Northeast Ride #2 – Day Five

Late start today. I slept hard last night and didn’t get up until almost 9:00. It was wet outside but I decided to pack up my rain gear. According to the weather radar I shouldn’t see much rain today. It’s a short mile back to the interstate and the road is dry there. The sky is overcast as we make our way towards Albany.

It’s only about 60 miles to Albany. Traffic is light so we make good time and don’t have to deal with much of the city. From here we’re on two lane for most of the rest of the day. I’m on roads that wind through the mountains and are surrounded by trees. I make a quick stop for a bottle of water and something to eat. It’s too late for breakfast and I’m not ready for lunch but I need something in my stomach so I opted for a gas station turnover. Was supposed to be apple but think it was actually blueberry.

It’s slow meandering much of the time but we get into Vermont in good time. This entire area is beautiful to drive through. I can still only imagine what it would be like once the leave start to change, I’m still a few weeks early for that though. We’re in the short end of the state so it’s not long before we get to Brattleboro. My research shows there should be a New Hampshire sign just across the river here.

Brattleboro looks like one of those cute little tourist towns and sits right on the state border. We cross the Connecticut River and lo and behold, construction. The state sign is gone. I was hoping the first sign would be easy. Time to turn back and head north, there’s another crossing on the other side of town. If I don’t get one there I’ll have to trek several miles north to the next opportunity.

It’s 2:00 at this point so I check into a little brewery on the Vermont side of the river. The Whetstone Beer Co. sits right on the river. It’s all craft beer which I’m not a huge fan of but lunch time is a good time to something different. I sit out on the deck overlooking the river. I ordered a Hot Ticket beer and a chicken sandwich, both worth ordering again. The system they have setup here is bit odd. You sit yourself wherever you want and use a unique QR code to order everything from your phone. It was the first time in a long time that I didn’t leave a tip. Don’t chastise me though. I’ve worked enough time in the food service business to have a healthy regard towards tipping. Thing is though, nobody waited on me. I ordered everything through my phone. My beer was brought to me and I said, “thank you.” My food was brought to me and I said, “thank you.” I spoke a total of four words and hear about as many. No one checked on me or asked if a needed anything. Didn’t feel like a tip was really warranted.

Back on the road. Just a mile or so up the road is another crossing. Luckily this sign is still in place. It’s not the greatest but it’ll work. One down, only five remaining. Onward we go. I decided my best chance for a Maine sign is going to be Fryeburg. This means we’ve got to head further north through New Hampshire. The southern end is the fat side of the state. Still not a lot of ground to cover, especially by Texas standards. But the two lane traffic and speeds makes it take a while.

We get about 50 miles from the Maine border and the cloud cover finally starts to break. The sun begins to shine for the first time in almost 48 hours. It’s 6:00 by the time Libby and I reach the border. Luck was on our side this time and we’ve now fully conquered another state. Just four more to go. Buy this time I’m overdue to get off the road for the day, but with the late start I decide to push on as far as I can get. Portland is only about 50 miles away. If I can get there I’ll be happy.

We do make it to Portland, but it takes almost two hours. There’s a few small towns to run through where the speed drops but traffic on the road limits our speed to about 50mph. It’s dark by the time I stop for the night. Did less than 400 miles today which isn’t ideal but it was still a long day. Absolutely beautiful though. A ton of miles along rivers and several lakes and almost nothing but trees all day.

Fryeburg was the northernmost point we’ll hit this trip so we’ve already started headed back south. Tomorrow we should start making our way back west as well. I’ll figure out where I’m going in the morning, think Rhode Island is next. We’ll have to get back through New Hampshire and then through Massachusetts first.

So far this trip has been pretty uneventful. Aside from some rain everything has been good. No close calls yet. Haven’t really met anyone other than the first night. Did have a quick 30 second exchange with another rider at a stop light to but other than not much. Only half way through the trip though so anything can still happen. Keep praying or sending your well wishes, I do appreciate them all and absolutely need them.