived yet so it seemed ok to use his mug...for some mugs shots!

A funny side-note; while we were at BOG, a younger guy who used to come to the pig roast happened to come in.  He didn’t recognize me since I was off talking to the NY crew but I overheard the conversation he was having with Mike (who was up from Jersey for the weekend).  The guy said he’d heard the pig roast had been cancelled because there’d been parking complaints from the neighbors and that was why the party wasn’t happening any more.  I didn’t speak up to correct him (the neighbors have always been fantastic and never given me any problems at all), and it was fun to hear a 3^rd party commentary on what rumors were going around

Our last stop was back at the Post for Chrissy’s surprise bridal shower.  We’d had some challenges trying to keep it a secret from her, all while she was hanging out with us, but things came together nicely and she wound up being totally surprised (she and Aaron had gone to the Post from Alberto’s, while we went to BOG.  That allowed them to get the gifts part of the shower out of the way before we crashed things.)

They had some food left over when we got there...all desserts!  Get 'em Zig, get 'em!

 

Somehow, Kevin and Tara wound up in a cake fight...

We hung out at the Post until the daylight was beginning to fade, then headed back to the homestead for another evening of laughter.  This time we had a fire out back until quite late, then those who were still there gathered in the bar for more cards and nonsense.

And speaking of nonsense, Tim...put your hat the right way...

 

The last one down this night was Matt - who opted to turn my house from a 3-bedroom, into a 4-bedroom...sweet, higher property value!

 

Sunday.  Ahh, the dreaded departure, but like all good things; this too must end.  The NY Crew got their things packed up, themselves cleaned up, and then we hit breakfast one last time.  After we’d filled our bellies, we headed out for the obligatory photo in the parking lot, followed by a bit of sadness as McCarthy and I watched them head off toward home.

So…how do I feel about this year with it not being a full-blown Cinco de Roasto?  I feel great!  Much less stress and MUCH less cleanup!

I do miss the Saturday morning adrenaline-fueled race to the pig farm, though.  That shared shredding of the highway, followed by hanging out in the parking lot for them to open - that was always one of my favorite parts of the pig roast weekend.  But it’s ok because we still managed to squeeze a ton of laughter and shenanigans into a small timeframe; less than 48 hours!  That’s right; all that fun we had, was had in less than two days!  (Who has more fun than us?  We do!)

This weekend was fantastic and I can say that I’m rejuvenated about this party once again.  After each of the past few years, I’ve come away feeling burned out and worried that I was pressing my luck with things.  I can honestly say that after this weekend, it was definitely the right decision to move it from what it had been, to something much smaller.

And I can’t wait to do it again next year.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Ghosto de Roasto

It's that time of year again.  Oh wait...no, it's not!

For the first time in 15 years, I haven't been going out of my mind trying to get all the logistics lined up for a large influx of revelers.  For the first time in 15 years, I haven't been scrambling to get food, chairs, booze, blankets, tables, tents, etc. all lined up and ready.  This will be the first time in 15 years that I haven't held the Cindo de Roasto party!

Last year was billed as Cinco Finito, and that's exactly what it was.  It was the end of a great run, but that run needed to end.  And at that time, folks kept asking me if, come this year, I would miss it.  I gave my best answer at the time; I don't know.  I knew I'd miss seeing everyone, but fully expected I wouldn't miss the headaches.

Fast forward to this year, and I was pretty spot-on with my guess.  It will suck not seeing so many wonderful faces, but man - oh - man, am I so glad to not be running around like crazy.

So, what to do with myself on this weekend?  Well...funny story...

At last year's party, folks were saying they weren't willing to let the Cinco thing die.  What would I do if folks just decided to show up, anyway?

Well, back in January, I received a phone call from Lynner.  She explained that a few folks from out that way were wondering if they could still ride out to my house on this weekend.  They understood that Cindo de Roasto was over, but they didn't want to lose a destination/ride, so could they come out and just hang?  I thought about it for all of about 2 seconds and said; Absolutely, come on out!

So that's what's happening.  It's a small turnout, only 3 bikes and 6 people.  Oh, but that's the NY contingent.  There are folks from these parts that don't want to miss out on seeing the NY crew so there will be some celebratory activities at the homestead this weekend, but it'll just be a shadow of years past.  (Hence the new moniker; Ghosto de Roasto.)

