There is a sad irony about living on this island. Unless you're a resident of the town the beaches are located in, most of the time, you can't get near the water. 'No Stopping or Standing without a Permit', 'Residents of xxx only. Sticker Required'

Nowhere was this more evident than when we hopped on the ferry over to take a peek around Shelter and Ram Island. Membership has its privileges, I suppose.

2 dorks in love

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I woke up to overcast skies. My motorcycle sat alone in the hotel parking lot near Killington, Vermont. Its a familiar lot that is so often filled with the smiles, bikes and happy faces of my riding friends. Today it was me all alone. I was going to go ride the Mount Washington Auto Road. That would be one more tick off of my life's To-Do List.

I turned on the Ipod and shoved off at about 6:30 am.

Vermont seems to be a rolling succession of picturesque little towns and villages that proudly line their main street with American flags on every telephone pole. It really harkens to a seemingly long forgotten piece of innocent America.

Between these small towns is a weathered yet charming string of farms and rural homesteads. I quietly wonder how people are so lucky to have the strength to choose a life that appears to be so much less cluttered on the surface. I don't want to know the reality of what their lives are like, i want my dream.

Meandering east, I cross into New Hampshire.

Sometimes you know you're walking this world on your own, don't you?

According to Roadside America, Warren, NH is the only town that apparently has a Redstone Rocket on display. Goshalmighty, if that isn't reason enough to stop for visit, I don't know what is!

Fog on the Kanc.
I set the ole self-timer on the camera and also took a pic of myself standing there. But being the buffoon I am, I somehow managed to capture myself doing what appears to be 'The Robot' in my raingear. Perhaps if I'm feeling masochistic later I will post it up.

Here it is. My moment of glory!

This is as far as I made it up the Auto Road.

The very nice lady at the tollbooth sheepishly walked over and said, 'I'm sorry, honey. We're closed to bikers today.'  It took about 20 seconds for what she was saying to register in my brain. Apparently after Laconia Bike Week, the dirt road had become degraded and unsafe to bikes and was being repaired. 

So... I visited Mount Washington from across the street over a turkey sandwich. Typical.

There it is, up in the clouds. So close, yet so far.

I called Kenny and gave him the lowdown on my aborted summit attempt. He kind of chuckled and said, 'Of Course.' As i stood there looking at the mountain, the weather began to roll and tumble.

Maximus: 'At my signal, unleash hell!'
And it did. The rain dogged me all day from this point on. This was the last pic I took trying to escape the onslaught.

There were so many spots I rolled past and said, 'I'll snap a pic on the way back.' It proved to be foolish on my part.  The thunder and lightning kept me moving. Lesson learned...maybe.

Moments in time are fleeting. Stop and smell the roses.

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...a little rain must fall.

The steam rolled along the blacktop, slicking up the already treacherous tar-snakes of Mass. Route 23.

Thursday afternoon I packed up my tankbag and headed north to Vermont. I seemed to be chasing the tail of the rain and was thankful I hadn't caught up to it yet.

Of course, when I go thinking... that's when things all end up going south. This was pretty much the last I saw of the sun for the next 24 hours.

...to be continued.

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I've been to Sleep.
Figuratively and literally it would seem.
Did you miss me?

It has been a strange spring. I've done almost no riding at all due to peculiar circumstances that seem to be circling around like a storm.

Good old dealer-service incompetence rendered me stuck on the side of the road instead of on my way to ride the passes of West Virginia. My trip to the Gap earlier this spring looked like this:

This was shortly before my dead bike was dropped and I had my mouth and face redecorated by the heel of a boot. I ended up with that bee-stung lip look a la Angelina Jolie minus the sex appeal, the hot body and well... the Angelina Jolie everything.  My mouth was more along the lines of looking like I'd kissed a curling iron. I was just glad to walk away with all of my teeth still connected to my head. Now I wish I let someone take a picture of my blood covered face for posterity. ::sigh:: Good Times.

My bike was left in Pa. at Hermy's BMW/Triumph where the most gracious dealer ever worked so very hard to undo all the things that went wrong. All in all, I didn't see my bike for a couple weeks.

Fast forward to weekends where I just couldn't get time or it rained and then.. WHAMMO! Back injury that kept me at home and hobbled. So, all these weeks later, I've just got myself back together. But, as things always do, its getting better. I took my first ride today.

I needed a mental health day, so I took a day off from work and headed out for the day. In hindsight, I think that at a little over 400 miles roundtrip, my destination proved to be a bit further than I should've gone first time back in the saddle. But, as my darling boy says, I'll ride people 'til they are almost starved or about to keel over. I just get going and can't stop moving forward. Today was no different but I punished only myself. By the time I was about 20 miles from home, I was fit to be tied. I just wanted off that bike. When your back is bothering you, it affects everything. There is no escape from the discomfort. I don't know what I was thinking. The truth is, I probably wasn't when I rolled out of the house at 5:30am. I'm glad I went out anyway.

I trundled over to the town of Jim Thorpe, Pa. Walked around a little, took in some of the sights and still managed to make it back home in time to get my little one off the bus in the afternoon.

So... glad to be back.
And I just want to tell the gypsy who has clearly put a hex on me, 'I'm sorry for whatever it is I've done. Please leave me alone now.'

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Saw this over on MCN - great vid of the RC30, RC45 and OW01 @ IOM, celebrating 100 years of the TT.

Check it out: MCN Vid

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