Mansions among Boulders & a New Take on Chicken Pot Pie

Lake Hoptacong CT Bears, from left: Token2, Mac, Anonymous Ed, Anonymous Anonymous, CT Blogger, John J., Captain. I had wife Cynthia sew this season's gold rocker on my vest and so had to wear it for the photo; 15 years riding Polar Bear for me so far.

Motorcycle Polar Bear Blog, Polar Bear Grand Tour, ride to Lake Hopatcong, NJ, January 29, 2017.

By: Chris Loynd, a.k.a. CT Blogger

Approaching our Stratford, CT, Dunkin' Donuts launch pad I had the overwhelming feeling I'd forgotten something. As I turned into the parking lot I looked down at my handlebars and noticed the GPS mount was empty. Ah, ha!

Pulling up to our group I pointed to the blank mount and told Captain I couldn't lead this week. He made me no nevermind; alternative arrangements were already made. "I'm leading until we pick up Token2, John J. is sweeping, you're in the rocking chair," Captain dictated.

John J.'s appearance means just two things: 1) there's no football on TV and 2) there's no salt on the roads. As it turned out today, only the first condition held true. Sorry John. Hopefully those small town roads were only covered in sodium chloride, not magnesium.

(Monday Cynthia and I drove down to Newtown, Penn. for a family matter. On the way down, and back, we several times got stuck behind state trucks spraying that magnesium crap onto the roadway directly in front of us, all day long, in Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, all for a couple inches of snow predicted for Tuesday. I stayed back from the trucks as far as I could but yikes! At 10:00 that night I washed the car then soaked it in SaltAway.)

Sunday as we motorcycled south on I-95 we had another bike unexpectedly drop into line, a rider whose name cannot be publicly mentioned. Next, Token2 was on the shoulder of I-287 waiting for us. He roared, no, wait, that's a Harley metaphor. He zinged to the front of our line and took the lead.

Token2 is our champion of alongside the interstate. I don't know if he's ridden all these roads before or if he's just very adept with his GPS. He knows Harriman State Park like the back of his hand and leads us through that epic scenery on Polar Bear runs when the destination's right.

Sunday we followed Token2 as he exited I-287 early, diving into a gorgeous slice of New Jersey. We rode tight and twisty roads up and down hills. Surrounding us were huge rock outcrops and fields of boulders. Interspersed with the boulders and hanging off outcrops were mansion after mansion. I am not using that moniker recklessly. Some were California style modern architecture literally suspended out from the cliffs.

Token2 delivered some of his signature two lane twisties. Up and down hills, around tight corners and through some serious scenery, Token2 did not disappoint. But it being winter, we pressed back onto the four lane highways to get to lunch and Polar Bear sign-in in time to get home before sunset.

Our host Upstream Grille did a fabulous job. Other bears must have adopted our EDP because there was a real rush soon after 11:00. The Upstream Grille staff set up long tables family style to make maximum use of their space. In addition they had a special Polar Bear menu of a hearty half-dozen choices. This keeps the kitchen efficient and reduces wait time. They missed only on keeping the coffee urn full.

I mistakenly bought two lunches. They had an onion soup and gumbo listed, then chicken pot pie, a hamburger, pulled pork sliders and a couple others I don't remember. A couple of our guys ordered the onion soup; I figured on a cup of gumbo "soup" instead. But it wasn't a cup. I ended up with a big bowl of gumbo loaded with sausage and topped with crawfish. It was delicious. Then for my "entree" I, and several others, enjoyed a really cool chicken pot pie.

Upstream Chefs did a very interesting take on chicken pie. You got an individual cast iron skillet filled with a soupy chicken and veggies topped with a beautiful puff pastry. Especially fortunate for me, juggling two meals, the iron skillet kept the chicken hot longer. And as Mac discovered, once you cut the puff pastry into the soupy chicken and veggies, you had a chicken pot pie with an incredibly flaky and light crust. Well played, Upstream, well played.

Aquacise

Lake Hoptacong riders, from left: Princess, Captain, Pogy, Token2.

Motorcycle Polar Bear Blog, ride to Upstream Grill, Lake Hoptacong, NJ, January 17, 2016.

Editor's Note:  Battling a heavy-duty cold, and thinking riding in the rain would make it worse, I skipped the ride to Lago in North Brunswick. Token2 offered the summary below. Chris Loynd.

By: John Howard, a.k.a. Token2

The ride out to Lake Hopatcong is only around 100 miles but with EDP in full effect departure was set for 9am. Of course the ying to the yang of early departure is early arrival and as I left home to meet the group the GPS predicted an arrival of 10.48 am. EDP certainly relieves the pressure to roll on the throttle which was truly beneficial today. Conditions were appalling, heavy rain, water ponding on road surfaces  with blankets of mist and fog descending at times. The silver lining, temperatures started at 50°F and topped out at 60°F.

