Saturday, July 25, 2009

Lowell, MA to Montpelier, VT




Today’s ride was good. We woke up to sunshine again; another welcome sight. Got the bikes packed, had breakfast at a Burger King next door, and were on the road by about 9:10am.
We headed west, working our way into New Hampshire and then Vermont. We wanted Hwy 100, a road Gary knew from a previous visit that was a good bike road. In about 2 hours, we arrived at the road and headed north.
The road was a good one, with lots of good curves, light traffic, and beautiful scenery. The only fly in the ointment was that the road surface itself is in poor condition. Riddled with cracks, heaves, and uneven places, it shook the bike worse than last year’s trip to Alaska. It was paved (except for one small place), but parts of it were very rough, equivalent to riding on a cobblestone surface.
We basically rode up Hwy 100, had lunch at a small restaurant along the way, and then continued north on 100. In a few miles, we came across a beautiful waterfall beside the road. We stopped to see it better and take pics. At the pullout, a man had a small trailer from which he was selling maple syrup and other maple sugar items. He had four varieties of maple syrup; light, darker, amber, and a dark variety. After tasting each one, I bought a pint of the darkest syrup.
Then on north in search of covered bridges. We found two in two villages, but not the one Gary was looking for. Vermont has a large number of covered bridges—I believe the most of any state. We rode through both; a neat experience, and my first journey through a bridge on a bike.
From there, we rode a loop back south. About the time we got back to 100, it was getting time to find lodging for the night. After riding for a while and seeing nothing, we decided to go to Montpelier to find a room.
We ended up in the Economy Inn, a motel under extensive renovations. We moved everything off the bikes into the room. I needed to wash clothes, so I put them into the tub to soak while we walked and got dinner.
Walked into town and saw the Capitol building, a very pretty place in a pretty setting. Had dinner at a Mexican place and walked back to the room
When we got in the room, the A/C unit was not running. We had reported it before going to dinner and were upset with it not working (A/C needed to help dry the wet clothes). We fussed with the manager, and he agreed to move us to another room.
So, we loaded everything and carried it to the other room, assured that the A/C worked there. Not! It didn’t work either!!
We fussed some more, so he moved us to another room with an A/C unit that does work. At 10:00pm, we were actually in the room for the night.
Total mileage for the day was 359. Total for the trip so far is 1234 miles.
Tomorrow—looking for covered bridges.

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