Mother Nature Owed Me One

[BikerGeek99]

The ride to Orient Point was how I like ‘em – scenic and uneventful.

One thing I did not know before we got into this area, though, is there are a lot of wineries in the area. Most of them were not open, so Mrs. BG and I will have to do a winery crawl next time…

There were also a crap load of school zones along the way.

We made it to Orient Point. There was a park, but they were charging per-vehicle to get in. I made a Command Decision and didn’t pull into the park. Instead we went up the road just a little ways, and we wound up at the area where the ferry to Connecticut docks.

This wound up being timely, because we will be taking that ferry tomorrow!

We hopped off the bikes, snapped some pictures (including the lighthouse out in the water), and went into the ferry service office to make our reservations for the morning.

As you can see, the skies were clear and sunny. The temperature was in the 50's, and there was a pretty good breeze blowing.

The lighthouse off in the distance.

Zoomed-in view.

Dad taking a picture of the lighthouse.

Dad taking a picture of me taking a picture of him.

The cars in the background lined up heading to the left are in line for the ferry. The building in the back-right is the ferry office.

I made our ferry reservation for morning, as did Dad and Steve.

By now, we had a Serious Talk with Ron and Ray. They had only taken the day off and were going to leave us to head back to their homes in York, PA.

We tried to convince them to stay. What the heck – come ON, after all! They’d ridden all that way, and I knew that there was going to be a lot more to see.

Heck – I even tried twisting Ray’s arm. He thought it was just a fly buzzing him and casually flicked me halfway across the parking lot.

Despite our efforts, Ron and Ray decided to depart our merry gang of heck razors. They had friends to visit along the way, and left us.

Even though I cussed Ron during the trip from York to Riverhead, they are two of the funniest, most genuine guys I’ve met. I enjoyed their company and hated to see them go.

After their departure, we watched the ferry load up, and moseyed on ourselves.

Next up, we head back to Greenport, then Shelter Island, and Sag Harbor.

 

[Wicked Webby]

BikerGeek99,

Another great ride report!

Way to go,

WW

 

[JLBFJR]

BG,

Awesome photographs, thanks for sharing.

 

[BikerGeek99]

On our way to Orient Point, I saw some spots to pull over that I thought looked like good photo ops, so since I was leading, we pulled over for a few pictures.

Dad taking a picture of…

This!

Steve is not much of a picture-taker, so he hung out while we took our pictures.

Some nice homes across the water.

I told Steve, “Don’t smile.” He didn’t. I RULE!

We loaded up and went the rest of the way back into Greenport. The town was starting to wake up. Construction crews were doing some work, there was more traffic, and some of the shops were open. Dad and Mrs. BG were on a quest for postcards. Eventually we found some in the drug store and in the bookstore, and we got a t-shirt or two. We wandered around aimlessly for a bit, then hopped on the bikes and rode over to get in line for the ferry ride to Shelter Island.

We rolled onto the ferry, paid our fees, and headed for Shelter Island.

It’s a short ride to Shelter Island, but they had 2 ferries running back and forth.

It was kinda cool seeing the fishing boats tied up at the docks.

‘Nuther fishing boat.

I was trying to frame Steve’s bike with the fishing boat.

Mother Nature was definitely cooperating. The skies were clear, the sun warm, but not too warm, and a nice breeze.

Where we’re going from…

Where we’re going to…

I’m a dork. I like taking pictures like this.

We made it!

Home of an Olympian! Very cool!

Unlike Long Island, Shelter Island is quite small. We rode around, looking at the homes and … well, Shelter Island is pretty cool! Must be quite different living on an island like that.

We didn’t even take any pictures! What’s up with that?! Oh, well.

We made it to the other end of the island and boarded the ferry to Sag Harbor.

Coming in to the dock.

Water crossing, FJR-style!

The look on my Dad’s face in this picture cracks me up.

Coming up, Sag Harbor, Jordan’s Bridge, and the Hamptons….

 

[BikerGeek99]

We rolled off the ferry from Shelter Island, and started our way into Sag Harbor.

