Tilted Kilt ride

The weather could not have been better, with a coolness in the air that suggested sweatshirt's should at least be packed, but rain gear could be left at home. When Margo and I pulled into D&D in Uncasville at 9:30am there were just a few bikes, and Lane was there just to see us off. Just before 10:00am Vinny Pons pulled in with a few bikes, we had a brief riders meeting and took off. The plan was to ride for a couple of hours and end up in Newington at the Tilted Kilt for lunch. The pace was good, I saw to that, and everyone seemed to be doing well. When we got to the head of Rt. 163 I saw no traffic coming our way so went right, but by the time Ginny got there with her trike a truck was in view. She took the safe road and stopped, but Craig didn't. My tailgunner really likes Ginny's tail and proved it by touching it with his bike. I got the news over the CB after we had made the immediate left onto Brush Hill Rd, a very shady but narrow lane that comes out on Rt. 87 by the Four H camp. Stopping at the end where it was safe to pull over, Jim Skerrit volunteered to go back to check on them. Minor damage ended their ride with us, and Jim escorted them home to make sure they were ok.

When we made it to Lebanon we turned right on Rt. 207 and followed that into Baltic where we took Rt. 138 over to Rt. 169. As we were stopping for a railroad crossing, Vinne let me know that one of his riders had a small tank and needed fuel. When we got to Rt. 14 we hit the Mobil station and took care of a few needs. Once back on Rt. 169 we got to show the patch going through the traffic at the Brooklyn Fair. A left onto Rt. 6 took us over Willy and onto Rt. 66 through Columbia, Hebron, Marlborough, East Hampton, Cobalt and into Portland where we went over the Arrigoni Bridge. It's always under constrution, which makes it insteresting. We got on Rt. 9N for a mile and took Exit 18 onto Rt. 99. At this point I will tell you I think my GPS is "special", because looking at the map I planned on just staying on Rt. 99 all the way, but my GPS had other idea's. I really need to learn to trust my brain more than my GPS! It took us over Rt. 372 to Rt. 9, where we got onto I-91 for a couple of exits. It was a roundabout way of doing the same thing, we just missed a bunch of lights.

Arriving at the Tilted Kilt an hour late was explained away by our tale of mishap's and mayhem, the typical story of a rider trying to make his or her way through life. The food was awsome and I heard no complaints. The girls were very friendly and took great care of us. They even posed for a few pic's, which I'm hoping to send along.

The ride home was uneventfull. Vinny's crew split at I-91, and the rest split at various points along the way to Colchester. Margo and I made it home by 4:30pm, just in time for our nap. All in all, a good time for most and according to Vinny Pons a new place for the County to meet.