First Annual NE Clam Chowda Ride

[MEM]

Home again, home again, Jiggity jig - at 1850h Sunday. "zip" - was that YOU I met on Rte 1 about 35 miles north of Ellsworth ?

Gosh, it was GREAT to be able to put some faces and 'real' names to the Forum characters !

FredW - thank you! for all the work you put into making this happen. Thank goodness for your GPS

De Oppresso - it sucks to be you. Well, not really. But you get my drift It was a great weekend. I'm glad you posted up about your visit to Allisons back in ... December ? so we could dream up this gig! You did lots of work, too - so thank YOU, too.

22 (?) bikes bikes (one Hardly and a BMW; I think the rest were FJRs) riding in <mostly> formation on Friday - it was a beautiful sight ! And, amazingly enough, for the most part we were able to stay together. Many times, vehicles would yield to all of us at stop signs

Few of my pics:

The Axeman's beach find at a lighthouse stop - don't recall which one. He was quite pleased with it. The "find" - not the lighthouse:

This is Gus. He likes bikes but isn't riding yet:

Lighthouse at Fort Williams

Bus parking at Fort Williams

The bikes at Fort Williams

The group shot on Friday - with people missing. Apologies to: BigOgre (Michael) and HD (Dave - not a Forum member; HD = Harley Davidson ) to name two. Some people arrived for only the Saturday ride: Canadian FJR (Scott) and Donnie who did the Maine400 Rally on Friday, Zip (Barry), and 08FJR4ME (Dave & Ann) - are the ones who come immediately to mind.

OK - since Sacramento Mike likes names, let's see how accurate I am here: L to R: S76 (Bob) & his SO - Sarah ?? (shoot! - I'm off to a great start ), Martin (TheAxeman's bro), Zooomm (Jim) & herfjr (Iris), NS Rider (Kevin), Sullivan (Dan), Charlie Hoss (Charlie) & Arlene, bluejag (John) & Gail, Confused here since I thought this might be cota 95 (George) & Marcia, FJReady (Russ) & Sarah, Fred W (Fred - duh) & Joann, Ionbeam (Alan) & Helen. Front row: Bob (Baddog's friend), Baddog (Karl), yours truly and The Axeman (Chris). Would someone please fill in the blanks for me? and send along a slap. I'm SO bad with names...

Here are BigOgre (Michael) & his Harley-riding friend, Dave - since they missed the group shot:

Portland traffic SUCKS!

Canadian FJR waxing nostalgic to BigOgre about Thursday night. Don't ask. We implemented a "what happens on the NE Clam Chowda Ride STAYS on the NE Clam Chowda Ride" policy.

Scott DID kind of promise me a Robusto (cigar you wankers). He blamed me for making it soggy

HD placing a late-night SOS to Gypsy

Hangin' at the Bar Harbor Motel

2 of my riding buddies Sunday morning - at Sand Beach on the Park Loop Road in Acadia National Park (Bar Harbor)

Approaching Northeast Harbor

I'm sure there are LOTS of other photos to be posted. I didn't have my camera on a lanyard for this ride so I missed MANY great shots. Next year.....

 

[NSrider]

Home again, home again, Jiggity jig - at 1850h Sunday. "zip" - was that YOU I met on Rte 1 about 35 miles north of Ellsworth ?
Gosh, it was GREAT to be able to put some faces and 'real' names to the Forum characters !

FredW - thank you! for all the work you put into making this happen. Thank goodness for your GPS

De Oppresso - it sucks to be you. Well, not really. But you get my drift It was a great weekend. I'm glad you posted up about your visit to Allisons back in ... December ? so we could dream up this gig! You did lots of work, too - so thank YOU, too.

22 (?) bikes bikes (one Hardly and a BMW; I think the rest were FJRs) riding in <mostly> formation on Friday - it was a beautiful sight ! And, amazingly enough, for the most part we were able to stay together. Many times, vehicles would yield to all of us at stop signs

Few of my pics:

2 of my riding buddies Sunday morning - at Sand Beach on the Park Loop Road in Acadia National Park (Bar Harbor)

I'm guessing that when you took this pic I was still waiting for you at the bottom of Park loop rd and route 233.

