As usual – click to enlarge …
On Saturday July 12th I got up at 1:30am.
I started coffee, took a shower, and then hopped into a rented pickup, headed up to Baltimore to pick up Andrea and Jahnna. I’d told them about buying an old Triumph when Emma and I ran in them Dallas. We’d all gone to Dallas for the UFMCC World Conference, and Andrea had volunteered to ride along with me to New Hampshire when I drove up to get the bike. This pleased Emma greatly (she worries about me – isn’t love grand!).
Anywho – they live near Camden Yard, so after they jumped in, we left Baltimore at 3AM and headed north! The drive went well ’til we hit a traffic backup for the Triborough bridge in New York city. Ugh (and I though DC drivers were agressive and rude)!!
Once past NYC the drive again went really well. We were making marvelous time, it was a glorious sunny day and the views were beautiful! There were a lot of folks out riding bikes – tho a lot more rode without helmets that we’d expect!
We stopped on the edge of Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts around 9:30 for a pit stop and to call ahead and tell Greg we were way ahead of schedule –
but we just got their voicemail and decided to call again when we were closer!
We got to Lowell a bit after 11 and called again – and Greg was out running errands – so we left our cellphone number and decided to take a look around Lowell. I was excited – I mean, there’s the Merrimack River from the Tom Rush song, and I knew Lowell was Jack Kerouac’s hometown (!) – but Andrea and Jahnna didn’t know about them – tho they did think it was a beautiful place!
We got a call back from Greg who was surprised we were so close already – so we ended the brief sightseeing trip and headed on to his place in the town of Merrimack. All went really well, he was a friendly guy and we talked bikes for a while, and I trade some cash for the bike and a box of parts. After we finished loading the bike I asked Greg for suggestions on a good restaraunt where we could get lobster for lunch – and he recommended a little place called “The Lobster Boat”. Off we went – and very soon we were enjoying a wonderful meal. Our waitress recommended an appetizer: Lobster Fingers – and they were fabulous – strips of lobster in a tempura-style batter and quick fried – yumm! The real joy of lunch wasn’t the lobster (tho it was good) – we’d all ordered a sampler plate with lobster, scallops and shrimp – and the scallops !!! Absolutely tender melt-in-your-mouth scallops – I’ve never eatten such great scallops!
I’d almost drive there again just for that meal! Almost …
But far too soon, it was time to get back into the truck and head South …
we made a wrong turn somewhere and wound up jogging into Boston and then through Cambridge before we made our way back to the right part of 95 South,
but even that was interesting. We hit traffic again as we neared New York city.
It was just past twilight as we passed the Meadowlands, and it started raining … hard! Yuck! Well, it was raining on and off as we continued through New Jersey,
– and somewhere in Delaware I decided to take a break. I’d been driving all day and I knew I had an hour and a half worth of driving after I dropped them off in Baltimore… so it was time for a nap. We stopped at a rest stop and took did a pit stop and I laid my head against the passenger backrest. I must have gone to sleep instantly – the next thing I knew we were in the tunnel in Baltimore! Andrea drove us to their home, they unpacked, and I headed back to Virginia.
I made good time too – after the long drive up and back, I was home just after midnight …
… and I’ve got this great souvenir from the trip!