37 replies to this topic

[wheatonFJR]

Loving the photos and quips.

[ionbeam]

Wednesday, the fairy ferry ride day. Who knew that they sometimes close down primary ferry crossings for maintenance? On with the Water World Ride.

The blue sign with the white dots indicates grapes.

We stopped here for breakfast earlier in the day when we had bright sunshine. This picture was taken on the return trip late in the day. The explanation for the double picture at the end.


First ferry ride of the day. The ferries are pulled by cables, "ferries are propelled along the cable, not propelled "by" the cable" ^{clarification by FJRGuy} seen here as the line running into the water. (Indeed, the cables are stationary, casual captions...)





















It's always a nervous time when they pull BIG trucks in as close to you as possible. Do these things ever sink? Left is Geezer Greg, right is John d.


Once again we stop for The Best Seafood in the World. It's kinda disconcerting that they have an ambulance on standby.






A perfecta, two covered bridges at once.
















Notice the pirate at the left front of the picture? He and his wife on her Hardley ended up in front of us by accident, they were waiting at the dock when our FJR mob pulled up. When we arrived at the other side of the river the pirates pulled out in front and became the accidental ride leaders for us. We, ahem, pushed them a bit so they got to explore parts of the speedometer they normally wouldn't have seen on a secondary road ride.


This is the last ferry ride for the day, bringing us back to where we had breakfast. Note the pirate at the front left again?


As soon as the pirates got off the ferry they flew over into the parking lot on the left and let us FJR riders go past while they reflected on their near death experience. And so we rode past our breakfast restaurant and headed back home.


Arriving home just as it is getting dark.......

[ionbeam]

With that we leave the world of daylight behind and enter the world of After Dark



L-R Thingfish Paul, Yellow Hat ???, bbdig Jack, FJRPierre Pierre, Yamafitter Bill


L-R Thingfish Paul, ???, bbdig Jack, Mrs. Fred W Joann, Mrs bbdig Jane, BeemerDonS Don


L-R FJRGuy Jeff, Canucklehead Jeff, Lucy, Shakin Ian


Dark siders at night, very scary.


Gypsy Jude consuming mass quantities and Mrs. NSrider Ann Marie


FJRob1300 Rob, BeemerSDon Don, Fred W Fred, Thingfish Paul, Mrs. Fred W Joann




ionbeam Alan, Shakin Ian, MEM Mary Ellen






FJRob1300 Rob and MEM




No ignition keys were used when MEM test-sat Peppermint Patty's motorcycle.


yamafitter Bill, ionbeam Alan with MEM












Thingfish Paul, Mrs bbdig Jane, Mrs Fred W Joann


For the protection of those involved the camera now goes to bed.

[wheatonFJR]

Lucky dog!

[MEM]

wow! did you see the ASH on that thing?!

I think, perhaps, you and 'fitter have the best CFR pics and ride. See you at NERDS!

[gypsy]

Lucky dog!

Yes she certainly is!!!

[wheatonFJR]

Lucky dog!

Yes she certainly is!!!

WOW. JUST WOW.

[rushes]

*snip*
For the protection of those involved the camera now goes to bed.

Great Pics!
Awesome, I-beam...



Thanks!!

[ionbeam]

...Awesome, I-beam...

Please note that after a quart of single malt ionbeam was deemed to be un-capable of looking through the view finder and pushing the trigger button so moonbeam(??) took the After Dark photos, I only did post photo selection and processing. I wasn't there, I never took part in the debauchery.

[rushes]

...Awesome, I-beam...

Please note that after a quart of single malt ionbeam was deemed to be un-capable of looking through the view finder and pushing the trigger button so moonbeam(??) took the After Dark photos, I only did post photo selection and processing. I wasn't there, I never took part in the debauchery.

