I woke up this morning to mountain air that was a cool and crisp 65 degrees. It is a great way to cleanse the body with fresh air like this. Tomorrow I expect it may be even cooler as it is already below 70 as I am writing this before I go to sleep for the night. Should be great sleeping weather.
This morning I continued further north in Vermont (within a few miles of the Canadian border) and then west across Vermont and through New Hampshire. It doesn’t take long to travel across New Hampshire at the top as the state is pretty narrow there. From there I did a loop around Rangely Lake in Maine. With this loop in Maine, I accomplished my goal of riding in 11 new states on this trip. However, there is so much more to see.
The highlight of the day had to be riding to the top of Mount Washington on the AutoRoad. It is a 7 mile plus road that you drive to the top of the mountain which is over 6,200 feet. The road is just wide enough for 2 cars to pass in most places. Guardrails? Who needs them! 65% of the road is asphalt, but there is 35% in one section that is still gravel. My understanding is that motorcycles are not allowed on the road is the wind is above 65 miles per hour. I was fortunate today in that we were OK to ride. However, the last mile or so, the clouds covered the mountain, so you really could not see much from the top. It sure was windy up there. It is said that at the top of the mountain, on April 12, 1934, the strongest wind ever recorded by man occurred and it was 231 mph. One person I talked to said the road had to be closed for some time last week due to snow and ice - glad I missed that!
I keep seeing signs for “Moose Crossings” but I have seen any moose yet. I have been watching closely for 2 reasons. First, I would like to see another one in the wild (I saw a mother and her calf on my trip through Canada 2 years ago), and because I don’t want to run into one!
One other item I saw today was a monument named "Motorcyclist in Prayer". I had seen it during some of my pre-reading for the trip but I didn't note it specific location. I just driving by and happened to spot it so I stopped by. It is located in a cemetery. They have a large "Blessing of the Bikes" event at this location every year.
Tonight I am staying at a National Forest Campground named Passaconaway in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Tomorrow I head for the coast of Maine and some fresh lobster.
A couple more interesting pieces of information:
• The roads in northern Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine are even worse than most Minnesota roads. The rest of the roads have been in pretty good condition but these obviously take a beating in the winter.
• People in New England must really like their Subaru’s. I have never seen so many of them!
• People in New England must also like pizza (would have never guessed that) because every place advertising having pizza
• In 13 days of driving I have covered more that 4,700 miles
No comments:
Post a Comment