But I can say the air show was fantastic, and I have the sun burn to prove it. I was suppose to have a rider, but the night before she called and said she wouldn't be able to make it. (A friends daughter, if anyone remembers the blond from the ride to the "Middle of Nowhere" a couple years ago, you should remember she's the girl that had most of the club thinking I was a pervert dating a 18 year old). So without a rider I headed down to the Equinox for breakfast, Talked with Bonnie,(she will be stopping by for a Thursday night ride sometime and may join).
From there I headed across Ct. and Rhode Island on back roads. I didn't hit any traffic until rte 1 right at Davisville, then it was bumper to bumper all the way in. I knew the heat wasn't doing the bike any good when it switched to single cylinder-air pump mode. I jumped on the shoulder and stayed there til the rotary. I was joined by another bike, he was Navy, his bike (sport) was running so hot that he was going in circles around the rotary to keep it cool. I jumped on the shoulder again and as I progressed along I accumulated bikes. By the time I arrived at General parking there were 6 others behind me. The MP's directed us to VIP parking at the gate.
The show was great, Red Bull's stunt helicopter was amazing, the pilot is the only pilot in America allowed to fly stunts with a helicopter. Believe me, seeing a helo do barrel rolls and loops is outstanding. There were a number of WWII era aircraft on hand flying, including a Mustang. The Mustang and an F15 performed what they call a heritage flight, the Mustang running full and a F15 running at stall flying in formation together.
The Blue Angels put on a great show even though there was a long delay in the middle of the show because one of the aircraft (#l) had technical problems, it came in and parked, as it did the Commander throttled it up sending a dust cloud across the golf course engulfing (or would it be en-golfing) some golfers. Once he jumped in jet #7 he was back up and the show went on.
Tom would have been proud. I think if he had gone he would have been taking notes and trying to figure out how to do it with bikes.
The show attracted such a crowd that they had to close the roads coming in and shut down the gates. They said over the speakers that if you know someone on the way to call them up and turn them around. The traffic jam coming in stretched out of the former base, up the access road, up rte 4, and I-95 was at a stand still.
Leaving I decided to use the between cars run and found that most cars actually moved over to let me pass, once again I gained bikes. On the access road we were running in the left shoulder, Some guy in a car yelled out the window that it wasn't a lane, As I passed him I brought the bikes back into a lane, just as I did so two RI State Police motor cops waved to us and instructed us to move to the right shoulder an run at speed there. (Two wheels IS better than 4) We cleared a lot of traffic. At the junction with route 4, I headed to rte 4 south, looking off the bridge the north bound side of 4 was dead stopped as cages tried to get back towards 95.
I hit rte 4 south and was about the only one on the highway. I flew down to rte 2, onto 102 and had a clear road up to rte 3. I took 3 through Hopkinton then jumped on back roads into Clarks Falls. Then ran up Denison Hill and Putker, ran across rte 49, and jumped on Grindstone Hill and Hangman Hill to Chester Main over to Wyassup. If you have never had a bike on these roads I suggest you take a little trip up there, the scenery is fantastic with Farms and a Vineyard and the roads have a lot of twists and turns, but I suggest you keep an eye out for Cow excrement and SAND. I found some sand on Putker and had the back of the bike kick out. (If you want to see this area go to Google Maps and search Jonathan Edwards winery)
Then it was down through North Stonington, a stop for Gas then I ran State Highway 627, Truthfully I didn't know that road had a number until after I got home, from there it was rte 201 to Jeremy Hill and Taugwonk. Passing under I-95 I noticed that the highway wasn't moving, at all, traffic was dead stopped. Down rte 234 to Deans Mill, this is that one car wide road that is bi-directional with a double yellow line down the middle, (go figure). Jerry Brown road took me back to the Equinox and supper.
A really great day. I have to say I was good today, The National Guard borrowed my cigarette lighter because they had problems with their grilles for the after show party for the military and I gave away my spare kickstand spring and let the tools needed to install it to a Ultra Classic owner that sheared his off on a curb when they directed him off it to park.
Let's see, wierd things, at an airshow with tons of people, so many that the access was closed, I found myself standing in line for food with two people I work with, Rob and Carl, what are the chances of that?
Then the second Wierd thing, on Putker road, I came across two people with a Ultra Classic out in a field. A field in the middle of nowhere...I don't know...maybe they were having a picnic or something.
klay
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