Well, being that Joann and I didn't roll back into the barn until after noon on Sunday, it seems that the 'beams got a head start in editing and posting up their photos.
ionbeam (and Helen)'s pictures are awesome, as is usual for these shutterbugs. They have captured a lot of the beauty of New Brunswick, and of the CFR attendees as well
. Joann is still learning the pillion on-the-fly piccy snapping skills from Helen, so we end up with a lot of throw aways. But between the two of us we got a few good ones, considering how primitive our equipment is in comparison. So I won't try to compete with the shots we have that are duplicates, and instead just provide a lame *** photo report (sorry no lame *** videos Wheatie
) of those things that haven't been covered (yet).
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Avant CFR
The Saturday beforehand, Greg (Geezer) and Pawl (thingfish) rode up from Greg's place in the Cats to mi casa in loverly Londonderry, Cow Hampshire to stay with us that night. After plying the boys with a quantity of high octane home-brews and lightly seared beef flesh, we all retired relatively early for a good night's sleep before the ride up to bbdig's digs in Rangeley, ME on Sunday. The plan was for a leisurely 9AM start, but we were all so giddy with anticipation that everyone was up, bright eyed and bushy tailed, and ready to roll by 8! This would be a recurring theme for us on this trip: Who needs to sleep-in when there's FJR riding to be done? :yahoo:
We led the southerners on up along the eastern NH / western Maine border partly because this was the final day of Laconia Bike Week. But also to show the guys some of the more funner back roads that we hit fairly often around these parts. Rte 202 up to Rochester, NH Rte 153 from Wakefield to Conway (much of it recently paved!) a little bit of the
Kancamagus Highway, up through
Bear Notch Road (which was surprising clear of pirate ****), and up to the top of the Cathedral Ledge in North Conway.
After a light lunch at
Elvio's Pizzeria on Rte 16 in North Conway, who have the "Best PIzza North of the Bronx" highly recommended! (HR), we ran over the Hurricane Mountain Road (also HR). Just the one picture showing how goaty the Hurricane is. After this Josie was holding on for dear life as we nearly became airborne over the roller coaster that is the road. Defintely an E-ticket ride.
Next we ran on up Rte 113 thru Evans Notch and then Rte 26 thru Grafton Notch. These are all marked and gated as seasonal roads, not maintained in the winter. When you see that road sign and gate you know that you are in for something good!
We stopped for a short break at Auger Falls in the Grafton Notch park.
Rte 26 takes you on up along the south end of Lake Umbagog to Errol. Along this section we passed a lone cow(?) moose serenely chomping something in a swampy section off the road. She did look up to admire our pretty bikes. Or maybe it was my Hi-Viz jacket that caught her eye? In any case, we missed the photo op, so I guess it never happened.
From the thriving
metropolis of Errol it's a straight (but bumpy) shot up Rte 16 to Rangeley Lake. We detoured on up from Oquossoc to the "Height of Land" on Rte 17 for an aerial view of Rangeley Lake and the much bigger, and less populated, Mooselookmeguntic Lake.
Mooselook to the west of the lookout.
Rangeley to the Northeast
We rolled into bbdig's camp just around 5PM, right on time for some awesome bbdig BBQ ribs washed down with ice cold Labatts Blue (to get into the Canadian spirit, don'cha know). There we met up with that character SHAKIN (Ian( who had a head start on us on the Blues. Thanks so very much to the Austins for putting us up on Sunday. They have a wonderful camp in a very quiet little corner of Quimby Pond. We hope to have the opportunity to come by again some time.
Sometime after we had all mowwed down the majority of the rib-fest prepared by Jack and Jane, another Canadian character rolled in named FJRPierre. Oh the stories that Pierre has... Those that know him know exactly from where I speak.
With a 6:30AM departure time, all of us old fogies turned in pretty early. Dawn would come all too soon, if we could only get to sleep. Every night was like being a kid again on the night before Christmas.
Rangely to Ca-Na-Da
Again, everyone was up before the alarm clocks, a quick cup of Joe for the road and we were off to meet the Wizard. A quick breakfast stop at an awesome little diner in Kingfield, ME (bbdig knew of it) then a pleasant ride across Rtes 16, 6 and 1 to St Stephen to meet up with the early arrivers.
After the uneventful border crossing (for us) we found our way to "
the Charlotte Mall" (on King Strreet, Mary Ellen). The really funny thing was that as we rolled off the 1 and up to the stop light in front of "the mall" we see MEM leading the others through the light from the other direction. So after riding all the way over from Rangeley, stopping for breakfast, stopping for the last chance of cheap US gas in Indian Township, and being interrogated by the Canadian border patrol on entry, we arrived simultaneously at the rendezvous!!
Other folks have already covered the meet-and-greet pictures, our excellent fried clam lunch at Ossies (the best clams in the world!), and the ride down to picturesque St Andrews. When we approached this place I thought it was the Silverwood Motel:
But alas we rolled right by on the way to the real Silverwood in Fredericton. Let the party begin!!