The Cabin Again

CT Polar Bears, from left, Fonz, Captain, Anonymous Ed and Thumper.

Motorcycle Polar Bear Blog, Polar Bear Grand Tour, ride to The Cabin, again, Howell, N.J., January 28, 2018.

Editor's Note: Unfortunately one of our Polar Bear destinations, The Upstream Grill, closed before we could get there. So the Grand Tour ride coordinators found us berth at The Cabin, site of our pre-Christmas toy run, these many years.

By: Captain

Photos courtesy of Polar Bear Photographer Bernie Walsh

I arrived at the DD at 0815 for coffee. At 0900 Anonymous Ed showed up. He would be leading the ride today but alas his GPS would not accept the address, he even tried 3x. Pogy called at 0910 to wish us a safe ride as he was unable to come due to prior obligation.

We departed the DD at 0928 with me in the lead. Heading south we passed a rider sleeping on the shoulder of I-95 southbound, it was the Fonz. Continued south with Fonz as sweep and arrived at the Cabin at 1127. It rained all the way.

Fonz and Anonymous got the table and I went to check-in. As we settled in for our meal who showed up but Thumper. He looked great and all grown up. We left about 1230 got gas then headed north on the GSP at warp speed. The rain stopped near the top and I was home at 1441.

CT Bears arriving, Captain, Anonymous Ed and Fonz.

Thumper astride a BMW. For those who are not regular blog followers, Thumper was one of Chris' motorcycle students and decided to join us last season. His job situation changed and we haven't seen much of him. He earned his nickname riding a single cylinder motorcycle that first season. He lives in Jersey now and we hope to see him at more rides.

For motorcyclists always good to have a friend with a truck

CT Bears from left, Captain, Pogy and behind Pogy, Anonymous Ed making Pogy look like he has hair.

Motorcycle Polar Bear Blog, Polar Bear Grand Tour, ride to Pic-a-Lilli Inn, Freehold, N.J., January 21, 2018.

By: Pogy

Photos courtesy of PB Photographer Bernie Walsh

Talked to the Captain at 0730 and it looked like it was going to be just the two
of us. But when he picked me up at the truck stop at 0820 Anonymous Ed was with
him.

I led the pack this week with Ed as tail gunner. Our ride down thru NY,over the GWB and down the NJ tnpk was uneventful with very little traffic.We made such good time that we arrived at the Pic-A-Lilli at 1030, half anhour ahead of schedule.

No problem getting a table. We had lunch, signed in at 11:30 and headed outthe door.  The place was packed by this time. We got someone to take ourpicture ( Ed's hiding) and while suiting up Ed indicated to us that his bikewasn't rolling well. No @%&$%!, he had a flat rear tire.

After some discussion, Ed indicated that he would be fine and we were to depart.John and I discussed the route home and it was decided that if there wasn'ta lot of traffic by 1300 we would go home over the GWB, which we did. Onlystipulation I had was that John take over the lead at the bridge because Idon't know the back way to I95. The ride was uneventful and I was home by1430.

Both John and I called Ed to see how he was making out and without boringall with the details, in the end a friend of his ran down to Jersey with atruck and picked him and the bike up. After getting home, Ed brought thetire to the shop. A puncture wound to the tire, source unknown. Tire fixedand the bike is back on the road.

Not a bad ride, weather was good, and one way or another we all got homeunscathed.
 Till next time, ride safe,Pog

Can't tell if they're coming' or goin' but them's our boys!

First Riding Ride of the New Year

CT Polar Bears, from left, Fonz, Anonymous Ed, Captain and Pogy down front.

Motorcycle Polar Bear Blog, Polar Bear Grand Tour, ride to Rhodes North Tavern, January 14, 2018.

By Pogy:

Today was the first ride of the new year due to holidays and crappy weather.

Talked to the Capt at 0945 - he was at DD all alone drinking his coffee -nobody had shown up yet so I told him I would call back before his departure(10:30) when I did call back, twice, he didn't answer so I figured he waspre occupied, so I suited up and departed the house at 10:32 and 19 degreesF.  At about 10:50, the Capt and anonymous Ed picked me up at the rest stop.

