Nerdy-Terds 'Ride Report' CNY-VT Group

As I now finally get home and catch my breath from my 2-weeks Vaca (Stowe, VT then Ocean City MD w my g/f) .... I'm tired n happy w all great memories (and now Friggen Broke!)

CNY --> NERDS Group Ride as planned prior in this thread
Our Terds included...

• Wine Guy (Mike)
• Yamafitter (Bill)
• Steamer (Stan-lee)
• RossKean (Ross)
• OFace (Marty)
• Top Speed1 (KJ)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pre-Party-Day: Tues 8/13/13 (no spot tracking)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Round'em-up gathering place was my house in Waterloo (Central NY, heart of the Finger Lakes). I had a pre-rally kickoff party planned for us that evening that included a BBQ dinner with a Journey copy Band (they were excellent btw!), then drinks and campfire back at my house. I also had a trick up my sleeve for a surprise one-of-a-kind photo-op with our bikes (and maybe w babes?).

Bill (da' Fitter) is first in town in the mid-afternoon hrs, he made a stop at my place of business as one of my employee's calls me... "hey, some guy in a cast, says his name is Bill and says he's riding motorcycles with you?". The cast deal gave them a laugh and a big wonder!? ...So Fitter actually beats me home as I had made a trip to Buffalo earlier, my 17yr old son (Kris) was there to greet, no biggie. I guess we now know who was most anxious!



Emerald City Band Rocked us! (our bellies R quite full from the delish BBQ)






Back from the BBQ and awesome band, it was time for sum Liquid Wisdom!...








Next up for me before the alcohol gets streaming, setup some of my high powered argon gas and diode lasers for my surprise photo op (the guys were like "KJ, wtf u doing?"...me- "don't worry about it, keep drinking!" (basically our nightly theme throughout this adventure)


Tues. nights Laser Pics courtesy of Bill da'Fitter (yamafitter)

My side yard never looked so colorful




KJ (Top Speed) with g/f Debbie laying out on the Feej, and posing quite seductively




Mike (Wine Guy)




Stan-lee (Steamer)




Bill (MotoBill)



Bill (MotoBill) w Steamers g/f Jessica, it was starting to get steamy...


*Not sure where Bill (yamafitter) laser pics went, I know we put his peg-leg in the shoot and had (Mikey?) snap a few frames.

We wound down the nite around the campfire, packed it in around 1:30am.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 1: Weds 8/14/13 "Ride-in Day" (as spot tracked)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


---- VS ----

My preplanned route, and we actually followed it for a change!? ...probably b/c I was leading



8:30am. So after a great nite of libation (and we definitely kicked off the NERDS Rally in style!), I brought the boys into town by bikes for some breakfast (Bagels-n-Cakes Coffee shop; Geneva NY). Billy is magically matched up while we are waiting on a table, the Fitter is a chick magnet after all! And, they say opposites attract?... I don't know, these two were like bread n butter.




So after b-fast with MIke, Bill, Ross and myself, we await on the arrival of Marty (OFace) who is coming in from the Erie PA area (his sleep over spot coming from Chi-town). Also Stan-lee is expected after his rumble in the jungle with Jessica. He got her so blitzed, I don't think she could of said no to anything that nite, so pie-eyed Steamer is being waited for as well.







With that Kow-a-suckie (that thing eats gas like I drink beer!) so we had many of gas stops (at least it seamed that way)...






First up, lunch at the big-ass burger joint known now to all of us as simply... "Van's". (Rte 12 Barneveld NY)



This is their small burger, a mushroom swiss that needed to be trimmed by a fork before I could plow it in my mouth...




Being my 2nd home for snowmobiling was always Old Forge, I routed the boys there and we got in a photo-op. For most other than me (and Stan) it was new sights to take in....


Ross w Marty in b/g getting snapped by Mikey...


Steamer...


My ride drying out...


Nobody swimming today!?




So through the 'Daks we went, from Old Forge we carried up to Saranac Lake, then it got a little dark and nasty looking around Lake Placid so I led the boys around (down) and over to one of our key stop/rides "Tracey Rd". Mike letting out his energy after he just engulfed that small burger...



