Back from Laconia New Hampshire

Well, bike week in Laconia is done for me for another year.

Brent and I headed out on Friday morning at 8 am in the pouring rain.
It really sucked.

We stopped in Morrisburg because the rain was really coming down...and I noticed that I had not put on my vest under all of the layers of stuff I had on...and my passport was in the inner pocket.
Calamity!
I nearly had a stroke.
How f-in stupid is that?

I was ready to turn around and head back for it when I had a great idea....see if Biker-Hottie would come to my rescue.
All she had to do was leave work early, go home and get my vest...and drive it to Morrisburg.
Beyond all hope...she immediately agreed to, and did so.
I owe her for a long time, I am told ....
She is the best.

So after our 1.5 hr. hiatus at the Crackdonalds...we were on our way again.
A totally miserable ride.
High winds...blowing rain.
Probably wasn't very safe.

When we hit the border into Vermont (below Magog ) the rain stopped.
At least we weren't sitting in the rain behind the 50 or so other bikes .
The customs people were calling the bikes up 2 at a time...asked us to take off our helmets and glasses...and then sent us on our way.
They were speeding us all through.

For the most part, the rain was bearable in Vermont...it had really slowed down.
We arrived in Lincoln around 6:30, and did a grocery run before we checked in.

10  minutes later we were at our cabin unpacking.
Everything was wet to some degree...even the stuff in plastic bags.
Oh well.

I bbq'd up some steaks and all was better in the world.

Saturday morning started shitty...we woke up to rain.
By 9am it was done, and by 9:15 we were on the road to Weir's beach.
And the best part...NO HELMET!!!!
Put on my trusty bandana...all good.

We took the Daniel Webster highway there...nice and scenic and not too fast.

It was already pretty busy when we arrived at stop #1...Harley in Meredith.
Tons of bikes and bikers.

Not much to see there, and crowded...so we headed on to Weirs.

Tons of bikes...bikers and vendors.
Some pretty rough lookin people...some really straight looking.
All walks of life.
A guy handing out bibles 10 feet from a Hell's Angels booth.
A booth selling switchblades...and booths with kid's clothes.
Everyone just joy'in the day.

We checked everything we wanted to see out...and then headed out riding.
We took back roads to Conway, and then rode the Kancamagus highway.

 Still takes my breath away.

I stopped us at Sabbaday falls.
I thought Brent needed to see...he loves waterfalls and stuff like that.

 

 

 

Then we headed back to our cabin, cleaned up a little and then went out for a feed of Mexican.
Seemed to be a pretty full day.

Sunday started cloudy and rainy.....and then cleared up by 8am.
We had decided to head down to Salem Massachusetts.
The roads in Mass. were not as good as in New Hampshire, and the signage sucked.
We got to Salem, which had some cool architecture...but aside from the ocean didn't see anything all that cool.

 

 

By 12, we decided to get heading up into Vermont...it would make Monday's ride home easier.
Vermont was beautiful.....not as rugged as New Hampshire but still something else.
We ended up making it to Burlington Vermont...about a 700 KM day.
We got there just before 6 pm.

Thanks to Brent, we got the cop discount at the hotel...he asked for it.
They also told him when he asked, that they would rather we did not swim in our undies in the pool.
Nice room.
Ate at the hotel.

Monday dawned sunny and perfect.
We checked out by 7:30.
There was nobody at the border we crossed at ( just above Swanton )...and we breezed right through.
A beautiful ride.

2  minutes from home...it started to rain....
I pulled in the laneway just in time.

And except for the bike cleaning etc...that was it,  for bike week for me this year.
Only 360 sleeps until next year.