Day 1 – July 28 - Bridgewater, NJ to Lincoln, NH

Left the house at 5:15 so we could leave Greg’s at 5:45.  These guys look about as happy as me about being up and on the road so early.

 Weather is cool and dry.

Headed up I287 with all the morning commuters.  I take this road most every week day, and on this day I finally was happy to be going in that direction.  Look at those poor slobs off to the rat race.  Must suck to be a commuter …

Go to the Tappenzee bridge and the Saw Mill Parkway.  Wouldn’t you think that a “Parkway” would mean you just cruise?  Well, the good folks in NY don’t know that and they put stop lights on their parkways.  Not that NJ has something over NY, but we stop on the Parkway too.  It’s called traffic.

On to Connecticut.  Greg and I are happier than we were at 5:45, but Curtis … well you see for yourself.

 Lunch at a mall near Amherst, Mass.  The waiter, why bother getting a waiter’s name, we’re only interested in waitresses, tells us the place is closing in a few days and we should come back on the weekend for the specials.  Right!.  We did wonder what they were going to do with the 37 TV screens and displays.  Probably closing because of the cost to run all of those.  Oh, well, ride on …

We ride through a town where there was an American flag flying from every phone/electric pole.  And there were a lot of poles, on both sides of the street. Quite a site.

Ride on to Lincoln and the Kancamagus Motor Lodge, where Leo is the manager.  Very nice guy and a very biker friendly place. 

We talk to some bikers pulling trailers.  They say they hardly know they are behind them, and they can still take curves pretty sharp.  Curtis starts thinking about getting one for his trips with Barb.  Look at Curtis’s bike, the saddle bags are full, the tour pack is full, and there is a bag on top of the tour pack.  He needs a trailer so he can have room for all his things.  Barb’s will fit in the tour pack. 

Dinner is at the restaurant at the KML with Heather as our waitress.  There is a couple at next table and he has Boston accent.  It’s like having a younger version of Charlie with us.  And this one had a girl/wife with him.

We went to bed expecting rain in the morning.

Day 1 - 409 miles