Missed Exit Taxes Time and Fuel Capacity

Connecticut Bears in Downingtown, PA. We took the group photo right away because a couple of our bears were beating for home without lunch. I guess Grumpy was still shaken from his missed exit, because this was the best group photo he offered. No worries Thumper, Bernie Walsh caught all of us in the group photo below. Here we are, from left: Thumper, Marco, Pogy, Grumpy, Captain and CT Blogger.

Connecticut Bears at Victory Brewing, from left: Thumper, CT Blogger, Marco, Pogy, Grumpy and Captain.

Polar Bear Motorcycle Blog, Polar Bear Grand Tour, ride to Victory Brewing Company, Downingtown, PA, January 12, 2020.

By: Chris Loynd
Photos by: Grumpy with group photo by Bernie Walsh.

Downingtown is about 40 minutes from my folk's place in Wilmington. So I rode down to visit them on Saturday then rode to the Polar Bear meet Sunday morning. It's a bit of a haul from Connecticut. So I was able to get up a lot later than my compatriots.

Mom and Dad feted me with a dinner at the local Outback Steakhouse. Then I paid for my dinner with about three hours of tech support. Dad changed his password on the internet account. Now Mom's bounced off because she was using his account instead of her own. All she uses is an iPad, which is like trying to manage a giant iPhone. Instead of the keyboard shortcuts I know by heart, I'm trying to navigate a confusing matrix of taps and swipes. I kept Googling answers to questions I never thought I'd be asking. Meanwhile, MSNBC is playing i the background, loud, with an outpouring of angst over a pending impeachment. In the end, Mom's email came flooding back into her iPad. Her apps were apping and Dad was all set two with a few new tricks on his iPhone.

Next morning Mom and I had a quiet breakfast together. She went off to church. I had a short visit with Dad too and then suited up for a too-warm and sunny spring day in January.

Thumper emailed me earlier in the week, saying he wanted to not miss such a beautiful riding day. Since he lives in northern New Jersey, he figured to meet us at the destination.

With the short ride, I was one of the first to arrive at Victory Brewing. I wasn't sure I'd arrived. It's a microbrewery tucked into an office and factory complex. I circled around in the parking lot before finally finding my way to the back and spotting a few bikes. I spotted a Goldwing and RoadGlide and thinking it was my guys, strode confidently into the brewery. No one was there. I walked back out and checked. The bikes had New Jersey plates.

So I stripped off my layers of riding gear and sat on a broken down picnic table soaking in the sun. After a bit of time, Thumper came riding in and circled around me. I thought it was him, but wasn't sure enough in my identification to wave as his bike made some of the same circles I'd just made. He settled on a parking space and walked up.

It was nice. The weather was wonderful. We sat on the picnic table catching up on our lives and expecting the Connecticut crew any minute.

Then Grumpy called on my cell phone. He was leading, up on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, bluetoothing through his helmet. His message was an unhappy one. He had just missed the exit for our location and the next sign he saw said "Next Exit 17 Miles." Yikes!!!

The weather being balmy, Paul and I sat outside chatting pleasantly as bikes came pouring in.

Eventually our boys arrived.

We've all missed an exit or led bikes through a U-turn. But the penalty in time, and fuel consumption, for this one was pretty severe.

I heard later from Captain that when he got gas his GoldWing was nearly empty. On our ride home we got gas for Grumpy and Marco at the first available.

Pogy and Captain signed in and headed directly back home. Marco had my favorite comment, "I didn't ride 200 miles to not eat lunch!"

So Marco, Grumpy, Thumper and CT Blogger hung out for lunch. The food was very good. I especially enjoyed the freshly baked soft pretzel. We all had the homemade root beer.

After a nice lunch and an uneventful ride home and even with a stop at the top of the Garden State Parkway, I still pulled into my driveway just as the sun went down. It was truly a lovely day . . . well at least for me.

Windy Ride

Polar Bear Motorcycle Blog, Polar Bear Grand Tour, ride to Pic-A-Lilli Inn, Shamong, NJ, January 5, 2020.

By: Chris Loynd
Photos by: Grumpy

January's jammin' for me at work, so my blog fell behind. The ride the week before our trek to the epynomous Shamong was cancelled for a surprise problem by the restaurant. It's a shame because it's the closest for us Connecticut bears. The ride will be rescheduled at the end of the season.

At this last day of January I remember little about the ride. Grumpy was lead. It was smooth except for a blustery crosswind. I've written before in this blog about the affect of wind on my high-sitting Honda covered in slabs of plastic.

Everybody was feeling it. And Grumpy took pity on me, especially once we were off the turnpike. The flatlands between Fort Dix and Shamong do little to discourage the wind. It was worse in the morning, better in the afternoon.

We got to Pic-A-Lilli just ahead of the Bucks County HOGs. We were lucky to get our order in ahead of them. They generally show up with a couple of hundred riders and crush the kitchen into a crawl. We had a small table in the center. Marco showed up just as we were ordering. Then the Bucks County riders came in as waiters and busboys put tables together. They took the whole wall of the restaurant, seated at both sides of the table and on the ends.

Marco just missed us for departure. I've done the same myself a time or two. There was one memorable run years ago to central Jersey, a long ride. I did the same as Marco, even a little later, showing up after my guys had ordered.

The restaurant was great as always. The food was good. The service attentive. We told some good stories and skirted around the dangerous edges of political conversations. It was a good time like every Polar Bear run. Enjoy the photos. Oh and the group picture didn't come out.