I am pleased to report that we slapped off Irene up here in the Northcountry, mostly. There's a bit of a lane missing on Calendar Brook Road where the stream dug in, but otherwise, one day after, me and my bud ScottyDog had a good and pleasant 200 mile ride throughout the Northcountry today, I was on the K75, he on the WeeStrom. If you were planning a trip up for labor day, there's no need to re-schedule. I suspect this information also holds for Northwestern Maine and up into NB and NS. After watching the weather, the Atlantic Provinces were relatively untouched. Here's today's route: Riding up US 5 from the Palace of the People, one of the side roads was heavily flooded. We could have ridden through, but we really weren't going that way. This section floods in the same way each spring. It's a fairly low place. We pointed north, through Derby, VT, then Morgan, and up to Norton. No flood damage along the way. There's fresh pavement on 114 (some of which was hit by the spring floods, but it's been repaired and life is good.) We stopped at the Norton Restaurant, aka Chez Pigeon for a burger. This place rocks. It has a sick sled motif, as it's a major route in the winter. The honey of a waitress must be near 80, and weighs all of 80 lbs. She'll kick your ass. I had a good conversation with her last time through. She's one Hard Workin' Momma! Speak well to her, or I'll find you. I flipped her a five on a twenty-dollar meal (ScottyDog kicked his in also) The fries are fresh-cut, the burger is hand-made, and they put a bottle of vinegar on the table and recommend you try it. Yeah. Ketchup is good, but the natural state of the potato is with salt and vinegar. Trust me. I haven't sampled CP's Poutine, but I will next time through. Tabarnac! They have Billiards: Up to Pittsburg, NH on 3, (a hoot) then off onto NH 145. If you don't grin your face off on NH 145, you have a problem. This is a rider's road. About a mile or so out of Colebrook, NH, there's Beaver Brook Falls. It doesn't suck. Scotty's Back Down into the abandoned paper town of Groveton NH. This place once kicked, until the mill shut down. Groveton is searching for an identity. It smells better than when they were cooking sulphite pulp, but everything is sad and abandoned between these beautiful hills. There are good buildings, and many structures speak of a certain trust. I'm sure that the residents thought the mill would last longer than it did. Five hundred thousand square feet for rent here, and no takers. They may try to spark this mill back up. It's not been scuttled, as many have. The stack over at Berlin, NH was dynamited two years ago. It took a couple of tries to make that one fall. In many places, they destroyed the machinery to keep it out of the competition's hands. Gillman, VT was once a kraft-paper mill on the Connecticut, and was a rich place. It's now threadbare and asking for a handout. It's still pretty in the sunshine. In any event, the northern counties of Vermont and NH are still here, and are worth riding. The roads can be crummy, but aren't washed out. The NH side is excellent. Y'all come.
Beaver Brook Falls seem to be running rather swiftly compared to last November. Seems to have been a great ride for you! Sorry to have missed it.
Really nice pics and as usual, a well told tale. I'm envious of the scenery. This place looks like Afghanistan to me. Sometimes I look outside and it appears I'm still there. At least nobody is shooting at me.... well if I wander too close to Juárez they might. :jose The scenery may be somewhat lacking along the way, but THIS scenery at the end of my ride is more than worth it. Glad you and Barb are okay bro!
My brother, DudeNYC (not registered here, although a rider) and ScottyDog, SAPeters3 went out on tour recently to see the damage. It's bad. If you have a grim fascination with wreckage, you'll find plenty in central Vermont and west into NY. It's slow going. They have managed to salvage a single lane in some places. If you're bent on an early foliage tour, I-91 is open and the Kingdom is also, with a very few roads shut down. VT 242 over Jay Peak may still be closed (it was hard to ride previously), but things are mostly in good shape in the Nort Woods.
Cold tonight, but the riding season's just begun. The trees are exuding that "fall smell." There may be a hint of frost this evening. Good time to get on the bike and come up north.
Went for a relatively short ride on the Weestrom, over as many gravel roads as I could collect locally. There are enough here to keep an ordinary person happy for years. I don't like what they've done to the new "Wee," which makes it just another street bike. The beauty of the old "Wee" is that it's perfectly happy on gravel, and is as competent a street machine as you'll find on an autumn afternoon. I found myself blazing over the gravel, and blazing brighter on the pave. They've hurt this bike in the re-design, I think. It was never a dirt bike, but was a good adventure ride. Certainly less weighty to pitch around than a 1200 GSA. They've completed a wind project locally. This is from the Sutton, VT East Ridge looking west toward Sheffield. The towers seem a little out-of-place, but they are elegant in design and will hopefully do their job. It's senseless that we're bleeding to keep our forces overseas to defend oil when their are other options. Willoughby Gap from the south. It's visible for hundreds of miles from the air, and always speaks of home to me. Good gravel roads and a warm, dry afternoon. I love autumn!
