With a successful 2008 trip behind us, we set off in a different direction for the '2009 Northeast Rod Run'. While still kicking everything off at Mt. Wachusett in Princeton, Massachusetts, this year the trip would take us all the way up to the Canadian border before heading west to Lake Placid, New York.
This year, even with the threat of heavy rain for the entire weekend, we still had a great turnout. With forty-four people coming from six different states, and as far away as Canada, driving in twenty-seven different cars, the trip more than doubled in size from the previous year.
Luckily, as people were arriving Saturday morning at Mt. Wachusett the rain let up for a while, and after everyone spent some time getting introduced, we hit the road and the '2009 Northeast Rod Run' officially kicked off it's second annual trip.
Our first stop was going to take us to Equinox Mountain, in the heart of the Green Mountain National Forest. Throughout most of the morning, on the drive to Equinox, there were intermittant rain showers, but they didn't seem to dampen anyone's spirits as they drove through some of Vermont's charming small towns, along some great touring roads and secondary highways. As with the kickoff at Mt. Wachusett, we were lucky enough to have the weather break again as we got to our destination. Eventhough the overcast weather blocked in the top of the mountain, many of us still decided to take the cruise up Skyline Drive (the United States' longest paved hillclimb) through the many switchbacks and ess curves. Once returning back to the base of the mountain, while allowing many glowing and smoking brake rotors to cool down from the steep decent, a few of the Rod Runners decided to celebrate the climb with a frosty beverage. From there the trip made the final forty-five mile drive to the hotel under clear skies. Now that the weather finally cleared, after checking in to the hotel, many in the group went down to the local carwash to clean the day's grime off their cars before going out to dinner for the evening.
Sunday's weather was much more co-operative than the previous day. After getting the 2009 Rod Run's group picture taken by the hotel's manager, and waiting for the morning fog to burn off, the trip continued north through a sixty mile stretch of the scenic Granville Gulf Reservation, where Fall's colors were in full display for all to admire.
The final leg of the day's trip was now going to take us up and across Lake Champlain, within one hundred feet of the U.S.- Canadian border before heading back down into New York, through the Adironack Mountain Range, as we made our way over to Lake Placid.
Once arriving into town and finding their accommodations for the night, some people went down to the Olympic Village for dinner, some just relaxed and ordered in, while others spent the night socializing and tipping a few back by the campfire. The next morning, whereas the group arrived too late the previous day to enjoy it, some people decided to take the trip up Veteran's Memorial Highway, to the top of Whiteface Mountain before heading home.
Looking back now, it just goes to show that even with an unfavorable weather forecast, if you have a great group of people, a little help from Mother Nature, and some of the best scenery in the Northeast, you can still have a great time on the road. Just because sometimes things don't appear to look to promising on the surface, it's all about taking a chance, and sometimes when you do, you are greatly awarded for your efforts.