| Polar Bear Motorcycles by: Chris Loynd If you've stumbled onto this page out of curiosity, you're welcome to stay and read the saga of riding motorcycles in the winter. Several of us from Fairfield County, Conn., participate in the Polar Bear Grand Tour, a winter-long set of destination rides sanctioned by the American Motorcycle Association (AMA): www.PolarBearGrandTour.com. Each week from the end of October to mid-April, we ride to a different destination, mostly in New Jersey. And then I write an e-mail to my fellow riders describing last week's adventures and sharing departure information for the upcoming Sunday ride. |
Me, Chris Loynd, on my |
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| This year I figured my Polar Bear (PB) missives would be a good
excuse to try this blogging thing. I enjoy writing and the antics of my
fellow Polar Bears usually provide good fodder. There were some pretty
good stories over the past years. But they were written in transient
e-mails now lost. This blog allows me to preserve some great
memories and to share them with my fellow Polar Bear riders, you, and
anyone else in the world. Enjoy! If you're interested in riding with us,
it is very informal. Each rider is responsible for his or her own safety.
We meet at the Stratford (CT) Dunkin' Donuts, I-95, Exit 30, at the corner
of Lordship Blvd., and Honeyspot Rd. To get on the e-mail list for weekly
departure times, contact
me: |
 Polar Bear Riders from 2004. Full face helmets, plenty of layers and electric clothing keep us toasty. |
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Rides:
Use your REFRESH button to see the latest entries. |
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| December 3: Hatfield, PA | |||
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Week 6 Polar Bears, from left, back row: Joe, Frank (on
his first PB ride), Ken
and Russ. |
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| We had a nice, cold, ride over to
Montgomeryville Cycle Center in
Hatfield, PA. After exiting I-287 in Jersey, John B. led us through some scenic Pennsylvania farm country. We rode through a small town or two with those distinctive Penn. style brick buildings built close to the highway. Following MapQuest's advice, John B. took us most all the way on Route 202. He did a great job of navigating. The one turn he almost missed was pointed out by a fellow bear with PA plates, who passed us on his Road King, beeped and then made a right turn across the front of our line to show us the way. John B. wasn't ashamed to take the hint, and we arrived in good time. Early Birds Get the Beef |
Beautiful winter weather. As we arrived |
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| When we arrived the parking lot was just starting to see some bikes.
It's a big lot in two tiers. Bikes were already lining up in the bottom
lot so John B. led us up to the back of the upper lot, which we had
largely to ourselves. Inside the cavernous dealership, they had hot coffee and great doughnuts. The good folks at Montgomeryville were just starting to get lunch preparations underway. So we waited in the rapidly forming sign-in line instead. A little chit-chat here and there and we headed back to the dealership floor where they had moved out all the bikes and laid out tables and chairs for hungry bears. When I first started riding Polar Bears it wasn't quite so crowded. Oftentimes I would wander around trying to find sign-in, food, bathroom, etc. |
Our Flight Leader Rich was manning Flight B sign-in
alone. |
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| Now it's much easier. Simply go to the back of any of the long lines
you see forming and ask what you're waiting for. As soon as I finished signing my Flight B log, I turned around to see the sign-in line had grown double. Over in the corner of the showroom floor I saw another line forming for food and went there directly. They were serving hot, wet, roast beef sandwiches and cold macaroni salad. To drink they offered a choice of cold sodas or hot coffee. The roast beef was wonderful. It was generously heaped on a bun, there was a pot of au jus at the end of then line where you could ladle on even a bit more flavor. It was melt-in-your-mouth tender. I'm writing a thank you note to Montgomeryville Cycle Center!
Polar Bears chow down on tasty free
eats from |
This is as close as Bernie will get to a Montgomeryville
Cycle Center roast beef sandwich this year.