Yeah, I love autumn, too, I just wish it lasted til spring! Great pics, thanks for letting me know what I missed!
Out and about today up near Groveton, NH. Foliage is kickin' butt, and the weather was very pleasant. Excellent riding conditions with many, many bikers out there taking it in.
Took the KLR siss-fitty out today. The KLR is my spring and fall bike. When the weather's hot and the days long, you want something that will get you there there and push some air. In the season of mists and mellow fruitfullness, you realize that life isn't going to happen as fast as it did during the long days, so gravel is the word and fifty or sixty is plenty fast enough. Damn, we have some great gravel roads here in Vermont. I intentionally left the GPS unmounted today, and instead relied on the compass in my head and "lost procedures." If you go downhill and toward a river, you'll usually become unstuck. I found some nice roads. Soon, the gravel will be pounded to hell by those searching to kill deer. They can afford thousands in hunting gear, but shocks are low on the list. Just now, the gravel's polished, and one could ride it on a street bike. It's been said before, but the KLR is the perfect bike for the mixed roads around here. I can push as hard as those with twice the horsepower; the suspension sucks up the bumps. I wish I could see something other than a blur behind. . . Shadow Lake, Glover, VT. It was a warm day, and the boats were still out and about. The closed asbestos mine in Eden and Lowell, VT. I've been told I can take a tour by a friend of the caretaker: Every riding day at this time of year is a gift.
C'mon over. The Palace of the People annex (aka my sauna) also functions as a bunkroom. I have a couple of those blow - up mattresses that make the whole deal as cozy as sleeping in a five-star hotel! I was thinking of taking a loop up through northern ME this weekend on the WeeStrom, but I seem to have caught the sinus crud that's going around and I don't know if a multi-day is in my future. I could show you some very tasty roads locally on the KLR instead. The Palace Annex, complete with ADV riders:
As I've mentioned before, every day up here in da Noort Woods is increasingly precious. It WILL snow at some point, and we two-wheelers will be stuck wiping our noses and pouring stabilizer into the tank while hooking up the battery minders in hope of a glorious resurrection. Unfortunately, the long trips get choked off in the late season. It's dark early, and chilly sooner. Me and my best FM bud are always looking to the last overnight. This one may not be the last of the last, but it was a good one, A short, sharp, ride followed by a great place to camp, followed by another great ride: Work is a bitch. It certainly interferes with riding, particularly if one is not on the bike and geared up before 6:00 pm. Me and my riding bud pointed toward Lake Elmore State Park. Lake Elmore State Park is desperately pretty. The shelters are laid out on a knoll facing the lake There's gobs of space between neighbors. The showers are hot and cheap (a buck for eight minutes), they give half-a-cord of firewood for four bucks (it took three trips to carry their "armload" up from the golf cart.) Everything is clean, well-tended, and to say the staff is friendly is a major understatement. They'd bake you cookies if given advance notice, I think. I was reluctant to camp out with the predicted temps predicted at 23 f. I've done plenty of cold weather camping. Usually, the best part of it is when you arrive home and have a whopping meal and sit by a warm fire on the couch. Freezing one's arse off in the dark and having to wander out for a pee at 4 am soon loses its charm. We were well equipped, My new Kelly Kettle kept the tea and cocoa flowing. I'd also laid in a "space blanket", of the reinforced sportsman's model. These work wonderfully well when put shiny-side up under the sleeping pads and bags. It was a superb night. We pitched inside the shelter, which meant that we only had to deal with the condensation in the tent, not frost without. Still, the bikes looked a little chilly in the cold light of dawn: Frost over everything, including the seat and screen. The shelters, lawn, leaves, and a Mustang from Mass had a similar coating. The sun is coming up over there, but it's hard to see between the frost and mist rising off the lake. I was glad for the lake. It might have been really cold otherwise.
A few more shots of the Kingdom from this weekend's tour on the Mighty Weestrom: Westmore, VT Gravel. It was an utterly perfect day: warm and brilliant. The gravel roads are showing the results of last week's rain and early hunting traffic. Hundreds of bikes were out catching the sun and scenery. Panorama westward toward Lake Willoughby from Westmore: Lake Eden Panorama: