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New England Fall Rally This Year

26K views 161 replies 18 participants last post by  richnct 
#1 ·
Sometime mid September we'll be opening the cabin in Brookfeld, Vt for three days for the every other year fall rally. Nice time to ride the rural roads of New England and chew the fat on the porch looking over the valley. The families are back from their driving vacations and the leaf peepers are not out yet. The early fall weather can be energizing. Food and lodging back in the hills off the main roads, always a good time for the dozen or so chaps who can find it. 'Lectricity, running water, casual not fancy. I'm thinking of recruiting the same cook as previous years. Chip in for groceries, no other costs on site. Generally can count on touching a turbo and an E or two at this one. Come meet new friends and see old timers too (some in disguise). I and a few friends will be there, we don't care if you come or not, heh heh. HTTA Rallys started in Vermont, lo those many years ago. Exact weekend, location and other details TBA as interest waxes.
 
#2 ·
This is great news Rich, the ride up into Vermont is always one of my favorites with the pouring rain, floods, detours, falling off my bike etc, and I have really enjoyed the New England Fall Rally the 2 times I have been fortunate enough to attend. The bite of the chill air as we brush the snow off the bikes for the morning ride, the warmth of the fire upon the return to the cabin, the sheer thrill of negotiating steep off road mountain descents dodging trees and rocks on our road bikes, the breathless heart pounding feeling upon reaching the top of the watch tower...you can tell I am stoked about this! Watching the horse drawn hay mower and tasting the fresh award winning maple syrup, riding the notches and the Kancamagus Scenic Byway and the adrenaline rushes of those high speed "whoops!" Damn that curve was tighter than it looked peg scraping curves...man o man...the yummy home cook'n and the great friendly group of terrific folks enjoying each others company, the top speed roll ons out on the interstate...I could go on but in short-it don't get no better'n this!



My interest is already waxxed out
 
#3 ·
What Steve said, minus the falling and a few other parts. Plus I ran out of World Fair Award Winning maple syrup and need to stock up for the couple years before the next one.







No Pro-Link squeak this year, took care of that and went on a 2800 mile run down to Birmingham and back last week just to make sure that embarrassing squeak was gone.




Are you going to be able to make the Amish this year, Rich?
 
#5 ·
Nice pic Steve, and other Steve, your description almost makes ME want to go! A sidecar would be a great novelty my Canuk friend. Snow?? Maybe that's what you call it in PA, but REALLY, it was just a heavy heavy frost.
PA in August is on my and bro Dave's "wanna list". A chance to meet Murray would be an incentive. Lot a folks there I haven't seen in a few years, it would be good to keep up with the amount of gray hair we're collecting, or loosing
. Concerning September, If anyone plans to come and has a problem weekend it would be useful to know that. No promises on dates, but there is still some flexibility as of now. The convenience of anyone traveling from GB, Europe,AU, or either Pole would be weighed strongly. Also, if anyone wishes to attend from overseas, I'm sure many members and myself could be more than a little helpful with stateside stuff, accomodations, transportation, etc. Can't help if you're on the "No Fly" list tho heh, heh.
 
#6 ·
The only weekend that I AM "on call" is Sept 14th-15th


Cheers....Keith....
..........
 
#10 ·
Great! Connecticut usually has the largest contingent, often closely followed by PA. It would be a real embarrassment to be beat by R.I.!
 
#11 ·
Looking forward to going up there again..... two years really builds the anticipation. I just hope that it will be warm

enough to ride the 650c.



You'd better bring the whole Conn. contingent.... I may pretend to be from PA this year just to keep you honest....



'later
 
#12 ·
The only weekend that I AM "on call" is Sept 14th-15th


Cheers....Keith....
..........


To make matters worse !!!!!

I also have to work the following weekend of Sept 20th to Sept 23rd :mad:
 
#13 ·
Arrrg! Sept 20-22 is as late in the season as I want to push it. I'll be committing to that weekend in a week or so, pending other input. Keith, I expect to be seeing you in PA though? Hopefully there will be some other NorthEast CX/GL riders who can make it. Much more info/details to follow the PA National Rally, I don't want to interfere with planning for that. Clearly Connecticut is going to have the largest contingent in attendance!
 