Stan-lee is still humping (u would of thought he had enough the night before!)...



Too bad it was so friggen wet when we arrived. Just made Bill (yamafitter) that much more hungry for more Tracey... and that we would have (later)...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 2: Thurs 8/15/13 (as spot tracked)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



As said prior, Bill (yamafitter) had a boner to go back to do the Tracey in better circumstances (weather). Our days ride was planned and led by da'Fitter and it ended up being actually a pretty darn good one (except for 1-little mishap maybe). Most of our rides started and were routed through Smugglers Notch...



App Gap, we're on top of the hill and we can't get any higher (where the Appalachian Mountains end)





Coffee break, Bill selects a small Cafe in a small shopping center area. I'm caught with my pants down... what's new.



After some coffee (energy drinks for some), I glance over and wouldn't ya know it... another Kawasaki needs service. Eye-yi-eye, It literally always seemed like every other stop one of them needed attention



Bill plans in our route a little phot-op stop...





Even though I went here last year, it was still a cool enough place for a revisit (plus a couple of Terds in our group had not yet been there)...




Mike



KJ / Charlie



Stan/Marty/Bill/Mike (I'm sure glad Steamer says that "he works out" lmao...



Billy was our professional photographer, my pics surely bow to the masters....



Our 2 Canuckians (Bill/Mike) now enshrined into "The Fun Bunch" club...



A couple of the classy Amerks in our group...



Lunch stop; Georges Italian Restaurant, right before we do the Tracey so we are anxious (I know, we were just on the Tracey less than 24hrs prior. We're whore dawgs, what can I say!. So for eats I had the Chix Parm slop sub. Naa, it was pretty tasty TBH...



Here's our line-up (minus Mike's bike that was way below and really in the safe zone!) on the hill that day in front of our lunch stop/ place. I won't go into details but we had a minor issue upon saddling up and heading out... (see the "Kiss of da Mirror" later....) Notice Marty and Stan on the top side, and then just as I snapped this pic.... well let's just say it resembled the "NERDS Granite Bowling Lane Challenge". 'nuff said.



Marvelous day we had overall. Tracey was awesome (dry) and we trek'd it both ways (of course!). We all (the 6 of us) got our Tracey Rd. accomplishment TeeShirts and headed back to the Commodores for some social BS'n...










--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 3: Fri 8/16/13 (as spot tracked)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Marty (Oface) planned up this day with a stop to the local (Burlington VT) Kawasaki dealer for a mirror for Steamer's bike. It was basically the Northern Islands route conformed to the Kawi dealer. Marty felt bad and stepped up to help out the disabled Steamer. Steve (in orange) pokes in and wants to ride with us miss-fits (even though we told him we had to do a reconstructive-parts shopping within our route.. he was game ...well at least for awhile gathered in pic.. Bill/Dan/Mike/George/Steve




Part of the "Fun Bunch" assembled next to my favorite thing... water!
Me- KJ / Marty / Stan / Mike



Coffee break, CharlieHoss is eating again (footnote this)...



OK, this is how we got our group name. I posted this pic on my Facebook and the comments were "you guys certainly are the fun bunch aren't you!". So it stuck with us (and you can't give a name to yourself anyways, it has to be somebody else's idea so we rode this one out).



After me (KJ) giving "the Steamer" a Golden Shower* while Mikey plummeted his nice clean Kawi jacket with a size 12, Stan-lee finally waived the white flag in defeat (his Kawi surrendered also!) oh yes, we surely did live up to our name... "the Fun Bunch" and on-lookers would vouch as we had passing cars stopping/gawking and us just busting out laughing our asses off...
*not really ladies, don't get your panties all in a wad!



We actually were having so much fun we forgot all about lunch. Charlie (Hoss) kept asking me "so when we going to eat?" I can't deprive my buddy, so we hit the closest place (a gas station!)...



Charlie finally got some food (think it was chicken nuggies), kinda thought this was cute with the wording in the b/g...