[Fred W]

Well, being that Joann and I didn't roll back into the barn until after noon on Sunday, it seems that the 'beams got a head start in editing and posting up their photos.

ionbeam (and Helen)'s pictures are awesome, as is usual for these shutterbugs. They have captured a lot of the beauty of New Brunswick, and of the CFR attendees as well . Joann is still learning the pillion on-the-fly piccy snapping skills from Helen, so we end up with a lot of throw aways. But between the two of us we got a few good ones, considering how primitive our equipment is in comparison. So I won't try to compete with the shots we have that are duplicates, and instead just provide a lame ass photo report (sorry no lame ass videos Wheatie ) of those things that haven't been covered (yet).


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Avant CFR


The Saturday beforehand, Greg (Geezer) and Pawl (thingfish) rode up from Greg's place in the Cats to mi casa in loverly Londonderry, Cow Hampshire to stay with us that night. After plying the boys with a quantity of high octane home-brews and lightly seared beef flesh, we all retired relatively early for a good night's sleep before the ride up to bbdig's digs in Rangeley, ME on Sunday. The plan was for a leisurely 9AM start, but we were all so giddy with anticipation that everyone was up, bright eyed and bushy tailed, and ready to roll by 8! This would be a recurring theme for us on this trip: Who needs to sleep-in when there's FJR riding to be done?


We led the southerners on up along the eastern NH / western Maine border partly because this was the final day of Laconia Bike Week. But also to show the guys some of the more funner back roads that we hit fairly often around these parts. Rte 202 up to Rochester, NH Rte 153 from Wakefield to Conway (much of it recently paved!) a little bit of the Kancamagus Highway, up through Bear Notch Road (which was surprising clear of pirate fags), and up to the top of the Cathedral Ledge in North Conway.










After a light lunch at Elvio's Pizzeria on Rte 16 in North Conway, who have the "Best PIzza North of the Bronx" highly recommended! (HR), we ran over the Hurricane Mountain Road (also HR). Just the one picture showing how goaty the Hurricane is. After this Josie was holding on for dear life as we nearly became airborne over the roller coaster that is the road. Defintely an E-ticket ride.




Next we ran on up Rte 113 thru Evans Notch and then Rte 26 thru Grafton Notch. These are all marked and gated as seasonal roads, not maintained in the winter. When you see that road sign and gate you know that you are in for something good!





We stopped for a short break at Auger Falls in the Grafton Notch park.






Rte 26 takes you on up along the south end of Lake Umbagog to Errol. Along this section we passed a lone cow(?) moose serenely chomping something in a swampy section off the road. She did look up to admire our pretty bikes. Or maybe it was my Hi-Viz jacket that caught her eye? In any case, we missed the photo op, so I guess it never happened.




From the thriving metropolis of Errol it's a straight (but bumpy) shot up Rte 16 to Rangeley Lake. We detoured on up from Oquossoc to the "Height of Land" on Rte 17 for an aerial view of Rangeley Lake and the much bigger, and less populated, Mooselookmeguntic Lake.

Mooselook to the west of the lookout.



Rangeley to the Northeast




We rolled into bbdig's camp just around 5PM, right on time for some awesome bbdig BBQ ribs washed down with ice cold Labatts Blue (to get into the Canadian spirit, don'cha know). There we met up with that character SHAKIN (Ian( who had a head start on us on the Blues. Thanks so very much to the Austins for putting us up on Sunday. They have a wonderful camp in a very quiet little corner of Quimby Pond. We hope to have the opportunity to come by again some time.

Sometime after we had all mowwed down the majority of the rib-fest prepared by Jack and Jane, another Canadian character rolled in named FJRPierre. Oh the stories that Pierre has... Those that know him know exactly from where I speak.

With a 6:30AM departure time, all of us old fogies turned in pretty early. Dawn would come all too soon, if we could only get to sleep. Every night was like being a kid again on the night before Christmas.


Rangely to Ca-Na-Da


Again, everyone was up before the alarm clocks, a quick cup of Joe for the road and we were off to meet the Wizard. A quick breakfast stop at an awesome little diner in Kingfield, ME (bbdig knew of it) then a pleasant ride across Rtes 16, 6 and 1 to St Stephen to meet up with the early arrivers.



