I'm gonna present this trip in three parts; (CLICK ON DATES FOR LINK TO THAT JOURNAL)

1) June 6-9 ~ Durham to Valley Forge, PA - this is the part with my daughter on the Battlefields.

2) June 10-14 ~ Valley Forge, PA to Lincoln NH, and

3) June 15-19 ~ The Laconia Rally and the ride home.

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Part Two: June 10-14, 2005

After dropping off my daughter in PA, I hopped on the New Jersey Turnpike trying to get as far north as I can before Rush Hour traffic started. Bad idea. I hit the Interstate around New York City right at 8am, and found myself in the beginnings of an all-day drenching rain in the traffic. The camera stayed in the bag most of the day.

This is a glimpse of what most of the day was like for me, this one on the Taconic State Parkway in New York. Its really a pretty ride - if it was dry. Half way up the Taconic, it really opened up before I had a chance to get off - the off-ramps are few and far between. I took a 45 minute break in one service station to wring out my stuff in the bathroom - even under the rain suit! As soon as I got off the Taconic Parkway, things cleared up and the afternoon was beautiful for riding - cool and overcast. As soon as I hit the Connecticut State line (#03) the lid came off and all was well in the world again.

I don't even remember what #04 and 05 was, but I know they were in lil small towns on the back roads heading east into Conn. #06 was at a dam on some lake. FOr you cigar smokers out there, have you ever heard of COnnecticut Shade Wrappers? Most fine cigars use tobacco grown in CT under these muslin shade covers - they were all over (Pic #08).

By the time I got to Windsor Locks, near the Bradley Field Int'l Airport, serving Hartford, CT, it was mid afternoon and warming up considerably. I found a cheap motel near the airport, unloaded my crap and set out looking for a bar. Found one on the other side of the Connecticut River called J.T.'s (or something like that) and settled in for the evening. Wasn't much in the way of bar food available, but I was telling stories to the locals about my journey so far and they didn't take kindly to my references about how the South is a heap more hospitable to travelers...plus all my Yankee cracks about my rides through the battlefields. It was all in good fun and I ended up not buying a single drink for myself and walked out with several chips good for free drinks when I come back...left them on the TV for the maid back at the motel.

The next day I slept in late, rode around looking for an Office Depot to replace my wireless mouse that I crushed in my packing, and sat at the end of the Hartford Airport runway waiting for Kim to arrive. She don't like the Interstates much - can't say as I blame her - and likes to fly in right about when the riding gets nice. After her arrival, we rode a short distance up to Gill, Mass., where a good friend of mine lives - I wrote about them on several past journals. Jeff and his two kids were gracious enough to let me take them out to dinner - they've always fed us like kings on our last few visits, and his wife was out of town, so there was no one to cook anyway - we know better than let Jeff cook a full meal. Coupla steaks maybe, but... By late afternoon, another couple rode up to join us for the rest of the trip, Dave & Jen live in NC as well, but didn't have time for all the Civil War stuff. #10 shows us ready to leave the next morning from Jeff's place.

Pic #11 is an old favorite of mine, shows the 24 yr old hot tub that we just about lived in out in Yellowstone National Park when Jeff and Susan and Kim and I worked out there in the early 80's...still works, still hot, and still has the best view of most any hottub, in this case overlooking the Connecticut River in Jeff's back yard. #12 is Ol' buddy Jeff doing his best to flip pancakes...I take back what I said about his cooking - was an excellent breakfast.

 
Sunday morning after pancakes, we rode the 30 miles or so into New Hampshire up Route 10, removed our helmets at the state line and wandered through the small backroads on our way toward the town of Lincoln, 25 miles north of Weir's Beach where the rally is held. It was apparent right off the bat that New Hampshire's Department of Transportation sucks at keeping their roads smooth. The washboards, potholes and frost heaves were the worst I've ever seen in ANY state. In some place we were forced to ride 10-15 MPH just to keep our fillings in our teeth. Eventually we hit Lincoln, and checked into the Condos we were assigned, finding them on the third floor, and away from all the other people we were up here to meet and party with - of the 10-12 couples who took condos, we were all scattered over this huge complex. Nice places they were, but the proximity to others made it hard to coordinate meals and rides and partying. Pics #13-14 are at the condo complex itself - which had a great Rec Center and easy access to the highways and center of town. #15 is the Pemigawassett River right behind our condo, and #16 is David and Jen at some little beaver pond we stopped at on our Monday Ride.

Pics #17-20 are the same lil pond about 10 miles west of the Condos.

Quite by accident we ran into another of our group - out on their own ride an a different route - just as we were both looking for a place to eat lunch in Gorham, NH, and posed for this group shot. Most everyone in this shot is from the Raleigh/Durham area. Pic #24 is at the base of the Auto Road to the top of Mount Washington - which was shrouded in clouds (you are seeing only smaller peaks in this and the panarama shots) and in the 30's at the top. We're adults, and made our own decision not to go.

 
This panarama shot was made stitching about 8 pictures together, taken from different angles around the same pivot point, and dropped into a neat lil' Java Applet - you can stop the pan or control the right/left movement with your mouse.

Thats Annette, Kim and Mark in Pic #25 at the Mount Washington Visitor Center, making the momentous decision not to go to the top. Good move! Just south of there, we stop for a "Moose Jam" (cars blocking the road to look at the Moose) and snag a couple closeups.

 
Pics #28-32 are at a little butt break we took on the side of the road on Hwy 312 on our way back.

 
Another butt break at some historic homestead cabin, and Kim resting before we set off again on a hike. Don't miss the Slide Show in the box below - set to Creedence's "Green River". Turn up your sound.  

SLIDE SHOW Soon after we came off of this day's ride, we changed into shorts and sneakers and drove up Hwy 3 about 5 miles to the Flume Gorge - we knew it was a little bit of a hike and it was hot and muggy, and wanted to be comfortable on the hike. Rather than make ya look at the 50+ pictures we took in Filmstrip format and click on them individually, I set up a small slideshow. If you want to sit through the pics, CLICK HERE. Maybe first ya ought to go to the Link in the earlier sentence and find out a little about the place first...enjoy - or not! (Audio on this new window may not play if you are using Mozilla, or Firefox.)

Tuesday's ride was pretty much a complete washout - we made it to the other side of the Kankamagus Highway, through Bear Gulch and had to wait out a full thunderstorm at the window of a Burger King. Seemed like it was never gonna let up, so we just suited up again, cinched up the straps a little tighter and retraved our route back the Kankamagus Highway - which under ordinary circumstances might be a great ride! - and returned to the Condo somewet wet and the worse for wear. I didn't take a single picture. Fortunately there was a fireplace in the living room and a friend in a nearby condo let us borrow their truck to go to dinner and a movie, so it wasn't all bad.

The next segment of this ride is on the Wednesday's ride to Weir's Beach and the trip home.

For Information, contact:
Muthuh@Muthuh.com  

Link to other parts of this Journal; (CLICK ON DATES FOR LINK TO THAT JOURNAL)

1) June 6-9 ~ Durham to Valley Forge, PA - this is the part with my daughter on the Battlefields.

2) June 10-14 ~ Valley Forge, PA to Lincoln NH, and

3) June 15-19 ~ The Laconia Rally and the ride home.

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