Thursday, August 7, 2008
Update on Bicyclists
Hey all. We received an e-mail today from Jon and Luc, the cross-continental cyclists we met in Quebec. They reached their destination. Final stats: 6,250 kilometers (3,883 miles) in 57 days.
Monday, July 21, 2008
T's Final Thoughts
I had 2 games to occupy my attention while riding on the back - the license tag game and a scavenger hunt.
For anyone keeping tally...
I saw 41 US States, 3 Mexican States, and 5 Canadian Provinces.
I found 10 of 14 items on my scavenger hunt.
-I did see a hot air balloon but did not get a picture.
-All well known logos are in English even in a foreign country.
-I bought a local little league shirt on sale ($2) during Midnight Madness, but the intent was to get a souvenior from a local baseball game.
-As for the Donkey Tattoo -- if you know the whole story about that, then you know that we could not take care of that item without Swish.
Of course, what is the fun in a scavenger hunt if you actually do "find" everything.
For anyone keeping tally...
I saw 41 US States, 3 Mexican States, and 5 Canadian Provinces.
I found 10 of 14 items on my scavenger hunt.
-I did see a hot air balloon but did not get a picture.
-All well known logos are in English even in a foreign country.
-I bought a local little league shirt on sale ($2) during Midnight Madness, but the intent was to get a souvenior from a local baseball game.
-As for the Donkey Tattoo -- if you know the whole story about that, then you know that we could not take care of that item without Swish.
Of course, what is the fun in a scavenger hunt if you actually do "find" everything.
Cooperstown and the Highway
Waking in Bennington on Friday we both wanted to stay in bed. After finally adjusting to the early sunrises, we were both starting to enjoy sleeping in a little bit. Still…we had a long day ahead of us and it needed to get going. After repacking our gear (something we had become quite efficient at by this point in our trip) we headed back to the Blue Benn diner to enjoy another hearty breakfast before hitting the road.
While getting the bike loaded up to check out of the hotel we began talking to an older couple staying at the same place. They were from Columbia, South Carolina and were also departing this day. Interestingly, this couple represented the only Southerners we encountered during the entire trip. When we arrived at the Blue Benn, we again sat at the counter. We had barely gotten our coffee when the seats beside us were filled by…yep…this same nice couple from South Carolina. They had been on the road for two weeks and us a week and half. We swapped some stories from the road. This was our second consecutive Friday morning breakfast at the Blue Benn so T confidently shared the ins and outs with them (for instance there was a menu, but probably twice as many offerings posted on the back wall in hand-lettered signs on notebook paper).
After breakfast we hit the road to Cooperstown, NY, home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Cooperstown was not very far out of our way home and who knew if we would ever be in this vicinity again with as much freedom over our schedule, so we decided to stop by. We had printed up directions the previous day from Mapquest about taking back roads to Cooperstown. This eventually led us to take our only serious wrong turn of the entire trip. The expressways around Albany, NY are confusingly designed with the sole intent being to get an extra 60 cents of toll out of each vehicle rather than being easy to understand. We missed our exit and had to backtrack a little bit, but probably didn’t lose any time.
Just outside of Albany we left the interstates and rode about 60 miles of rural New York roads to Cooperstown. I’ve never been in upstate New York prior to this trip. It’s actually quite scenic with many small towns, farms, lakes, and hills along the way. As we approached Cooperstown we came to a large lake in a valley. We followed the lake’s shoreline for about 10 miles before reaching the village.
Cooperstown is a very picturesque small town. It takes its name from the father of James Fenimore Cooper, author of the Leatherstocking Tales. Today it is synonymous with baseball. Tradition holds that Abner Doubleday invented the American Pastime in a pasture within the village in 1839. Today, the downtown streets are lined with baseball souvenir shops, with the Hall of Fame located just on the edge of the shops. Being on a motorcycle benefited us again as we were able to find a small parking place downtown rather than having to park a mile or so out and take the bus to the Hall.
We spent a few hours exploring the Hall. I enjoy the game of baseball. I like watching postseason games on TV. I really enjoy going to a live game, at any level, sitting outdoors and watching the pastoral, game. Even more than that I think the history buff in me appreciates baseball’s place in our nation’s pop culture history. I will never know what it’s like to listen to a radio broadcast while Babe Ruth hits a home run, Ty Cobb steals a base, or Don Larsen pitched the World Series’ only perfect game. I can only imagine what that must have been like to young people, be they from the cities or on the farms with more limited horizons than people of my generation enjoy, listening to the exploits of these greater-than-life heroes. One of the things that brought this home to me was overhearing the numerous fathers and sons discussing the records of sports stars that we all share in common. Even when a man has the most outrageous New York City accent, a Southern boy like me can’t help but feel commonality with him as he tells his son with a true sense of wonder in his voice, “Ty Cobb had a .367 lifetime batting average. Son, that’s something we’ll never see again!” Yes…it’s fair to say that I enjoyed the Hall of Fame.
We left the Hall around 2:30. We called a few people back home to find out how many miles it was from Cooperstown to home (680) so that we could set our goal for the rest of the day. Now that we were through visiting sites, we had both decided that we wanted to be home Saturday night. We set a goal of riding another 280 miles that afternoon, feeling that we could do the remaining 400 in one day and arrive home to sleep in our beds and recover for a full day before returning to work.