Look at that beef! |
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| John B. had saved us some spots at the long tables and we were happily
munching away. Bernie had some shopping to do at a nearby Cabellas store and so drove down in his truck. His plan was to meet us at Montgomeryville for lunch and sign-in for at least his one-point. I heard from Bernie at the HOG meeting the next Wednesday that we were gone before he arrived. Unfortunately, so was the roast beef. Due to a larger-than-anticipated turnout, Bernie got a hot dog instead. It was good of the folks at Montgomeryville Cycle to run out to the local grocery and heat up some hot dogs for the overflow crowd. Last year the poor Montgomeryville guys got skunked by snowy weather. Flight Leader Rich said they had two whole roast pigs and no bears. |
A little post-feed conversation. |
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| When we exited the Cycle Center it was a different scene than when we
entered. Both upper and lower parking lots were jammed with bikes and they
were streaming in a dozen at a time. Our bikes in the back of the top lot were nearly blocked. We took our group picture and began sealing up the final layers of clothing to make our escape. John B. decided to lead us home a different route. He took us straight north on Route 611 to catch Interstate 78 heading back east. But first he led us all up to the pumps at a closed gas station. As Frank later said, how is it everyone of us rode by the "Closed" sign without noticing it? |
Bikes were streaming into the large, rapidly filling parking lot. |
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| Maybe we were worried about filling up. Joe's light was blinking. John
B.'s just flashed on. We all pulled up to the pumps, put in our credit
cards -- which the pumps accepted -- and when the pump prompted we
squeezed the handles, but to no avail. I sure hope I don't see a charge from that station next month. I walked away from a gas pump ready to go -- on my tab. Frustrated and flustered by the experience, we mounted up and headed home. But a mile or so from the station, Frank pulled off onto a grass shoulder and shook his head. He was wondering why he was smelling gas. Turns out he left his cap back on top of the pump in the closed station. |
A full parking lot with hundreds of bikes. |
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| John K. being the consummate Road Captain turned around
and accompanied Frank to retrieve the cap. Meanwhile I rode after the now
fading group, gesturing as best I could with one hand. But they turned up
an on-ramp to Route 611 and disappeared. I held at the ramp to mark the
turn for Frank and John K. Sooner or later I figured John B. would notice he was short a few bikes and would wait for us. Turns out it was sooner, much sooner. When John K. and Frank caught up with me, we turned up the ramp only to find our fellow bears 50 yards ahead and waiting patiently. John B. led us to Bethlehem -- Pennsylvania that is -- a nice gesture I thought considering the approach of Christmas. He maybe could have skipped some of the scarier parts of the old steel town. However he offered us a bonus overlook of the old works. It was an amazing sight, acres of huge and idle buildings along abandoned railroad tracks down in the dirty valley below us. After that bit of depressing scenery and an increasingly urban route, John K. and his GPS came to our rescue. K. rode from his sweep position up to the front of the line at a stop light, motioned a right turn to B., and then patiently waited for the line of bikes to pass him. B. took the direction well and we were soon humming along the Interstates to home. We stopped for a coffee in Greenwich and then motored on, each beeping and waving, peeling off in ones and twos for the last bit home. Coming up the Merritt Parkway on our final leg, did any of you guys see the moon rise? It came up early through thin clouds with the sun still up. Close to full, it looked like a cloud itself, albeit one in a perfect circle. Then it gradually grew stronger as the sun weakened. Taking a hint from the Montgomeryville Cycle Center food experience (thanks for the report Bernie), we will set a departure time of 8:00 a.m. to make sure we get over to Snydersville, PA this Sunday for some of Ruth Schoch's famous, fabulous, split pea soup, before she runs out. Schoch's H-D is a sentimental ride for me. It was my first PB destination. It was our friend Clark's last ride. Just this week his niece Virginia found our PB blog and sent me an e-mail, which I have her permission to share with you here:
Chris,
I must tell you how much I enjoyed stumbling upon
your blog, Brought a smile to my face, I remember Clark telling me about
the toll booth mishaps, all I could do is shake my head. Well, he is
surely smiling down on me, this past May I walked into our local Harley
dealer and purchased a beautiful black cherry Hugger, I learned to ride
and took a weekend class at our local college. I can relate to Clark
wanting to ride in ANY weather. Later in August I returned to the Harley
dealer and left on a 2006 black Heritage. (sweet) I am loving every
second, and all the new people I've met.
