A look back to Larry's Lobster Run - 2011

8 years ago today, October 11, 2011

I had this bright idea, Lexie and I had managed to ride to many states together, but I had neither drive, ridden or flown to Maine yet. I had also never eaten lobster. So in one of my finer moments, I decided to put on a ride called Larry’s Lobster Run. I invited some friends to join Lexie and I as we traveled to Norther Vermont and then crossed over New Hampshire and into Maine. See, getting to Maine is difficult; you don’t just drive East. From where I was in Vermont, I’d have to ride south to Boston and then back up or head North toward the Canadian Border and then over into the top.

Day One we rode north along the New York and Vermont border, along the banks of Lake Champlain and all the way to the border and then I headed East to Newport on the banks of Lake Memphremagog (don’t ever ask me to pronounce it) where Lexie and I would visit with my Aunt and Uncle. It was a beautiful Fall Ride and one of the many things I miss about riding – riding in the Fall. Day Two, I would leave Newport, VT and meet up with my friends in New Hampshire where we would spend the day riding some mountain roads before crossing over into Maine. The plan – arrive in Bangor that evening and then head to the coast the following day for Lobster.

What we didn’t know was that this was also the Canadian Thanksgiving and Bangor Main would become loaded with Canadians coming here for their version of Black Friday. We arrived in Bangor after a long chilly day of riding to find out – There Were No Rooms Available – not ONE! It was already late and we were cold. The closest hotel with rooms available was about an hour away in Bar Harbor – where we were supposed to ride to the following day. We spent the better part of an hour calling hotel after hotel and even tried everyone on the RAN liST, which was a system we had on our motorcycle forum to connect out of state riders with local riders in need of help. RAN stood for Rider Action Network and since our bikes were called ST’s, we would always try to use words with ST in them so – RAN liST Turned out, everyone on that liST was no longer active. This day would end up prompting the Admin of ST-Owners.com to change that list so people would have to re-up there inclusion in it annually; something that continues today. Someone told us that the local hospital had “rooms” available for family of patients there. We headed to the hospital to beg for a room, but they to were full as well. They were nice and let us use their phone to call everyone and anyone we could though.

As the sun set and options vanished, I spotted a brochure for a campground by the door. I had an idea; we could rent one of those camping cabins. You know, those wooden sheds in your back yard that campgrounds throw a bed in and call it a cabin? Well, we called and reached someone. They had two cabins. They don’t have heat – We don’t have camping gear! Yes, this still looked better than our last option; riding one hour in the dark along some beautiful and dangerous roads (Moose and Deer are deadly to a biker) to Bar Harbor. We discussed it and decided this was our hotel for the night.

We took off for the cabins and arrived there well after dark. Lexie and I got into our cabin and there weren’t even any sheets or blankets on the bed – just a naked mattress. I undressed and then went through all my riding gear and but on every layer and redressed. I even put on my riding pants, jacket and helmet as the temperature already dropped below freezing and was expected to drop further overnight. I then dressed Lexie in multiple layers of her riding gear. Once we were layered up, I unzipped my jacket and layers and put Lexie inside and then rezipped it. We laid down on the bed and drifted off to sleep. I must say, Lexie was always a great sport and she had no problem sleeping in my jacket.

It was sometime around 4am when I awoke shivering from the cold. I couldn’t take it anymore so I wrote a note to my friends and told them I was headed to a 24 hour McDonalds I spotted on our way here. Lexie and I jumped on the bike and took off. The heated gear felt so nice and she and I began to thaw out. We got to the McDonalds and I found a booth in a corner. I set up a spot for her to sit on the bench and covered her up so no one would see her there. I then ordered some coffee and drifted off to sleep again. I think it was about an hour later that my friends rolled in. They had heard us leave and they decided to join us. We all had breakfast and then took off for Bar Harbor.

This video is from that day and one of my favorite memories of riding with Lexie.
https://www.facebook.com/LexiesAdventures/videos/2287850429278/