Reminiscing about yesterdays mishap and how it happened. It was now OK to talk about it, heck we were having so much fun we had to make light of it...



Marty is kissing 'da mirror" that he so dearly payed for...



We finished up the afternoon going through Newport (actually I took note of this town.. for later!) and quickly by big Lake Memphremagog (extends well into Canada) then we went down Route 5A to beautiful Lake Willoughby. (and this crappy picture doesn't do this justice at all!)...





Back in time for... what else? libation-socialization!




The FJR BBQ (Commodores Inn) Friday nite saw plenty of fun and in-house antics. Charlie(Hoss) brought with him a stuffed duck. (say what?) After all the frightening events Stan-lee had/incurred prior at the CFR meet in Huntsville ON... well, If you were there, ya know what I mean and this joke certainly hit home with all of us (including Fred W who orchestrated the last duck-fest with some of his fine graphics). Good idea Charlie!... (and that's why your our elder-leader of "the Fun Bunch"!)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 4: Sat 8/17/13 "Revisit Day" (as spot tracked)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Today was to be a more quiet and relaxed day. We knew we had the ride home the following day (and some peeps had to travel much farther than me to make it back to their own pillow). Mike (Wine Guy) was geeking for covered bridges today and he wanted some pics for his g/f Donna. No problemo, I was wanting to go back up to Newport as I saw something during our brief run-through yesterday and that this maybe was my kind of place (mainly waterside pubs/bars/eateries as I spotted decks, umbrellas and cool looking decks-n-docks)... remember, I'm a Boating/Jetskiing-Ho by nature So I lead a shorter group of misfits (4) to the Covered Bridges via GPS with an idea when it gets boring... we head up north to Newport.



We hit only about 3 bridges, they quickly all started to resemble each other. Well enough so where we all got our pics in, and decided maybe we have seen enough of the covered bridges at least for one day...



So I reroute the GPS up to... you guessed it! ...Newport! ...I knew we could finally feed Charlie in style at this place. First up is some photo-op stops tho...

Charlie / Stan (sporting our new Tracey Road Accomplishment T-Shirts!)



Mike / KJ (and w that Schuberth helmet head!)





Quick glance around, I spot one of the paces that interests me. If it sucks, I go down as a big A-hole for this whole diversion slash RTE, guess I took the chance...



Since we kinda blew lunch off yesterday (as we just had too much fun 2 think about food), I needed to get this guy some food, real food! ...Here's Charlie's mumbling at me... "they better have good chow here KJ or I'm kicking your big ass!"...



So now I (we) switch gears to a RTE outing. Cool beans as we haven't done this all trip anyways, so why not?

Stan-lee (Steamer) / Charlie (CharlieHoss) / Mike (Wine Guy) / KJ (Top Speed1)



Our pretty and young waitress reads out the food specials after delivering us some of their local brews on tap... everything sounded preemo TBH. Mikey took a fancy to the "Fresh" Lobster/Scallops Bisc Soup. It was pricey but that's what fresh will cost, so I went along with his idea and it was unbelievably delish!. I could of had another bowl easily....



We did our 1-pint max rule as we sampled a local brewery's liquid fare, views were gorgeous...



It was a great RTE place after all, Charlie (and everybody for that matter) had a big ole smile on their face walking out but it was time to saddle up boyz and get in some riding...



Lake Memphremagog was beautiful, the perfect day accented it well also







I did mention a few additional gas stops b/c of one Gas-Kow didn't I?. We were now going to go out Rte 58 East, blazing around was not in Charlies future today. His belly was full, he headed back to the Hotel for a quick nap before tonight's festivities. Hey, he's entitled a mulligan as he's our Senior-Advisor "Fun-Bunch" member...



So back upon arrival to the Commodores Inn (backdoor shot)...



We find Stan-lee's duck made the trip well ...he must of used some of that 200mph NASCAR duct tape!...



So we all are now showered and are at the social hour outside the Inn.

