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BMWMOA National Rally Vermont Vibes
  • Bruce Dimon
  • Bruce Dimon

BMWMOA National Rally Vermont Vibes

Thousands of BMW Motorrad riders rode to Essex Junction, Vermont for the 2026 BMWMOA National Rally. I camped with my club on the rally grounds and had a great time. Read more
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  • Trip start
    June 7, 2026
    Bruce DimonBMWMOA National Rally Vermont VibesBruce Dimon

    Lunch

    June 7 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    First time trying food from Rutters. They put the entire cheeseburger in the microwave after assembling it. Rusty means the lettuce and tomato are warm too. Interesting choice. Their French fries are excellent. They have a machine that cooks them to order. Their house brand of cold bottled coffee tastes good and a good value.Read more

  • Bruce DimonBMWMOA National Rally Vermont VibesBruce Dimon

    Waking up at the World's End State Park

    June 8 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 54 °F

    I rode to the world's end. Specifically, World's End State Park. It's a beautiful remote part of Pennsylvania so far away from any big cities. On Sunday evening, the campground had few people. It was very quiet except for the bird that woke me up at 5:45 a.m. as soon as I got up the second thing I did was make coffee. We expect to get on the road early today and do about 300 miles to Massachusetts.Read more

  • Bruce DimonBMWMOA National Rally Vermont VibesBruce Dimon
    Andy Horn
    Rustic Roost Cafe

    Great Breakfast

    June 8 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F

    When you see a business that is decorated in a folk art style instead of some slick marketing ad style, you know it's good country cooking.
    The Rustic Roster Cafe displayed a lot of folk art outside including giant roosters because nothing says breakfast like a giant rooster. I had a pancake and egg and a sausage and they were all fantastic. The egg tasted really fresh. The pancake had just a slight crisp to the edge but was super light in the middle and the sausage was delicious. Although I like a little more spice than that. I bookmarked this place and would definitely eat here again when I'm in the areaRead more

  • Bruce DimonBMWMOA National Rally Vermont VibesBruce Dimon

    Clarksburg State Park

    June 8 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F

    Andy and I got to our destination after several wrong turns and going off Route. My fault for reading my Garmin XT2 incorrectly. I was following a route visually because the GPS is not connected to my headset. The route showed purple on the screen and did not change because I set the Garmin to not recalculate. Once off route, it simply said to continue to the road that I was previously on. Normally, this is pretty easy, just go to the purple line. But this time, the screen showed a lot of purple lines! What happened was the map was set to display popular motorcycle roads in a shade of purple just slightly different from the calculated route. Around Mount Greylock, Massachusetts, there are a lot of popular roads. 

    We got a nice big site with more grass than most of the others. Got set up pretty quickly. Got food from a local grocery store and had dinner at the camp. After eating, I found the setting on my GPS to display only the route I want to follow.     Read more

  • Bruce DimonBMWMOA National Rally Vermont VibesBruce Dimon

    A Splash of Gatorade

    June 9 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F

    The day became warm and we needed hydration, so we stopped at a convenience store. We met Stefan Knopf and his companions resting there on their way to the rally. He and his companions were the first rally-goers we met on this trip.

    I pulled my hydration bladder with the hose and bite valve out of the big Aerostich pocket and filled it with Gatorade. I zipped up the pocket and dropped the suit over the bike's saddle. Gatorade splashed out of the hose all over the bike and Aerostich suit.

    The culprit was a damaged bite valve. Apparently, a rodent ate half of the valve while it was stored on my garage shelf. Time to buy a new bite valve and some mousetraps.    Read more

  • Bruce DimonBMWMOA National Rally Vermont VibesBruce Dimon

    Buels Gore

    June 9 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F

    While enjoying the curves on Vermont Route 17, we stopped at the overlook for Buels Gore. The name is not an auto correct fantasy. A gore is a triangular plot of land with few inhabitants. In this photo, the gore is not the lake or the far hills, it's invisible lines on a map. Read more

  • Bruce DimonBMWMOA National Rally Vermont VibesBruce Dimon

    Club Camping

    June 9 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F

    We finally got to the rally site and found the charter club camping. The Lehigh Valley Beemers had a corner lot with a 20 x 60 tent with three sides. I thought how nice it would be when the thunderstorms hit. The club paid for this tent with three side, four tables, and twenty chairs. Where were the tables and chairs? They were tangled up in a bureaucratic snafu. 

    While the rally was very well organized, our club's reservation got messed up. Here's the timeline:

    Logistics said we rented a tent and nothing else.
    Vince showed them the email receipt for 1 tent, 3 tent sides, 4 tables, and 20 chairs.

    Logistics delivered 4 tables, and 15 chairs.

    Vince showed them the email receipt for 1 tent, 3 tent sides, 4 tables, and 20 chairs.
    Logistics removed the three sides from the tent.
    Vince showed them the email receipt for 1 tent, 3 tent sides, 4 tables, and 20 chairs.
    Logistics delivered 9 more chairs for a total of 24 chairs.
    I told Logistics that we only needed 20.
    Logistics replied that he was told to deliver 9 more. 
    I asked for our tent sides back.
    Vince showed them the email receipt for 1 tent, 3 tent sides, 4 tables, and 20 chairs.
    We got one side back on the tent.
    We surrendered.    Read more

  • Bruce DimonBMWMOA National Rally Vermont VibesBruce Dimon

    Laundry

    June 10 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F

    It's my habit to only pack 5 days of clothes on a trip. Since I couldn't sleep, I found a Laundromat that opened early.
    I could not sleep because my CPAP battery ran out of juice at 3:00 AM. First priority this morning will be to find a secure outlet out of the weather to plug intoRead more

  • Bruce DimonBMWMOA National Rally Vermont VibesBruce Dimon

    1936 BMW R12

    June 11 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F

    Among the antique bikes riding around the rally grounds is this 90-year-old BMW R12. It looks like it just rolled off the showroom floor.

    I volunteered to be a gate guard this afternoon. We were supposed to only allow vendors and workers through. I decided that anybody on a bike older than their grandfather should also get the privilege of passing through.Read more