#14 ·
Sept 20-22 in Brookfield, Vt. The date is confirmed. It's official, if you like or ride a CX/GL, now or in the past, you're invited! The media kit will be out immediately following the National Rally in PA.
 
#15 ·
That time slot is now on my calendar with a big busydesignation boldly emblazoned across it. I don't care if I don't have any vacation or sick days left I gonna get there. Keith... there has to be someone you can trade dates with no? This is going to be fun and I am looking forward to it. Thanks Rich!
 
#16 · (Edited)
An Autumn Premonition
A hearty breakfast is already finished, the dishes in the sink can wait for later. Gathered on the front porch holding steaming cups of coffee as the sun launches itself above the eastern ridge, causing the cold dew to vaporize in pools of white below the cabin and warm our faces, we welcome the day. In the last two hours a couple of cars have trundled by the gravel Cemetary Road at the bottom of the field, some unfortunate souls are headed to work this morning. Not us, not today. Or tomorrow. Sipping hot java the discussion of where in hill we're going to ride today has resumed from the night before. Where indeed, when any direction is a rural landscape of hills and valleys, meandering two lane highways and local byways, spotted with ponds and lakes, farm fields and forest, and always another crest ahead. Will we run the Six Gaps of the Green Mountains, crisscrossing that ancient but modest mountain spine, mostly on asphalt? Or seek Jay Peak in a casual but purposeful round trip of northwest Vermont? Vt Rte 100 is an old favorite, as is Smuggler's notch, where in places 10 mph on this two lane (in most places) paved highway is too fast. Maybe the Hero Island chain on Lake Champlain will occupy our day, who knows yet? Surely there will be a patchwork of festively colored leaves with peak foliage season only two weeks away. Was that frost on the VTwins seats earlier? No matter, the thicker gear can be stowed later when the autumn sun fills the landscape with the afternoons warmth and fragrances. The smell of fall, unmistakable, unexpected, unsummerlike. September in Vermont is the best reason to ride a motorcycle, to live for that matter. Come join us for a great weekend, we're looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones. The kids are back in school, the leaf peepers haven't arrived yet, the roads are ours for the taking. Every two years, whether you need it or not. But you know you do.
 
#17 ·
Unfortunately it's a major project at work that HAS to be completed that weekend :(

Looking forward to seeing you at the Amish ;)
 
#19 ·
Sept 20-22, 2013
It's coming up fast now. ONERally is the next and the last "Official" CX/GL rally on the 2013 calendar. I've been promised the rally banner will be there. Numerous oldtimers and a few new faces are planning to come. Each of our rallys is different, ONERally is no exception. We cook breakfasts and dinners (as a general rule) at the camp. There is usually no Yuengling beer. :-( But it's welcome! The outhouse has no snakes. Neither does the indoor bathroom for that matter! JB is not expected, so the chance of fine weather is greatly enhanced! I'll find some more "stuff" to hold a mini CX/GL flea market. Come see the beginning of the New England fall foliage, but not the traffic! Brookfield, VT, detailed directions will be posted. There is parking for 500 motorcycles and a few trailers.
 
#20 ·
The outhouse has no snakes. Neither does the indoor bathroom for that matter!
Actually, much worse.... The bathroom has an infernal resident that makes strange croaking noises when disturbed..... I checked on the expected weather, which I would surmise is highly speculative, given the amount of time to transpire between now and then...... If they are even remotely close to being accurate, unless there is a significant anomaly with the local microclimate, we will not be needing to chisel ice off of the bikes in the morning, but anyone riding a bike without a fairing would probably want to dress warmly... The chances of having an Indian Summer seem remote, even though a request has already been made. Someone may need to correct my understanding, but I believe that an Indian Summer only occurs after the first frost, and the guesstimate is that evening temperatures will not be going below the low 40s before then... Have you arranged for a visit by the maple syrup provider? His syrup from the last rally was pretty much about the best I have ever had, and I would be interested in buying some more.
 
#21 ·
Rich, If this get's much larger you're going to need an anex. Your little cabin is bursting at the seams now. By the way, why do you need the banner when you obviously do not call this a HTTA rally?
 
