I was up with the sun this morning. It turned out to be a beautiful day, but a big adventure that we did not foresee.
Breakfast with Ronald
When everyone was up and about we agreed that we would go into town to McDonalds for some breakfast and to see if we could access the internet through their WiFi. As it turned out we were not able to get access and the PHD candidates working there had no idea what was wrong. Anyway... as we were leaving a guy walked by and commmented on what a nice day it was for a ride. He noticed that we were from out of state and asked where we were going today. We told him that we really hadn't decided and he made a number of suggestions starting with a trip up to the top of Mount Greylock the highest point in Massachusetts. He also suggested a run up to Bennington VT. A town with a lot of history and some amazing very old homes and painted moose everywhere (for those from the Harrisburg area, they were akin to our cows all over town).
Mountain Climbing
We chose to first make the run up Mt. Greylock. We climbed to the summit at 3491 ft. on amazingly good road. It was a narrow twisting road, but freshly paved and it was hard not to want to run way past the posted speed limit. It actually brought back thoughts of running on the "tail of the dragon" last year on our trip. Upon arrival at the top, we were greeted with spectacular views that made you feel that you were on the very top of the world. While we enjoyed the views last year on Skyline Drive, they all tended to be very similar. The view in each direction on the mountain was different. There was a large beacon monument on the very summit that very much resembled a lighthouse. We were able to climb to the top where the view was even more amazing. Then we visited the lodge there. The entire summit "reservation" had been built by the CCC in the 1930's and had a rustic charm. The day was a bit hazy so the pics did not come out as good as we had hoped, but we vowed to make the trek again this week if we got one of those famed crystal clear days where you can see forever.Bennington VT (a beautiful little town)
We made our run back down the mountain enjoying the twistys all the way down, then it was off to Vermont. Bennington is an old historic new england town. We found a Subway for lunch, then headed to the visitor center to see what there was to see. A very nice lady there suggested we might like to visit their covered bridges and a large war monument. She also gave us information on the Hemmings Motor News classic car display. This all seemed like a good idea at the time, so we headed out. This is the point where the day started to take an interesting turn which would only get more interesting.Covered Bridges (a bridge to nowhere)
On our way to see the covered bridges we ran into construction. Now these 3 bridges were within 4 miles of each other along the same creek or river (whatever it was). One was inaccessable due to construction. The next we did find and ride across, and the third we never did find. From there we were in search of the monument. One interesting note... while sitting waiting for our turn at a contruction zone, we were talking and joking with the flag women. Along came a truck, driving through from the opposite direction. The driver pulled up and handed her a gatorade. Naturally we held out our hands as he came by, and he gave Jay and I his last two bottles. This was not a road worker. It was just some citizen who was feeling bad for the construction workers out in the hot sun. The girl said people do it all the time. One thing we have said this whole trip is that these people seem to be the friendliest people in the country.
Monument (the road to nowhere)
When we found ourselves in the country on a hilltop where we could see the thing a couple of miles away, but had no idea how to get there since the roads we were on were not on the map, I programmed the trusty GPS to get us there. Now up to this point, the GPS had worked flawlessly in getting us to our various destinations. That was about to change. The first thing we ran into was a road that would not qualify as a road where we come from. It reminded me of the packed sand roads at the shore when you get off the beaten path. Once we found ourselves on a proper road, it took us to a road that no longer went "through" but rather just ended in a path in the woods (more stories of that sort of thing to come). Then there were the numerous construction closings. This probably should have been an indication of something ominous, but we just rode on. We did eventually make it to the monument. The neighborhood in which it is centered is spectacular with huge New England colonial style houses. The monument itself was a big oblisk somewhat like the Washington Monument only not as big.Hemmings Motor News Classic Cars (finally something gone right)
We made the short run to the Hemmings Motor News Classic Car Display. This was well worth seeing. They had a great selection and variety of classic cars of all makes and descriptions. The collection is not huge, but well worth the time and best of all it is free. They also have a store with all sorts of car stuff that was interesting to look at. This was probably the most interesting thing we saw in Bennington.The "Scenic Route" (has anyone seen the movie Wrong Turn?)
We decided that we would leave Bennington and take the "scenic" route back to camp. We programed the GPS to take us back avoiding highways. What we did not understand about this was that in Vermont and Massachusetts a road can be a road in name only. This was where the day was about to get very interesting. We started out great. Nice roads winding through the mountains with sweeping turns and great views. Then it happened. We started up the next road and all of the sudden the pavement turned to dirt and gravel. Now when this happened in Bennington we only had to travel about 1/2 mile. This would not be the case. We found ourselves winding through the mountains on dirt and gravel that got down to as narrow as 6'. At one point Jay and I forded a mud hole that turned out to be much deeper than we thought. I got through with only a severe butt pucker when I started to sink my 900 lb. bike into the mud. Jay, having seen me have to gun it like a mud bogger to get through decided that speed would be the ticket to a safe crossing. This was not the answer. While he did make it across, he came very close to dumping it and his bike is absolutely covered in Vermont mud. Kevin and Scott being the best educated of the group learned from our examples and just went around it. We trekked on over mountain and field. At one point I'm pretty sure I saw "John Boy's Meadow" (Walton's reference). When we passed from VT back into MA the line was marked by an old sign that was falling over that simply said "State Line". At one point Jay and Scott were accosted by to large German Shepherd who was apparently an Olympic runner in a past life. I stopped to see what was taking them so long to catch up and in my mirror I saw them round the bend with this dog keeping pace and them yelling to me to "GO GO GO". We finally got back to civilization and were reduced to asking a local for directions to get us back to camp (the GPS was back on track, but we were afraid to believe it. We ended up taking what was supposed to be about an hour ride back to more like 3 hours. But, it is certainly a day we won't soon forget. A word of advice to you. If you plan to visit New England and you want to use your GPS to get around, don't set it to avoid highways unless you are on an ATV.A Quiet Ending to an Exciting Day
We finally discovered a hot spot at the Staples in town and were able to upload day one's blog. We hope to be able to find one along the way tomorrow. We returned to camp and had a great fire. We roasted marshmallows and reviewed the day. We laughed a lot and vowed that we would not avoid highways on our ride to Boston tomorrow.
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