After my wife Deidre pumped coffee/OJ/bagels into us and some last minute pre-flight checks we were off. Herb on the left, Tony K-bike on the right.
We hooked up with Josh in Sloatsburg, NY in under and hour and with the LT as the pace vehicle we flew up into the hinterlands of NY State.
We found a great place to eat, Scotty's Diner, just off Exit 16 attached to a gas station. Great home style food.
Herb and Tom ready to pull out:
The ride up the Thruway was entirely uneventful and as a matter of fact nearly devoid of LEO presence. My V1 squawked a couple of times, and only briefly.
We made our way to the ferry terminal in Essex - a quaint little town surrounded by some great roads. We met up with several other riders heading to the rally and enjoyed the 20 minute ride across Lake Champlain.
Per Herb's suggestion we booked some rooms at the T Bird Motor Inn in Shelburne, VT. We spent Wednesday night there (not far from the rally site). Great little motel. Clean rooms, and a pool in back. We took full advantage. No one was up for riding that evening (especially since we were planning on having a few) so we took a cab to a local steak joint, the "Sirloin Saloon". Had a great dinner and sampled some local brews.
Tony R bike and Tony K bike:
Josh and Herb:
We were up at 0600 Thursday for the final short ride into Essex Junction, aiming to get there when the gates opened. I opened the door to my room and this is what I saw - a rather large man in boxer shorts cleaning a rather large motorcycle.
There were already tons of people on line for registration. It wasn't bad, however, there was free coffee, and it was a beautiful morning. After setting up camp on "Blueberry Hill" we set off for Libby's Blue Line Diner in town for a great meal. Nice people too. I put up the Jolly Roger and before long NoRRmad made his way over to say hello, and rph802 arrived and set up camp on the "Hill". Tom (ctrider) arrived Friday and also joined the commune. I ran into Frank1150r in the vendor area. Joshua had a room booked at the Sheraton in Burlington as his wife Lola was arriving by air from NYC - nevertheless they used our camp as their base of operations while at the rally, and we were happy to have them.
Tom (ctrider), with Tony, Tony, Herb
Tom and a nice sunset Thursday night:
The rally was well managed and very well attended - over 9,000, surpassing last year's numbers at Lima. It was a good facility, lots of food vendors, and plenty of good camping space, Also very close to local business (pizza, Dunkin Donuts, McDonald's, Chinese food, HW Store, strip mall, etc..) all within walking distance. The VFW Post outside the side gate was offering BBQ dinners and breakfasts to the rally attendees for cheap $$. Most of the vendors were housed in a large air-conditioned building. BMW Motorrad was there with their 2 trailers and the full fleet of demo bikes. Trailer # 2 had samples of their current and upcoming apparel line.
As usual, however, there were lines for the showers in the morning and sometimes a lack of hot water, Not really a big deal and quite manageable. The weather could have been a bit better, it started raining Saturday afternoon and didn't stop until we were on our way home, having crossed back over Lake Champlain to New York. The closing ceremony on Saturday evening was conducted entirely in a steady downpour with everyone under the grandstand's roof.
We took a nice ride on Saturday morning, doing the loop around Lake Champlain. A good portion of it was on dirt or compacted gravel roads, All the riders/bikes fared well. A photo op at a State Park on the shore of the Lake:
Yours truly
Tom testing the water temperature:
The bikes:
The people - rph802, sjbmw, Tom, Josh, Lola, Tony K-bike, TonyT607:
Getting ready to move out:
We cut things short when the rain hit and made our way back to Josh's hotel where he and Lola treated everyone to a nice lunch and where we spent a couple of hours staring at the Weather Channel.
Tony T and Lola:
Tony K-bike and Tom. Notice the TV screen.
rph802 and sjbmw:
TonyT, Lola, Josh
Herb's son Tom:
Josh's wife flew home early Sunday morning so after breaking camp in the rain, we all headed over to the Sheraton to have breakfast and plan our ride home. After consulting the Weather Channel and the NOAA/NWS Live Doppler on my laptop we decided to make the 1130 ferry out of Burlington. We had mostly clear weather for the ride home, and in fact it got very bright and sunny while we were still north of Albany. We stopped to strip off the rain gear:
Again, an easy and uneventful ride, and Herb's son Tom got to ride on the back of Josh's LT. That was one happy kid. I think I know what Herb is getting Tom for Christmas.........
These pictures are on the CVE (Champlain Valley Expo) website; much better than the photos I took:
BMW MOA Arrival and Registration - Thursday:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.j ... nn_speed=1
Thursday afternoon
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.j ... nn_speed=1
Friday:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.j ... nn_speed=1
Saturday - rain day !
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.j ... nn_speed=1