We hit the road and after hitting a few stretches of road construction we started to hit our stride. We were helped right at the NY – PA border when we hit a long back up of traffic. We turned off an exit and a biker, noticing our baggage, asked us where we were headed. When we told him we were taking I-81 south through Pennsylvania he gave us quick instructions as to how to get around the immense back up. Soon we were around the traffic (probably saving us a half hour) and on our way. After a couple of stops for gas and for dinner we finally made our 280 miles around 9PM that night. We briefly considered riding on for another half hour to an hour but instead got a room at the Super 8 in Carlisle, PA. We quickly researched how long our ride would be the next day (approximately 7 hours of road time) and were quickly asleep.
Saturday we hit the road early with the hope of making it home by late afternoon. In Manchester, NH a few days earlier we had been in the mood for Mexican food. We asked the staff at our hotel where a Mexican place was. Their response was that Chili’s was just down the street. Yes…Chili’s the chain restaurant. Needless to say this was not what we were looking for and we had been in the mood for Mexican food since. Our trip today was going to put us in Harrisonburg, VA around lunchtime. Harrisonburg is the home of James Madison University and we have some friends who when to school there. As we were riding down the interstate, T text-messaged these friends and got a recommendation for a Mexican place. We found it with no problems and gorged ourselves.
After lunch we hit the road. We made a few stops along the way as we had some soreness to overcome that kept us from riding for much longer than an hour for any stretch. About 3 hours after lunch we hit the North Carolina state line. Within 45 minutes of this we were pulling into our driveway our journey complete.
T's Terrific Thought of the Day: Laughter is good for the soul. I was very interested that the exhibit garnering the most devoted attention at the baseball hall of fame was a video screen playing Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First” routine.
While getting the bike loaded up to check out of the hotel we began talking to an older couple staying at the same place. They were from Columbia, South Carolina and were also departing this day. Interestingly, this couple represented the only Southerners we encountered during the entire trip. When we arrived at the Blue Benn, we again sat at the counter. We had barely gotten our coffee when the seats beside us were filled by…yep…this same nice couple from South Carolina. They had been on the road for two weeks and us a week and half. We swapped some stories from the road. This was our second consecutive Friday morning breakfast at the Blue Benn so T confidently shared the ins and outs with them (for instance there was a menu, but probably twice as many offerings posted on the back wall in hand-lettered signs on notebook paper).
After breakfast we hit the road to Cooperstown, NY, home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Cooperstown was not very far out of our way home and who knew if we would ever be in this vicinity again with as much freedom over our schedule, so we decided to stop by. We had printed up directions the previous day from Mapquest about taking back roads to Cooperstown. This eventually led us to take our only serious wrong turn of the entire trip. The expressways around Albany, NY are confusingly designed with the sole intent being to get an extra 60 cents of toll out of each vehicle rather than being easy to understand. We missed our exit and had to backtrack a little bit, but probably didn’t lose any time.
Just outside of Albany we left the interstates and rode about 60 miles of rural New York roads to Cooperstown. I’ve never been in upstate New York prior to this trip. It’s actually quite scenic with many small towns, farms, lakes, and hills along the way. As we approached Cooperstown we came to a large lake in a valley. We followed the lake’s shoreline for about 10 miles before reaching the village.
Cooperstown is a very picturesque small town. It takes its name from the father of James Fenimore Cooper, author of the Leatherstocking Tales. Today it is synonymous with baseball. Tradition holds that Abner Doubleday invented the American Pastime in a pasture within the village in 1839. Today, the downtown streets are lined with baseball souvenir shops, with the Hall of Fame located just on the edge of the shops. Being on a motorcycle benefited us again as we were able to find a small parking place downtown rather than having to park a mile or so out and take the bus to the Hall.
We spent a few hours exploring the Hall. I enjoy the game of baseball. I like watching postseason games on TV. I really enjoy going to a live game, at any level, sitting outdoors and watching the pastoral, game. Even more than that I think the history buff in me appreciates baseball’s place in our nation’s pop culture history. I will never know what it’s like to listen to a radio broadcast while Babe Ruth hits a home run, Ty Cobb steals a base, or Don Larsen pitched the World Series’ only perfect game. I can only imagine what that must have been like to young people, be they from the cities or on the farms with more limited horizons than people of my generation enjoy, listening to the exploits of these greater-than-life heroes. One of the things that brought this home to me was overhearing the numerous fathers and sons discussing the records of sports stars that we all share in common. Even when a man has the most outrageous New York City accent, a Southern boy like me can’t help but feel commonality with him as he tells his son with a true sense of wonder in his voice, “Ty Cobb had a .367 lifetime batting average. Son, that’s something we’ll never see again!” Yes…it’s fair to say that I enjoyed the Hall of Fame.
We left the Hall around 2:30. We called a few people back home to find out how many miles it was from Cooperstown to home (680) so that we could set our goal for the rest of the day. Now that we were through visiting sites, we had both decided that we wanted to be home Saturday night. We set a goal of riding another 280 miles that afternoon, feeling that we could do the remaining 400 in one day and arrive home to sleep in our beds and recover for a full day before returning to work.
