Day 12 - July 16: What a day, what a day, in a good way!

Today was a gorgeous day (I hope the night is as well but I hear thunder as I am writing this). The air was much cleaner and less humid today after the heavy rains of last night. The temperature was in the mid 80’s most of the day and the sun was a shining!

My route for the day was north out of Massachusetts into New Hampshire, west across the southern part of the state and then into Vermont. In Vermont, I took highway 100 which runs north/south through the middle of the state. This is a great scenic highway. You are surrounded by mountains on both sides during much of the time. There was a pretty waterfall and a place called Smugglers Notch. The use the term notch as a pass between 2 sets of mountains. In Smugglers Notch, the mountain keep getting closer and closer together. At the end you basically climb out between the 2 mountains in the notch between them. Very cool.

Another stop today was the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream factory in Waterbury Vermont. You pay $3 to get a 30 minute tour and a small sample of ice cream. The tour was OK but nothing special. They were not making ice cream today; they only do that Monday – Friday. They have 6 locations around the world that make the ice cream. They have another factory near St. Albins in Vermont that is larger than the one in Waterbury. All the milk for these 2 factories comes from local farmers in the St. Albins area.

Tonight I am staying at a quite little campground north of Smuggler Notch. I found it just by driving by. It is run by an older man and his son. I think there is only 4 or 5 sites occupied. I have a little stream running behind my tent. Early, I went and sat on a rock in the middle of the stream to relax. It is so peaceful.

Tomorrow I plan to continue farther north in Vermont and then go back east back into New Hampshire. I place that I look forward to is Mount Washington. I believe it had the highest every recording wind in the US at over 200 mph. From what I have read, if the wind is less than 65mph, a motorcycle can go up the auto road to the top of the mountain. Earlier on the trip I saw a motorcycle with a sticker that said “This motorcycle has climbed Mount Washington”. I also believe there is an old train that you can take to the top. Either was sounds fun!