The best kept secret in the northeast

Friedle said:

Sorry for the delay in writing a wrap up report. I took four days off to make this happen and it has taken four weeks to get caught up again.

I want to first thank all the fine people who came in from Wisconsin to Maine to North Carolina for their continuing support for this event, our 22nd year.

The gathering runs from Friday noon to Sunday am, but a few people who have been coming for years have started arriving on Thursday, making their own arrangements with the Park for Thursday and maybe grabbing their favorite site. It is not an attempt to grab the best site, they are ALL nice sites, but I think it is just to enjoy an extra day at the Park and take advantage of the many things to see and do in the mid Hudson Valley.

The weather cooperated, with a few light sprinkles on Friday with light rain Friday and Saturday nights providing a soothing white noise background to lull campers to sleep. During the day Friday we held a Tech Day under the cover of the dinner pavilion where any topic was fair game. Jean Lachaud brought up a freshly restored frame and a new wiring harness and gave a very informative discussion of all things electrical on your Airhead. There were no shortage of helped and helpful Airheads all having a good time and maybe even learning stuff while engaging in the traditional pass time of kicking tires and telling tales. Riders were dropping in all day long, addressing various issues and then hitting the local roads again. The historic houses along the Hudson (FDR Library, Vanderbilt House, Mills Mansion, Clermont, Livingston estate and others) had a number of visitors; others went to visit the Olde Rhinebeck Aerodrome or maybe the Motorcyclepedia Museum's 85,000 sp ft display of all things motorcycle related; others headed out to local vineyards or distillers to pick up something for the campfire that evening; and others just went exploring. It's hard to find a bad road in the area.

Some people prepared their own dinners Friday evening while many ventured out to nearby Rhinebeck to sample the large variety of offerings. We are blessed with having the Culinary Institute of America right here, and many local restaurants are staffed by either current students or graduates of the CIA. If you can't find something you like around here, you're just not trying.

Saturday morning the rain ended just in time for the hordes of campers, large mugs and cups in hand, to rush the coffee pots in the pavilion. I understand the need for morning coffee, but please don't be upset when it is not yet ready at 0430 when you show up. 100 cup pots take a while to brew! Sugar, milk, half and half, paper cups, stirrers and more are provided. Cheryl Belle even provided homemade baked goods to go with the fresh coffee. Normally the coffee is set up by the registration area (my tent) but due to the evening rain the coffee pots were moved under the cover of the pavilion. Thank God the walk to the pavilion was downhill. Small groups departed for breakfast runs, some not to be seen again till just before dinner time.

Speaking of dinner time, once again the fabulous Chef Karla and her crew served up an 80 foot long buffet line of meat and vegan and vegetarian dishes. Nancy Lonagrio helped fill the desert table with cakes, cookies and fresh fruit. Second helpings were mandatory, thirds were encouraged. Gallon sized baggies were offered for those who would like to take some more home with them. We even kept the baggies in the cooler overnight until you left on Sunday. Sunday morning the leftover cookies and brownies were served with fresh coffee. Cleanup was easy.

Once again the event was sold out by pre registration. We can only accommodate about 120 people for the weekend hence the pre registration requirement. Chef Karla works very hard the proceeding week to get everything ready. She would not be happy if I called her Friday evening to say that an extra 50 people had shown up expecting to be fed. I have come to like sleeping inside my house!

This year a few pre registered campers choose for whatever reason not to show up at the event. The visitors at the Saguerties Mens Homeless Shelter were very grateful for the donation of your leftover dinners. I would like to see you in person next year, but you can take some comfort in knowing some homeless person was very well fed that night.

All in all, another fine weekend in the book. Planning begins for the 23rd edition, as always the weekend after Fathers Day. Pre registrations will be accepted after 1 Jan 2018. Hope to see you there.

Thanks again from Michael and Karla Friedle and all our helpers.

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442bmw said:

would love to see pictures of the event.

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