We hit the road and after hitting a few stretches of road construction we started to hit our stride. We were helped right at the NY – PA border when we hit a long back up of traffic. We turned off an exit and a biker, noticing our baggage, asked us where we were headed. When we told him we were taking I-81 south through Pennsylvania he gave us quick instructions as to how to get around the immense back up. Soon we were around the traffic (probably saving us a half hour) and on our way. After a couple of stops for gas and for dinner we finally made our 280 miles around 9PM that night. We briefly considered riding on for another half hour to an hour but instead got a room at the Super 8 in Carlisle, PA. We quickly researched how long our ride would be the next day (approximately 7 hours of road time) and were quickly asleep.
Saturday we hit the road early with the hope of making it home by late afternoon. In Manchester, NH a few days earlier we had been in the mood for Mexican food. We asked the staff at our hotel where a Mexican place was. Their response was that Chili’s was just down the street. Yes…Chili’s the chain restaurant. Needless to say this was not what we were looking for and we had been in the mood for Mexican food since. Our trip today was going to put us in Harrisonburg, VA around lunchtime. Harrisonburg is the home of James Madison University and we have some friends who when to school there. As we were riding down the interstate, T text-messaged these friends and got a recommendation for a Mexican place. We found it with no problems and gorged ourselves.
After lunch we hit the road. We made a few stops along the way as we had some soreness to overcome that kept us from riding for much longer than an hour for any stretch. About 3 hours after lunch we hit the North Carolina state line. Within 45 minutes of this we were pulling into our driveway our journey complete.
T's Terrific Thought of the Day: Laughter is good for the soul. I was very interested that the exhibit garnering the most devoted attention at the baseball hall of fame was a video screen playing Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First” routine.
Midnight Madness in Bennington
After resting up for a couple of hours we showered up and headed toward Main Street in Bennington to find some dinner and enjoy the annual Midnight Madness being held Thursday evening. We had a quick supper at a pizzeria and then begin walking around window-shopping.
Midnight Madness is an annual event in Bennington where the downtown merchants offer inviting sales and keep their doors open late into the evening. When we had been in Bennington the previous Thursday evening downtown was nearly deserted by 7PM. When we visited the Madison Brewing Company’s pub we were among only a handful of patrons there. By the time we left around 10PM the pub was closing. This evening the downtown streets were filled with people.
It was interesting because there wasn’t any public entertainment or other festival type of attractions to incent people to come out. They were just there because, for this one evening each year, downtown didn’t close at 5PM. In a telling statement about small-town Vermont, while the event was called Midnight Madness, the event only lasted from 7PM to 11PM. Most of the folks that had come out were younger. Some of them told us that they always came out for this, but when we asked they couldn’t really tell us why. I guess it was just a habit at this point.
After browsing awhile, we headed over to Madison to sit for a spell. This evening the bar was nearly full. We grabbed a couple of stools and ordered a beer. Soon a couple in their early 20’s sat next to us and ordered two shots of Jaeger and two drinks. T asked them if that was how you were supposed to drink in Vermont. The young lady, Melissa, had just gotten a new piercing and was trying to dull the pain with a couple of drinks. I asked her if her new piercing was for a special occasion and she said that she always got one during Midnight Madness.
Midnight Madness was an exciting evening for them because it provided nightlife in their town if even for just one evening. We both grew up in small towns, much smaller than Bennington for that matter. However our hometowns are close enough to a larger city, Winston-Salem, that we didn’t feel quite the same isolation that young people growing up and living in Bennington must feel. Bennington, which appeared to be similar in size to Elkin, NC, is the largest town within 45 miles. The nearest city is Albany, NY, but it is 45 miles of 2-lane country roads away. Albany is not a convenient option for big-city amenities for the folks from Bennington. I asked if they ever went into Albany for entertainment. Rick said that he had relatives there, but it wasn’t a “place with nice people” you would go to for fun.
At this point it was nearing 7PM and the start of Midnight Festival. Rick and Melissa headed out. T also went down the street to go in a shop that had interested her, but which didn’t open until 7. While she was gone I started talking with another young man at the bar named Rob. He had relocated to Bennington from New York City last November. He and his wife had a baby girl, which made the offer for Rob to teach theater arts at the small college in Bennington very appealing. Rob had been involved with the production of several off-Broadway shows before leaving and enjoyed helping his students produce their own productions. He had come out to Midnight Madness because he had won the coin toss with his wife over who would get to come out and who would stay behind with the baby. T got back soon after I began talking to Rob. He offered to buy us a drink, but thinking of how Michel had treated us in Quebec we insisted that we buy him a beer instead. We both enjoyed our visit with him. He was very passionate about his family, his work at the college, and his dream of bringing more performing arts entertainment to this small town.
We decided to go and walk around for a bit and see what was happening. The blocked off portion of the street wasn’t very big; probably no more than 3 blocks of main street, representing maybe 300 yards of streetfront. Still, the road was surprisingly packed with an impressive throng of people filling up Main Street. Again, there was no live entertainment, no fair games or rides, nothing really to entice a lot of people to come out and mill about in the street. Bennington is not a very touristy town and I imagine that T and I, if not the only tourists at the event, were among a very small number of out-of-towners there. We enjoyed the festival until it winded down around 11PM and turned in for the evening. We had a long day ahead of us on Friday.