The plan at the moment is; I'm taking a half-day tomorrow to ride out and meet the crew, then bring them in via back roads to avoid Rte 1 traffic.  (The Metallica concert going on tomorrow night will cause major traffic snarls on that stretch of road and we don't want our esteemed guests to get stuck in that.)

Once we get to my house, there'll be some elbow-bending then it's off to dinner at Eagle Brook Saloon.  (We usually hit Chickie Flynn's, but since that's located right next to where the concert is...)

After that, it'll be back to the house where we'll be joined by others who weren't able to meet us for dinner, for cards and shenanigans long into the evening, I'm sure.

Saturday will probably find some of us off to get breakfast, then kick around the house for a bit...or maybe go for a bit of a ride...then we're gonna check out BOG Iron brewery for a while, then it'll be a stop-by at the Post, then back to the house for shenanigans, part II.

Sunday will see the NY crew make a break for home while the rest of us try to collect our heads and get ready for the week ahead.

This will be a most-adequate successor to the parties from years past.
It's almost here, and I can't wait...

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Fair Weather Flip-Off

After a seemingly extended period of dreary and rainy nastiness so far this Springtime, the sky this morning is a nice clear blue - and from what the well-dressed folks on the television are saying; we've got a stretch of beautiful dry weather ahead of us. And that means...get ready for the posers!

Ya see, taking the same route to work every day, you get to know the regular riders.  The guys who aren't afraid of some overcast skies, or a few raindrops, or even some chilly temps.  And they get to know you.  You recognize each others' bikes, each others' riding styles, and it builds a bit of camaraderie.  So the "motorcycle wave" between us is a given.  A little bit of congratulations to each other for being true to the ride.

However, when the weather turns nice, now we have an influx of bikes.  Folks who are now all to eager to get out and show the world their stuff.  Their shiny bikes, their clean and spotless riding jackets, their feigned looks of disinterest and derision toward others, etc.  And when I give the motorcycle wave to them, they remain steadfast in their determination to (in their minds) stand above the rest of us, by not returning the wave.

I used to get aggravated at this behavior because when you wave to someone and they don't return it, it's kind of like a reverse wave.  It's like being flipped off, instead.

Now, though, I find it comical.  Why?  Because I see some of the same faces each springtime and I know they're also taking the same route every day.  Which means they see those of us who ride through the good and bad.  And oh...how it must irk them to see someone else actually enjoying their rides, weather be damned, all while they're stuck inside their comfy cages - some even with bold Harley stickers prominently displayed for all to see!  Ha haa!

So when this year's first instance of the fair weather flip-off happened (this morning) it made me smile.  And actually set the mood for this morning - a good mood!

Welcome back to the roads, everyone.  We've been waiting for you.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Signage Sadness

I posted a long time ago about folks running stop signs.  But it's happening with such frequency now that I feel I gotta post again.  I'm losing my frikkin' mind here.  Geting cut off just about daily, sometimes more than once a day.  These idiots just come screaming out from side streets - it's bad enough if they almost hit me in the Jeep, but in the bike it's an entirely different story.

And once these idiots who are so intent on making sure they get out in front of me, cut me off?  Then they aren't even going the speed limit.  Why the hell did you feel you had to race through the stop sign if you're then going to go 10 miles an hour below the speed limit??

This morning's example involves one of those white van buses.  Not the full sized yellow ones, and not one of the yellow "short buses", but the white vans that do transport.  (YCN, I'm looking at you because this morning's idiot was working for you.)

Anyway, this fool is entering from the left, on a diagonal road which has a stop sign where it meets the road I'm on.  Since it's a diagonal road, traffic on each road has visibility of the other, so the bus could see me coming and stomped (I mean STOMPED) on the accelerator to rocket through the stop sign and come out in front of me.  Then they immediately slowed down to well under the speed limit.  Why?!?!?

And the kicker?  You'll love this.  My new friend was so safety-conscious that when they approached some railroad tracks, they were sure to stop, put their flashers on and look both ways before proceeding.

Not sure where that sense of safety was when they were racing to cut off the guy on the bike.

Oh well.  It's the weekend.  Get out there and get some miles on.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Ya Gotta Regatta!! (Or do you?)

The weather this weekend was the big story.  The whole way out it was cold and rainy, and there had been rumblings within the troops about abandoning the plan to go into the water.  Hell, there was talk of not even doing the camping thing, but staying at Mark and Mary's, with their dry roof and warm heat.  I was the last holdout but by Friday mid-day, the torrential rain and cold winds had finally convinced me that we didn't have anything to prove by being wet and freezing.

