Sunday ride report

The ride today went good, but first half was cold.
12 or so bikes left D&D.
Arrived at Durham minus 3, (Linda Wolf, and Danny)
Vinny had four bikes there plus himself,
The trip to Goshen went well and we arrived at 12:30
Evert arrived from his appointment 10 min. later.
A good lunch was consumed
All ships returned 4PM

That was the official Road Captain recap of the ride.

Here is...the rest of the story...

The Club departed Dunkin Donuts with fourteen bikes. Tom leading, four Road Guards and myself as a useless tail gunner.

We headed up 163 where Linda and Wolf dropped off and headed north on 395. The rest of us picked up 395 south to route 1 in Flanders which took us to Halls road then I-95 across the Connecticut River. Route 9 north to route 80 in Chester. In Killingworth we took route 81 north, here Danny turned back because of a prior engagement. 81 took us to 148 then across to 79. 79 took us to 17 and a stop at Dunkin in Durham where we joined up with Vinny Pons and four other bikes. The ride up to this point had been a tad cool. Kaitlyn looked like a Popsicle, riding along frozen in position. At the Dunkin Willi split off south to New Haven while the rest of us headed north on 17.

From here Tom took us on back roads to come out across from Guidas in Middlefield, then 66 to 691. We cruised 691 to 84 west into Waterbury where we picked up route 8 north. Here's where I get a bit fuzzy, riding in the back watching the people ahead of me means I didn't actually pay attention to how we got to route 63, but we took  that through Watertown and Litchfield to Goshen and route 4. A left turn on route 4 and about a mile down the road we turned into AJ's Steak and Pizza. Evert arrived just as we ordered.

AJ's has really good food, and Joe's favorite thing...peanuts, which you can throw the shells on the floor after you are done eating. I had a Biker burger, Thick grass fed beef burger, thick cheddar cheese, onion rings and BBQ sauce on a bun. There were whole belly clams, Bison Burgers, steak sandwiches and salads devoured. A note though, if you like Garlic bread even a small order is too much. The bread is a loaf cut in half length wise, it is about 18" long, 8" wide, minced garlic and garlic cloves smothered in mozzarella cheese. It is damn good but it is enough for a group as an appetizer, I have no idea what a large order would look like. Rich had what appeared to be a Chef's salad, which comes in a mixing bowl. The bowl is about 14" across and 10" tall. I know of at least two people who packaged salad to take home.

Leaving AJ's Vinny and his crew headed off on their own as did Joe Fogarty. We headed back down 63 for gas below Litchfield. Evert took over the tail gun position as I moved up to replace Joe as a Guard. (Guards were not needed on the return trip). The return trip was almost a duplicate of the ride up except that we took 84, to 691 to 66 then crossed a few back roads to come out on route 9 south to Old Saybrook and 95 north as people dropped out.

All in all a really good day.

The reason I was a useless tail gunner on the ride up is that the CB install (that cost about $1400. parts and labor) wasn't exactly perfect. I can transmit and have good signal, when someone else transmits the radio mutes out as it should, but there is no CB signal, nothing comes over the speakers but dead air. So...it will be heading back to Mikes.


klay