Thanks for making my day,
Virginia I misread Virginia's comment about "understanding wanting to ride in any weather" and invited her to join us. And she said she just might -- sometime after spring arrives. Her reply e-mail stated, "Anything below 40 degrees and I'm staying home." Maybe we can hook up with you in April, Virginia! |
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Our founder and "Shortcut King" Bob
Hartpence. |
Still more bikes. |
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Now what was that mileage? |
Suiting up for the ride home. |
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Turned out too warm for these layers
the first part of our ride. |
Batteries to full power! Turbine on! GPS coordinates
loaded! John K. is ready to go! |
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| Back to top. |
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| December 10: Snydersville, PA | |||
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Week 7 Bears (from left): PB Founder
Bob, Ken, Chris (author), John K., Bernie, Pat, Russ, John B. |
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| John B. and I have been suffering e-mail troubles, as in not receiving
from each other. For some reason his server thinks my server is trouble.
Anyway, I missed John's suggestion that we leave at 8:30 a.m. for the ride
to Schoch's H-D. I set an 8:00 departure and we arrived early. There was plenty in Schoch's beautiful dealership to help us mark the time until sign-in opened and lunch was served. Schoch's has a small but fascinating mini-museum of vintage Harleys, including a Harley snowmobile. Plus we were pretty much first in line for the bathroom! What's the downside? We took our group photo, enjoyed watching the bikes arrive and a bit of mild conversation. |
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| Johns K and B and I (Chris) all qualified for our red rocker when we
completed last week's ride. PB planners did not have this year's patches
yet. Not that I blame them. Most PB riders will be qualifying sometime
after the holidays. As I was signing in Richard, our Flight B leader, remarked about one of our Connecticut riders asking about the 2006/7 rockers. I said that had to be John K. And Rich said, "Oh yeah! The blood guy?" Okay John, now you've got your rep, and soon your patch to prove it: a blood red rocker. Not that I can make too much fun of John. I'm joining him Monday after the next ride on a trip to donate in New Jersey. Hey, points is points, right? |
First in line for the restrooms and Russ is ready! |
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| I ended up going through the food line like four times. It was sort of
a progressive dinner if you've ever done one of those, except all the
courses were served in the same place, the dealership's front porch. First was a steaming cup of coffee. Soon enough the chili came out, hot and spicy. Meanwhile I sampled a bit of the split pea soup, but it was still cold. Next I caught a waft of grilling hot dogs and entered the line once more. The good folks at Schoch's kept it coming. Their front porch warmed to a non-winter-like sun. Most of my fellow bears followed a similar routine. And when we'd snacked on a few cookies and there seemed to be nothing offered but more of the same, we mounted our bikes and rode home. |
Schoch's food line, time and again. |
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| As we sat about we got a chance to chat with Leo, the Club's
91-years-young member, still riding on two wheels. And Randy pulled up on
his Quota fresh from his ride down from New Hampshire. While the morning ride over to Pennsylvania was nearly cold, the afternoon was warm by PB standards and sunny bright. Previous rides to this destination offered some of the first snow I saw each season. Due to the rise in elevation, the Pocono Mountains often had snow before our more northerly Connecticut. But not this year! Owing to the warmer than expected weather, we took a leisurely ride up along the Delaware River through the Poconos and Water Gap National Park. |
Parking lot filled up soon after we arrived. |
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| The Water Gap ride takes on a different character in winter. I've
written a Backyard Gems story about this for Connecticut Cruise News. But
in summer your view is more obstructed by leaves. In winter it struck me
how much of the Delaware River you can see. Perhaps even more impressive
is the rock ledge on the side of the road opposite the river. It rises up
steep and fast. I would not want to be riding here if there was a flood. Syndersville may be one of the most scenic PB runs. Later in the season there is that nice ride to Long Valley up in the mountains. But today's ride was about 70 percent scenic. (Hey no matter what you gotta get around Bridgeport and on most rides NYC. So there are no 100% scenic PB rides for us Connecticut Bears.) Next week's ride includes a toy drive. Despite arriving on motorcycles, the Bears turn out a big pile of presents for kids with cancer: www.thevaleriefund.org. You'll see! |
Yes, we were! |
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John B. takes a picture of me (Chris)
taking a picture of |
Here's my version. |
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Pat & Russ enjoy the Schoch Christmas tree. |
Parking lot filled fast. That's Bernie in foreground |
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John B. checks out an Aerostitch suit.