#22 ·
Rich, If this get's much larger you're going to need an annex. Your little cabin is bursting at the seams now.
?? What count do you have Phil? Are you arranging to have your Vermont relatives show up?

By the way, why do you need the banner when you obviously do not call this a HTTA rally?
Because signing the banner has become a tradition already. How else are we to leave footprints in
the sands of time? Most of the photos from past HTTA rallies have gone poof.... Gotta leave a
record somewhere that doesn't go poof..... I kinda don't think that Rich would appreciate it if
we carved our initials into his front porch....
 
#23 · (Edited)
Seems it always was a HTTA rally, complete with signing of the banner. Other rallys may have dropped that tradition, but we haven't! If every rally was simply called "HTTA Rally" it would be difficult to tell them apart eh? And Vermont is where the HTTA rallys started, you had something to do with that Phil, I remember even if you don't! TT, My only weather related prediction for this year is that I think fall foliage will be early, and that will make the riding even better. I plan to ask Bill to bring over a selection of this spring's boilin's for sure, for anyone who wishes to support the local economy. With the Amish Rally behind us (great time btw) I'm focused on September and hope to meet some new CX/GL riders, especially the shy New England type. As far as space goes, if need be I usually have offers of neighboring cabins who will make sleeping space available, and camping space is unlimited. The location is the intersection of East Hill Rd, Chelsea Rd and Cemetary St (or Rd?). Look uphill the field and there we are in Brookfield, Vt.
 
#24 ·
The banner was up, don't recall if we remembered to sign it though. Here's a pic for posterity, or until a sunspot or electomagnetic pulse erases it. Good news is that I now email all my pictures to an email I setup, "Achmed@IkeelU@jihad.com", so if ever this happens I can get copies off the NSA's bunkered servers in the Utah dessert. :cool:

I'll be attending for sure, consider it an RSVP or a threat..... :p

 
#25 ·
The cuckoo clock high on the wall just sputtered two A.M.. The embers of the evenings fire glow weakly in the hearth. A couple of mostly empty coffee cups and many more beer cans decorate the table and lampstands. The background sound is a steady but low rumble of several men snoring. More from upstairs, probably everyone is asleep. I stand off center in the main room, a dim light from the kitchen providing enough illumination for a living person to see about, after a little time for adjustment. I need no such time, nor sleep. Looking through a window I sense the dropping temperatures are preparing to deposit a thin layer of white frost on the thirty year old motorcycles parked about at odd angles, flattened cans supporting their tired kickstands on the soft ground. The more southerly boys will be surprised by the white topcoat, the New Englanders will just laugh. The engines have surrendered the last of their warmth from the late afternoon rides and evening arrivals. Everyone is here by choice, even through the challenge of many miles and the threat of a cold rain. They will enjoy comraderie, meals and riding for only a couple of days, then return to their lifes routines, with fond memories of their last great ride of the season. I am not alone gazing at their sleeping souls, but largely unknow to any of the still breathing, we cannot see or communicate with eachother. I know there are others here though, because they would have made the same choice as I have, to be here in spirit, with old friends. Tomorrow they will eat and ride and drink some more, but most importantly, enjoy each other's company. They will each harbor a small fear that someday it will be over, but they should be reassured by me and my fellow memories, it never need end. We were there in Georgia earlier this summer, then Canada (eh?), followed by Pennsylvania. You did not see us, we were not mentioned in the "headcount", but we were there just the same. Thanks for having us. We are you and you are us, just not yet. Enjoy your ride, and see you at the next Rally.
 
#32 ·
Rich, you have, perhaps by accident, opened a door to the world in which I now find myself! Since the decline in mine and my wife's health I have been confined to short trips on the 650 and the hack, almost never out of the Boro. Those short spins on my bikes always reopens the door into my memories of rides of bygone days. Thank God I have those memories, without them my life would be berift of pleasure on many long winter evenings as I muse and remember the many good friends from years, indeed decades gone by.