This was a short ride today for us all - just over 100 miles RT.  The Capttook the lead (over 75mph at times) and got us to Rhodes just at 11:30.  Weno sooner park and who shows up? The Fonz, turns out that he was workingand got out at the last minute so he soloed down the pike to meet us.
The four of us had a nice breakfast, took a group picture, saddled up, hitthe road and I was home by 1345.  Temp never got over 23 but the skies wereclear with no snow or rain

Thanks for leading today Capt -  
Ride Safe and see yawl next week

Pog

Leader or Follower?

CT Polar Bears Pogy, left, and Captain, right, together again at The Cabin.

Motorcycle Polar Bear Blog, Polar Bear Grand Tour, ride to The Cabin, December 17, 2017.

By Pogy:

Today's ride was to the Cabin in Howell New Jersey. The Captain picked me up at 0950 in Darien (just the two of us today) Chris met The Captain at the DD but didn't ride. (Chris borrowed a bit of space in Captain's Gold Wing Tour Pack to carry Chris' unwrapped toy to the Cabin.)

 The ride down to NY was ok - a little concerned about black ice at the bottom of the GWB but little issue when we got there. I was lead today, went down the NJ tnpk to exit 11 and hooked into the Garden state.

I knew we needed to exit at 100A. Just as we approached the exit I saw The Captain take 100B and I'm thinking to myself he went wrong because we need to exit at 100A - DA!!!! As I rolled a few feet further the GPS informed me that the old "A" was now the New "B." Crap! He was right and I was wrong.

I knew at this point that I was going to take some lip from him when we got to the Cabin. So I got off and made my way back and to "B" and there he was waiting for me.

The rest of the ride to the Cabin was uneventful, until we got there. We no sooner got our helmets off and The Good Captain didn't let me down. After being harassed verbally, we kissed and hugged and had a nice lunch and were back in the saddle by 1300.

The ride back was great - we didn't hit any traffic - Not on the GS, 287 or 95, home by 1530.

This will be the last report of the year since we won't ride for the next two weeks due to Christmas and New Years. Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year!

Pog

MORE . . .

Readers, if you are interested, Chris (a.k.a. CT Blogger) touched off an email exchange, initially about riding, when he scolded Captain for leaving his leader. But it soon took a political bent, as things tend to do these days.

Chris wrote:

We need to have a serious discussion about mutiny. Russ Curtis would have followed me up a tree if I was leading and headed that way. Isn’t it better to keep the group together?

Thanks for the support. Sorry I couldn’t make it,Chris

T2 threw gasoline on the fire:

Shocking, absolutely shocking departure in group riding protocol. That said we are living in a world where conventional protocols have been discarded and alternative facts rule the day.

Still I struggled with the news of today's CT PB's ride . Tortured and conflicted I contacted Kellyanne Conway and she advised that two participants doesn't qualify to make it a group ride, so all is good😊.


Have a good Christmas one and all.
T2 (marooned in Virginia)

Captain complained:

I'm surrounded by "Liberal Progressives"!

Token is like a gorilla fighter, jumps out takes a shot than back down the rabbit hole.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.
John K. aka:Captain


T2 replied:

Well I have to pop out once in a while....now I don't get the Obama era circulating patriot emails or a chance to kick the tires over Sunday lunch. Talking of which I have not seen 'the sky is falling due to the national debt' emails. In fact I anticipate the term 'national debt' to be banned along with 'climate change', 'evidence based', 'science based' and so forth, unless it is accompanied by the term 'Democrat driven' either before or after use of the term. In the event you are confronted with a discussion about tax reform (aka. Trumpola - which I am loving by the way)  the term 'increased national debt' should be challenged and replaced with 'managed borrowing for national security reasons'. 

Don't disappoint me now.....

Back to the bunny warren.

T2

Oh, and it was the toy run. A very Happy Christmas

(in deference to our English buddy).