Founders Day...part three..the ride to the shoreline

Everyone had to be somewhere, If it wasn't a football game it was a birthday, if it wasn't a birthday it was an evening out with their wives, everyone was saying how they were going to take the straight route home, the highway back to their lives. Well not everyone.

I walked across the street from the restaurant and sat on my bike, Sandwich walked up to me and asked which way I was going back, I told him everyone is doing a straight shot home, I could see the look of disappointment in his face.Was this a kindred spirit, a person who, if he had the chance would get on his bike before the sun was up and stay on or at least with that bike all day?  I say with because there are times when you have to get off the bike, eating is one of those times, you can eat sitting on your bike but most places won't let you ride them in the door, and for the sake of being sanitary you usually get off the bike to take care of whatever you may not want to be sitting in for the rest of the day. 

Here it was, a reason to ride, someone to cruise with, I rode across the street, I bid adieu to the Road Captain then Sandwich and myself were off. 

Wooo Hooo!!!  Let me just make a side note here real quick, the other day I bought a three pack box of candy, it was Kit Kats, Reeses Peanut butter cups and Hershey candy bars. The Kit Kats went first to go, six of them, then the peanut butter cups and six set of six packs, until the only thing left were the Hershey bars, well I just decided I needed something sweet so I walked downstairs, opened the freezer, ripped open the Hershey bar side and dumped them out to get one...under the Hershey Bars?  More Reese Cups packages !!!!   Life is good.

Having left in the morning with only 8 cigarettes I had been conserving them all day, but as the Club pulled into the restaurant, Reuben (Sandwich-get it?) and myself pulled in to top off the bikes and he picked me up some smokes, so after lunch...we were ready to roll.

We went north east on route 10 to Northampton. As we rode along with the warm sun lit blue sky we noticed to the right and south of us there was a thick cloud bank stretching for miles, Reuben said it looked like it was solid and you could cut out a section with a knife like Daffy Duck.  

And I want to take a second here to ask a question, The town is called Easthampton, Pronounced East Hampton, gee Gomer, it soundz just like its spelt. You drive north to the town line and you enter Northampton, Now, its not pronounced how its spellid, For some reason, it lost an "H", It's not written as North and Hampton, but they say it like it is, Northhampton. But the way it is written, it sounds English. NorthAmpton, "Bloody hell, the missus's mum is comin in from North ampton, I ate the flippin inlaws".

We picked up route 9 cruised east through Hadley to Amhurst, then down through Belchertown and the Quabbin Reservoir, then through Ware (where Reuben informed me he was cold) to West Brookfield, and Brookfield where (ware?) Reuben informed me he had to take a leak, I told him that it was a good thing, it would keep him warm, he informed me that if I thought for a second he was going to piss himself while we were riding I was gravely mistaken. I turned onto route 148 and immediately turned into the dirt driveway used for launching boats in the Quoboag river and stopped. Reuben did what he had to and then put on his Gerbing (heated gear). I had my own issues, the leather jacket I had worn was suffering from a broken zipper and the only point that would stay closed is where ever the zipper tab was at that moment  The entire ride home I had a cool breeze blowing in my coat. We started out again, cruising down 148 to Sturbridge then picked up 20 east, then hooked a right onto 131 which ran down through Southbridge. I hooked a right onto 198 and as soon as we cleared town and the state line I stopped. The reason was the fall colors, with the overcast and the dark sunglasses the scenery was being wasted, so I put on my ambers and threw Reuben a set of clears, from that point on it became a really enjoyable ride, no traffic, fall colors, 6th gear running over hills, down into valleys, through S turns and sweepers all the while the Autumn smells of leaves and wood smoke filled the air. We raced down 198, hooked a left onto 197 at Eastford, ran east and north to 169 in North Woodstock then took 169 south through South Woodstock, Pomfret, and Brooklyn. We flew south, leaning into the corners and arrived at Canterbury where we stopped at the Dunkin for coffees and apple pie. We wasted a good half hour or so there then sped off on 169 to Butts Bridge which took us over to Jewett City. By now the sun was down and we cruised on, we slowed for the downtown area of that City metropolis then made a left on 138, kicked some more carbon out of the pipes as we screamed along past the airport that isn't, to Glasgo, pulled a right on 201, raced south through the twists, turns, drops and rises on the road that Craig referred to as a Goat trail. I have seen deer crossing these roads many times in the past and was happy not to see any this night. Reuben dropped off at some farm his future wife and mother of his children to be was at and I continued my spiral to the sea, 201 to 184 and home. 7:05  I walked in the door, a great end to a fantastic day.


Did I mention the Turkeys crossing the road? No...maybe I'll do that some other time, it was in the early afternoon and that was a day ago, when the sun was shining.

I will tell you though, the first thing I did when I got home, was to pull the Gerbing out of the storage box and lay it out to go in the bike in the morning.

If you don't have it with you...

You can't use it.