We rolled across a special bridge, and found a spot to park.

Steve is a man of few words. But it seemed like every time we were off the bikes, he was on his cell phone. Chalk it up to one of those things that makes you go, Hmm….

When I say this bridge is special, this is why.

There is a memorial to Jordan. It is very, very special.

And it is very nicely done.

Last September, Mrs. BG and I met Jordan’s dad at the FJR Eastern Owner’s Meet in West Virginia. That was when I learned of Jordan’s story.

Any words I could put together would never do justice to Jordan’s story, other than say it is heroic.

You can learn more here.

https://www.jordanhaerter.com/

When Mrs. BG and I were just starting to lay out ideas for this trip, number 1 on my list of places to go was to Jordan’s bridge. A group of FJR guys were recently there as well. Having met Chris, Jordan’s dad, and knowing Jordan’s story, it was a powerful event. After approaching Jordan’s memorial, and seeing the Navy Cross… Mrs. BG and I both teared up.

I am so glad to have made it here, seeing Jordan’s bridge, with my wife and my Dad, on our motorcycles. Wow.

It was an awesome experience.

This is a full picture of Jordan’s bridge.

Up where the signs are, this is the view. Very nice….

While we were planning this trip and we had determined when we were going to be in the area, I contacted Chris. We bounced messages back and forth, and we had each others contact numbers. Chris suggested I contact him once we arrived in Sag Harbor. Since I tend to defer to the judgment of the locals, I did. I called Chris and he arrived in about 4 minutes.

We did the introductions, and Chris began giving us a tour.

The owner of the marina owns this little runabout. IIRC, it used to be a part of the Norwegian fleet. Yeah….

There’s a theme here. Chris ‘splainin’ what’s what, Dad listening and asking questions, Steve wandering doing his own thing, Mrs. BG taking pictures, and me taking pictures of all that.

On our way to grab some lunch, we happened to walk by a house owned by The Piano Man. I had no idea. This trip keeps getting better and better!

Right across the street, The Piano Man has his boats docked. VERY cool…

We had a very tasty lunch at a spot Chris recommended. It happened to be right next to The Piano Man’s house. One very cool thing – you can walk up to The Piano Man’s house and peer in through the windows to check out his motorcycle collection. We didn’t take any pictures (that’d be kind of disrespectful, if you ask me), but you can see his collection. It rocked! A week or two after we had left, The Piano Man had his bikes on public display. Chris went to check it our and spent some time talking with him about his various bikes. How freakin’ cool…

Next up, the Hamptons.

 

[BikerGeek99]

After lunch in Sag Harbor, we walked back to where we had parked.

Chris asked me, “You guys wanna go to Montauk?”

BG: “Yes!”

C: “I’ll head over there with you if you like.”

BG: “Cool! That’d be nice.”

C: “Wanna take the direct road or take a ride?”

BG: (I made a Command Decision here.) “Let’s go for a ride!”

C: “OK.”

Now keep in mind that I called Chris at work and he met us, so rather than working, he’s playing tour guide for us. We are all extremely thankful to Chris for taking time away from his business to show our gang of heck razors around.

Thanks again, Chris!

Chris led us on a nice ride though the back roads and headed towards the area known as the Hamptons, leisure area for the rich and really rich.

Um, yeah. There were some nice little shacks in the area.

Nothing like having your own vintage windmill on your property.

We eventually wound up at the beach. SWEET!!!

The sun was shining, we had moderate temperatures, and a nice breeze.

Mrs. BG on the beach.

For some reason, this picture cracks me up. Chris is looking at me, Dad is beside him either talking with Chris or just gazing out at the water, and Steve is wandering off.

The beach.

I found where Steve was wandering off to…

Somehow my camera managed to not focus. ^#*@!! Oh, well.

Chris and Mrs. BG chit-chatting. And, of course, the damn camera focused on the red thing. Oops.

I walked by this on the way back to the bikes. It was a mound of sand with a bunch of what looked like some kind of little crab-looking things spread around and on the mound of sand. And there was a stick poked into the crest of the mound. Like I said, I have no idea what it was, so I took a picture of it. Maybe a marine biologist can fill us in?