We are asked by the waitress/staff as to our dining intentions?. We said, "kind of tired of the Jimmy Buffet, we are going to order off the menu". Well bad move as I guess everybody else told them the same thing!. Hmmm, we need to switch gears and fast!. I quickly ask Fred W. what else in town as we will book to another place for dinner then!? We get Ed (not Fred) involved as he's a local here. His wifey suggests a place in downtown Stowe.

Excellent! reservations then for the "Fun Bunch" were made (thank goodness for smartphones!). So we get one of the workers at the Hotel to take us in town (we were going to be drinking heavily so no riding bikes for us Terds!). Our makeshift taxi driver was tipped well enough as to when he dropped us off (the packed-in Fun Bunch) ..and I do mean PACKED IN!. Remembering back... this was actually a riot and Dan laying on our laps with his ass in my face, he was well behaved (thank you Dan for not farting!). AND, Charlies laugh is just outrageously contagious. 'Nuff said!

Downtown Stowe upon arrival for our cast-off dinner nite...



Our view from the table (it was an awesome looking hotel as well!)...





Da nightlife "Fun Bunch". And yes, we all flirted (nicely) with the waitress and all had superior service. We laughed so fecking hard at this table my stomach muscles hurt the next day. I mainly blame Charlie, he's just one funny ass dude and his joyfulness is infectious to all.

Stan / Mike / Dan /Charlie / KJ



I had the Filet Mignon topped with a whipped Gorgonzola Cheese. Literally melted in my mouth. I scored it soooo close to a Morton's Steakhouse or Ruth's Chris' Filet Mignon. Only thing that missed the 10 mark was the non sizzling plate upon arrival (I know Ruth's Chris has 1800 degree broilers and it's not a fare comparison). Never the less, mouth-watering goodness in every bite that we haven't experienced all trip!...



For desert, Stan went all out for the $11.50chocolate bag tower (made/molded from a paper bag!) ..don't ask, I have no idea how it's done plus we were pretty lit by this time ...



The nite ended with us walking back to the Inn (drunk, full, stupidly happy and laughing all the way back). We were worried about Dan and his sprained ankle but he assured us he was all game for the 1.5 mile walk back. He was, a bit slower than the rest but I stayed back with him so no Vermont hoodlums would jack him over. Kidding, this place was very friendly. Upon arrival back to the Hotel (it was quite late), 99% of our NERDS group had retired for the night... we weren't far behind ...What a night!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 5: Sun 8/18/13 "Ride-Home day" (as spot tracked)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I planned a slightly different route coming home. I wanted to show the boys the twisters and views around Brandt Lake, Lake George and over to Rte 8. Smoooth! Probably the best roads we had all trip by far. It was a great way to end a fabulous trip with great peeps!...











And then we get a Benefit Ride catching up with us with about 200 bikes in it... time to chill!



Speculator NY (Rte 8)...





Back to (Rte 12, Barneveld NY) at Van's (the Big ass Buger place). Sunday-funday, the small(er) 1/2# burgers are now only a buck today! Charlie was amazed with his big lunch and only costing him $2.25 including his Coke...



Upon arrival back to where it all started (my house), my son had everything all cleaned up from my last remembrance of when our "Rally Kick-off party" was staged. I'm truly blessed with a great (and non-lazy) Son, Thanks Kris !



That night (Sunday), Bill (yamafitter) wanted to stay over and then ride back to Oh-Canada in the AM. No problem, he caught a quick shower and he and my son were off. I let him drive my Chevy Volt so he could have the electric car experience, I think he likey'd it. So Billy's driving us (silently I might add) to a pub in town (Eddie O'Briens) for some on-tap brews and local fare. Later we came back and had another fire, actually Stan stopped over when we were in town and had it all going by the time we got back. (Thanks Stan n your date for draining my Kettle One Vodka! (at his house he drinks well Vodka lol) Cheap bat-tard! lol

Stan / Stan's flavor? of the week / KJ / Debbie, pointing to-> / Bill



My bike gets to be a garage queen (for) now... sad but I have another adventure to take on...