 

[FJReady]

Mary Ellen,

That's me to Fred's right with my hand on my bride's (Sarah) shoulder.

Sure was a great day. I wish we could have done the whole weekend.

Russ

 

[MEM]

Few of my pics:
I'm guessing that when you took this pic I was still waiting for you at the bottom of Park loop rd and route 233.

Oh crap. SO sorry, Kev

Mary Ellen,
That's me to Fred's right with my hand on my bride's (Sarah) shoulder.

Sure was a great day. I wish we could have done the whole weekend.

Russ

That's great -thanks, Russ. Fixed it

Maybe you'll be able to do the whole weekend NEXT year !

 

[Canadian FJR]

I can't figure out exactly why but I seem to be a little more tired after this trip then most.

Time to go wash my poor old bike.

Canadian FJR

 

[cota95]

You forgot that my wife Marcia was riding a Vstar...and I missed the group pic also.

 

[Panman]

Looked fun, some day I need to get to the other coast!

 

[Fred W]

FredW - thank you! for all the work you put into making this happen. Thank goodness for your GPS

MaryEllen, I'll be the first to admit it: If it weren't for the modern majik of GPS, this weekend's ride would not have happened. At least not with me leading it. I pre-rode the Friday route, but not Saturday's. Did you feel like a Guinea Pig?

I mean, who else can say they have seen that rural part of Boothbay Harbor? At least there were no water crossings...

By the way, Chris discovered his "treasure" on the beach by the Lobstah Shack at Two Lights.

And in the group photo, I believe that the fella impersonating Cota95 to the right of Marcia (in the blue checkered shirt) is bbdig from Lynnfield?

He rode with us only on Friday.

 

[MEM]

MaryEllen, I'll be the first to admit it: If it weren't for the modern majik of GPS, this weekend's ride would not have happened. At least not with me leading it. I pre-rode the Friday route, but not Saturday's. Did you feel like a Guinea Pig?
I mean, who else can say they have seen that rural part of Boothbay Harbor? At least there were no water crossings...

No worries. All those dead-ends were good practice for making u-turns in tight spaces. The hairiest was the first one when I ended up in Neutral (?! :blink: ) halfway through the turn and then had to put it in gear & cut hard to avoid that foot-deep drain grate!

 

[bluejag]

Huge thanks to Fred /CJ and all who made this a great start to the season It was great to meet everyone and have some fun

Sorry Gail and I had to bail early, Very nice ride home with Alan ,Helen, George and Marcia!! :yahoo: Thanks Alan for the tourguide home! Told them at work today Next ride... Dont even think about callin me LOL (some pics to follow)

 

[zip]

"zip" - was that YOU I met on Rte 1 about 35 miles north of Ellsworth ?

That WAS me waving enthusiastically, Mary Ellen! I had just made a sprint up to Eastport, having never been there before, and thinking I wanted to see the furthest east town in the USA. The drive was not all that fun, but the food was good... once the town actually opened at noon. ("The town" is accurate... see photos I'll post shortly.)

Hope you had a good ride home!

 

[MEM]

"zip" - was that YOU I met on Rte 1 about 35 miles north of Ellsworth ?

That WAS me waving enthusiastically, Mary Ellen! I had just made a sprint up to Eastport, having never been there before, and thinking I wanted to see the furthest east town in the USA. The drive was not all that fun, but the food was good... once the town actually opened at noon. ("The town" is accurate... see photos I'll post shortly.)

Hope you had a good ride home!

It was, indeed, an enthusiastic wave!! But we were both travelling so fast, I didn't clue in quick enough to reciprocate

 

[08FJR4ME]

A big "thank you" to those who worked hard in putting this ride together.

Here are some of the pic's. from my camera, Kodak easy share Z740 and my wifes cannon SD1200 IS.

