5-30-17...Good morning to you all.  I'm at the Cenci's in Burlington VT and what great hosts they are.  Had a fantastic salmon dinner and great conversation catching up on all our classmates.  I want to add a bunch of pictures here that I previously had not been able to download from my phone.  I think they call that technically challenged.

This is George Pagnotta, a college classmate in Brewster NY where we met for breakfast.

This is from my home town, Brookfield CT.  It's a small, colonial town and the only reason I show this is to see the flags on every telephone pole for Memorial Day.  You don't see that many places in the South but all the small towns I've seen so far in New England really do it up for Memorial Day.

Above is a small park in Brookfield that was dedicated to the Veterans.  They made bricks for everyone they knew of and I was able to find mine.

I attended

I attended grade school at a Catholic school in New Milford CT. which was about seven miles from my home and another small colonial town.  the town has the above beautiful Green.  The bandstand is still there from when I was a kid.  On Sundays martial music and polka bands would play and people would sit all around the band stand.  That is the same tank I climbed all over as a seven year old.  The big beautiful colonial home was the home of our family doctor, Doctor LaTaif and he made house calls.  I went to school with his daughters one of whom became a judge in New Milford and unfortunately passed away a couple years ago from cancer.

My granddad used to take us kids on Friday nights to the movie theatre above to see Hopalong Cassidy and they always had a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

Ah, those were some great days.  I'm sitting in the house enjoy the warmth and watching the rain outside.  I think I must have pissed off all the gods.  The rain gods have dumped on me every day I've been on the road.  The sun god has turned his back on me.  The golf god is the only one smiling and that's because he doesn't have to watch my poor attempts at playing golf.

Funny story......As I arrived at the Cenci's they were in crisis with a bat flying around the downstairs.  They thought they had him isolated in the dining room with all doors closed.  Well you know, when you have bats in your belfry you call the Marines.  My original plan was to use a grenade or maybe bayonet the bat.  I decided against 12 rounds from my M-14 rifle for fear of the resultant holes in the hardwood floors and took the broom Anne handed me and dispatched the bat.  Gene swore the bat was still alive.  He took the bat outside and tried for the longest time to resuscitate him.  Gene was not aware that Marines are very thorough when dispatching the enemy.  Everyone enjoyed a cocktail shortly thereafter.

5-29-17...I've been so busy running around the last couple of days I failed to
make any entries in my blog, so here goes a catch up.  I have a bunch of pictures to add but having trouble downloading them from my phone.  I'll get to it I promise.  These past couple of days have been extremely nostalgic. 
After having breakfast with George Pagnotta I started riding the back roads in and around my hometown of Brookfield CT.  When I was growing up Brookfield was a sleepy little village of 1200 people located very close to Candlewood Lake which is a very large man made lake.  The town is about 50 miles from New York city and so in the summertime the size of the town almost doubled and during high school and college summertime was a gangbuster with parties and trips across the state line to Jimmies in Brewster.   The drinking age in CT. was 21 but NY state was 18.  We were a very short distance to the state line and so there were many trips over the line to Jimmies and other party locations.
On Saturday I had lunch with Linda Nohe Fernand, my high school sweetheart and first love.  It was fun catching up on all that had occurred in our lives and where we were today.  After lunch I got up with Fred and Linda Morlock and rode up to their house for a visit.  Fred and I were high school friends and every time I came back for a visit I would always stop and visit Fred.  From there I went back to the hotel.  There is an Outback Steak House right next to the hotel and Pete Ganio, Tommy Greene and Gene Previdi, all high school friends, joined me for drinks and catch up.  In the summer of 62 Pete and I jumped in my new 62 Chevy Super Sport convertible, put a cooler of beer in the back seat and drove 56 hours non-stop to Hollywood CA where we worked for the summer.  I was a page boy on the Queen for a Day show and Pete worked for Dan Blocker. Hoss Cartwright on Bonanza.  It was a great time and on the way out we drove the length of Route 66 which was pretty new at that time.  The rest of the time was spent riding around town seeing the old homestead and homes of friends and revisiting lots of great times.
Yesterday I left Brookfield and rode up to Colebrook Ct and had a three hour lunch with George Bodycoat, a boyhood friend from Brookfield.  I had seen George a couple of times in the past 15 years and every time we get together we have a blast reliving our younger days and all the pranks we were involved in.  I left George and rode the backroads through some fantastic scenery to Pittsfield Mass.
I want to mention something that was very pleasing to me.  As you go through these small colonial towns almost every home is flying an American flag.  In Brookfield as I rode on RT-25 from Brookfield Center to Brookfield, about three miles, there was an American Flag on every telephone pole along the route.  It was very inspiring.
Got to run.  I'm off to Burlington VT and a couple days with Gene Cenci.  They are calling for 90% chance of rain so I'm donning the rain suit.  It's also cold, 53 degrees.
Until the next entry.............

5-26-17...This morning I got together with George Pagnotta, a college classmate and good friend.  We had breakfast at a very nice restaurant in Brewster NY and spent a couple hours catching up classmates and our lives since graduation in 1963.

