After spending the weekend and Monday in Vermont, we packed up and headed east! First stop on Tuesday was Mt Washington, NH. Our ride took us over Route 2 through St Johnsbury, VT as we motored on towards Conway, NH and the Auto Road to the summit of the highest peak in the eastern United Stated.
We took a short break at a rest area overlooking the valleys near Danville, VT.
While there was no rain forecast, the cloud cover did look less than inviting.
The GPS routed us over the Dolly Copp Road, a shortcut to Route 16. About a half mile up the road, a sign announcing that the road is not maintained for winter travel comes into sight. The truth be known, it is not maintained for any travel, much less on a street scoot! Narrow dirt roadway; many ruts (some deep). The paved portion of the road stopped immediately after the sign!
This part of the road was ok as long as we kept our speed down to 10-15 mph. With a total weight of over 1000 pounds, our VTX was not quite the nimble dual sport.
A couple of cars did approach us from the other direction. Each one was courteous enough to give us the room we needed and not force us to the side of the road.
A bit further up the road we found that it again smoothed out and ws nice hardpacked dirt. The tree cover was thick but the sun was still able to peek through. Take note of the GPS. The only civilization was on the road. Not much to either side!!
We found the Auto Road and paid the fees to start our ride to the Summit.
They post the current weather at the summit and we should have paid attention. 100 foot visibility and wind speeds of 45mph. But we didn't. Oh, by the way, James is quite afraid of heights. Should have paid attention to the sign as the base of the road too!
The pavement ends at roughly the 4500 ft altitude mark and becomes a dirt pathway. The picture to the right was one taken when the weather was good. We were not fortunate enough to have weather like this and as we approached this point in the climb, visibility was maybe 50' and we could not see approaching cars. It was raining and the winds were gusting.
After continuing another mile, we began to pass other motorcycles on the way down. Most were shaking their heads "No" and one finally stopped and recommended that we forget it. Everyone was turning around in the pull off area at 5500 feet. You could not see the road! James had decided that he had enough so we called it quits at the turnoff and headed back down.
The bike had a bit of mud on it and so did we as we reached the base of the mountain!
It was asy to clean the boots. The scoot...not until we get back home.
After leaving Mt Washington we headed south and then east. Passing through North Conway, we ventured into the lakes region and rode through the scenic Meredith area before meeting up with I-93 for the ride to Manchester, NH.
We met Pat McGhie (RockyNH) for a quick bite and then it was off to Lowell, MA for the evening.
Wednesday was to be a fun day as we headed from Lowell to Hazleton, PA. On the way, we would detour a bit north and stop at Cooperstown, NY, home of the Baseball Hall of fame. It was another great weather day and after a late start, we crossed the Berkshires of western Massachusetts and entered New York. It was a quick ride to I-88 and a lunch break. We left the slab about 5 miles from our destination and rode the back roads to Cooperstown. Nice scenery and no traffic to speak of.
There is limited parking near the HOF so we parked about four miles away and rode the Trolley to the center of town.
Strolling up Main St, it doesn't take long to realize that this area is supported by tourism and specifically, the history of baseball. The shops all have a baseball flavor and there isn't much else to do unless you are a baseball fan.
Hank Aaron was one of those enshrined that James had heard of! Here is his plaque. And he did recognize the "Babe", George Herman Ruth!
We were unable to attend the first induction and we would miss the 2008 ceremony as well.
Too bad we scheduled our trip but one week late.
The crowd was good sized for a mid week visit but we enjoyed ourselves as we dove into the history of America's pastime.
Maybe we will be able to attend the induction ceremony of the future Hall of Fame'r pictured to the left!
We departed Cooperstown on Route 28 and rejoined I-88 for the ride to Binghamton before heading south on I-81 into Pennsylvania. We had missed rain (except for on Mt Washington) and had always stopped before dark. Today was the exception. Our stay in Cooperstown put us at a 9:00pm arrival in Hazleton, PA and it rained steadily for the last hour. My driving lights are non-functional and that did not help one bit.
But we did arrive safely, watched TV for a few minutes, and drifted off to sleep. Thursday was a travel day with no planned stops. The route is entirely along I-81 from Hazleton to Wytheville, VA as we head towards a family visit just outside of Knoxville, TN.