Amazing how these |
This guy looks ready for any weather or road! |
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December 17: Howell, NJ
Week 8 Bears (from left): Ken, John
B., John K., Carl, Chris (author) & Joe. |
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| Christmas festivities were in the air! This is the annual toy run and the gift table inside The Cabin was overflowing. Santa made several appearances. | |||
At right "Santa" Steve Accardi rode with that fuzzy helmet and beard aboard his tinseled Yamaha Midnight Star. I mistakenly thought he was aboard a Harley-Davidson and cited such in this blog as proof that Santa rode a Harley. Darned if those Japanese aren't good copycats. I should have taken a closer look. Steve e-mailed me in September 2007, requesting this correction.
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| There also appeared the annual sleigh pulled behind a Gold Wing. We left
before it arrived, so I "borrowed" Walter's photo from the PB web site. Our ride down and back was uneventful. We made sure Joe had properly topped-off his gas tank. This is the ride last year where we ran him out on the GSP! He bounced and cajoled his bike off the expressway and into a gas station. Starved for fuel, his Road King stalled several times. By some good luck he always got it started again and made it to the pumps. This year we all had fuel to spare. The Cabin offered up copious portions of very good food at a very good price. Or maybe we are jaded paying Connecticut prices. We rode straight down. Weather was still warm for Polar Bear riding. On the way back we stopped at Chez GSP at the top of the Parkway for a coffee. Ken explained his frog, and I won't steal his thunder here. If you are curious, you'll just have to ask him to see it. Maybe the cagers were all Christmas shopping. We sailed feet-up over the Tappan Zee and home, with the sun still up but fading in warmth. We're off the next two weeks for Christmas and New Years. |
Joe had plenty of fuel this year. |
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Ken explains . . . |
. . . the frog. |
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Generous Bears filled the table for
kids with cancer. |
Another beautiful winter's day with springtime
weather. |
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Couple of old Harleys got lots of
looks. |
Gotta love the canvas fairing! |
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Johnny B.'s E-Z Pass has extra
decoration. |
CT PBs suit up for the ride home at Chez GSP. |
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NOTE: Ride to Vineland, NJ, January 7th, leaves the Dunkin' Donuts at 7:30 am. Welcome back! |
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January 7, 2007: Vineland, NJ
Week 9 Bears: (front row from left)
Johnny B., John K. and Chris (blogger); |
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| My Polar Bear ride started Saturday. Since Vineland, NJ is far
enough south to make it a long ride, and since my folks live an hour away
from Vineland in Wilmington, Del., and since Mom and Dad always enjoy
a visit from their #1 son (actually their only son), and since my new "HOG
Tales" magazine came in the mail last Wednesday which meant I could begin
the 2007 ABCs of Touring Contest . . . I decided to ride down Saturday. Hopefully you got out too. Saturday was one of God's gifts to motorcyclists. Here it is, January 6th, and the high temperature is cracking 70 degrees. I had to work Saturday morning. I left for the 3 1/2 hour trip to Wilmington about 1:00, the warmest part of the day and it felt wonderful. Plus it set me up to enjoy a beautiful sunset in Jersey. |
I couldn't resist a sunset ABCs photo. |
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| My strategy also meant that I could have breakfast Sunday
morning after my Connecticut compatriots had already departed for their
ride down, and still have time to take ABCs photos as I made my way across to
