Vermont to Maine

This morning I woke early to find Jill lounging in the tub reading a book. Best to take full advantage of the leisures of the Hampton Inn. Last night the storm abated late evening, we even walked back to the inn after dinner. However it raged again through the night. Thunder woke me around midnight.

This morning the sun is shining in this part of Vermont and the day looks promising. We partook of a wonderful continental breakfast and then packed for the road. We were fuelled and motoring by 8:30. We drove I89 as far as Mont-pelier/Barre. With the kind help of a local we connected with State Hwy. 2 and proceeded east. The road was again quiet and enjoyable to ride. Jill fell in love with Vermont. The charming little villages set in rolling green hills was lovely. We did some climbing and were treated to views up valleys dotted with farm houses. The 2 storey old houses were just beautiful. the forests were vibrant green freshly washed by last night’s storms. The trees are mainly deciduous, huge maple and birch. It must be breathtaking during the Fall. Would love to have the time to explore the villages with interesting antique & craft shops.

As we rose up into the hills, temperatures dropped so we wound up putting on our jacket liners. The countryside is still spectacular and the homes somehow do make you feel that you are in Vermont.

In Lancaster we paused for a coffee and muffin in Dunkin Donuts that could very easily be re-coloured and pass as a Tim Hortons. We passed through a town called Mexico for the second time in two days. One of the startling things in some of these small towns is the presence of large, I mean huge high schools. Immense brick buildings with a real air of pride.

I should say that Lancaster is just in New Hampshire and all of a sudden we realize that helmets are not mandatory. the New Hampshire license plate reads, “Live free or die”. Guess they’re big on personal freedom.

In no time we were in Maine. No helmets required in Maine as well.

Lunched at the side of the road on cheese, crackers and cherries. At the pullout there was a fellow selling moose horns and another selling all kinds of Adirondack chairs.

Hwy. 2 was still a blessing to drive and the bike community knows about it. Just outside of Skowhegan the trees on both sides of the road grew over the road creating a beautiful green canopy over our heads. The temperature was 82 or about 27 so our liners were off again and we were feeling quite warm. Not far along we encountered about a mile + of pot-holed, bumpy gravel road. Survived it, but just. Felt like Charlie and Ewan as they made their way across Mongolia and we had the wrong kind of machine.

At Newport we jumped onto I95 and raced towards Bangor. There is a great tourist info centre just before entering the city and we stopped to ask about campgrounds. We had the pleasure of talking with a gentleman who knew knew everything about everything and had a wit and sense of humour to match. Teased him about his accent and he gave us a dictionary to translate Canadian into Maine-ese.

A few miles prior, we had passed an early 80’s GoldWing with a small trailer. This fellow also pulled into the info centre and said hi. He was a real old timer with sun darkened skin the texture of tree bark. He was from Kentucky, another wonderful accent, and was doing a run up into Canada and across to Sault Ste Marie then back down. He said he had been to BC a couple years ago on a trip to the Yukon. He was a tough old bird who really seemed to live in the moment. Quite impressive.

We beetled up to the first Bangor turn off and down 395 to 1A were we have landed at a site called the Red Barn. There is an interesting cast of campers around this place and the accents are not ours. Interesting theatre though. The inter net is spotty so I may not get this posted right away again but will asap. tomorrow we cross into New Brunswick at Calais, here pronounced Callous ( as on a working man’s hand).