I took Kamala (Paul) up on his invitation to join him and DirtGrlll (Jen) on a back roads New England foliage ride from Westford, MA to Curtis Ribs, Putney, VT. My girlfriend Emily joined me, riding pillion, and taking the bulk of the photography chores. Unfortunately, I neglected to instruct her on the photo-intensive nature of ADV ride reports, so we didn’t being taking photos until well into the outbound leg. We stopped at the Kimball Farms ice cream/food stand in Jaffrey, NH. Kamala addressed his rather intense caffeine short-fall (me too). Don’t remember what the gals had, Emily had a fig newton as a snack. We all wanted to hold off on any real food until we got to Curtis Ribs. DirtGrlll on the left, Kamala on the right. A gratuitous photo of this humble author. Our trusty steeds: Kamala’s Transalp on the left, my GSA on the right, and DirtGrlll’s Ulysses in the center (keep those dirty thoughts to yourself!): Of course, I forgot to take a photo of Emily at Kimball’s, but don’t worry, I’ll have some soon. Next stop was a photo opportunity about 10 minutes from Kimball’s looking up at Mount Monadnock. A “darth peach” style shot of Emily, the summit over her left shoulder. You can see a bit of the foliage color in the tree line behind her. Another shot of me, and my GSA’s right mirror: And a picture of Kamala taking a picture of DirtGrl (natch): Emily tells me that this is the view she enjoys riding pillion: I admit that’s gotta suck, but I did help her get her motorcycle license more than a year ago--if she gets her own bike, she’ll find the view (and overall experience) much improved. As long as she’s riding pillion, though, she takes some nice pictures: As you can see it was a shockingly beautiful day, about 60 F, a bit cool on the bike in the shade, but otherwise couldn’t have asked for anything nicer. Here’s one of Emily catching herself in the right mirror, and DirtGrlll getting ready to lean over into a left-hander: Kamala and DirtGrlll tell each other how hot they look, while we wait at a temporary red light--or maybe they’re planning how best to ditch us at the next fork in the road: We knew we were getting close to the rib joint when we saw the billowing clouds of smoke: Thankfully, it wasn’t a volcano, but rather a whole buncha ribs cookin’: The little silver egg things near the back of the grill are baked potatoes in aluminum foil. That blue bus is the Curtis restaurant--it’s where you place your order, pick up your food, and where they keep all the cole slaw, baked beans, etc. Here’s Curtis himself (I think), posing with a customer: Curtis tending the fire: And Curtis’ sous-chef (as Kamala describes it): I’ve seen my share of live pigs, but this was by far the fattest pig I’ve ever seen. Not the largest, but the fattest--poor bastard’s little legs barely reached the ground past it’s belly. Kind of a neat natural weight control measure--you eat until you can’t paddle your little feet over to the trough, then lose weight until you’re able to move your fat pig ass around again. (Sorry, no picture of the pig standing up--just imagine a balloon pig with it’s feet poking out horizontally from its body.) I was so hungry by the time we got the food (the line was LONG, and service a bit less than speedy), I forgot to take a pre-eat photo. Here’s what things looked like 28.5 seconds after I sat down, though: Emily’s ribs didn’t stand much of a chance, either: Kamala and DirtGrlll doing their share: After that, we basically hoofed it back home. All in all, a nice day riding. Started out about 10:30AM, got home about 5:30PM, no accidents, no drops, no tickets. I feel emotionally refreshed. Thanks a ton, Kamala, hope I can return the favor some time.
Wow Andrew, you're quick on the draw - I haven't even loaded my pics up to Photobucket much less put together a ride report. Thanks for starting it, posting the pics, and joining us for a fabulous day of riding. Kamala and DirtGrl tell each other how hot they look, while we wait at a temporary red light--or maybe theyre planning how best to ditch us at the next fork in the road: Actually, I was practically knocking on Kamala's helmet trying to get him to open the visor and talk to me just before this shot...in true DirtGrlll fashion, I had spied a bunch of trailers and a trailhead to our left just before the stop and wanted to know (a) what it was and (b) we gonna take our dirt bikes there sometime???!!! (FWIW, the answers were Pisgah and it's probably overrun by ATVs and you have to pony up for a NH off-road sticker)
Nice RR and a great day. Always a pleasure to ride with you Boston12GS. I have a few pics to add to the report but I'm away from home right now. As soon as Jen posts my bail I'll get home post them up.
The weather or company couldn't of been better. It was an impromptu ride with the destination being lunch! A quick stop along the way at Mount Monadnock, which is the most climbed Mountain in the USA and the 2nd most climbed mountain in the world with Mount Fuji being #1. Boston12GS taking a pic of the lovely Miss Emily The woman who stole my heart! Beautiful even with helmet hair and 25 pounds of ATGATT! Before and after photos of lunch! You don't have to go far for great foliage in New England. These two shots were taken at the the end of my street on the way home. Seeing how we are at only 50% of peak foliage here in Nashoba Valley I'll update these last two pis in a couple days. What better way to end a long day of riding than with the smile of a beautiful woman! Stay tuned for the Massachusetts and Northern Ct foliage ride reports.