After the uneventful border crossing (for us) we found our way to "the Charlotte Mall" (on King Strreet, Mary Ellen). The really funny thing was that as we rolled off the 1 and up to the stop light in front of "the mall" we see MEM leading the others through the light from the other direction. So after riding all the way over from Rangeley, stopping for breakfast, stopping for the last chance of cheap US gas in Indian Township, and being interrogated by the Canadian border patrol on entry, we arrived simultaneously at the rendezvous!!

Other folks have already covered the meet-and-greet pictures, our excellent fried clam lunch at Ossies (the best clams in the world!), and the ride down to picturesque St Andrews. When we approached this place I thought it was the Silverwood Motel:





But alas we rolled right by on the way to the real Silverwood in Fredericton. Let the party begin!!

[FJRGuy]

First ferry ride of the day. the ferries are pulled by cables, seen here as the line running into the water.

Just a point of clarification... ferries are propelled along the cable, not propelled "by" the cable.

Great photos! Always a pleasure to see you! See you in Castlegar in 2012, eh?

[ionbeam]

...Just a point of clarification... ferries are propelled along the cable, not propelled "by" the cable...

Phixed. Tnx.

[Fred W]

CFR Ride Day #1 - Sticky Buns and Big Ass Rocks




The starting line




Ya gotta cross some bridges to get anywhere...






A beautiful ride along the St John river. The water was like glass.







Apparently Bustanut was able to make it to New Brunswick, but he gave us the cold (or was it smoked) shoulder.

For future reference BJ, the phrase "Go Fuck a Stump" is just a figure of speech.








View from the lookout over the far east end of the Bay of Fundy








And then we drop down into Alma, home of Kelley's Bake Shop, with the World's Best Sticky Buns!!













Yeah, buddy!! This is the life...
(John'd left and FJR Forum newcomer "non-fiction" (Joe) on right)







Who 'dat riding into Alma town? Oh, that's just that Bruins hater Bill (yamafitter).





And then on to see the big rocks at low tide. Obligatory overhead shot:






Josie and your's truly posing under "Lover's Arch" (I think it's working...)





Caught some stranger passing under to give it some scale






There is this one "odd" shaped rock that has a certain masculine appearance.




It seems to draw all of the ladies to it like a magnet. And of course, wherever the ladies are, the ever-eligible bachelor Charlie Hoss is drawn as well.
MEM giving Charlie a "hug". Yeah, yeah... that's the ticket!





In one little cave there were a whole bunch of piled up rocks, some sort of groovy mojo thing going down.






AlDawg couldn't resist capturing the mojo for an upcoming lame assed video release.








NJ Pawl (thingfish) struts his stuff on the ocean floor.







Ray explains his plan to solve world hunger in 90 days to Ann Marie.







This mud covered guy was muttering something about "really getting into his photography".





After the return to Freddy, the highlight of the day: Caution... Graphic depiction of major food pr0n follows:









One of the CFR organizers gets busy with the clean up detail







There may have been a few adult beverages consumed in the evening hours. I couldn't say for sure. For the life of me, I just can not recall...

[MEM]

One of the CFR organizers gets busy with the clean up detail







There may have been a few adult beverages consumed in the evening hours. I couldn't say for sure. For the life of me, I just can not recall...

These are GREAT, Fred W and Mrs Fred I've nabbed a few for my own gallery

And the dishwasher? He's the photographer's assistant, Dougie - The Cutest Doggy Ever

[Fred W]

CFR Ride Day #2 - Riding the Fairies


This day's ride was supremely well covered by this lady (Helen) the #1 photographer on the trip:




...and her hubby ionbeam (Alan). So I won't bore you with more (and worser) pictures of the same stuff.

I'll post up some pictures of the Aprez CFR rides in the post started by Yamafitter,



Suffice it to say that a real good time was had by the author and his pillion. Thanks again to the organizers and especially to Mary Ellen for making my first CFR an awesome experience.


Can't wait till next year.

[cota95]

Great pics, I'm sorry that I had to miss this shindig!

[bluejag]

Awsome ride reports! we too are disappointed to have missed this fine event, look's like a great time was had by all (as alway's) Great pic's from the beam's and other's to get a sense of the wonderful locations. Kudo's to MEM For putting together such a event.