After breakfast George gave me a ride back to the motel and we said our goodbye's.  For the first day since I left Wilson we have no rain.  It is overcast but dry.  I hop on the bike and I'm off to my hometown of Brookfield CT.  I spent the rest of the day just roaming the back roads of Brookfield, New Milford Washington Depot and then it started looking pretty menacing weatherwise so I beet feet to the hotel I would be staying at in Danbury.  Luckily there is an Outback Steakhouse attached to the hotel so I could cover the motorcycle and stay in for the evening.

Tomorrow I will be getting up with old friends from high school days so I'll get a good nights sleep tonight.

 

05-25-17...The weather reports along my route for today were not good but I was hopeful that it might not be as bad as reported.  As I got underway I said a couple prayers for Marshalls grandson who is suffering from Leukemia and asked if it wasn't too much of a burden maybe he could help out with the weather.  For awhile I thought my prayers had been answered.  It was overcast but dry from Bowie to Chestertown Md., about 60 miles.  Then it started misting and I thought maybe he was testing me because it started to clear and I actually saw blue sky.  As I crossed the Delaware Memorial bridge it started misting again and as I got on the Jersey Turnpike the mist turned to rain.  Nothing worse than riding a motorcycle at 70 mph in the rain with 18 wheelers passing by leaving large clouds of spray.  That's what I thought but th en I got on the Garden State Parkway in NJ and was promptly in bumper to bumper traffic for 45 minutes.  On top of that we come to a toll plaza and there has to be ten entrances but get this, your on a motorcycle, visibility is much less than 100% and there are hundreds of cars behind you ready to roll right over you to continue on.  I'm looking for the cash booth but all I can find is E-Z Pass and correct change only and the toll is $1.50.  I can't find a cash booth so out of desperation I choose a correct change only booth.  Next I find their collection system doesn't take bills.  All I have is three quarters and a number of dollar bills.  I toss in the three quarters and notice a sign that says violators picture will be taken so I smiled and drove on.  I finally made it to Heidi's Inn in Brewster NY around 1730.  Tonight was a two cocktail night and a great New York Pizza both of which I did not need but they sure made me feel better and the pillow is telling me it is now time.  I'm meeting an old college buddy George Pagnotta for breakfast,
Good night all.

5-24-17...Today was a better day.  It was overcast but never rained.  Today is a local day in and around Bowie MD where I lived for 20 years while working for Westinghouse Defense.  I started out by dropping over to the Bowie Golf course where I played most every Saturday and Sunday for 17 years with the same foursome.  The greenskeeper and the Pro were really good friends and they were both there so we chatted awhile about what everyone was doing.  from there I rode over to McLean VA to meet a college friend Louis Stroller for lunch at the Wildfire Restaurant in the Galleria at Tysons Corner.  Lou said to say hello to all our college buddies that I will see on this trip. 

 

  After a great lunch we said our goodbye's and I headed over to Falls Church VA to visit my 82 year old brother.  He was a Naval Academy Grad and flew for the Navy for 27 years and now he is in the initial stages of Alzheimers.  We had a nice visit and now I am back at the hotel lamenting the next leg of my trip.  I am off in the morning for Bear Mountain NY and a Friday morning breakfast with George Pagnotta, a college buddy.  The weather guessers say there is a 90% chance of rain all along my route so it looks like another day of rain in the face.  One of these days it will clear up.  So ends the second day of my trip with hopes for better weather.  Driving the beltway and highways around DC, Maryland and Virginia sure make me appreciate the solitude and quiet of the back roads that I normally ride on these trips.  Y'all have a good evening.

5-23-17...Got up at 0600 to check the weather.  UGH!!!!  It's a terrible forecast but as usual, the forecasters don't say 100% rain, they leave it at 90% giving you the slender hope that you can slide into that 10% of clear air that is devoid of rain.  I'm getting ready to depart when my oldest daughter and two of my grandkids, Jack and Selah arrive to wish me God speed and happy travels, all the while rushing in out of the rain.  Jack steps out on my deck and assures me the rain has slacked off.  Jack is a very intelligent teenager who has just completed the requirements for Eagle Scout but I will never provide him a recommendation if he desires to be a weather forecaster.  Now I am looking at unloading the motorcycle trailer and packing it all into the Cadillac and getting on the road.  But no, I can't let the grandkids think their granddaddy is a wussy.  So I jump on the bike and proceed to my first checkpoint which is Scotland Neck.  The route I have is six hours long through the back roads and farm country of NC, VA and MD.  Two hundred feet down the road the bike is already soaked,  you can't see out of the windscreen and as I press on I am seeing signs to beware of high water.  The rain continued non-stop for three hours and then abated to a drizzle for the rest of the trip.  As the rain slowed Bitchin Betty (my GPS) took over to further ruin the day.  I don't know if it might have been her time or she was just irked at me but she put me on some back roads that I believe are still uncharted,  I enjoy riding the back roads or our nation as long as they are hard surface but she put me on some deer tracks that further deteriorated into squirrel and raccoon tracks.  As a matter of fact, two of the squirrels gave up and went home.  But, to cut to the chase, I made it to Bowie MD by 1730.  Tomorrow is local visiting family and friends in Bowie and Falls Church  and the weather is supposed to be without rain.  The following day is a long one with travel to Bear Mountain bridge and you guesses it, 90% chance of rain most of the way up there.
Didn't take any pictures today cause all there was was rain.  Not the best first day but I'm sure things will get better,