Vineland. Another advantage was a chance to enjoy some of the regional and ethnic foods I crave. To put it in perspective, if you Connecticut folks moved away you might actually miss that cardboard dry, brick oven blackened, thin pizza crust about which you all rave. I can tell you I had never tasted anything like it until I moved to Connecticut! For me it was Philly steak sandwiches for dinner and scrapple for breakfast. I have yet to find a decent steak sandwich in Connecticut. It's probably like trying to find a good lobster roll in Philadelphia. Some foods just don't travel well. The only disadvantage of riding down by myself Saturday was missing out on earning an extra Polar Bear point. I simply figured the MapQuest mileage because it wouldn't be fair to add my Delaware diversion to the total. But as it turned out Sunday morning, Johnny B. led the Connecticut Bears on an extra loop, thereby boosting their point totals. At least that's what they were claiming. I believe John B. when he quotes Flight Leader Rich as saying we should report the mileage we actually traveled, not the MapQuest miles. And I can see counting the extra Tappan Zee miles because the GW Bridge is near impossible in most every circumstance. However I'm pretty sure Rich did not mean to ride around in circles to boost our point standing. |
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John B. has joined the ranks of digitally disabled navigators. As Joe pointed out, John B. never led us astray when he relied upon paper navigation. But on the way down, John and his new Tom-Tom overshot Vineland. The way I heard it, he must have realized his computer's error when he saw signs for the Delaware Memorial Bridge. According to Russ, John-John then pulled the satellite receiver off of his handlebars to scrutinize the misdirection; he even passed it around to his fellow Bears to see what they could make of it. According to John-John the one advantage is that no matter where you want to go, his new Tom-Tom will take you directly to the Dunkin' Donuts nearest your destination. In fact when John-John wanted to turn around, Tom-Tom led him into the parking lot of, what else?, a Dunkin'. |
I think I can see where this GPS mania is going. Here's
a PB bike, not ours, that maybe some of our guys envy? |
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| Detours notwithstanding, John-John got them to the 5-Points in
Vineland and still in good time. I caught up with them there and enjoyed
some good belly laughs as they told the story. Johnny B. got a bit defensive. These Bears can be a tough crowd when making fun of each other. John K., our more infamous digitally disabled navigator, was basking in the shadows, now that the limelight was on John B. Carl, another digital devotee, was keeping pretty quiet, hoping nobody recalled his Martha misadventures. Hey, it's all in good fun. Any of us with courage to lead a group of bikes also needs a thick skin defense for our followers' grief when things go wrong. Even paper-based maps can lead you astray. And paper won't find a Dunkin' for you where you can lick your wounds as you get back on track. |
Carl had no comment on John-John's new navigator. |
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| Several of our Conn. Bears received patches and rockers on this ride.
For first timer Joe, it is a patch and red rocker. Wear them with pride!
For Johns B & K and me (Chris) it's the red rockers. We were eligible for
gold ones too on this ride, but they were not yet available. Rich also gave me a 60-point pin, but it was in error. Me, I don't pay much attention to the points. I sign-in and let my PB Flight Leaders do the math. Even though I'm only a single set of blood points behind John K. this year, I really have not paid attention to the actual number. John K., on the other hand, knows EXACTLY what his PB Point total is. (I think he has it taped to his shaving mirror at home.) So when I got a 60 point pin, John K. fairly exploded with righteous indignation. I'll leave the pin safely inside its plastic bag and sheepishly return it to Flight Leader Rich next weekend. |
Thanks for the pin Rich, but I think we jumped the gun! |
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| I'm sure it was a simple error. And I honestly was not aware that I
was still a few rides away from 60 points. Sorry Rich! Sign-in was a
madhouse with a long line. I was confusing things anyway with my blood
points. I was initialing the back of the form here and there. I was
confused. Geeze! Worried more about Sunday afternoon traffic than time, we took an extra half-hour to cross southern Jersey, traveling on east from Vineland to pick up the Garden State Parkway. It was a nice ride, still warm for Polar Bear weather. We actually rode home in leisurely fashion with three stops. I required the first because my gas tank was out of synch with the others. I took a full one as they topped off their half-tanks. The second stop was called by Joe to empty his tank. And we took a coffee stop at the top of the GSP just because. Even so, we all got our bikes into their garages before the rains came. Next week may not be so lucky. |
A lot of bears attended this week, but the parking lot
had emptied by the time we finished lunch. |
