NEVROC Laconia Day 1

The warm, sunny mornings are over. It was overcast and in the mid 50's as we rode over to The Circle to meet the breakfast crowd. The radar looked bad with a large green blob slowly gobbling up New Hampshire. The rest of the gang rolled in shortly after we did.

Gary holds a nail I found at the entrance to the parking lot

Dawn looks way to cheerful for morning

Gary, again too cheerful

The plan today was to rake a ride up the Kancamagus Highway but rain rolling in cut that short. Instead, a group of us decided to ride up to Weirs Beach on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee. This is Biker Central during Laconia Bike Week and is usually jam packed with riders. We thought, with the weather, it might be a little less crowded. Right.

Some people had to make stops on the way so we agreed to meet at a Mobil station on SR 28.

Is Brad praying to the BMY or checking his headlight bulb?

As we all got ready to head north, the raain started to fall. We followed Brother Bear in a tight formation all the way into tow where we lucked into a group of parking spaces on the strip. It was 11:00 AM when we got there so we agreed to meet at 12ish or 12:30, depending on who you talked to. The rain stopped and the humidity went up quite a bit. We walked around looking at vendors and Gary bought T-shirts.

Gary & Brother Bear securing their gear

We Haul Our Rides Everywhere

Sandy, Gary and Steve among the vendors

Now that is a name for a railroad

The 12ish thing didn't work very well. About 12:30, still waiting for a few, Gary, Sandy and I headed out to find a tail light bulb for his Vulcan 2000. We were aimed at a WalMart near Concord but got sidetracked by a herd of CanAm Spyders coming back from a test ride. Wonering if our friend Marc, marketing director for the Spyders, was with them, we followed them into the Funspot. Marc wasn't there but we met a fellow named Ken, originally from the Sudbury area.

Ken from BRP/CanAm

We were wet again on the ride down to WalMart, psat the NASCAR track (no picture because the cameras were under the rain gear) and across to the motel. We had gotten 1157 bulbs, assuming this standard is what would be called for. In the motel lot, a lady in a cars said she knew it was bike week because it was raining.

Gary celebrating the liquid sunshine

Gary trying to get the furshlugginer bulb out

Imagine our consternation when we found the bulb wasn't a 1157 but something with a push-in base. With only 21/5 watts to go by, I spent 20 minutes on Google figuring out it was a 7443. I made a call to Joe who tried to track it down.

Because the rain picked up, Joe came and got us in his car and took us to the campground. On the way, he threw Gary two bulbs because he had realized that they were the same bulbs he used in the new GL1800.

We fund some new arrivals at the Kaw Pasture. Notably, Cheyenne Dave and Sue had come in from Wyoming in their Dutch Star RV towing a trailer with his Drifter and a 1975 MGB. Dave makes the trek to Laconia every year.

Cheyenne Dave with Ralph in the background

Brother Bear makes some very strong coffee

We left mostlyin cars to make out traditional 7:00 PM reservation at the Longhorn Restaurant. We had about 28 people there and the food was excellent. I had a 16 ounce prime rib, Sandy had a half rack of ribs and I think Gary had a 22 ounce Porterhouse.

A horny chicken at the Longhorn

After dinner, we got Joe to drop us at the motel where we kicked back and ignored the falling raindrops until it was time for bed.

Today's Route to Weirs and WalMart


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