2018 FALL ADVENTURE 09-21

Hello Bean Town.

We are in Massachusetts now and we’ll be here for a couple of days taking in the sights in and around Boston. It’s time to park the bikes for a few days, don our sneakers and spend some quality tourist time with the American Revolution (and some colonial Architecture).

Our first stop was in the village where it all began – Concord, NH. OOPS, wrong Concord. Well we had a nice lunch anyway and then straightened ourselves out and arrived in Concord, MA where the “shot heard round the world” was fired at the Lexington/Concord Bridge and the American Revolution got underway.

Today's Map 195 Miles

There is no explanation. Just go with it.

We tried to visit Waldon Pond, but it was simply too expensive to park the bikes so we bagged that idea and headed instead to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery to visit a few of our old friends. I happen to love cemeteries (you will likely have to endure pictures of many more before this trip ends) and this cemetery was especially lovely. For starters, it was very large compared to other cemeteries we’ve seen but what really made it special was the way the graves were tucked in around these old majestic trees. Very beautiful.

Hawthorn

Louisa M. Alcott

Ralph Waldo Emerson

2018 USA ADVENTURE 9-20

Filling in the Gaps. Today we took our last look at the beautiful scenery in Vermont. We zig Zaged our way over the Green Mountains via 4 Gaps (a.k.a. passes). The Passes start at the bottom of the Green Mountain National Forest and make their way North. The riding was wonderful and the scenery all that we’ve come to expect from Vermont. We stopped for a delicious cup of coffee at a wonderful little coffee shop on the main street in Bristol.

After the gaps we shot out to Lake Champlain. The scenery here was completely different. The forests were replaced by fields and cows. Lots of farms and agriculture happening in the valley. Lake Champlain offered some nice views, but few villages or towns, so our stay there was short.

Having a farewell dinner tonight at a nice restaurant up the street from where we are staying.

Map of the Day 195 Miles

Coffee Shop in Bristol

Calling Wendy's Brother, Dan, to Sing Him Happy Birthday

We Went Through the Little Town of Bristol Twice Today

2018 USA ADVENTURE 09-19

Today was a PERFECT Vermont kinda day. After a brief thunderstorm last night, the temperature dropped, and we woke up to a beautiful, cool morning. Our quest today: Covered Bridges. We struck out with the intent of seeing as many of the little gems as we could. We added 18 to yesterday’s count. These structures are charming but they’re also really cool pieces of architecture. The construction technique is very impressive and the light inside some of them is wonderful. Oh, they smell beautiful too. After all these years, the sweet aroma of old dry wood fills the air inside. Lovely.

There is a rather long video at the end, it has almost all the bridges on it plus some of the landscape we traveled through.  Since Rudy's GoPro died in Costa Rica we are doing the videos with a cell phone camera mounted on his bike.  Please bear with us, the quality is not the best but we are hopefully that they will serve to give you a good idea of our experience and hopefully entertain .

Map of the Day 148 Miles

Sweet Little Covered Bridge #1

Interior Detail

Sweet Little Covered Bridge #2 with Rudy

This one's supposed to be the longest one in Vermont

A Bridge Enthusiast

This one's the longest in the U.S. and maybe the world

Our journey took us through several charming Vermont villages and we stopped for lunch at an old-time diner, right across the street from a cemetery, which had to be explored. There are small local cemeteries in nearly every village. This is the first one we’ve been able to take the time to take a closer look at.

Ghost Hunter

Oh Vermont! I LOVE YOU.

We had lunch in an typical old style american diner, it was fun......good food too.

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Video of the Day

I just want to second Wendy's comment, I love Vermont too.  It's a wonderfully peaceful & pastoral  place that makes a person relax and enjoy life, but for the cold winters I believe I could live here.  Anyway in closing that is all I have to say about that.  

Great day in great company.

2018 USA ADVENTURE 09-18

After a lazy morning, this afternoon, we went in search of  covered bridges. There are 100 of them in the state of Vermont and we found 5. Not a bad start.

Map of Days Ride 64 Miles

Here is a Video of The Covered Bridges

In Toronto I lost the key to my bike so I've been using my spare plastic key for the last five days.  I was seriously worried the thing might break.  I had a real metal key back home so I called Ponce' and he was good enough to send it to me via 'FedEx.  It arrive at our hotel in Killington today, man was I glad to see it.  So now I have a new routine I'm not keeping it in my pocket rather on a carabiner on my jacket.  I'm hoping that will work better.  

2018 USA ADVENTURE 09-17

Leaving Essex and heading to Killington, VT where we will spend a few days exploring. Killington is a the Whistler of Vermont. Lots of hills and lots of ski resorts, and it's a good place to base from for a few days. We start or search for the covered bridges of Vermont tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Map of the Day 148 Miles

2018 USA ADVENTURE 09-16

Took a ride up to one of the ski resorts in the Northeast corner of the state. We were hoping to get a bit better color by getting a little higher up. Vermont continues to reward us with beautiful woodlands mixed in with sweet little farms and old homes of every description. Rudy thinks it looks a lot like Bavaria.

Map of the Day 205 Miles

2018 USA ADVENTURE 09-15

Today our sweet machines got new tires. We spent the whole day at the BMW dealership in Essex, VT. FUN! We are staying in a campground near the shop and there’s a big antique car show going on in Essex. Appears it’s quite the thing this time of year. A few of the car owners are staying in the same campground, so we got to go to the show, just by going home.

Map of the Day 34 Miles

2018 USA ADVENTURE 09-14

Today’s road took us through the through the Adirondack mountains of New York. These mountains are not as dramatic as the ones back home, but they are beautiful none the less. The forests are more mixed – firs with deciduous trees and it makes for a beautiful tapestry of texture and color. The architecture is picture postcard Americana. Beautiful Lakes abound, and I wish we’d had the time to stop and rent a canoe, but a service appointment for new tires in Vermont required that we push on. Sad!

Map of the Day 323 Miles

Just one of the many beautiful lakes on today's ride.

The navigator.

2018 USA ADVENTURE 09-13

We said goodbye to Canada and crossed over the border into New York today. Another couple of days and we’ll be in Vermont. The minute we crossed the border New York felt so different from the terrain and the cities we’ve been riding through for the last 12 days. For starters, it’s much warmer and there’s a lot more humidity in the air than we’ve had to date. Wendy likes it, Rudy not so much. The architecture has changed too. The houses are now brick instead of wood and the fences are low and made of stone. Another thing we noticed was the absence of fences. Big beautiful houses set on HUGE lawns with nothing between the street and the residence. The cemeteries didn’t even have fences. Just a lovely collection of old graves set in a field along the side of the road. It gave the whole place a very open and welcoming feeling that seemed quite special. I (Wendy) found myself strangely nostalgic for New York as we rode along. I always loved this place and I guess I still do.

We are camping tonight at sweet spot on Lake Ontario. We didn’t stop along the road today, so feast your eyes upon or dinner and our hard-won fire.

Map of the Day 254 Miles