T's Terrific Thought of the Day: Home is never far away -- I saw a wine bottle from Rag Apple Lassie in the display of a Bennington shop. (Unfortunately, the owners did not know anything about the vineyard -- the bottle came with the wine stoppers that the store was selling.)
Midnight Madness is an annual event in Bennington where the downtown merchants offer inviting sales and keep their doors open late into the evening. When we had been in Bennington the previous Thursday evening downtown was nearly deserted by 7PM. When we visited the Madison Brewing Company’s pub we were among only a handful of patrons there. By the time we left around 10PM the pub was closing. This evening the downtown streets were filled with people.
It was interesting because there wasn’t any public entertainment or other festival type of attractions to incent people to come out. They were just there because, for this one evening each year, downtown didn’t close at 5PM. In a telling statement about small-town Vermont, while the event was called Midnight Madness, the event only lasted from 7PM to 11PM. Most of the folks that had come out were younger. Some of them told us that they always came out for this, but when we asked they couldn’t really tell us why. I guess it was just a habit at this point.
After browsing awhile, we headed over to Madison to sit for a spell. This evening the bar was nearly full. We grabbed a couple of stools and ordered a beer. Soon a couple in their early 20’s sat next to us and ordered two shots of Jaeger and two drinks. T asked them if that was how you were supposed to drink in Vermont. The young lady, Melissa, had just gotten a new piercing and was trying to dull the pain with a couple of drinks. I asked her if her new piercing was for a special occasion and she said that she always got one during Midnight Madness.
Midnight Madness was an exciting evening for them because it provided nightlife in their town if even for just one evening. We both grew up in small towns, much smaller than Bennington for that matter. However our hometowns are close enough to a larger city, Winston-Salem, that we didn’t feel quite the same isolation that young people growing up and living in Bennington must feel. Bennington, which appeared to be similar in size to Elkin, NC, is the largest town within 45 miles. The nearest city is Albany, NY, but it is 45 miles of 2-lane country roads away. Albany is not a convenient option for big-city amenities for the folks from Bennington. I asked if they ever went into Albany for entertainment. Rick said that he had relatives there, but it wasn’t a “place with nice people” you would go to for fun.
At this point it was nearing 7PM and the start of Midnight Festival. Rick and Melissa headed out. T also went down the street to go in a shop that had interested her, but which didn’t open until 7. While she was gone I started talking with another young man at the bar named Rob. He had relocated to Bennington from New York City last November. He and his wife had a baby girl, which made the offer for Rob to teach theater arts at the small college in Bennington very appealing. Rob had been involved with the production of several off-Broadway shows before leaving and enjoyed helping his students produce their own productions. He had come out to Midnight Madness because he had won the coin toss with his wife over who would get to come out and who would stay behind with the baby. T got back soon after I began talking to Rob. He offered to buy us a drink, but thinking of how Michel had treated us in Quebec we insisted that we buy him a beer instead. We both enjoyed our visit with him. He was very passionate about his family, his work at the college, and his dream of bringing more performing arts entertainment to this small town.
We decided to go and walk around for a bit and see what was happening. The blocked off portion of the street wasn’t very big; probably no more than 3 blocks of main street, representing maybe 300 yards of streetfront. Still, the road was surprisingly packed with an impressive throng of people filling up Main Street. Again, there was no live entertainment, no fair games or rides, nothing really to entice a lot of people to come out and mill about in the street. Bennington is not a very touristy town and I imagine that T and I, if not the only tourists at the event, were among a very small number of out-of-towners there. We enjoyed the festival until it winded down around 11PM and turned in for the evening. We had a long day ahead of us on Friday.
T's Terrific Thought of the Day: Home is never far away -- I saw a wine bottle from Rag Apple Lassie in the display of a Bennington shop. (Unfortunately, the owners did not know anything about the vineyard -- the bottle came with the wine stoppers that the store was selling.)
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Home Safely!
Hello All. We arrived back home today safe and tired. Sometime in the next couple of days we'll fill out a complete entry or two about our last couple of days on the road.
We appreciate your following along with our trip and the thoughts and prayers for our safety along the way.
We appreciate your following along with our trip and the thoughts and prayers for our safety along the way.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Not So Fast, My Friends!
Doing exactly what you want when you want to do it regardless of the future consequences, while maybe not exactly heaven in and of itself, has to be at least part of the package. The last couple of days we’ve earmarked Thursday as a day when we would ride the interstates for the better part of the day and make some serious progress toward being home. As recently as last night we were researching this plan and making preparations for it. This morning, however, we changed our minds, opting to spend one last day riding through some of New England’s hills, valleys and villages.
Originally we mapped out a back roads route to Cooperstown, NY with the intention of being there in the early afternoon, exploring the baseball hall of fame for a little while, and then perhaps even riding on past Cooperstown to ease our route for Friday and Saturday. For the sake of reference, Cooperstown is probably 2 hours closer to home than Bennington, VT which is where we stopped after the 2nd night of travel on this trip.