On our way to the beach, we had ridden by a house that was having some trees out by the road trimmed. Chris told us that was Steven Spielberg’s house. Whoa! Chris also told us that we will be riding by Bon Jovi’s house. Dang, man….

This is Bon Jovi’s house, behind the hedge. No, really – it is, I swear!

Just around the corner from there, we stopped into a beach access area with public facilities. When nature calls…

Then it was back on the road to Montauk Point.

We headed up the road, some parts were right along the ocean.

Six miles to go…

The old and the new.

And … we’re here!

Coming up, the Montauk Point lighthouse.

 

[BikerGeek99]

BikerGeek99,
Another great ride report!

Way to go,

WW

BG,Awesome photographs, thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate it!

Lots more to come. We're not a half way yet!

Ride safe,

BG

 

[BikerGeek99]

We pulled in to the park, Chris picked up the parking tab for all 4 bikes (thanks again, Chris!), and we hopped off the bikes.

At the bottom-left of this next picture is a building. There is a gift-shop in there as well as the booth to pay admission to the museum, which is the gray-ish building between the lighthouse and the flag pole.

Also up by the lighthouse is a memorial to mariners lost at sea. Only wanting to see the memorial, Chris approached the booth and asked about bypassing paying a fee since we were interested in the memorial and not the museum.

The lady working the booth was less than receptive to this. Chris, um, expressed his opinion on paying a fee to see a public memorial, and we went into the gift shop. (Remember that there’s a memorial to Chris’ son that is also public and you don’t have to pay admission to see that.)

We wandered around the gift shop for a bit, bought some trash & trinkets to remember that we were here, and headed out.

As we walked out, the lady working the booth came out and waved Chris over. While we were inside the gift shop, she went and asked and – whattaya know! – there is a ‘special’ book that family members can sign and they’ll let you in without paying the museum admission fee. Chris signed the book, and as we were walking through the gate the lady hollered at us, “And don’t you go into the museum!”

<sigh> Give it a rest, lady!

But we were IN! Excellent!!

The memorial is pretty cool, in a somber way.

This is up there as well - Amistad Memorial.

Lighthouses are very tall.

The memorial itself, right next to the lighthouse.

EH? WHAT’D YA JUST SAY??

I think they stole this sign from odot’s living room.

BG taking the next several pictures.

The view up there was awesome.

I could just make out this dude and zoomed in as much as I could.

Surf’s up, dude!

I wonder if Keanu Reeves and Gary Busey are anywhere around here….

Surfer dude was way down on the beach in this picture.

This thing seemed kind of out of place to me, but it was up on the hillside. As far away as we were, that thing has to be huge up close.

We wrapped things up there, and started walking out.

Came across this on the way out. If I were an artist, I’d call it, “Rock. With benches.”

Do people really sit around and stare at this rock?

Modern art. I just don’t get it.

On our way out, another lady who worked there came out hollering at us. My first thought was, “Oh, you gotta be kidding me. We didn’t GO into the damn museum!”

We stopped and she approached.

She asked if Chris was the one who had lost a son in the service. Chris acknowledged that was the case. She said, “We’d like to give you these postcards. We can’t sell them in the gift shop because they don’t have the artists name on them. Please take them, and thanks for your sacrifice.”

She handed over a stack of postcards.

We thanked her, and continued on our way.

Looking back at it, it was kind of a surreal moment.

We wandered around for a bit…

There was this display showing all the little islands and lighthouses in the area.

Eventually we headed back to the bikes and prepared for departure.

We would head back to our hotel, and Chris would head for his home.

We said our farewells, and headed out.

Thanks again, Chris, for taking time out of your day and spending it with us.

I won’t bore you with any more yawn-inducing pictures for today. We had a ride of about 1 ½ hours back to the hotel.

Once there, we talked about where to have dinner for the evening. We had passed a pizza joint just down the road from the hotel and went there. Mmmm… Tasty pizza. Don’t remember the name of the place, didn’t write it down, and am too lazy to look it up, so deal with it.