I would like to thank all the NERDS organizers for all there hard work and time invested. Without you guys (and gals) we couldn't be Nerdy for a few days and what a great venue, roads, views and experiences we would miss out on. Thank you so much!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Days 6-14: "Debbies Turn"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So this^ was only the 1st of my 2 weeks vaca. Next up was Debbie's week and to take our camper down to Ocean City MD (we love OC, this was my 14th visit, man, it's so tropical!)...



We camped right on the beach in Assateague Island. It's famous for having wild horses. We got woke up one morning with one snorking right in the screen door of our camper. Here's Debbie's seeing if she can hop on and ride this one bareback (some are quite tame)...



Since Deb knew I partied in Rock Star fashion at NERDS, she insisted it was her turn for some socialization-libation with her KJ. With tropical Tiki bars and matching drinks... hey, how could I resist?....



And dancing at Seacrets Night Club with my honey... priceless!...



I won't bore you with all my bikini pics of Debbie, overall, 2 great weeks with 2 different kinds of fun. Can you say "Surf & Turf"? And would I replace either one? HELL NO! It was purrrrfect right from the Kick-Off party that I staged, right on through to the sandy beaches with absolutely perfect weather in OC . Heck, I even had a blast Go-Kart racing down in OC with me knowing that I see (and sell) these darn things all the time (and I didn't want to do it at all) ...but with Debbie, it was all fun. ....thinking back, hmmm, should racing Karts (rubbing is racing, I know) get us both all hot and horny so that we have to do a parking-lot quickie? Well, I hope nobody saw us ...well maybe that was half the fun too!

To add to my prior NERDS trip, my boys; "The Fun Bunch" were an all out blast and second to none. You guys ROCK!.. hey, I just can't get that "goodnite kiss" from y'all so Debbie has to be a narrow favorite ...don't be a hater

~~~~~~~<>~~~~~~~

Peace and love to everyone. I hope everyone's lives that were crossed within mine, mingled upon (or tangled lol) into my crazy but fun path within this journey had as much fun and excitement as I did. My G/F Debbie keeps saying that she wants to come to a Rally and meet all of you (cough-cough, me- "not so sure?") lmao

Cheers with many, many beers! (just not when riding).

-KJ (top speed1)

Conditions look the same as the 1 and only time that I rode Tracy Rd.

The report... so far, so good. Thanks for sharing.

It's not always wet, Heidi.

And when it's dry you can almost convince yourself that you are in West Virginia... (for 7.7 miles)

mmmmmmmm... love me some WV!!!

Me too. Time to go back down soon...

It was dry on Tracy Road the Sunday when we came home....

https://vimeo.com/72782835

All days are now updated/populated.

Lots of pics left out, the peeps involved I can share in person on our next Meet. I was kinda watching out for the maximum images limit switch to kick in.

-KJ

Nice report, thanks for sharing.

Very cool I'm so jealous, one of these days I have to make one of the gatherings.

wheatonFJR said:

Nice report, thanks for sharing.

Click to expand...

Thanks Wheatie!

fastpappy said:

Very cool I'm so jealous, one of these days I have to make one of the gatherings.

Click to expand...

Well you're close enough to easily make NERDS for next year!?

We're Awesome.

Top_Speed1 said:

wheatonFJR said:

Nice report, thanks for sharing.

Click to expand...

Thanks Wheatie!

fastpappy said:

Very cool I'm so jealous, one of these days I have to make one of the gatherings.

Click to expand...

Well you're close enough to easily make NERDS for next year!?

Click to expand...

Been following NERDS since the beginning just can't seem to get the stars in alignment but one of these days!

0Face said:

We're Awesome.

Click to expand...

Marty- Steamer says everything came out as submitted w your Ins adjuster and they gave him a check (in full). He says he will throw you a text and for me to tell you "thank him man, and he came through like he said and that you are truly a good guy!"

Guess you have the Steamers Stamp of Approval

Hopefully we'll see you soon Mr. Good Guy Knucklehead! lol (wish I could fit in EOM).

-KJ