The route was to take us through southern New Hampshire as well as southern Vermont. There were a couple of noteworthy New England towns along this route which we had not visited; Keene, New Hampshire and Brattleboro, Vermont. So we were able to get excited about another day riding back roads in New England rather than surfing truck wash along the interstates.
Before leaving Manchester, we stopped by a drugstore to replenish a few supplies, namely toiletries and sunscreen. By the time we finished this stop, gassed up, and got going it was 10AM. The roads out of Manchester improved somewhat in the sense that our trip into Manchester the previous day was on heavily trafficked expressways. These roads, while not yet scenic, were at least more lightly traveled 2-lane roads. It was probably 30 minutes outside of the city before the ride became more like the idyllic country ride you hope to find in New England.
We arrived in Keene, NH around 11AM and decided to stop, both because I wanted to get a New Hampshire decal for my bike (this was the last town in NH along the route) and it was time for a stretch break. Downtown Keene is quite picturesque with a tree-lined main street that leads up to a town square complete with a white bandstand gazebo. We took a few pictures and browsed through a couple of shops. We ended up having to ride a few blocks away, however, for the elusive NH decal and to find T a shirt…go figure. By the time we left Keene it was close to noon.
We had decided that we would stop in Brattleboro, VT for lunch to give us an opportunity to visit that town as well. We arrived around 12:30 and rode through and around the downtown area for a little while before finding a local establishment that was open for lunch. We enjoyed a pint of the local ale and had some food while we rested for the journey ahead. It was becoming obvious to both of us that we were falling behind in our pace.
At lunch we picked up a conversation that we had started yesterday about what would make this trip better. Yesterday as we were skirting past Portland, Maine, we both thought it would be great to stop there for the night. My parents had been there a few years back and spoke very highly of it. However, Portland was only about 150 miles from where we had started the day. With time being our most valuable commodity we couldn’t afford to make so little progress in one day. In Brattleboro we began to elaborate on this conversation (yesterday we mentioned it briefly while on the bike). It’s the classic “if we won the lottery, how would we do this differently” talk. We both agreed that what we would change about this trip isn’t the accommodations, or the places we’ve visited, or the restaurants we’ve eaten at. What would be different in the “lottery” scenario is that we would only ride around 100-150 miles on travel days, allowing us to stay fresh and rested as well as spend more time in the towns we chose to stay in. By definition, we would also visit more towns.
By the time we had finished with our lunch it was nearly 1:30 and we had only completed about 85 of the day’s planned 250 miles. In short, we knew we were not making it to Cooperstown without pushing ourselves this afternoon. If we did make it there we were not going to be able to enjoy the Hall of Fame until the morning anyway. T mentioned that our route would be taking us back through Bennington, VT.
A week ago when we spent the evening and morning in Bennington we probably were not prepared to fully appreciate it. Bennington was the first New England stop on our trip and we thought it more of a staging point along the way to towns we were more excited to visit such as Burlington and Quebec City. In the week since, we have come to like it more, even in absence. Of the towns we’ve been to, Bennington, perhaps along with Keene, probably most closely matches up with the Currier and Ives picture of a small, rural New England town.
A plan started to hatch in both of our minds. Bennington was about 45 minutes past where we were eating at. While Saturday might be a longer ride if we stopped there today, we could let Future Brian and Teresa deal with that. What we both would do differently in an ideal trip would be to end a travel day after 100-150 miles of scenic riding and settle into our next destination by early in the afternoon. Here was our opportunity.
While we had already been enjoying the day’s ride, knowing that we were going to end it early in a town that we both liked made the next leg of our journey that much more fun. We zoomed around the windy mountain roads and even stopped a couple of times to take some pictures. During this trip we’ve discovered how much easier it is to take quick pictures from the back of a motorcycle. We don’t take up much room so it is easy for us to pull over onto the road shoulder, come to a stop and let T take a picture and then be on our way.
We arrived in Bennington around 2:30 this afternoon. Right now we’re resting, but we’ve already discovered that the town is having a festival this evening that will close downtown to car traffic by 6PM. We’re a short walk from this so that poses no problems to us. We’re going to be able to take a short stroll up the sidewalk, have a leisurely meal and then probably re-visit the Madison Brewing Company, which we discovered much too late during our first time through here last week.
Last Friday when we left, I’m not sure I would have taken bets on our ever returning to Bennington, VT. A week later, re-visiting this picturesque town nestled in a valley between green mountain ranges seems like a great way to bookend our trip through New England and Quebec. Maybe tomorrow we’ll swing through Cooperstown…if we feel like it.
T's Terrific Thought of the Day: Today we gave ourselves a wonderful gift - TIME. It would be wise for me to remember this lesson.
Originally we mapped out a back roads route to Cooperstown, NY with the intention of being there in the early afternoon, exploring the baseball hall of fame for a little while, and then perhaps even riding on past Cooperstown to ease our route for Friday and Saturday. For the sake of reference, Cooperstown is probably 2 hours closer to home than Bennington, VT which is where we stopped after the 2nd night of travel on this trip.
The route was to take us through southern New Hampshire as well as southern Vermont. There were a couple of noteworthy New England towns along this route which we had not visited; Keene, New Hampshire and Brattleboro, Vermont. So we were able to get excited about another day riding back roads in New England rather than surfing truck wash along the interstates.