We were few in number; Capt rode solo to Norwalk picking up Pogy and then T2 in Westchester, where Token 2 took up the lead. CT Blogger unexpectedly bailed out on this ride. At lunch vicious rumors began to circulate that the founding CT Bear had  contracted hydrophobia. They were quickly squashed by The Captain, who confirmed a different medical affliction was the cause of Mr. Loynd’s absence.

Princess decided  to go solo to shorten her ride, which was sensible given the dismal conditions, aiming to meet up at the Upstream Grill. Without the protection of her customary honor guard of outriders it seems she decided to ride in cognito, donning everyday rain gear and yet another new helmet, this one unadorned with bling. It would of course be wrong for Royalty to knowingly mix with commoners, so on reflection her actions were prudent.

Given the conditions the riders originating from CT held a modest pace of around 55mph travelling I287, I80 to Rt 15N. Traffic was mercifully light. The only slow down occurred about 2 miles north of the I80 exit due to a pickup truck that had rolled over. NJ Troopers were in attendance leaving only the inside lane open. Fortunately, it looked like the driver was unharmed from the accident as he was standing next to the vehicle. Truth be told he didn’t look like the sharpest knife in the drawer and was probably approaching brain death before he got behind the wheel.

It was remarkable how many cars were driving at speed with no {expletive deleted} lights on. Good grief what are these people thinking? Silly me, they aren’t thinking. They probably say the same about guys and gals on motorcycles.

We arrived at the destination around 11 am and were the #4,5 &6 bikes on the lot. Let it be known that Joanne was bike #3 and was on the only Harley present at the time. There we not many bikes in the lot at Noon, though attendance by car was decent.

Evidently Captain’s Wing really liked the riding conditions, on arrival it decided take an unauthorized stroll  by starting to roll off the side stand. Capt’s cries for assistance were matched by quick action from T2 (self-preservation so as not to be pinned between Capt’s and Pogy’s Wings) and Pogy (preservation of his Wing,  so the only scratch on it remains the one delivered by Mac a year or two ago).  It is a relief to report that the grubby white Wing stayed upright.  Pogy gave Capt a stiff MSF lecture about ‘always, always, ALWAYS put your bike in gear when parking’; only when the rained started to pour again did Pogy’s harangue subside.

We were so early the staff at the Grill wiped the sleep from their eyes  before advising us that this year there was a $10 buffet for the Bears that would open at 11.30 am. It was a good spread. Princess liked it. Don’t be fooled by the salad camouflage artfully placed over the mound of penne vodka; chili; sausage, pepper and onions. I think there was a chicken wing or two hiding under there as well. Joanne picked up the lunch tab (thank you!) but I advised her that buying lunch would have no bearing on documenting her plated lunch in the ride report.

While lunching Pogy had a wardrobe question (as one often does at lunch) relating to the purpose of the rear zipper on his riding pants. It was clear quick resolution was warranted before he went to the bathroom in order to avoid a potentially life changing misunderstanding. Demonstration of the ability to zip it to the corresponding zip in a riding jacket brought relief to all. Suggestions that my jacket be zipped to his pants, with us in them,  to create a kind of grotesque CTPB Siamese Twin were deftly side stepped. It was the second wardrobe revelation of the day for Pogy; prior to riding he was delighted to find a riding hood sewn into his FirstGear Jacket. A good find on this wettest of days.

Not to be left out of the wardrobe discussion Princess declared she was not wearing pants. Overcoming the effects of nearly choking on a bite of burger it seemed to all assembled that she did in fact have pants on. This is a family blog so the details Joanne added in explanation cannot be reproduced here. We also learned she is a massage therapist. Hmm, Joanne, the weekend Princess….definitely a CTPB keeper…anyone care to second that?

With lighter rain forecast for the return ride the CTPB’s once again had the pleasure of royal company. The sun even came out for a fleeting ‘hello’ before being quickly pushed aside by dark clouds and more rain. The ride north was uneventful, though we witnessed another couple of cars spun out.

We pulled in for an early stop at the top of the GSP. Over coffee and chocolate it was astonishing to listen to Princess and Captain converse. What became apparent is that Princess really is from Venus and clearly a Martian cannot understand a word of Venetian. A single, seemingly simple question and equally straight forward answer evolved into a 5 minute back and forth. I must remember to bring a Babel Fish on next week’s ride, it should be helpful to those in the group who are not multilingual.

Still no sign of ‘Old Glory’ on the cranes at the Tappan Zee II bridge construction. Can it be that Pogy is losing his pull? At least we could see the top of the cranes on the way home.