Canadian Geese

On Sunday we finally got a reprieve from this dastardly winter, the snow had mostly melted from the roads and the temperature was going to climb all the way up to the mid 40's.  My Goldie was feeling desperate, being cooped up in the garage since the middle of December, having had a heart transplant (new battery) in early February, it need to get some fresh blood (fuel & air) running through its lungs (carbs) and to stretch its legs (tires & shocks).  Before I let her loose on the open road I fed her half a bottle of Sea Foam and let her run for a few minutes on my driveway. Sea Foam safely frees sticky lifters and piston rings, removes carbon build-up and oil residue, reduces pinging and rough idle.  After a few minutes she was purring like a kitten and anxiously waiting for me to get on her back. Time to hit the road and exercise the lungs and legs.

I leave the house with the temperature hovering in the low 30's and head towards New Egypt, then pick up County Road 537 towards Route 206 to meet my brother and a few friends from the RAT group (Rider Association of Triumph).  On the way I pass a few farms, the fields covered in snow and ponds still frozen, stopping to take a few pictures of Canadian Geese taking a rest from their long trip north back to Canada.

I arrive at the Mt. Holly Kawasaki/Suzuki/Triumph dealer where I'm to meet the rest of the group at 12pm but no one is around.  I am about to call my brother when I receive a message from him, he might not come since his bike is blocked by snow and ice.  Two of the RAT members arrive and we chat for a while waiting for my friend Wayne and his Triumph ST.  I call my brother and he is still trying to dig his bike out of the public storage garage where he keeps his bike. I tell him to meet us at the Pic-A-Lilli Restaurant if he ever gets his bike out.  A few minutes later we hear the sound of a dirt bike coming down the road and to our surprise here comes Wayne on his Suzuki DR-Z400, his Triumph ST wouldn't start.  He had just picked it up from the dealer a few days earlier for exactly that reason. They had replaced the electrical harness but I guess that was not the problem.  He's pretty upset but luckily he has the trusty Suzuki.   We leave and continue south on 206 towards Shamong stopping at the Pic-A-Lilli Restaurant.

Today the Polar Bear riders meet here and the parking lot is filled with motorcycles.  I walk around admiring the other bikes and my eye is taken towards a beautiful Honda CBX, the six chrome exhausts gleaming in the sun.  Next I spot what most definitely is a lady's Harley as no guy would be caught riding a bike with a custom paint job like the one on this bike unless he is a masochist.  What a paint job, various flowers painstakingly detailed in multiple colors all over the body of this spotless Harley Davidson.

My brother arrives and we stay outside chatting and enjoying the beautiful day.  A little later we hear the sound of a V8, we turn around and it's a Chevy V8 powered trike.  The trike is enormous and loud, the chromed exhausts spewing its gases under the body, the engine is spotless, the beast can sit three side by side with the driver in the middle, the owner has done a wonderful job putting this thing together.

We decide not to have lunch at the Pic-A-Lilli but instead head north towards Vincentown and stop at the Vincentown Diner.  We let Wayne go ahead as he is riding the Suzuki DR-Z400, the little bike has been geared for the trails and will be screaming at 65mph.  We catch up with him at the diner, to our surprise he got there pretty quick and ahead of us.  We all pick from the breakfast menu and spend time chatting and planning our future trip to the MotoGP race on August 28th in Indianapolis.

We leave the restaurant and follow Wayne to his house as I had never been to his place.  I leave a little later with my brother in tow but we soon split and I continue north east towards Jackson stopping again to take a few pictures of a beautiful old gate, the entrance to a local ranch.  I had passed this ranch in the past but had never stopped to admire this beautiful gate.

I stop one more time when I spot a field filled with Canadian Geese.  They don't appear too worried with me or my bike, being too preoccupied with resting and regaining their energy for the flight north.

I continue towards Jackson and meet my wife at a friend's house, his son celebrating a birthday, where I knew there would be cake and dessert.  I have a sweet tooth and was in need of a nice warm cup of coffee.  I arrive at their house around 5pm with the temperature heading south again.  I leave and head home around 9pm, the temperature back in the low 30's, all in all, not a bad riding day for mid February.