Before leaving Manchester, we stopped by a drugstore to replenish a few supplies, namely toiletries and sunscreen. By the time we finished this stop, gassed up, and got going it was 10AM. The roads out of Manchester improved somewhat in the sense that our trip into Manchester the previous day was on heavily trafficked expressways. These roads, while not yet scenic, were at least more lightly traveled 2-lane roads. It was probably 30 minutes outside of the city before the ride became more like the idyllic country ride you hope to find in New England.
We arrived in Keene, NH around 11AM and decided to stop, both because I wanted to get a New Hampshire decal for my bike (this was the last town in NH along the route) and it was time for a stretch break. Downtown Keene is quite picturesque with a tree-lined main street that leads up to a town square complete with a white bandstand gazebo. We took a few pictures and browsed through a couple of shops. We ended up having to ride a few blocks away, however, for the elusive NH decal and to find T a shirt…go figure. By the time we left Keene it was close to noon.
We had decided that we would stop in Brattleboro, VT for lunch to give us an opportunity to visit that town as well. We arrived around 12:30 and rode through and around the downtown area for a little while before finding a local establishment that was open for lunch. We enjoyed a pint of the local ale and had some food while we rested for the journey ahead. It was becoming obvious to both of us that we were falling behind in our pace.
At lunch we picked up a conversation that we had started yesterday about what would make this trip better. Yesterday as we were skirting past Portland, Maine, we both thought it would be great to stop there for the night. My parents had been there a few years back and spoke very highly of it. However, Portland was only about 150 miles from where we had started the day. With time being our most valuable commodity we couldn’t afford to make so little progress in one day. In Brattleboro we began to elaborate on this conversation (yesterday we mentioned it briefly while on the bike). It’s the classic “if we won the lottery, how would we do this differently” talk. We both agreed that what we would change about this trip isn’t the accommodations, or the places we’ve visited, or the restaurants we’ve eaten at. What would be different in the “lottery” scenario is that we would only ride around 100-150 miles on travel days, allowing us to stay fresh and rested as well as spend more time in the towns we chose to stay in. By definition, we would also visit more towns.
By the time we had finished with our lunch it was nearly 1:30 and we had only completed about 85 of the day’s planned 250 miles. In short, we knew we were not making it to Cooperstown without pushing ourselves this afternoon. If we did make it there we were not going to be able to enjoy the Hall of Fame until the morning anyway. T mentioned that our route would be taking us back through Bennington, VT.
A week ago when we spent the evening and morning in Bennington we probably were not prepared to fully appreciate it. Bennington was the first New England stop on our trip and we thought it more of a staging point along the way to towns we were more excited to visit such as Burlington and Quebec City. In the week since, we have come to like it more, even in absence. Of the towns we’ve been to, Bennington, perhaps along with Keene, probably most closely matches up with the Currier and Ives picture of a small, rural New England town.
A plan started to hatch in both of our minds. Bennington was about 45 minutes past where we were eating at. While Saturday might be a longer ride if we stopped there today, we could let Future Brian and Teresa deal with that. What we both would do differently in an ideal trip would be to end a travel day after 100-150 miles of scenic riding and settle into our next destination by early in the afternoon. Here was our opportunity.
While we had already been enjoying the day’s ride, knowing that we were going to end it early in a town that we both liked made the next leg of our journey that much more fun. We zoomed around the windy mountain roads and even stopped a couple of times to take some pictures. During this trip we’ve discovered how much easier it is to take quick pictures from the back of a motorcycle. We don’t take up much room so it is easy for us to pull over onto the road shoulder, come to a stop and let T take a picture and then be on our way.
We arrived in Bennington around 2:30 this afternoon. Right now we’re resting, but we’ve already discovered that the town is having a festival this evening that will close downtown to car traffic by 6PM. We’re a short walk from this so that poses no problems to us. We’re going to be able to take a short stroll up the sidewalk, have a leisurely meal and then probably re-visit the Madison Brewing Company, which we discovered much too late during our first time through here last week.
Last Friday when we left, I’m not sure I would have taken bets on our ever returning to Bennington, VT. A week later, re-visiting this picturesque town nestled in a valley between green mountain ranges seems like a great way to bookend our trip through New England and Quebec. Maybe tomorrow we’ll swing through Cooperstown…if we feel like it.
T's Terrific Thought of the Day: Today we gave ourselves a wonderful gift - TIME. It would be wise for me to remember this lesson.
New England's Last Ride
We left Bar Harbor this morning around 9:30, heading for Manchester, New Hampshire. After first stopping by the post office to mail home so more dirty clothes and souvenirs, we headed down the Maine Coastal road for a few more hours of scenic riding. The postman asked us how our “summ-ah” was going. We’ve not mentioned the impressive accents here in eastern Maine. When we were talking to the gentlemen at the rest stop outside of Bangor (pronounced Bang-Or, rather than banger), I asked him where he was originally from thinking he must be from Boston. Bang-Or, born and raised. The best way to describe the accents here is that they sound like a stronger version of the caricatures of Boston accents that we southerners will mimic. Bar Harbor is pronounced “B ah-Hah-Bah”. As far as these folks are concerned, Bang-Or is the only word in the English language containing the letter “r”. Honestly there were a few moments where it took us a little processing to understand people, which probably fed into some folks’ stereotypes of Southerners as being slow. While in New England we’ve been asked several times, “So, where ya from down South?”
