XSEast 2026

[newc4]

Rain day, 43 degrees and wet. A good day to truck it. Earl, Mike at Cup n Saucer


Dwayne and Pete


Darrell and Mike

[newc4]

Hungry Man breakfast

[newc4]

Bennington Memorial


Detail BGEN John Stark, not Ironman


COL Seth Warner

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Sunday, still raining


Mike and Pete

Loading the truck with Dwayne's Midnight Special

[DeanR]

Thanks for all the pictures Darrell. With labels !!

[newc4]

A belated ride report for XSEast 2026.

Tuesday
I picked up the shirts and they looked great. Unfortunately, the printer got the long sleeve shirt sizes wrong. Too late to remedy.

Thursday
It was an overcast day with the threat of rain when I rode up to Baltimore to meet Dwayne at the Royal Farms off Liberty Road just outside of I-695. With the FJR loaded onto the trailer we headed north on I-83, to I-81. After a stop in Hazelton for gas and Wendy’s continued north planning to meet up with Earl north of Allentown. With intermittent showers he said he’d wait a day to ride up.

We headed east on I-88 to US-20 to I-87 to NY-7/VT-7 to Bennington then on east VT-9 to Brattleboro. Checking into the Travelodge. I texted my wife, “What a dump.” She replied that if I thought it a dump it must be.
We grabbed some pizza at Ramunto's Brick Oven Pizza before calling it a night.
Friday
Everyone is up early to meet Deebs and his wife on his 78XS11E with sidecar, I may have the year incorrect, and Norm, from just across the river, on his 79XS11S at The Works Bakery Café, downtown Brattleboro. After breakfast we rode to the NH to visit all the covered bridges I had planned for Sunday, to review the route and visit them in case of a rainout.

So, with Dwayne, Deebs, Norm and Pete, we headed east over the Connecticut River on NH-9 to Keene to head south on NH-10. Just prior to our turn on Ash Hill Rd I felt something bounce off my left leg. My phone was still on its mount but thinking it had to be something I finally realized it was my EZPass. I pulled over and let the group know I was going back for it. There it was on the double yellow line. Back with the group we ran over the Cresson Covered Bridge.

Next stop was the Thompson Covered Bridge in East Swazey. There, Norm would guide us to other bridges, revisiting the Ashuelot Covered Bridge, a prominent stop in 2009. From there we went west on NH-119 to north NH-63 with a stop at the Park Hill Meeting House and another stop at The Fort at No. 4, Charlestown.

We merged onto NH-12/12A, to Windsor for another stop at the Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge. We continued north on VT-5 to Sumner Falls and Spodie Rock. After mucking about there a bit, we began our return trip down VT-5 to a stop in Bellows Falls at Athens Pizza.

From there, we continued south on VT-5 to I-91where we split up, Deebs heading for home, others continuing down VT-5, and Chris and I south on I-91. Earl and Mike had arrived and joined us for dinner takeout from Tito's Taquería.

Saturday
Skies were overcast, temps cool, but no rain was forecast. We had four XS11s; Pete, Mike, Dwayne, and Chris and Katie 2 up. Deebs had swapped out his XS w sidecar for a different ride.

We got on the road by 0930 heading south on I-91 to Exit 2 taking a right to head west on VT-9 to Wilmington. There we took another right to head up VT-100 northbound. A mile up the road passed the Cup N Saucer one of my favorite breakfast joints.

At East Jamaica we took a left on VT-30 to again, pick up VT-100 at Rawsonville. Earl has a newer Yamaha, an RC-1 I think but he’s not used to blinkers with no auto off. Several times I had to signal he still had them on. And I also noticed his headlights were out.

Crossing VT-11 at Londonderry made our stop at Weston, VT, at The Vermont Country Store and Mildred’s Table where we settled down for an excellent meal – it being a cool day I opted for their chili.

After lunch we continued north to Ludlow for a Sunoco gas stop then on to Plymouth Notch where me and Earl made the right on VT-100A. Dwayne and Mike had stopped contributing to the fireman’s boot and didn’t see our turn and continued north. Earl and I had made the turn and waited. We figured they missed the turn, returned to the intersection to find Deebs and Chris waiting on us. We motored north on VT-100 to find Dwayne and Mike waiting at the VT-4 Tee.

We made our way east on VT-4 to the Billings Farm & Museum for a short stop. Then south on VT-106 through Woodstock to VT-5 and I-91 where we split up to take the faster or shorter routes and Deebs headed south to home.

Late that evening I walked across the street to the Achille Agway Farm Center where they had baby chicks for sale for $1.00. I contemplated how I might get them back home. There’d be room in Dwayne’s truck but not on my FJR though perhaps, I could stuff them in my coat. No sale.

We did some work on Earl’s bike to get his headlights working. The junction fitting needed some work, but Pete got it working well enough. Mike went to O’Reilly’s for some hose clamps and JBWeld to repair his cracked muffler.

Then we piled into Dwayne’s truck for an excellent dinner at The Marina restaurant.

Sunday
Looking out the door it was steadily raining and 43°. I thought about riding for about a nano-second. This would be a vehicle day. We; Dwayne, Earl, Mike, Pete and I, piled into Dwayne’s truck for a visit to the Bennington Battle Monument some 43 miles to the west on VT-9.

Passing through Wilmington we stopped for gas and some Dunkin Donuts. I suggested breakfast just around the corner up VT-100 at the Cup N Saucer with its one big oval. We arrived at an opportune time as five seats had just cleared. The waitress chided Mile for bringing in his Dunkin Donuts coffee to the counter, “We don’t allow their kind here”. The Hungry Man’s breakfast was an excellent chaser to my three donuts.

We arrived at the memorial under intermittent rain. The obelisk was closed but at the base was a small museum and a docent gave us an interesting talk about the structure and the significance of the battle. We then headed into the museum store for a few souvenirs.

Back in Brattleboro we rode out the rain in our rooms then adjourned to dinner at the 99 Restaurant. Back to the Travelodge to load Dwayne’s bike onto his truck and my FJR onto its trailer.

Finally, we saw the evening out with beer and bourbon.

I steered discussion to next year. Mike proposed Meadville PA while Dwayne suggested Johnstown PA. I could go with either. I’ll look at possible routes. Johnstown, a little closer for most of us, it’s roads may cover some of the same routes as 2010 - Somerset, PA A Ride to Remember, while Meadville covers some of those from the 2016 - Coudersport, PA Bridge to Nowhere Rally. We’ll see how it pans out.

Just did a glance a Johnstown hotels. The downtown Red Roof Inn at $56 a night is a one star with ratings comparable to the Travelodge. Are we adventurous? There looks like some better options near the Richland Town Center.

Monday
I was a little tipsy when Dwayne called, “Wakie, wakie.” The weather was overcast with some spitting rain. I packed my gear, loaded the truck and said goodbye to Earl and Mike.

We headed home the same way we came up though we detoured through downtown Scranton to avoid an accident on I-81. Bouncing around the city streets, the trailer sounded extra rumbly; I saw in a storefront window reflection that my FJR had tipped over. We found a place another ½ mile to right it and resecure it. Unfortunately, I’ll be needing some new fairing plastic, though the repairs are just cosmetic.

After lunch at Perkins Pancake House I drove all the way to just north of Baltimore I-695 where we offloaded my bike and said our farewells. I reached home about 7:30.

The rally, as always, was a great experience, and a welcome meeting of old and new friends.