We did head over to the campground to see the rest of the crew we're friends with and to be honest, the weather had actually settled down for a few hours.  It was still chilly and overcast, but the rain had paused.  Mike and I were seriously talking about coming back in the morning and going in with the rest of the crew (Kevin said he would drive us out if that's what we wanted).

Maybe it was just the beer; mellowing our concerns and giving us a rosy outlook in our minds...

Whatever it was, it was quickly eradicated when the winds suddenly picked up, the thunder, lightning and rain all returned with a vengeance.  We said our hasty goodbyes, wished our brave compatriots luck, and jumped back into the Jeep to head back to the comforts of civilization.

The next morning, the news started arriving; the Regatta had been cancelled!  The water was too high, moving too quickly, and there were undercurrents that were causing all kinds of concern to the organizers, as well as the rescue personnel who would be stationed along the way.

"How can they stop it?" we thought.  It's a public waterway, with too many spots to launch from.  But then more word came in; they were posting cops at all the entry points to prevent any idiots from going in anyway.  Huh.  Ok, I guess that's how they can stop it.

But I guess the adage; "where there's a will, there's a way" won out.  In the early afternoon, word came back from the campsite; I guess the organizers had stepped back, saying that while the official event was cancelled, they weren't able to keep people out of the river all day.  If folks wanted to go in, they did so at their own risk.  So of course; some folks were braving it.

I guess a few small groups of boats gave things a try and wound up completing the entire run in an hour and a half.  Bear in mind this usually takes us about 6 or 7 hours. Granted, that includes lots of stops for eats, beers, and peeing, but still.  6 or 7 hours, compared to 1.5 hours.  That's pretty amazing.

I believe Sped and Myszka were in the second group to give things a try but I'm not sure.  We had a free day on our hands now that we weren't doing the regatta, and we spent it in a fantastic way; Mark finally had some work for us to do.  (I think it's been years since they've actually had any chores that we could help them with so it felt awesome to be paying something back again.)

A large spruce tree had been taken down beside their house and the branch/brush pile was enormous.  We dragged it all out back to the edge of the lawn to be burned at a later date when things dried out.

Well, the "at a later date" plan was quickly scrapped and with some help from Mother Petrol, we soon had two huge bonfires going, despite the rain that was coming down (we had to split the brush pile into two piles because if we'd reassembled things into just one pile again, it would've been a conflagration assured to bring unwanted attention from town personnel.

We kept an eye on the fires until we were confident they'd burned down enough to not be a concern, cleaned up, and headed out and about for the evening.

Overall, it was a successful trip out, even though we didn't wind up doing the river thing.  None of us regretted our decision to abandon the flood camping and ripcurrent regatta, that's for sure!  We got to see so many folks; many of them the regulars we see whenever we're out there, but others which we don't get to see as often as we'd like to, so that was awesome.

Hopefully next year's weather will bring a return to the warmth and sunshine that we've seen there before.  If not...we'll still head out, but we may just leave the kayaks behind.

Tomorrow's weather looks cold, but free of precipitation, then rain for a few days so we're definitely not in the clear yet.  I'm looking forward to riding tomorrow, though.  I need to get some miles on, badly!

Ciao for now...

Kayaking The Arctic

Tomorrow, we depart for this year's Greaet Valley Regatta.  This is my 4th time going and I have to say that it's time for a change.  The first two times (2013 and 2015), the weather was fantastic, the water level was good, and we all had so much fun.

Then there was last year.  With the cold, and the rain.  Friday night it rained off and on for the entire night and then I remember texting back home on Saturday morning that it was 42 degrees out and I was putting shorts on to go into the river.  WTF

The rain held off for some of the time on the water, but not all of it.  But the thing I remember the most was that I froze my absolute nuggets off.  By the time I got to the end of the run, I was shivering to my core.  Unfortunately, I wound up way ahead of everyone again (I have no idea how I can lose a group of 20+ people along the way, but apparently I'm quite good at it).  So, there I was; cold and frozen, no change of clothes, and no ride back to the campsite until the rest of the crew eventually started showing up.  The rain picked back up back at the campsite and it absolutely poured for the rest of the night.

Ok, ok...well, the first two years were fantastic, I guess we were due for one bad one.  Next year (this year) will be back to beautiful weather, right?

