More ugly weather

Leaving Adams MA and of course it is raining, the rain suddenly seemed lighter and not as wet?  It's snowing!  Why not. The plan was to ride rt 2, a supposedly beautiful ride down the Mohawk Trail. I say supposedly because with the bad weather I really didn't get a chance to enjoy it.

On to North Andover to visit with two of my three brothers.  Had a great time, watched the Sox and Bruins win, ate then headed to New Hampshire for a little more riding. Spent the night in Merrimack and the next day headed to Hanscom Field to visit with an old friend. Has lunch then headed to Marlboro MA with the next day being the bike turn in day. 

Day 5 Saturday May 11 2019

Well today there is sun with no rain in Rochester NH, and non all day, first for this trip!  The sun isn’t very effective though cuz it is very chilly, especially the winds while riding through the mountains of New Hampshire.  Chilly or not it’s great to be riding, no flag man delays today but there were two closed off roads with long detours. Driving through downtown Concord NH and I almost get hit by a tent!  Some radio station was doing there offsite broadcasting and the tent they sit under got picked up by a strong wind and hurled my way. All I could do was duck and give it the gas…missed me! Drove by Mount Monadnock, climbed that a few times then I soon was in Vermont riding some excellent roads. Turning south towards MA I soon found myself in Florida!  Florida MA, never knew it existed. Stopped in Adams MA, got a grinder and called it a day

Day 4 Friday 10 May 2019

Not a very good day for riding, very chilly and raining.  Pressing on anyways heading out to Owls Head Lighthouse which eventually turns into a dirt road (again the rental is now an adventure bike) and this dirt road is suddenly closed. So much for that; turning around and now heading to Marshall Point Lighthouse, a short 20 mile ride. Well that short 20 mile ride gave the skies enough time to open up REAL wide and the rain was blinding. Traffic, rain, visibility, road construction etc this was just not happening. Checking the weather map the storm was not going to let up anytime soon, so the best thing for today was to head to my next hotel which meant a 45 mile ride down rt 295 was a real thrill in this weather. So today was basically a bust, but there is always tomorrow.  Wow, it was 43 years ago today I joined the AF, where has time gone?

Day 3 Thursday 9 May 2019

Again chilly but as of now it is dry, so off to Schoodic Bay. Roads are getting rougher and the “flag men” directing the one lane traffic (dirt road)  is getting way too frequent.  Pot holes are unbelievable; have to spend as much time looking down as you do looking around for traffic.

Got to Schoodic Bay and ran into a couple from Israel who are touring around for two months; he was fascinated by the bike…? He rides a Triumph back home.

He asked if he could sit on it, sure it's a rental. besides he is prior military too. A retired Colonel from the Israel Army. 

Here is another old retiree!

After a chat and a look around it is time to move on, lost a lot of time due to the roads and and construction. So off to Cadillac Mountain.

Traffic at Acadia National Park was heavy and I can't imagine what it would be like during peak season! Took a few pics while heading up the mountain.

Finally at the top and took a short clip

Time to head to the next hotel stop but came upon this:

Seems there was a little fire in this wing of the hotel. The office was still open and they instantly hooked me up with another hotel, Granite Inn, on their dime. Turns out this place was more of a Bed and Breakfast and with an outstanding spread in the morning. But that night for supper it was the Rockland Cafe which had the best seafood chowder I've ever had...along with a great lobster roll.

Day 2 Wednesday 8 May 2019

9  May 2019

Welp, this hotel doesn’t have a breakfast so it’s out we go. There isn’t a lack of places to eat but it is not yet tourist season so many are not open yet, some are closed on Wednesday and the rest doesn’t open until 0700! Ate, packed out the bike and hit the road. It was 36 degrees when I woke up but now it’s 44 degrees. A little chilly   but it is off to Lubec Maine.  The scenery was typical New England, unlike Florida, plenty of hills and twist and turns, also lakes, rivers, streams, creeks and water everywhere.

Before heading to the Inn at the Wharf I stopped for some delicious fried clams, and they were awesome. This Inn is actually three houses on a hill overlooking Johnson Bay that have about 4 rooms each; I got one at the back of the house, with a porch overlooking the bay. Would have taken the time to enjoy the porch but that wing coming off the bay was quite cold. Since the sun showed up, I decided to take a quick ride to West Quoddy Head Lighthouse and snap a couple of pics. While walking around the building come upon a porcupine digging up something,

Riding New England, Day 1 May 7 2019

7 May 2019

The day begins at 0500 so we can catch the flight to Boston from Atlanta and oddly enough everything seems to moving along very well. The drive to the airport, the flight, picking up the rental car and the ride to Manchester NH to pick up the motorcycle, as is well…so far.  We get about 20 miles north of Manchester and the skies open up and it gets real nasty very quickly; the next 110 miles were absolutely miserable. Decided to go to Gorham first and check into the hotel so I can get out of the rain gear then drive up to Berlin. Finally made it to Berlin to visit with my mother, sister, brother-in-law and his mom; supper and chatted for a few hours then time to hit the rack, been a long day. The real riding starts tomorrow.

Day 6

Well today is already our last full day of riding, time sure does fly. After a great breakfast we headed north to Walden then east through the Rocky Mountain National Park.  This was a long leisurely ride down Poudre Canyon Rd with the Cache la Poudre River mirroring our tracks. I love riding and watching a river flow alongside me. This took us to Fort Collins where we will spend the night before riding into Denver tomorrow to turn in the bikes and fly home on Sunday. It’s been another great trip with Tim and Dale, thanks for joining me for the ride. Until next year!