To the Empire Rally on my Model 77, or "The British are coming!"

Hello everyone!

I got up early this morning & drove the 15 miles to the rallysite, they offer a all you can eat buffet indoors in a dining room with real silverware for $5 (around 3 GBP?)! Irealizedwhile talking to other Norton owners that the group rides were about to begin, I wanted to go on the long 3 hour riding tour, rather than the short tour to the Howe caverns, so I ran up the road to fill up my gas tank, came back & every one had left! I figured I didnt pass them, so the must have gone the other direction, so I took off down the road & caught up with the group going on the short ride to the caverns (darn), but thats cool, I have never been to caverns before. We get to the caverns (which were very cool) did the tour(about 1 1/2 hours) which includes a boat ride 15 stories under ground & the temp is about 50 degrees farenheight (10 c) year round, which was nice as it was about 80 degrees F. outside!. Went to my bike & one of my foot peg rubbers is missing!I am on a 1957 model 77 & I painted the footpegs & probably should have roughed them up a bit , or used adhesive. Oh well, no big deal, so off we go for lunch. 1/2 way to lunch the back end of my bike feels like its slipping sideways a little when I speed up, or slow down. I pull over & the rear axel nut has loosened up & fallen off somewhere! We are traveling in a group of about 20 bikes, so we make a temporary repair with needlenose pliers wedged between the axle adjusters & the threaded end of the stub axle & electrical tape to hold it all in place & were off too lunch in a little town (Middleburg I think). Finished up a very nice meal & some of the wives wanted to go shopping, so one of the guys on out trip drove back with me to the rally in case I had more problems. Got back with no problems & spent the next hour or two asking if anyone had an extra axle nut for a pre 1968 Norton. Luckily I found one! So all is back to normal! By then I was getting very hungry, so back to the dining room for dinner of 1/2 a chicken, green beans, wild rice, dinner roll & blueberry pie with coffee, yum yum! Then off to play Jeprody with motorcycle, camping, and Norton themes! For those not from the USA, Jeprody is one of the longest running game shows in the USA & the contestants age given answers, and must come up with the correct questions. As we were playing this game show, one of the rally goers was letting people take rides on his MANX!!! It was really loud!!! But I didn't hear a single complaint!!!!

More later!

All the best from the rally,

Skip Brolund

Hello all!

Today we had the bike judging, had to be over 100 Nortons at the judging! Most of them in near new condition, some better than when they left the factory! It was a real treat for me to see so many pre commando bikes with model 18's, big 4's, ES2's, some as early as 1925! Here in the states if you see a Norton it will probably be a Commando, so I really enjoy the variety of bikes that have shown up from the USA & other countries! There were Electra's, Manxman, Dominators, Manx, and nearly every version of commando ever made! Rows & rows of them! We even had a man named Chris Norton from the UK with his 1948 (I think) ES2! It took several hours for judging & the group picture, which happened with the temperature at 90 degree ( 33 degreesCelsius). But everyone was having a good time, some were in the swimming pool cooling off, some had a nice cold beverage! I have enjoyed much conversation with Alan Throssell & Tim Harrison. I discovered that Idon'treally speak English, I speak American & Alan has been helping me out with that

After a couple of interesting tech sessions we had a nice complimentary dinner where everyone had a great time enjoying steaks, hamburger, hot dogs, pulled barb-q beef, chicken, baked beans, corn on the cob, bakedpotato, salad,macaronisalad, potato salad, chocolate brownies, & beverages! Needless to sat, no one left hungry!Now you know why so many Americans are overweight! Then a short walk to an outdoor concert with a live band that played a nice mix of classic rock & blues.

UnfortunatelyI am not much of a journalist, but this is the rally through my eyes & I am having a great time & wishing you were all here!

Skip Brolund

Today was 105 degrees (40 celcsius)! Hotter than Hades!! After a big breakfast buffet with corned beef hash (my favorite) it was off on a ride of about 15 bikes to a nearby town to visit a bar (PUB) that is on a bit of a cliff overlooking a waterfall. On the way there we went on some nice twisty roads at speeds that suited my old Domminator well. Had a light lunch of pasta salad, lookad at the falls, told lies & off we went for more tisty roads & some stunning scenery of the Catskill mountains. It was nice to get back to the rallysite, as it was getting quite hot by the time we got back (around 1:00) so cold beverages were had by all & many took a dip in the pool, while others hung by the Tiki bar nearby forrefreshments. It is a great rally with 8 or 9 countries represented & over 400 people in attendance. Its a resort & it has some, well, odd things for a motorcycle rally, like a haunted house to tour, fireworks on tuesday evenings, and a petting zoo with peacocks! But I am loving every minute of it! I did sneak back to my motel room for some air conditioning & a brief nap before the awards banquet. AHHHH the banquet! Over 400 Norton people all having dinner together! There were awards given out to members from theconcoursejudging on Wednesday. The bulk of the time was for giving away door prizes, there must have been hundreds of them!!! Everything from can cozies to electronic ignitions to cash money! The luckiest winners got the NOC Jubilee t-shirts smuggled over our borders by the NOC chairman himself!!!The entire banquet took just over 4 hours!! Looking forward to some rest now, its 1/2 past midnight here & I need to have breakfast & be on a bus (coach) by 8:30am tomorrow morning with many other members for some sight seeing in New York City tomorrow. I think we have 2 of thesebusesfull of Norton members!!

Untiltomorrow,

Skip Brolund

Last day of the rally today. We went to New York City by bus (coach)in the ungodly heat of 108 degrees F (42 degreesCelsius)! But a good time was had by all, we took the Stanton Island ferry From New York to New Jersey & saw the statue of liberty &Ellisisland from the ferry. We all went to the famous Kat's deli for a nice sandwich (many famous people worldwide have been there, & the movie "when Harry met Sally" was filmed there during the fake orgasm scene!) Alan Throssell & I went up 86 floors to the observation deck of the Empire state building & got a great view of the expanse of the city of New York. On the way back to the rally site, our bus (coach) driver told us of his 1974 Norton Atlas with the 1200cc engine! We think he has mixed something up!!! Back at the rally site a bit ofsocializing& recollections of the day today in the near record breaking heat.

And a good time was had by all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All ready thinking about visiting the UK for a rally next year !

Skip Brolund

Here are some pics of the Empire rally:

http://s306.photobucket.com/albums/nn272/skipsoldbikes/Empire%20Rally%202011/

Enjoy!

Skip Brolund

Previously wrote:

Here are some pics of the Empire rally:

http://s306.photobucket.com/albums/nn272/skipsoldbikes/Empire%20Rally%202011/

Enjoy!

Skip Brolund

I forgotto mention, you can double click o the photos to enlarge them & the last two pics are of me & my bike !

Skip