Vermont

We left Madrid quite early next morning and it wasn’t long before we had a wee interaction with a State Trooper. All quite friendly. We went passed him, he followed us, (and yes we saw him this time) and when we got to the lights he pulled up beside us and told us our drivers side brake light wasn’t working. “Just so you know” he said and drove off with a smile and a wave. We knew but hadn’t got around to fixing it.

We entered the Adirondack Park. Beautiful roads and stunning scenery. Lakes, rivers and bush. Passed heaps of motorcyclists and cyclists. The areas around Lakes Saranac and Placid (home of the 1932 and 80 winter Olympics) are spectacular but were very crowded. Reminded me of downtown Mount Maunganui at the height of summer. There is no off season here. It is full on in both summer and winter. Too busy for these country hicks. We ended the day at Crown Point on Lake Champlain. In the early days of American history this was a very strategic point as whoever had control here controlled the river ways. There were several battles between the French and the English and the English and the Americans before the Americans finally took possession. There are the remains of two forts here. One built by the French but destroyed by them when they heard the English were coming. With about 200 French against 12000 English who wouldn’t. Another much larger one built by the English and destroyed by fire when a Mrs. ?? had a chimney fire while cooking pie and peas for the soldiers. The fire burned for 3 days despite attempts by the soldiers to put it out and finally reached the powder room. And that, as they say, was that.

While at the camp Marty fixed the lights on the trailer with the help of a fellow camper who happened to have a spare length of wire that Marty was able to hook into the system and get everything going again. I spent this time going for a nice long ride on my bike.

We met a very nice couple from Canada who were having a long weekend on their Yamaha V Star. Hopefully we will see them in NZ one day.

Sunday was supposed to be the day of rest and lying in, but every man and his boat was trying to get out onto the lake at once making one hell of a racket so we gave up and joined the world. Tried to have a nap after lunch but our neighbours through the trees were playing Horseshoes (they did this for 8 hours) and the continual clanging and yelling that was going put paid to that, so we hopped on the bike and headed up the back roads to Essex. This was a really pretty town with not a lot going on but an ice cream shop doing very good business. We were having a great ride back through the curvy roads when we came over a blind hill to find some old geezer on our side reversing back over the hill. We took things a bit easier after that.

We stopped at the supermarket at Port Henry for bread and milk (still recovering from the swap meet) and the bike decided to do a “Memphis”. We crawled the 10 miles back to camp but at least I wasn’t the cause or effect this time. After a cuppa Marty took the fuel filter out with me assisting by handing him the odd screwdriver and wiping his sweaty brow – as any good theatre nurse would. Once out he banged and tapped the filter on the BBQ table and reassembled it all. Test run was perfect so we are back in business but may have to get some spare filters as the gas here is obviously pretty dirty.

We had planned to ride down to a bike shop in Scotia on the Monday morning but when we rang there was no reply so we went to the laundromat instead. Isn’t it great to be able to be so flexible.

After 2 days of R & R it was time to move on. We crossed over the bridge into Vermont then traveled up the 17, another cruisey scenic route. Just before Mad River we climbed a very steep piece of road. I thought the camper wasn’t going to make it because it almost came to a standstill, but to my relief it was only because it hadn’t dropped down a gear so with a gentle nudge on the gear lever it obliged and we sailed to the top. The old farm houses and buildings are a constant source of amazement and delight. Marty would give his eye teeth for one of those huge old barns.
We stopped at Cabot Annex. A touristy shop selling products made by Vermont farmers. We sampled our way amongst the cheeses, dips, chocolates etc before heading further up the road to the Cider Mill. Just our luck. It wasn’t quite apple season and so no cider or sampling. I was disappointed but then spotted a shop offering wine tasting so we headed there instead. $1 each and we were away, and they even had Hard Cider. This is the alcoholic cider. Most American cider seems to be of the non alcoholic variety- we would call it apple juice.
We weren’t too fussed with the hard cider but a couple of the wines were ok and I purchased a bottle of cranberry wine for when the rum runs out.

No need for lunch after all the sampling so we got on the 2 and carried on through Vermont into New Hampshire and then into Maine. The 2 was a really relaxing drive through beautiful farmland. It sometimes seemed like we were back home. Stopped for the night at Stony Brook Recreation Par on the outskirts of Hanover. The lady in the office said we would have a good chance of seeing Moose if we went up into Grafton Notch State Park so we jumped on the bike and went looking. I am sure there are no Moose in Maine, only signs telling you they are crossing someplace or that you must brake for them to avoid a collision. But we still have a few days left in Maine so maybe I will get lucky.