Wrong.  If you can believe it, the weather for this weekend looks identical to last year's.  Rain and low 40's for Friday and Saturday.  Sunday looks different, but not in a good way; rain and snow.  (Actually, that's an improvement.  A few days ago, the % of rain was 100% for Saturday.  Now it's dropped all the way down to...70%.  Fingers crossed that in two more days, it'll have dropped to below 50%.)

So stay tuned, and wish us luck.  We're bringing kayaks, but by the sounds of it; we should be bringing an Ark...

NH Repairs, Part II

I managed to get out of work a little early and hit the road on Friday.  Any hopes of beating the traffic rush were soon dashed as my speed was slowed more and more until I was doing the stop and go thing, trying to switch lanes and gain an advantage, only to see the lane I’d just been in, start moving.  Bleah.

I stopped off for food supplies and then knocked off the last stretch of the ride up.  I got the perishables put away, strapped on (!!) my plastering stilts and got to work on pulling the old wood off of the garage.

Man, there was an awful lot of rot up in there.  There were sections where the wood was literally held in place by the paint because as soon as I started to pull it apart, it disintegrated to powder in my hands.  Apparently when this was built, whoever did the construction never sealed on top of the trim, allowing the water to just soak right on in whenever it rained.  And soft wet wood is always a welcome habitat for insects, so there’d been any number of tiny tenants over the years.

McCarthy and Michael arrived before too long and they helped remove the rest of the trim and expose the header.  And that is when we found our first surprise; the header had no jacks on either end.  Well, one end ran through the frame and to the corner of the building, but the other end just went to the end of the opening.  And then we found surprise number 2; that end of the header was held in place by two nails.  Yep; one entire side of the garage door header had no jack and only two nails holding it in place.  It’s a wonder the doorway hadn’t collapsed or even started sinking, for that matter.

Anyway, it was getting dark so we put the tools inside, closed things up and headed in for the evening.

The next morning, it was a bunch of measurements, some cutting and fastening using leftover stock from last weekend, then off to Home Depot for a materials run.  The GPS took us a different route so I was excited that maybe a new HD had been built recently.  Maybe we weren’t facing a (minimum) 3 hour trip (there, buy, come back) to get materials.  But no, the one it brought us to was just as far as the other one, just in another direction.  Damn.

When we finally got back to the house, Steph and Alli had arrived and were hanging out on the deck enjoying the scenery.

We got the materials unloaded; the equipment set up, and got to work.  Things moved along pretty well and by the end of the day, we had both the rough-in, and the finish trim, buttoned up.  Tools were put inside, debris was cleaned up, and things looked good.

It’d been a long day so dinner was under way long after the sun had set.  Michael (Sr) had brought up an entire ribeye and then cut it into giant steaks, which he then threw on the grille.  Potatoes and some veggies were also cooked up, but I just focused on the steak.  Man-oh-man, talk about delicious.  My mouth is watering a bit right now, just remembering it.

Michael had one small snafu while grilling, though.  The steaks had caught fire so he ran out to squelch the flames and wound up getting a little too close.  Fortunately for him; he hadn’t done his annual head and beard shaving yet, so while the house did smell like burned hair, at least it had afforded him some protection from the flames.

There wasn’t much left in the evening but we passed the time with some libations and laughter.  It was a great way to wind down the day.

Sunday morning came too soon, and my head was feeling the impacts of drinking a bottle of wine along with the beers.  Oh well, sometimes we need reminders of what hurts, right?

We got the tools loaded up into McCarthy’s truck and I bade my farewells.  I had some things at home to take care of so I hit the road a bit before they did.

I need to make one more trip up there to get last minute essentials taken care of, but that will entail another multi-hour trip to Walmart, most likely.  I’ll try and pick up as much stuff as I can ahead of time and then see if I missed anything.

McCarthy said he wants to head up with me again but I don’t know that the poor guy can put his schedule off any more than he already has for me.  I’ll let him know when I’m going up, so we’ll see.

Pics!

That's some serious rot in there...

I hve no idea what got in there...

...but it was big...

 Surprise!  Your header has a huge gap in the middle, no jack under the end, and is held in place by only two nails.

All better; solid 3-beam with a spacer, and jacked under both ends.  Nice and solid now.

McCarthy, installing the finish board to replace what was rotted.

Father and Son, working hard (while I'm messing aroud with my phone taking pics).

Rough is all done...

 

Finished!  (Ok, it needs a bit of paint.)

Brontosaurus rib eyes!

A slightly well done McCarthy...

 Sunday morning stroll down to the water...

And there you have it.

Maybe next post I'll actually have something bike-related for you...

Happy Monday