Corn Whiskey

A Sunday ride for Whiskey Bread Pudding.

Danny has been wanting to get another serving of Whiskey Sauce Bread Pudding, I have been wanting to go for a ride. Lets start with Saturday, Jenny, it would seem, needs a little checkup, she is having power issues. Cruising along in 5th gear she starts slowing and bogging down, then takes off like a bat out of hell. I'm not sure but I think it may be the power commander.  So, she is parked in the garage for the time being.  I have not been riding Charlene due to knee issues, but I wanted to ride today. I checked the E-mail and found that there was no official ride listed, there was a ride being led by the Honor Guard Captain to Clyde's Cider Mill, but I couldn't see dragging the Electra Glide out of the garage, riding to Montville, to go for a ride to a cider mill which is 1.5 miles from my house.

I called around and found out that Danny was heading north to get dessert. I decided to join him.

I threw on a long sleeve shirt, my knee brace, my pants (usually a good idea when going out in public), my chaps, jacket, vest, and because I couldn't find my gloves, I threw on a pair of cutoff gloves. The combination of pants, brace, and chaps, pretty much stiffened the knee up for the ride. I put on a ...helmet, (shudder), grabbed a sweatshirt for the tourpack and hit the road. I arrived at Danny's place about two minutes late, at 9:02am. Danny was waiting. The nice thing about riding with someone who has chosen the ride means I can follow instead of lead. It's nice once and a while to let someone else take up the front.

Leaving at 9am meant we had way more than enough time to get to the restaurant before noon. The roads were wet with a fair covering of leaves and pine needles, but they caused no issues. Danny took us up Old Colchester rd across 82 to 354. This would be a roundabout ride to kill time, 354 took us into Colchester, then 85 north to 207 looping back east to Lebanon. We stopped at the War Office then took the Beaumont highway to Willimantic and route 32. The day was overcast and a little on the cool side, if it weren't for the heated grips the use of cut off gloves would have been a poor choice. We stopped for coffee at Dunkin on 32 near route 6, before rolling north. Route 32 was a pleasant ride, except for the leaves which had a tendency to blow into your face. We ran up through Stafford Springs and crossed into Massachusetts. I was happy to see a bit of rain on the windshield, this proved to me that it wasn't cold enough to be snowing. We made good time and arrived at The Steaming Tender just before noon. Grilled chicken sandwiches (Charcoal grilled), deep fried pickles, Corn Whiskey and Coffee. Danny ordered his Whiskey Bread pudding, I ordered a Yuengling. 

After lunch I took the lead, after adding the sweatshirt for another layer of heat. We ran east out of Palmer on route 20, after stopping at Chamura's Bakery to pick up some bread. 20 took us to route 67, Warren Mass where Danny topped off his fuel tank. East to route 9, West Brookfield, Brookfield, East Brookfield, then Spencer. We took 31 south through Charlton, across the Mass Pike, across route 20 through Dudley and into Connecticut at Quinebaug and 131 east and south to route 12.  We stayed on 12 south, Thompson, Putnam, Dayville,  Danielson, Wauregan,  Moosup, Plainfield, Jewett City and Norwich. In Plainfield the helmet was replaced by the skunk fuzzy. We split up in Norwich, I took 2 east, Danny 32 south. It was a great day on a bike, the type of day where the bike becomes more than a mode of transportation, it becomes part of you, and you part of it, unconscious mental thought and the bike answers as if connected to your soul, rolling, twisting, climbing. The wind and rain in your face, the exhaust notes stretched out behind.