After a quick trip to Wally World to buy some tie-downs for the bikes for the ferry ride tomorrow, we called it a day.

And what a day it was… Greenport, Orient Point, Shelter Island, Sag Harbor, Jordan’s bridge and memorial, Billy Joel’s boats, house and bikes, the Hamptons, Montauk…. Yeah. This is why we endured the previous day’s ride through Brooklyn and Queens. I do wish Ron and Ray would have stayed for everything else we saw after they left, though.

All in all not a ton of miles today – right around 200 – but all that fresh air and all those sights… We were wore out!

Tomorrow, the ferry ride to Connecticut, and then we head north!

 

[cota95]

Thanks for the report BG. I was down there visiting Chris in April and he is quite the host. The weather is supposed to clear up a little and get quite warm over the next few days.

George

 

[ionbeam]

The black thingies scattered around in this picture are egg sacks, often called Mermaids Purse or Devils Purse. Skates, rays and some sharks produce egg sacks nearly identical to the ones in your picture. The stick is most likely left over from kids having fun. In the Gulf and southern Atlantic coasts sting rays will bury them selves in the sand, then when the tide goes out or a storm breaks the beach is covered with just the stinger armed tails of the rays sticking up similar to the stick in your picture, only a lot longer.

What the egg sacks look like:

Edited to add: I see that The Axeman gave you the same answer at a different time and different place

 

[BikerGeek99]

cota95 - yep, gotta agree with you. Chris was quite the host and tour guide!

Ionbeam - thanks! Egg sacks, eh? Interesting. Do you study marine biology in your spare time? What the hell DON'T you know... :blink:

 

[cota95]

Ionbeam - thanks! Egg sacks, eh? Interesting. Do you study marine biology in your spare time? What the hell DON'T you know... :blink:

Your right BG. and they call you the geek??

 

[BikerGeek99]

Your right BG. and they call you the geek??

Just 'cause I'm a geek don't mean I'm a geenyus a jeanuus smart.

 

[jnor]

WOW................what a great trip Andy !!!!!!!!! Keep the pics, and info coming !!!

 

[BikerGeek99]

WOW................what a great trip Andy !!!!!!!!! Keep the pics, and info coming !!!

Thanks, Jim!

It was a helluva trip. I'll try to post up another installment tonight.

 

[BikerGeek99]

Now we’re on day … uh … day …. um … heck, I’m not really sure! Mrs. BG and I were truly in Road Trip Mode. We kinda lost track of what day of the week it is, and how many days we’ve been on the road.

Road Trip Mode ROCKS!!

Officially, it is now Day 5. I think.

Anyway, first order of business today is getting back up to Orient Point and boarding the ferry to Connecticut.

We were up fairly early, grabbed a quick snackaroo at the hotel’s continental breakfast, and loaded up the bikes.

Since we were just at Orient Point yesterday, we knew the way and arrived without incident.

Yesterday, Dad had mentioned that he had lost the picture holder out of his wallet. He was pretty sure it had dropped out while we were at the ferry office making our reservations. He had called them and, yes, they had his pictures! For some reason, he also had a $100 bill in there. Why? I dunno, that’s just how Dad rolls, being a heck razor and all.

We arrived at the ferry station, and were directed where to get in line. We obliged, being obliging heck razors.

We went to the ferry office, got our tickets, Mrs. BG got her ticket taken care of, and, yes, Dad got his pictures back and, yes, the $100 bill was still there! You know, we all hear of all the bad crap that people do, day in and day out we are barraged with news of how terrible people can be. It was pretty damn nice for Dad to get back his picture holders, complete with stashed-away $100 bill. Kinda restores your faith in People.

When we made our reservation the day before, we were told that it was suggested that we have tie-downs for the bikes. That’s the reason for the quick trip to Wally World after dinner the night before. Did we need ‘em? Of course not. $!! Oh, well. Better to have ‘em and not need ‘em….