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| As of today, Monday, next weekend's forecast calls for
rain. So it may be our first challenge to see how much we really want
those perfect attendance pins. John K. and I did a PB ride in the rain
last year. But it was forecast to be clearing. We did not depart in the
rain and so were hoping to stay lucky and stay dry. We didn't. Our destination is a new one for the Bears. It's a nice and easy route and avoids NYC completely. We go 287 to 80 then up 15 a bit. MapQuest says 2 hours, 106 miles one way. I wish to offer a very big "Thank You" to our PB Flight Leaders. Each member's sign-in page had an especially printed, removable, set of directions for the new destination. Bob Hartpence mentioned something offhand about working on "the books" over the holiday. These guys do a lot of extra work so we can have fun. And I want to say here publicly, how much I truly appreciate all the efforts of all the Polar Bear volunteers. Since Sunday might be nasty weather, let's have a 9:35 am departure time. That gives Mother Nature time to warm up a bit and still gets us to our destination at the start of sign-in. We should easily get home before dark. If it is raining, the restaurant staff is less likely to be so overwhelmed. I'm guessing a lot of the Polar "Cubs" will drop out for inclement weather. See you next week! |
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John K's hat stands out in the PB
crowd. |
Rusty peruses the bill of fare. Service was sloooow. |
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Our guys prepare to depart after a
too-leisurely lunch. |
Skies cleared as we headed north. |
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January 14: Lake Hopatcong, NJ
Week 10 Bears (from left): Johnny B.,
Frank, John K. Chris (author) |
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| Once again we did ole' Clint proud! (If you don't get the reference, last Sunday was what I call "Clint Eastwood" weather. As old Dirty Harry said, "You gotta ask yourself just one question, 'Do I feel lucky?' Well do ya punk?") As Sunday got closer the weather forecast improved, from "heavy showers" predicted mid-week to a mere "50% chance of showers" predicted Saturday night. Now I have already admitted in this blog to being no whiz when it comes to mathematics. But when the chance of anything is 50%, doesn't that mean one outcome is just as likely as the other? Flip any coin, the chances are 50% it comes up heads, 50% it comes up tails. |
Misty. Only misty. We never faced real rain. |
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| So when a schooled meteorologist says there is a 50% chance of
showers, doesn't he mean he really has no idea what is going to happen?
That it is as likely to rain as not? Fortunately for us, such was the case. We rode through a bit of misting, never even so much as a sprinkle. The threat of rain was enough to keep the Polar Cubs warm in their beds and dry in their cages. The perfect attendance aspirants: Johns B & K and me (Chris) all rode. Frank joined us, surprising even himself. He says at the last minute he figured, what the heck! We were all surprised Ken didn't show. Ken rode the last chance of rain PB ride. And he is now famous among Bridgeport HOGs as being one of only two who rode to lunch in the rain on New Year's Day, John K. being the other. |
A tiny rain threat and the Polar Cubs stayed home. |
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| As Ken said, "Figures the two bubble-heads would ride. "Turns out
"Bubble Head" is actually a term of endearment Submariners apply to
themselves. Like "Jar Heads" for Marines. And so the logic of Ken's
reasoning is revealed. Of course he and John K. are used to being UNDER
water! The low turnout due to threat of rain was probably a good thing. All of us who rode from Connecticut wondered whether if weather had been better would Warehouse Grill fit a regular PB crowd? Actually the small gathering of bears gave us a chance to chat more with flight leaders Rich and Dave. I returned my 60 point pin, unearned and unopened to Rich, in full view of John K. Rich explained that last week he was trying to read my points upside down as I signed-off, and mistook the number. He discovered the error that week as he was going through the books. He took the pin back in good humor. |
John K. signs in for 4 points. That's Flight B Co-leader Dave (seated) returning from "medical leave" with a new knee. |
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| I am confident I will earn the 60-point pin back before the
season ends. That's the only PB honor that John K. has that I have yet to
