Left the house at 6:30 on Saturday morning to meet my brother at the Hooksett rest area. Temps were in the mid 60s and traffic was light on 495 and the Everett Turnpike in NH because it was early on a Saturday. It was great not to have to deal with BS on 495.
I arrived at rest area a little before 8:00. My brother was already there. After a restroom stop we were on our way. We pulled into Weirs Beach about 9:00. There was plenty of parking. We actually could have arrived a little later and still would have been able to park. But by 11:30 it was packed.
It's an HD world up there.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/jjBn2dnTguDCHDvv7I only saw one other 2018+ GW along the entire Weirs Beach strip. It was red like mine, but it had a stuffed animal tiger bungeed to the rear seat. Are you kidding me?
We took our time walking the strip, shopped, looked at the various bikes and shot the bull with riders. Mostly an older crowd up there but still good for people watching. Sorry Terry, no pics.
We crossed Route 3 over to the old Drive-In area and then over to the Bud Tent area. Not as many vendors as prior years. Everyone is selling the same stuff. I guess bikers like knives and swords, because there were multiple vendors of those.
My brother did not have breakfast and was hungry. The Bud Tent didn't open until noon and we didn't want to wait. The restaurant next to the Bud Tent is now a BBQ place,
The Alamo. They've got another location on route 13 N in Brookline, NH. It's been there for years, but I never tried it. They were open before noon. At that point it was hot and loud and we decided to eat there in air conditioned comfort. I had the brisket sandwich with home made chips and a side of baked beans. It was the best brisket sandwich I've had in a long time. My brother got a half rack of ribs that were also good. I'm going to try the Brookline location sometime this summer.
After lunch we strolled back to the strip for a final walk around. It was packed by then. My brother took a short video.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/KZmCaBugufmTHGd5AWe left shortly thereafter. It was hot. We rode by the Broken Spoke. It was packed. We crossed route 3 onto Roller Coaster Road, which ends at route 106. We took 106 south to the Speedway to check it out.
We pulled into to the Speedway and didn't see any MC OEMs or demo rides. I thought, this kinda sucks. I couldn't believe it. We walked around anyway and I asked a vendor what happened to the demo rides. He pointed east towards the Speedway and said demo rides are that way. It was a bit of a walk and it was hot. So we passed. Maybe next year.
Back on the road for a quick stop at the NH Liquor store in Hooksett. By then it was pushing 90 degrees. For the second year in a row we skipped getting on 495 S. Instead we took route 111 W through Hollis, NH into Pepperell, MA. It's a much calmer and cooler ride than the highway. We found our way home from there.