Dad, wallet complete once again, preparing to roll onto the ferry.

The biker ahead of us was from California, riding a Harley. He’d been on the road for a couple weeks or so. He was riding across the country, staying with people he met on the internet. Pretty cool…

We parked the bikes and headed upstairs on the ferry. We were in for a ride of about 1 ½ hours. Once again, Mother Nature was cooperating. The morning was crisp and clear, the seas (thankfully) calm.

What a handsome, cool geek…

We were sitting facing the stern of the ferry.

Looking back at the ferry dock. The other ferry goes … um … somewhere else.

I saw this and thought of Cable Beach in Nassau.

On our way out, we went by the Orient Point lighthouse. Had to take picture of that!

And another, framed with the boat.

On the ferry, they have an area of indoor seating, complete with a fairly-reasonably-priced snack bar. I grabbed a cup of coffee and a granola bar, and Mrs. BG had a Diet Coke and a yogurt. I think my combination was more palatable, but that’s just me.

‘Nother lighthouse.

When we loaded up, another gang of heck razors on motorcycles was behind us. Dunno their story, but they were all rolling together and were rather entertaining.

As the ferry was ferrying, a car alarm went off.

One of the guys from the other group of heck razors started yelling, in a nice Brooklyn accent, “HEY! Who’s tryin’ ta steal a cah, heah? Eh? Come on – where are yah gonna take it, eh??” I had to laugh. It was entertaining.

An industrial-ish looking facility on shore.

ANOTHER lighthouse off in the distance.

It’s a damn good thing ferry’s float, ya know?

On our merry ferry way we go…

SLOW DOWN!! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!

Damn hippies.

I wonder if THIS would slow down Jagermeister?

Nah…

It’d just piss him off.

Sa-LUTE!

More soon…

 

[BikerGeek99]

Steve was sitting up towards the bow of the boat, kind of doing his best ‘Titanic’ re-enactment.

“TOP OF THE WORLD, MA!!”

OK, OK, Steve wasn’t really doing the ‘Titanic’ thing, but he was hanging out up front.

Lighthouse / house out in the middle of the water.

Well, hell – if I were gonna build a house out in the middle of the water, I’d want my own personal lighthouse too!!

The Geeks getting closer to another new state (or two)!

Homes on the water.

Yet ANOTHER lighthouse. We don’t have these back in Cow Town.

It kinda looks like Dad is giving me The Salute here, but I’m pretty sure he’s just adjusting his glasses.

I think it’d be cool to live on the water.

Definitely.

Steve, Dad and … uh … dear GOD I look like a doofus. A cool, suave, handsome doofus, but a doofus nonetheless.

I thought this was kind of interesting. The rocks around the house-on-stilts kind of look like pillows, what with the way they look and all that.

Heading towards the end of the ride, we see a bridge in the distance.

I’m not sure if this was a feesh’n boat, or whale watch’n or what, but here is a picture of it anyway.

Do people live in these home year-round, or just when it’s warm?

A few sailboats were moored here. Dunno for sure, but I’d guess it’s a yacht club. Or just a bunch of sailboats doing an impersonation of lemmings. Or just a bunch of sailboats sitting there.

This is either an old military installation, or where Hannibal Lecter is housed, or odot’s summer home. Hard to say for sure.

This crane was on tracks. You probably can’t see it in this picture, but the crane was actually moving when I took this picture.

Back in 1981, my parents took my brothers and me on a trip in the RV. We went to Florida. I remember it ‘cause that was when Reagan got shot. On that trip, I discovered Hess gas stations. I’m not sure about now, but back then they had toy 18-wheelers and I WANTED one! Luckily I had saved my coins back then and was able to get myself one. Seeing this on the shore reminded me of all this…

WAIT a second here…

Is this thing plugged in to a ground-fault-protected circuit??

Dunno about you, but I don’t even see an extension cord.

Getting there…

Dueling Cranes.

It’s kind of like dueling banjos, but different, in a Devo-ish kind of way.

This is a U.S. Navy vessel. It’s purpose is to … well, I could tell you, but…

Low bridge.