As Dave McCall, Phil and others in my age bracket will tell you, our memories are precious and if we should by some terrible action lose those memories our lives would be so poor as to be hardlly worth continuing! We are so much nearer the end than the beginning, our memories cover three fourths of our time on this earth.

Treasure each opportunity to create new memories and guard them jealously, they will combine with older ones and build your store house that will keep you warm in the winter of your life! I find it hard to accept that I was able to create only a few memories this year and that they may have been the last! Next year, if I have the privilage to be here and healthy enough to travel to join my friends (in whatever manner I can) you can bet I will do it!

So, Rich, to sum up the ramblings of an old (in body, not spirit) man, treasure all of your memories and put them in the woodhouse of your mind to throw on the fire when the winter of your life blows snow under the door of your old age, they will keep you warm, forever!

Gene:cool:
 
#26 · (Edited)
Oh Rich, you should have been a poet, you have such a way with words. When you make the Kankamagus / Crawford Notch loop through the White Mountains tour, stop in that sleepy little town of Bethlehem, on route 302, the town of my youth, and have a cup of coffee. Ask if anyone remembers my name and you probably wont find any.

03/01/15: BUT, maybe now you will find me just a stones throw from Main St @ center of Bethlehem, Route US-302 if the good lord see's things my way. Since childhood I have always liked that poem,"Let Me Live In a House By The Side of The Road.
 
#27 · (Edited)
Phil, you're trying to set me up to get something thrown at me, aren't you! "The Kanc" ride was nice and is being asked for again this Rally, so although it is a bit long, it will likely be a ride option. Since this ride takes us into the National Forest in New Hampshire and gets busy in the afternoon, it's best to head out right after breakfast. Worked well last rally and we saw only very light traffic. If you have any ideas for unique lunch stops anywhere within 75 miles of Brookfield, let me know too. Many Vermont State kiosks have very good state highway maps, look for them on the way in folks. I'll have a few extra at the cabin also.
 
#28 · (Edited)
The general info is similar to previous rallys, bring your own: shleping bag or blanket, towel & tooth brush (no maid service). The cabin has a half dozen beds, a couple of couches, some carpets and floor space and unlimited camping lawn with a nice view. Running water, electricity, heat, shower, kitchen. Basement space and some tools for necessary mechanical work and a washer & dryer & detergent. Two porches and unlimited free parking (a redundant phrase in Vermont). I'll be looking for some feedback on attendees as I will stock groceries for high chloresterol, high gluten breakfasts and dinners for Friday and Saturday, with breakfast on Sunday also. Lunches will be unplanned and likely on the road. If you are on a restricted diet or a vegetarian, please plan to supplement your eating habits a little. WARNING! All meals are prepared in an environment containing nuts. :) Groceries are paid for via a donation can. The House reminds you that it is far from "dry", but does not serve alcoholic beverages. BYOB and plenty of it! Snacks to share are always a hit.

I'm a firearms enthusiast, but this is a No Guns event. If no one sees it, it's not there. But if it is displayed AT ALL I will ask you to leave. Be warned, no tolerance on this. You'll have to be satisfied listening to the neighbors shoot, it is Vermont.

Confirmation as we get closer to the weekend, but it is likely I will be opening the camp Thursday evening about 6:00 PM. I'll close it Sunday whenever everyone is gone and I get the place cleaned up.
 
#29 · (Edited)
If you come back through Crawford Notch on US-302 and take US-3 south in Twin Mountain, shortly after your turn you will see the Monroe Family Restaurant on your left. Great place for lunch. You can ask JB we had lunch there a couple years ago. My name is even known there to a few of the staff as Uncle Phil. Mentioning that won't guarantee a better rate for lunch though.

Continue down US-3 through the Franconia Notch to Lincoln and back through the Kinsman Notch and back to US-302 between Lisbon and bath. Retrace your earlier route home.



Enjoy, the road is yours.

Edit: The North Conway bypass from the Kancamaugus Highway to route US-302 is called Bear Notch Rd. watch closely for it.
 
#31 ·
From Connecticut we're expecting:
Rich/Ct
Dave/Ct
Ernie/Ct
Kevin/Ct
Dave & Ernie have additional hooches in the neighborhood, so it's too early to be counting beds . . .
 
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