earn. And with the perfect attendance and 60-point pin, I will have earned
all the Polar Bear Club offers. (Reading this Russ? You have some catching
up to do!) We also congratulated Flight Leader Dave on his return. He seems to be getting along okay on a new plastic and titanium knee. Way to go Dave! Johnny B. got to ride his motorcycle this week after all, and so kept his perfect attendance and got the bonus of the four points. He had explained last week that he might not be able to ride with us because his job required a killer shift the night before due to a planned maintenance. Well it turns out the maintenance was postponed and John B. got enough sleep to join us. |
Johnny B. signs in. Seated are our Flight B Leaders: Rich, foreground and Dave next to him. |
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| When he's on nightshift, John B. drives home from work,
changes into his winter riding gear and comes straight to the Dunkin' to
join us. Nary a bit of rest. In fact with the time his shift ends, we
sometimes need to have a bit later leave time so he can make it. His backup plan to keep perfect attendance, in case he does work too late or can't get enough rest, is to have his wife Margaret drive with him to the PB meet in his truck. When I mentioned John B's plan to my wife, Cynthia, she said it is a very good thing I don't work shift work, because there was no way she was driving my "Polar Butt" to New Jersey. She just doesn't get it. Hun, it's all about the patches and pins. I mean look at the photos! Speaking of patches, the two Johns and I received our gold rockers. We actually earned them last week. But PB Founder Bob Hartpence said he didn't think he'd need them so soon. They were ready for us this week. |
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| Speaking of shift work, Frank and John B. offered some amazing insight
as they compared notes. Frank works for an ambulance company as a
supervisor. As mentioned earlier in the blog, John B. keeps our insatiable
need for television satiated via satellite. My head was spinning as these guys described the various machinations of hours and days. Then John K. piped in (note my clever nautical reference) by saying how they endured shifts on the submarine. I'm afraid I was pretty much left out of the conversation. Oh, I work plenty of hours, but usually those of my own choosing. And we have the occasional crunch where we lose some sleep. But there are few true emergencies in the advertising business. |
Lunch conversation about shift work intricacies. |
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| Speaking of which, I'm late for dinner. I'll finish this
up tomorrow! To be continued . . . This coming Sunday's destination is Sir John's Restaurant in New Brunswick, NJ. Or as Jersey folk say, "Exit 9." Years ago when I moved from Milwaukee to the Princeton, NJ area, I was telling my sister that I was moving to New Jersey. Her response: "Oh yeah? What exit?" Ask a good many New Jersey residents where they live and they'll give you their exit before their town or city. By the way I did live just off the NJ Turnpike, Exit 8, Hightstown. And another thing, how much does MapQuest really know about me? I mean it's scary. The last possible time I checked on this destination was this time LAST YEAR! Yet when I typed in the first bit of "230 Wash. . ." MapQuest filled in the rest. Same with "North Brunswick." Are they really devoting server space to a search I did a year ago so they can save me a moment of typing? And if so, is some government agency keeping track of all the places for which I searched MapQuest for directions? And because I used MapQuest four times in this entry, are they now monitoring my web site? Heck, they probably are tracking our every move through you guys with the satellite-enabled motorcycles. It's a scary world we live in. Back on subject, my free web mapping service says it should take two hours to travel the 102 miles from my house to Sir John's. But that's taking us down I-95 to the NJ Turnpike. We can try the parkways trick to reach the foot of the GW Bridge, or take our usual, less-traffic, route over the Tappan Zee to the Garden State Parkway. The GSP and NJTPKE cross at Exit 11, just two exits above our destination. In any case -- and not knowing Johnny B's situation -- let's set the same departure time: 9:35 a.m. |
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John K's bike made the Polar Bear web
site for his Patriot Guard Rider banner. |
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back to top or Next Ride ==> |
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