The weather was once again beautiful. The weather for our trip has been exceptional. Aside from a couple of showers on our first day, and some overcast weather on the ride to Burlington and the stretch from Quebec to northern Maine, the riding days have been sunny with temperatures in the high 70’s. Today was to be an exception with the high approaching 90.
Our first planned stop was at the L.L. Bean outlet in Ellsworth, which we had passed on our way to the island. The day before T had been asking if we could stop there while we were at the Acadia visitor center. Even though I hadn’t even discouraged making this stop she kept trying to convince me to make this stop. Finally, I said to her, “Look, I’ll gladly take a half hour tomorrow to stop there if you’ll not spend the next hour today trying to convince me.” T happily responded, “Deal!” The only reason I tell this is because a man in front of us overheard this exchange and was visibly tickled by it. We both got a laugh out of his reaction. T imagined it was because he wished he could make similar deals with his wife. So we stopped at the outlet, but unfortunately for T it was a disappointment. There were some good values, but we didn’t exactly have a shopping list, nor did we have a lot of luggage space for just loading up on goodies.
The Coastal road runs along the eastern shore of Penobscot Bay. Maine’s coast along this stretch is still hilly, with no beaches. Riding along the coast here wasn’t like the flat stretches of beachfront faced by hotels that we are used to seeing. The bay has numerous communities at the different inlets on the bay, each with a harbor and charming waterfront. At the recommendation of a couple we ate breakfast with that morning, we stopped in Camden for lunch and a little bit of exploring.
Camden, founded in 1769, is one of the oldest communities along the bay. The downtown was like a mountain town with a waterfront. The streets leading away from the water were steep. This being the heavy tourist season traffic was heavy and there were lots of people milling about on the wharves as well as in their boats anchored in the harbor.
We had lunch at a pub along main street, intentionally avoiding the more pricey joints along the waterfront. In my experience those places are more likely to be tourist traps with food that’s not any better, just more expensive. Besides, we had been eating local Maine seafood for the two days in Bar Harbor so we were in the mood for a hamburger anyway. While we ate we visited with the bartender, Kathy. She was helpful with giving us directions. We only had a Maine road map so we couldn’t really tell what the best way to get to Manchester was. She also asked about our “unique” tan lines. That’s not the first time someone has asked us about them. I, of course, have my standard glove tan lines; white hands save for a brown circular tan spot about three inches in diameter on the backs of them. T also has some pretty wicked tan lines from her sun glasses. We told Kathy about our trip up on the bike. She mentioned that her and her husband were debating having a third child or getting a bike. She went on to describe the type of bike she liked. The more she talked the more I think she wanted the bike and her husband wanted another kid.
The conversation reminded us again about something we’re going to do if we make another trip like this. We’ve encountered several folks along the way that have either expressed interest in our trip or that have been such a part of the trip as to be included in this blog. We want to share this with them so that they can read about our trip or see what we say about them. Should we do this again, we’re going to pre-print some cards or something with the website on them to hand to people like these. Writing it out for folks on napkins is a little bit tougher, besides who knows if they can read our handwriting, or if we remember the website accurately. Hopefully those that really wanted to find our journal have been able to.
Not long after Camden, the Coastal road veered inland a little and headed on a more direct route to Portland and the interstates. Leaving the coastal scenery behind us we began to be occupied by a countdown. Just outside of the town of Newport, ME, the odometer on our bike tripped over 10,000 miles. We pulled over on the road shoulder to take a picture of the odometer reading as well as the overlook that was there. A nice couple on a Harley slowed down as they approached us to make sure we were alright. I signaled them with a big thumbs up, mouthing the word “Thanks”, so they waived and headed on. While we didn’t need the assistance this time it’s nice to know that it was offered.
Shortly after the milestone we hit the expressway. The rest of today’s ride was non-descript expressway riding. Traffic was heavy as it was 4PM in the afternoon and along with traffic from the major towns of southern Maine and New Hampshire, we were only 50 miles from Boston. We arrived in Manchester just after 5PM.
Tonight’s stop was the first where our habit of making reservations and plans the day of, didn’t work out. Our plan for Manchester was to stay in a hotel downtown. The reason for coming to Manchester to begin with rather than a more rural, “only-in-New England” type of village, was for a baseball game. The Manchester Fisher Cats were hosting their A-ball league’s all-star game. The ballpark is located downtown so we had thought it would be an interesting evening to walk down to the ballpark and take in some local color. Unfortunately, the hotels we wanted to stay in downtown were booked up. To top it off the ball game was sold out. Oh well. We actually weren’t that disappointed as we were fairly tired. We checked into a Super 8 by the interstate, had dinner at a dive just a short walk away and turned in early.
Thursday we’re planning to try and make some progress toward home. Hopefully the day’s progress will allow for an enjoyable last couple of days for the trip. We’ve got a few ideas of where we’ll stay tonight, but mostly that depends on our progress.