There used to be a show on HBO called Deadwood. Deadwood was a show depicting the evolution of the town in Deadwood, SD, back in the 1800’s. The show was AWESOME! The overeducated idiots in charge at HBO decided to cancel the last season of Deadwood in favor of a show that utterly sucked. Morons.

Anyway, on Deadwood, there is a character named E.B. Farnum. Seeing this made me think of Deadwood.

General Dynamics. Isn’t that kind of an oxymoron?

Coming in to town.

Feesh’n boats.

This was kinda cool. I love flyovers. Getting this in-frame was a challenge. This is the best I could do.

The ferry is approaching the dock. In a not-too-spacious area, the driver did a three-point maneuver and backed the ferry into the dock.

Buncha wood (uh, huh huh… I said wood…) waiting to build something.

Swinging around to our docking point.

Another ferry.

More feesh’n boats.

AAHHH!!! IT’S COMING RIGHT FOR US!

Backin’ in….

Welcome to New London! Time to add another state to the BTDT list!

Next up, we’re now in Connecticut and headed north!

 

[BikerGeek99]

We departed the ferry in Connecticut and I fired up the route in the Zumo. I was more than a little bit nervous about this next leg of the trip. I was worried about heavy traffic, since we were going to be in the sort-of vicinity of Boston (but NOT going through Boston). As it turns out, I shouldn’t have worried.

We eventually found our way to I-95 North.

Slabbing this part of the trip was kinda boring. We did make a stop for fuel and, a little bit up the road, a pit stop. For some reason, when there’s a sign saying there’s a McDonalds at an exit in Connecticut, they’re not saying it’s right BY the exit. We had to go a few miles off the interstate, around and a couple of turns, and found it OK. On the way, we saw this. It’s a Dalmatian painted onto a rock or something behind a firehouse.

Oh, and WOO-HOO!! Time to add Connecticut to the List Of States I’ve Ridden In.

Before too much longer, time to add another state to the list!! Massachusetts!

Our goal for today is Portsmouth, NH.

Traffic was very manageable, and the scenery was pleasant.

I believe this was as we were going through Worcester, MA. I have discovered that I cannot properly pronounce Worcester, so be glad you’re reading this rather than hearing me try to pronounce Worcester.

As we continued north, the skies were getting darker… And darker… Ah, crap… It started to rain. A light rain, but rain nonetheless. CRAP!! Come ON, Mother Nature, you OWE me one, you old hag!

Mrs. BG and I are pretty much water-proof, but Dad and Steve aren’t. I pulled off at an exit and asked ‘em if they wanted to put on their rain gear, just in case… They thought that would be a good idear, so our gang of heck razors pulled around there corner, and they donned their rain gear.

Back on the road, it rained – very lightly – off and on for maybe 10 minutes.

THAT’S more like it!!

As I was just starting to think that it’s time to grab a bite to eat, Dad rolled up next to me and gave the Universal Time To Eat Sign – he rubbed his belly. I hunted in the Zumo for a non-chain / non-fast-food place to eat. I found one a couple of exits up, and we were on the prowl for some grub.

We took our exit and rode maybe 5 miles that were pretty.

We got to where Dr. Zumo said there’s a diner and … WTF?!? Where’s this diner that’s supposed to be RIGHT there?!?! All I saw was a Laundromat or something. Damn it all… No problem, though – we just rolled right down the road, parked here…

Walked around to the front of this building…

This was looking back the way we came…

And we had some lunch in here.

Tom’s Eatin’ And Drinkin’ Place in Northboro, MA. Mmmm…. We all had some really good sammiches at Tom’s.

After lunch, we’re back on the road…

The skies cleared up and it turned into a beautiful day.

Now I admit this isn’t the greatest picture, but we’re about to cross into New Hampshire, state #4 for the day and another to add to my list! I RULE!!!

Not much farther up the road was our hotel, which we found without incident.

We checked in and unloaded the bike. Dad and Steve needed to do laundry. Mrs. BG and I decided to go exploring.