My nephew Chris and my wife Ann on Saturday morning before heading out. Chris lives in Falmouth ME

and rides a BMW. He joined us for the first half of the ride on Saturday and then had to head home.



Chris's Bimmer on the right.



Breakfast at Mae's, and some of the group







They are still using Glass prisms



Riding over Fort Knox Bridge, You can go up to the top of the towers that are supporting the

bridge. They just finished building this bridge. Kooool.







After reaching the Motel in Bar Harbor we threw our stuff in the room and decided we just couldn't

waist such a beautiful day. So instead of eating with the group we headed back out. We new we

weren't going to get any riding time in on Sunday Since it was a 7 hr. ride home.

Late evening pic's. with the sun starting to set soon.











Is there a software to get rid of that stupid date?





















You can't help but love this country and all it stands for. In closing remember those who have

protected her and remember our hero's this coming weekend. "Memorial Day"

Dave & Ann

 

[SacramentoMike]

Is there a software to get rid of that stupid date?

Great shots; very artistic. You both are very good with your cameras. Except, of course, for the "setting the date" function and the "turning off the date" function. Somewhere in that thick, five-language manual I suppose.

 

[TheAxeman]

Martin and I got back home about 7:30 tonight. Couldn't have been nicer weather or better riding friends.....

 

[08FJR4ME]

That's a long hawl for a 650GS. I hope you took it easy on him.

Dave

 

[jmarran]

Dave - outstanding pictures .. from the future!!!

I soooooo wish I was there. Next time.

 

[DE OPPRESSO LIBER]

De Oppresso - it sucks to be you. Well, not really. But you get my drift It was a great weekend.

Yes, Mary Ellen, it does. :glare: No, really, thanks for pointing that out. :glare:

Just kiddin' MEM! I don't have enough words to articulate the true sadness and regret for having to have missed out on this ride. From all the posts/pics, it looks as though it turned out exactly as I had imagined it would when I was planning it.

I'm glad you posted up about your visit to Allisons back in ... December ? so we could dream up this gig! You did lots of work, too - so thank YOU, too.

Aw, shucks. Thanks. :blushing: But if I haven't said it yet, a big thanks to Fred for helping with the mapping. I was having a few tough times till I got some tutoring from him. After that, it was MUCH smoother, and it was fun to collaborate with him on making up the routes. (Though I don't recall any U-turns being discussed! :bleh: )

 

[zip]

Had a great time, all! Sincere thanks to CJ for inspiring the trip and to Fred for terrific leadership at the sharp end as always!

Despite my missteps on Friday (a battery problem that delayed me catching you all...), I had an absolute blast on the trip. I arrived home from Bar Harbor on Monday at 2pm exactly after a six-hour sprint home on Route 1 and 95. To make things exciting, after splitting with Bob & Hope at the end of the Acadia peninsula, I had a full-locking ABS moment with a pickup truck driver paying no attention nearly turning in front of me. Convinced that without the dayglo, I would've been seriously hurt. Have I ever mentioned dayglo?)

In this pic, I was about 30 miles behind the group, and once again, the FJR simply wouldn't start. I push started the thing, and rode directly to Reynolds Motorsports for a new battery. I like the service department at this dealership. A new battery was the solution (though Alan tells me I've still got a small power draw somewhere...)

Departing Mae's. Everyone's experiencing a bit of a blood sugar euphoria here. The Lobster Benedict was plate-licking awesome.

The stop at bucolic Booth Bay Harbor.

Crossing the big ol' bridge at Fort Knox/Bucksport.

0

A bunch of hooligans spoiling the pristinity* of some small town in Maine. Camden? (*But not as much as, say, a bunch of loud-ass Harleys...)

A nice shot of the Margaret Todd and Bar Harbor Inn.

Downtown Bar Harbor. Love this little theater.

Fjriends at the Bar Harbor Motel: JoAnn, Fred, Hope & Bob.

Loved the trip and getting to meet all of you. Looking forward to the Whites & Greens ride! Seeya soon!