T's Terrific Thought of the Day: 90 degrees is hot anywhere -- even on the back of a bike riding down the interstate. Also, guess what, even if you are wearing a helmet, your face can still get burnt.
The weather was once again beautiful. The weather for our trip has been exceptional. Aside from a couple of showers on our first day, and some overcast weather on the ride to Burlington and the stretch from Quebec to northern Maine, the riding days have been sunny with temperatures in the high 70’s. Today was to be an exception with the high approaching 90.
Our first planned stop was at the L.L. Bean outlet in Ellsworth, which we had passed on our way to the island. The day before T had been asking if we could stop there while we were at the Acadia visitor center. Even though I hadn’t even discouraged making this stop she kept trying to convince me to make this stop. Finally, I said to her, “Look, I’ll gladly take a half hour tomorrow to stop there if you’ll not spend the next hour today trying to convince me.” T happily responded, “Deal!” The only reason I tell this is because a man in front of us overheard this exchange and was visibly tickled by it. We both got a laugh out of his reaction. T imagined it was because he wished he could make similar deals with his wife. So we stopped at the outlet, but unfortunately for T it was a disappointment. There were some good values, but we didn’t exactly have a shopping list, nor did we have a lot of luggage space for just loading up on goodies.
The Coastal road runs along the eastern shore of Penobscot Bay. Maine’s coast along this stretch is still hilly, with no beaches. Riding along the coast here wasn’t like the flat stretches of beachfront faced by hotels that we are used to seeing. The bay has numerous communities at the different inlets on the bay, each with a harbor and charming waterfront. At the recommendation of a couple we ate breakfast with that morning, we stopped in Camden for lunch and a little bit of exploring.
Camden, founded in 1769, is one of the oldest communities along the bay. The downtown was like a mountain town with a waterfront. The streets leading away from the water were steep. This being the heavy tourist season traffic was heavy and there were lots of people milling about on the wharves as well as in their boats anchored in the harbor.
We had lunch at a pub along main street, intentionally avoiding the more pricey joints along the waterfront. In my experience those places are more likely to be tourist traps with food that’s not any better, just more expensive. Besides, we had been eating local Maine seafood for the two days in Bar Harbor so we were in the mood for a hamburger anyway. While we ate we visited with the bartender, Kathy. She was helpful with giving us directions. We only had a Maine road map so we couldn’t really tell what the best way to get to Manchester was. She also asked about our “unique” tan lines. That’s not the first time someone has asked us about them. I, of course, have my standard glove tan lines; white hands save for a brown circular tan spot about three inches in diameter on the backs of them. T also has some pretty wicked tan lines from her sun glasses. We told Kathy about our trip up on the bike. She mentioned that her and her husband were debating having a third child or getting a bike. She went on to describe the type of bike she liked. The more she talked the more I think she wanted the bike and her husband wanted another kid.
The conversation reminded us again about something we’re going to do if we make another trip like this. We’ve encountered several folks along the way that have either expressed interest in our trip or that have been such a part of the trip as to be included in this blog. We want to share this with them so that they can read about our trip or see what we say about them. Should we do this again, we’re going to pre-print some cards or something with the website on them to hand to people like these. Writing it out for folks on napkins is a little bit tougher, besides who knows if they can read our handwriting, or if we remember the website accurately. Hopefully those that really wanted to find our journal have been able to.
Not long after Camden, the Coastal road veered inland a little and headed on a more direct route to Portland and the interstates. Leaving the coastal scenery behind us we began to be occupied by a countdown. Just outside of the town of Newport, ME, the odometer on our bike tripped over 10,000 miles. We pulled over on the road shoulder to take a picture of the odometer reading as well as the overlook that was there. A nice couple on a Harley slowed down as they approached us to make sure we were alright. I signaled them with a big thumbs up, mouthing the word “Thanks”, so they waived and headed on. While we didn’t need the assistance this time it’s nice to know that it was offered.
Shortly after the milestone we hit the expressway. The rest of today’s ride was non-descript expressway riding. Traffic was heavy as it was 4PM in the afternoon and along with traffic from the major towns of southern Maine and New Hampshire, we were only 50 miles from Boston. We arrived in Manchester just after 5PM.
Tonight’s stop was the first where our habit of making reservations and plans the day of, didn’t work out. Our plan for Manchester was to stay in a hotel downtown. The reason for coming to Manchester to begin with rather than a more rural, “only-in-New England” type of village, was for a baseball game. The Manchester Fisher Cats were hosting their A-ball league’s all-star game. The ballpark is located downtown so we had thought it would be an interesting evening to walk down to the ballpark and take in some local color. Unfortunately, the hotels we wanted to stay in downtown were booked up. To top it off the ball game was sold out. Oh well. We actually weren’t that disappointed as we were fairly tired. We checked into a Super 8 by the interstate, had dinner at a dive just a short walk away and turned in early.
Thursday we’re planning to try and make some progress toward home. Hopefully the day’s progress will allow for an enjoyable last couple of days for the trip. We’ve got a few ideas of where we’ll stay tonight, but mostly that depends on our progress.
T's Terrific Thought of the Day: 90 degrees is hot anywhere -- even on the back of a bike riding down the interstate. Also, guess what, even if you are wearing a helmet, your face can still get burnt.
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