Our exploring in Portsmouth, NH, coming up next…

 

[BikerGeek99]

It was around 4:00 in the afternoon, Dad and Steve were doing some laundry at the hotel, and Mrs. BG and I went on a ride to explore Portsmouth, NH.

It seems that New England towns pull off ‘quaint’ a lot better than those in the Midwest, you know?

Being a fan of The Simpsons, we HAD to have a picture of Moe’s.

After a quick stop at the post office to mail some stuff to ourselves and grab some postcard stamps (and listen to a dude whine, piss and moan because he didn’t READ THE DAMN DIRECTIONS to renew his passport; moron – it ain’t rocket science, dude) we just kinda moseyed around town.

When we left the hotel, we didn’t really have A Plan, other than that-a-way-ish.

Lookit these jokers….

There was some traffic to contend with, but it was going the other way.

We kept rolling and eventually – HEY! What’s that up there?! It’s the ocean, baby, Atlantic-style.

We walked out on the tidal area a little bit. There were a smattering of other people doing the same.

The seas were nice and calm while we were there.

Out a little ways in the water, I saw a TON of these.

I’m pretty sure they were lobster trap buoys.

Looking back up towards where we parked.

I thought this was kinda cool – the big rock in the middle of the pool.

Veejer looking out on the ocean.

What’chya see out there, little buddy?

We saddled up and rode down the coast a little ways farther.

There are various harbors along the way where feesh’n boats are moored. Didn’t see any named Jenny; maybe we’ll have to go to Alabama to see that.

We rode as far south as Rye Harbor. At Rye Harbor, we saw this. The guy was hopping in his dinghy with his two dogs. The dogs were all interested in us as we pulled up, but as soon as he got the boat going, their tails were ‘a wagging and they were happy as can be.

We headed back the way we came and stopped to snap a few more pictures.

The coast in New England is quite a bit different from Florida. We don’t have oceanic coasts in Ohio.

 

[BikerGeek99]

On our way down the coast, we passed Odiorne Point State Park. We pulled in to take a look around.

In the park, there is this.

It’s a World War II-era defensive gun battery. It was kinda cool!

This is kind of difficult to read, but this helped to ‘splain what’s-what.

This is the home to a science center.

DON’T DO IT!!

As we were walking around, this guy was out in his boat, doing his thang, working away, and he was jammin’ some tunes!

Lighthouse and more buoys.

I setup my camera on the tripod, set the tripod and took a couple pictures of Mrs. BG and me. Here’s one.

And this guy was still doing his thang, working away and jammin’ some tunes.

Do you think THIS could slow down Jagermeister??

Nah. I don’t think so, either.

We noticed a couple of benches which were dedicated to … brothers, perhaps? Whoever they were, they died close to each other.

‘Splainin’ the bunker.

Around back we noticed these. Hmm…

This is saying that these are 6-inch shells fired from this bunker. How cool and, in a way, somber.

There were several of these signs around the parking lot.

What an awesome day. We started on Long Island, took a ferry to Connecticut, dodged some rain through Massachusetts, and saw the coast of New Hampshire. Yeah – I think that qualifies to make this day awesome!!

We got back to hotel in time for happy hour (free Red Hook IPA; mmm… tasty!) and decided to go to Portsmouth Brewery dinner. Rather than take the bikes, we decided to take the hotel shuttle.

What’s on tap??

I love the sign beside the clock.

Mrs. BG and Steve each got the 10-beer flight.

We had a scrumptious dinner and a few laughs. When Mrs. BG has a few adult beverages, she gets quite chatty. When Steve has a few adult beverages, he giggles like a little girl. So by the end of dinner, Mrs. BG was just chit-chatting away, and Steve couldn’t stop giggling. Dad and I looked at each other and, well, you know The Look.

Mmm… And the food was terrific, too!

Portsmouth at night.

BG, in Portsmouth, at night.

That puts a wrap on … uh … whatever day this is. The came and picked us up and returned us to the hotel. We were all pretty pooped. Awesome days make the traveler weary.

Tomorrow, we head to Maine!