South Wayne, NJ; February 14, 2010

South Wayne, NJ; February 14, 2010

Hooters? Really? On Valentines Day?

Yeah, it was not the most romantic thing I've ever done. Sorry hon! The Polar Bear calendar just fell that way.

We left extra early, anticipating glacial service based upon our experience with previous Hooters Polar Bear runs. John J. did not get his order until Monday last year. The waitress totally forgot about him. But you know what they say about if only they were brains.

This year our waitress was Crystal. That may be her real name. But I sorta doubt it. Sometimes such working girls assume aliases, I presume to protect their identity or perhaps to be more perky and memorable than their parents designed.

A year ago on my November ride to the Florida Keys I spent a few days in South Beach. One night feeling like a drink at a bar I visited the local strip club. Strip clubs are one of the few bars where a fellow can drink alone and no one things any worse of it.

So this perky girl comes up trying to wheedle more money out of me than my $10 beer. She says her name is “Diamond” and asks me mine. “Is that your real name?” I ask. “Oh yes,” she gushes, “What's your name?” I tell her, “Penurious, but it doesn't mean what you think it does.” She didn't get the writers joke. I thought I was astoundingly clever. But maybe it was just the beer.
One of our guys asked Crystal how she told her dad she was working at Hooters. Her mom thought it was fun, she says, her dad had a harder time accepting it.

As it turns out, Crystal was attentive and the kitchen not all that slow. We filled in the wait with fried pickles, something new to all of us. Reviews were mixed, but I liked them.

Of course I have not had anything deep fried that I did not like.

I saw this guy on the food channel once. They were running a show all about fried food. So this one chef down south, Texas maybe, decides to deep fat fry bacon., He was talking about how he had to get special, thickly-cut bacon so it would not disintegrate in the fryolator. Then he suspends several slices with toothpicks, breads the whole and drops it into the fryer.

That sounded about as fattening as could be to me. But this chef says something was missing still. Eventually he figured it out and amended his dish. He perfected the flavor by serving his deep fat fried bacon with gravy.

Hooters is the shortest run on the calendar for the Connecticut Bears. With our early departure we arrived at our destination before 11:00. Even so, there were bikes in the parking lot. Guess some guys just can't get enough orange.

It was only moderately cold, in the high twenties. If you think about it, 10 degrees does make a difference. Last week's 18 seemed a whole lot colder than this week's 28. Somehow you expect it to mean less in winter. In summer the difference between 80 and 90 degrees is certainly noticeable.

Grumpy and Nic had the lead. Token2 was sweep. In the cradle we had Captain, Fonz, Pogy and yours truly, CT Blogger.

Fonz and Pogy are quickly becoming regulars. And so every year, little by little, the mania spreads.

Pogy will sign up next year. We will make sure to get him in before Bob Hartpence cuts off admission. Fonz joined us early enough to squeak under the 550 bear quota.

We discussed plans for Daytona. Some of Grumpy's buds are dropping out, mostly because of the economy. One lost a job, another had his vacation time restricted. Times are still very tough out there.

And when the times get tough, the tough go on vacation.

I was discussing my plans to go early to a convention in Los Angeles. When I commented on how long the flight is, poor Pogy almost choked on his fried pickle. He handles international business accounts for Sikorsky, peddling helicopters around the globe. I think he said the Sultan of Brunei was a client.

As Pogy said, when he gets to San Francisco he figures that's the homeward leg, short hop to the East Coast.

In Los Angeles. I have an IMAX movie convention to attend the week after our next Polar Bear run.. So I figured to take a bit of vacation time the week after our Valentines Hooters run. I rented a Harley Road Glide at LAX and toured the Pacific Coast Highway.

I can post on BlogSpot, text only. The photo enhanced blog on my own site requires software not carried in my little netbook. I may post a few stories from the left coast too. So subscribe to this blog if you want the earliest updates, or wait until I get home for the photo enhanced version, or read both.

This is the first Polar Bear blog post I have posted more than a week late. Sorry guys.

I have been happily riding around California and will post those stories too.

Meanwhile, I am sorry I missed you last week. Somebody send me a story, Token2?

I get back in, hopefully, in time to at least post your stuff before the Sunday ride to the Firehouse Eatery. If all goes well, I plan to join you on that ride.

Departure time should be 9:30. MapQuest says just two hours to the destination, 87 miles one way.

Bart and John J.: I know you are following this blog and so will receive an automatic notification when it posts. If you like, share with our other regulars how they can read this entry if they wish. And please send out an e-mail to our core group for departure time, although they can likely figure it out on their own!

Hope to see you Sunday.

Enjoy! I am.