Mt Washington Meet review!!

[brich]

7:15pm eastern time on Sunday and we just got home! Yesterday's weather was so much better than today's in North Conway... We got lucky this weekend!

Let me start by thanking a few people. First and foremost, Oznative for his constant recruiting efforts. Second, a big thank you to Ridgelady for her help in making our little meet stickers a reality. 2 GIANT thumbs up to JC and her fantastic company CDC Graphics. But maybe the most important thank you goes to each and every ROCer who attended this meet. Without you, there is no meet. It's extremely difficult to get commitments from people for such an event. Many want to see a decent commitment before they commit. We had 12 commitments and that speaks volumes for the nature of this fantastic club. Thank you all for making this great meet a reality. It will very, very difficult to match this one...

The morining started with a pre-meet convoy that started with a roundezvous in Seabrook New Hampshire. Being true to my word about being late in my departure, I missed the convoy by maybe 5 minutes. But still, 6 Ridgeline stomped there way from Seabrook to North Conway...

Upon arrival at the parking lot of the North Conway Grand, Oznative called me on my cell phone inquiring about my whereabouts. Well, I was sitting in my truck outside an outlet store anxiously awaiting the return of my wife as I looked 2 parking lots over to see the meet picking up steam... Half an hour later I made my way over and WOW, what a turnout. Funny to watch the driversby, with one actually cheering us on.

Pretty much right on time, we departed the parking lot 10 strong (2 went for gas) and paraded our way through horrid stopped traffic through the center of downtown North Conway. Traffic and few traffic lights and our fleet got slit in two. Thr front 6 continued on the the mountain.

After a few minutes, all were accounted for so we made our way to the Cafe for lunch. Thanks to LadyRidge, they were expecting us as she left a very sincere message at the lodge for us. Thanks JC!! But I don't think they really knew what to expect as the ROCers made their way through the lunch line and inundated the two ladies working the grill. Ya we hit em hard with our lunch order.

We finished lunch, lined up and headed over to the base of the mountain and the start of our trek. 11 in a row a Fishnbanjo headed up earlier to enjoy his packed lunch. Great thing as you've all probably seen his great pic as we ascended the summit.

What a ride. Dropped the Ridge into low gear and started the crawl to the peak. It started out rather pleasant, and steep, but the best was yet to come. The higher we got, the more exhilarating it got. From someone who hates heights, it was a rush. Now they tell you that the road is wide enough for two vehicles throughout the entire trip but what they don't tell you is that the vehicles they used to judge this were not today's SUVs... The most treachorous stretches were slippery, dirt covered strips that seemed much narrower than the other stretches. And the drop next to the edge seemed, well, I couldn't LOOK!

Roughly a half hour into our trek, we summited. Found a section of the lot that would accomodate our lineup nicely. We all jumped out and started snapping pictures. We made it. Being the lead vehicle, I didn't get to appreciate the reactions of those who thought Honda had a Ridgeline sale. But none the less, the attention was enjoyable.

When you have a lineup like that with trucks sporting so many states on their license plates, it speaks volumes for our ROC family. Florida, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts... wow...

Ok, so I should unpack and then I'll post some pics.

Please, everyone, get them pictures up here. We had a great meet, let's share it!!

[ridgeNH]

Here is a couple of pictures. Putting the full res photos on google pisca net

[Pizza Man]

So, how did the Ridgeline handle the climb and, just as importantly, the descent? I'm curious about the gearing required.

[Oznative]

Originally Posted by jsant01

So, how did the Ridgeline handle the climb and, just as importantly, the descent? I'm curious about the gearing required.

Put it in low and and didn't need much brake at all coming down. I was amazed.

[Oznative]

Brich beat me to it and did a much better job but I'll be darned if I'll waste 30 minutes. Here is my sumary.

New England ROC’ers climb to the clouds.

The morning started bright and early for us at 5:30. I know it was much earlier for others. The weather was cool and partly cloudy. We left the house at 7 am to meet up with a number of others at the Seabrook New Hampshire visitor’s center on 95N. Arrived at about 7:45 am to find only one other RL there. By 8 am they started rolling in 1 by 1. By 8:30 we had six RL’s for the caravan to North Conway. It was really cool to see the looks on people’s faces with all of those RL’s lined up side by side. We were waiting on Brich to show but he drove right on by and continued to North Conway. I guess he figured we were ahead of him. We left Seabrook at 8:40 am. The ride was about 1.5 hours but we ran into a little construction traffic and a wrong turn by yours truly. I guess I bought the Nav for a reason. We arrived at the North Conway Grand Hotel at 11:00. Brich was no where to be found. I called him on his cell phone and he said that his wife was shopping and he could see us all in the parking lot. He also said that it was killing him not to be able to join us. Another 10 minutes passed and he came buzzing into the lot (without his wife). He said she had her chance. We spent at least an hour there talking and looking. Brich handed out the stickers that LadyRidge made for us. I was the guinea pig and put mine on first. With a little work it went fine.
We left the Grand Hotel around 12 or a little after. It’s really tough keeping everybody together. Some needed gas and others needed beer. You all know who you are! We started our trek up Rt 16 towards the Mount Washington auto road. We were running a little behind schedule so we decided to skip lunch and go directly to the auto road check in. The personnel at the gate informed us that we had a reservation at the Glen house across the road and they were waiting on us. We all paid our toll to climb and turned around to go get some lunch. When we were in line getting our food I noticed a note near the checkout. This note was from LadyRidge wishing us all a great time. What a great surprise. Thank you LadyRidge. I really wish you could have come. Once lunch was done we all regrouped and drove back across the highway and started our climb. They gave us CD’s to listen to that explained the terrain and many other interesting tidbits of information on the way up and down. There were a total of 12 RL’s going up the mountain. It was some kind of funny watching the expressions of people’s faces. I was the second RL in line going up so once people realized that all them trucks were the same I couldn’t really see their expressions. It took 30 minutes to get up. It was a very winding and sometimes narrow road. Some of the sections had no guardrails so if you loose control you really loose control. Once on the top it was hard to believe how much colder the weather was. It was 46F on the summit. When we first arrived it was partly sunny but quickly became overcast and much cooler. We certainly attracted attention in the parking lot. We all pretty much went our own direction on the summit. Some left to go home and others left to meet relatives and friends that were up in North Conway for the weekend. I was hoping to be able to get together for dinner but it didn’t work out. The wife and I stayed overnight in North Conway. We went home on the Kancamangus highway and ran into RidgeNH and stopped and looked at the scenery for a while. I am posting pictures to follow up this summary. Thanks to all of you that participated and hopefully we can make the next meet even better.

[Oznative]

I'm having trouble with my photo editor but I'll post some shots as well. Brich I must say you did an awesome job and I thank you. There is not enough thank you's to go around. We all made this happen together and I really appreciate it.

[Oznative]

Here are a couple of shots. A covered bridge on the Kancamangus highway.

[cwsatterlee]

Oz:

Great picture of the covered bridge. Remember, your navigation system led us to a covered bridge in No. Conway and we turned around. We missed a great photo op.

It was fun just meeting everybody and seeing how each and every person takes pride in their truck. I met Andrew, between 8 - 11. He came over and ask to pet Princess. He then asked me if I wanted to look at his truck. It was funny because I asked Andrew if it was his or his father's and ended up meeting his brother, sister, and father.

[brich]

Ok...Here come some pics!!!

Meeting up at the North Conway Grand

[brich]

Convoy through North Conway.... Leaving the meet area behind the Outlet Shops...




Through downtown...