We slept in ‘till 7:00, and had a lazy start.  It had been raining most of the night.  The weather channel has no good news for us here in the North East.  When we were ready to head out, the rain had stopped. 

Connecticut is one of the few helmet free states up here in New England.  We took off the wrong way, yet again!  Finally back on I-95 North.  The place we stayed in last night did not even have a toilet paper holder in the bathroom, let alone toilet paper!  It had no clock, no coffee, no good vibes.  Our next choice in motels will be on a higher level, so to speak. 

We rode about an hour and planned to ride along highway 1.  As soon as we got off on to 1, it was stop and go, every couple of blocks.  That was becoming dead action right away!  We got fuel and were told that a good old down home diner was right down the street.  As we pulled up and parked, a waitress came out right away to look over the rat bike.  She said her and her ex used to ride all the time, and she misses it.  Her name is Bernie and when we left, we took a picture of her and me by the rat bike.  Her 5’ height is quite apparent standing in front of my 6’5” frame.  We had a very good breakfast and spoke to another couple for a while too.  That was in Branford, Conn.  The diner is called The River Town House, and we sure needed a meal like that! 

We left to find a drug store for Randy, for something for his shoulder.  While waiting in the parking lot, we saw a couple waxing their car.  I went over to them and asked why they didn’t just do that at home.  They said they live in Alaska, and it is a rental car.  They had a minor accident with it and they wanted to try to fix it before turning it back in.  Randy and Sis came out and rubbed some stuff on his shoulder, and we got going again. 

We were back on I-95 for some non-stop riding for a while.  Shortly after getting into Massachusetts, my bike started to cough and backfire.  I pulled over and rearranged my light switch, thinking it might be the problem because it was laying flat and not vertical.  It seemed to be ok, so we left again.  I wasn’t even in third gear, when it was doing it again.  I pulled over again, traced the hot wire from the switch to the coil and to the battery.  The battery wire was only held on with a few strands, and the wind was shaking it back and forth.  A quick splice job and on the road again.  Joni and I found Randy & Sis around the bend on the side of the road.  We just barely got stopped in time to take the exit.  They said Drew had got off there and they were waiting for us.  I called Drew and found out that he doubled back, got back on 95 North again, and got off 6 miles later.  It seems that he needed to find a place to do a sit down job right away.  He said he was at a U-Haul place and we met him there.  We then had to go a few blocks to get on the freeway again. 

It wasn’t too long before the sky looked real black.  Drew pulled over under an overpass.  I put on my leathers, Drew put on rain gear, Joni put on her riding outfit, Cynthia & Randy didn’t even put on a jacket.  A few miles later the sky opened up on us.  It was a big time down pour.  We could hardly even see the road.  All of a sudden, we were riding in a flooded slow lane.  Water was splashing our engines and steaming up pretty good.  We were getting splashed by vehicles on our left passing us.  When Randy pulled over under an overpass, I suggested to him, next time we put on gear to prepare for getting wet, that they should do it at the same time!  We ended up staying there for at least 30-40 minutes.  It was quite a show watching Randy helping Cynthia put on her $9.00 rain gear.  I called Drew and found out that he was a couple of overpasses down the road.  The traffic was pretty heavy at that point in time.  Next thing we knew, the black clouds were gone and it was getting lighter with almost no rain.  Cynthia said, “It better at least rain a little bit more to justify putting this stuff on”!  I had taken off my chaps and put on my rain pants, (for the first time in a couple of years).  I called Drew and told him 5 minutes to go so he would be ready for us as we rode by.  We worked our way back out in traffic, and Drew was ready when we came by.  After a while it was getting quite warm.  Drew was in short sleeves, when we took off.  We were looking for a place to take some more clothes off, but it was no good, as we were in the fast lane.  Oh well, at least it wasn’t raining then. 

Another gas stop and we were almost through Massachusetts.  Somewhere around there, can’t remember if it was before or after the big downpour, I found myself riding beside a portable welding service truck.  The driver looked like he was a rider too.  He seemed to show approval toward me and the rat bike.  He took out his phone and took a picture of us.  I tried to yell my web site to him and told him to see the sign on the back of my bike.  We kept on riding and got into more traffic around Boston.  Slow going for quite a while. 

We finally got to a sign that said welcome to Maine.  It was there that we planned to take hwy 1 again.  The map shows a lot of coastline for the next 50 miles to Portland, Maine.  Shortly after we got on 1, Joni told Drew that we want to look for a good motel.  Right after that, I rode up to Joni and said, “This looks like a good place for a motel”.  We found one a few blocks later in Kittery.  Shirley took good care of us and got us 3 GREAT rooms.  A very nice place, the Coachman Inn.  We headed back out on the bikes after our stuff was in the rooms, to a seafood place a mile down the road.  The Weather Vane Restaurant, had our lobster that we had come to Maine for.  It was a very good dinner.  We took a picture of us holding lobster arms up in the air, before eating them.  Our daughter, Andi, would be jealous because she loves it.  Back to the rooms and a quick talk about tomorrows ride. 

Drew’s brother, Cliff, called.  The first day he made it to Indianapolis, Indiana, about 640 miles.  Today, he made it almost through Kansas.  I have not heard from the Wall gang yet, to see how they are doing.  I will let you know when I find out.  Despite the little rain, everyone is feeling much better tonight, as compared to yesterday.  Time for bed.  Good night……