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Published: September 9th 2012
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Day 153……01/09/2012 Today we will head east to meet up again with our friends from Connecticut, Reg and Elaine. But before we do I will speak on Skype to my friend Mark back in England, seems he has some news and as it happens very good news. He has been to our house and sorted through countless boxes in the garage where our house contents are being stored, and has found the log books for the bikes, well done Matey, these can now be sent by courier to the nice lady in Newark docks and keep the customs boys happy, phew that is a relief, Mark will no doubt be requiring substantial recompense for his endeavours, and this will probably come in the form of vast amounts of water that has been infused with yeast, hops, barley and sugar, I may be wrong but I doubt it,
We set off in the bright early morning sunshine feeling a lot better about things than we had been. Our ride will take us into the Adirondack Park in upstate New York, this vast area of natural beauty is by far the largest designated park in the US. Our destination is Lake
George and that is where we will meet up with Reg and Elaine, and then the plan is on Sunday to ride up to Elaine’s Brothers house at Lake Placid, and stay for a couple of days.
We arrive in Lake George by mid afternoon, and as expected it is very busy, because this is Labour Day weekend, the last major public holiday of the summer, it also signals the return to school for American kids. We took a walk around the town that evening, and also down by the beautiful lake
Day 154……02/09/2012 Another bright and sunny morning greets us and as we are booked in for two nights here we have decided to take a ride out, the owner of the hotel where we are staying has offered to ride with us to show us a nice route to take around the area, and so we got to see much more of Lake George than we would otherwise have done. Most of the evening was spent at the local Fort Henry nightly ghost tour, which claimed to be a highly haunted due to the terrible past history that this place has, concerning the English and
Fort Henry Ghost tour
Well it was not raining, and it was not on the lens? Americans, the French, and renegade Indians collecting a few wigs. There have been many mysterious sightings in and around the fort, but I did not see anything, but my camera did have a mysterious moment with an odd light in a picture on the forts parade ground, but it couldn’t be, could it.
Day 155……03/09/2012 More sunshine and a cloudless skies today, as the three bikes set off north along the side of Lake George. We were heading for where Elaine’s brother Jim lived in Lake Placid, he and his wife Nadine had offered to give us shelter for a couple of nights.
We made a stop to take a look around a very famous fort in these parts, Fort Ticonderoga, it had been built by the French originally at a strategic position on the Champlain River, it had then been overrun by the British and Americans during the French Indian wars, and then later in its history, during the war of Independence taken by the American forces for the cannons that were used to drive the British Navy out of Boston harbour, all very interesting stuff, and very well restored too. We rode further North into
the Adirondack park and onto Lake Placid, we passed he massive ski jumps that towered out above the trees, something I had never seen before, they were immense, and must be more than a little intimidating looking down from the top when you are waiting to launch yourself off, I have a lot more respect for Eddie the Eagle now.
Day 156……04/09/2012 A very civilised start to the day this morning with a leisurely breakfast followed by a tour of the Lake Placid area in Jim and Nadine’s SUV, we got to see many of the landmarks made famous during the 1980 winter Olympics which were held here. We also visited the “Wild centre” where every type of animal found in the Adirondacks is represented, although some like the moose was a little less animated than it might have been due to the expert handy work of a local taxidermist, but there was an Otter enclosure which was great and the whole site we found very interesting and informative.
Day 157……05/09/2012 We leave Lake Placid on a morning that promises to be a lot better than the previous night’s weather, apparently we
had around three inches of rain. The roads are drying fast as we head out east through New York states upper Adirondack woods and make for the Lake Champlain ferry that will take us into Vermont (State number 33). The deciduous trees are already starting to turn from the lush summer greens to the reds and gold’s and bring about the fall spectacle that this part of the world is famous for but it is not quite there yet.
The 30 minute ferry ride took us to Burlington in Vermont, and from there we continued further east through the dense woods and on into the State of New Hampshire (number 34) and also through the 20.000 mile mark on our trip, wow it does not seem possible that we have covered such a distance but here we are, and the little Harley just keeps thumping along, oh and Lynne has done very well also, but that goes without saying. Vermont, New Hampshire, and in fact all of this New England northeast corner of the US are very beautiful, they remind us very much of parts of Scotland and Wales, but just that little bit bigger. We made our stop
in the town of Lincoln buried in the White Mountain region of New Hampshire, which would see us ready to ride a beautiful road tomorrow the Kancamagus Highway another of those biker heaven byways. But tonight the four of us are booked on a moose sightseeing tour by bus out into the depths of the woods. We got to see seven of these very shy and elusive creatures but only fleetingly by the roadside, but at least it was more than we had done whilst traveling through the whole of Alaska and the Yukon.
Day 158……06/09/2012 Just a short ride today of around 50 miles, but a beautiful one nonetheless, we left Lincoln after breakfast and rode east through the Kancamagus Highway, it was absolutely stunning, and what with the colour change that was happening to the Maple trees it was made all the better.
We decided to make our stop for the night in the small town of North Conway, and very pretty it was too. At the moment it was quiet but apparently within a week or two you would not be able to move for the thousands of tourists all here to see the
colourful fall spectacle. We took a look around the art, craft and other touristy shops, and then after a bit of a hike we found a restaurant with a micro-brewery in it, oh dear, never mind we will have to get a taxi now
Day 159……07/09/2012 Leaving the pretty little town of North Conway we headed east for one last time, because today would see us back at the Atlantic Ocean. We crossed into the State of Maine, which would take our tally of States visited to 35, and this would be the last as we have already done the others to the south of us at the beginning of the trip, so Lynne has 15 more to tick off someday and me just Hawaii, which will probably never happen.
Arriving almost full circle now seems strange, everyone back home say’s its gone really quick, but to us it has seemed to be an absolute age, anyway it’s not over just yet. We arrive at the small seaside town of Orchard beach, which is just south of Portland, and we get an ice cream and stare out across the Atlantic, but there is a slight haze so
we cannot quite see England. After our brief look around the town that by the way could of if you did not know where you were, been Clacton, Barry, Skegness, or any other British seaside town, complete with fun fair. This town was not typical of those along the Maine coast, most were picturesque fishing ports, which would land some of the finest lobster in the world.
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