I Survived The Fourth of July ...

As I awaken on July 5th with a fuzzy head, I shall try to recall the events of the previous day. It started out with a couple snafus for sure.

ALONG ROUTE 116 IN VERMONT

THE PORCH AT TILTON INN

As I was packing up to leave Lake Placid, NY, one of my saddle bag locks jammed. It had done this the night before and after wiggling and coercing it, my buddy Dyke was able to final get it to unlock. Well, it was doing the same thing in the morning and my sweatshirt and heavy gloves were in that saddle bag so I really wanted in there, since it was about 48 degrees. I finally got it unlocked and proceeded to finish packing, only to realize that now the saddle bag would not lock. And with the fasteners on those bags, if you don't lock them before taking off, a bumpy road will cause them to pop open going down the road. Fortunately, I had thought ahead and packed a couple of extra bungee cords for a "whatever" situation and this was one of those. One problem solved. Then I get down the street, filled up the bike and my helmet clasp came apart! So I spent another ten minutes at the gas station fixing that.

ME AND T

Originally my plan was to take a ferry across Lake Champlain, however the weather appeared to threaten rain at some time, so I thought it best to go a little more direct route. I headed towards Point Henry, which has a bridge from VT to NH. I took a chance on seeking out one of those gray, unnamed roads on the Rand McNally to get there and I lucked out! This road was incredible and I smiled as I thought about my Buffalo and how he would have said, at the end of the road, how in the hell do you find those roads? It used to be a joke between us about me just randomly choosing a road and it turning out to be the kind of ride that had you smiling a huge smile at the end of it because it was such a great ride. Miss you, Buffalo.

I crossed into VT and planned on running VT Route 17 to the end however it being the 4th of July sort of threw me a curve ball when I came into the town of Bristol and they had closed the road for the parade! So I pulled out the trusty Rand McNally (or "GPS for old people" as my friend Mike Lazusky likes to call it!) and back tracked to route 116, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise! Another fantastic road! I was digging VT and I was just passing through for now!

When I finally crossed state line into NH the Harley Gods were done. I think they went off to celebrate Independence Day because it started raining and rained until after I got to my

T AND THE GANG AT HER LOCAL WATERING HOLE

destination in Tilton, NH. Fortunately not hard, just enough to dampen the day...hahaha! So I got cleaned up and called me girlfriend, Teresa Ross, who lives somewhere around Laconia and she came picked me up in her truck for some party time.

T, as she is called, took me around to a couple of watering holes and by her sister's place. We drove around Weir's Beach, which was a zoo, so we kept moving. And somewhere along the way I became rather intoxicated. We eventually made it back to her place, watched fireworks, saw somebody's dog escape down the street and I took a taxi back to Tilton. Whew, what a night. It's all very fuzzy this morning, but I remember having a blast. At least, the pictures don't lie...do they?

PROOF THAT I WAS ACTUALLY WAS AT WIERS BEACH

Peace.