200 miles in VT & NH

[racinchef]

Well Americade ends today and there wasn't much point in heading out that way. The forecast was hazy hot & humid with temps getting up to 90F. I was up early and had my coffee, so I worked on my bike and got the pillion pad mounting installed and installed the donut I was missing from my left saddlebag. It was only about 65, but very humid and I was dressed in my riding duds; blue jeans and long sleeve shirt with t-shirt underneath. I left the yard with my sleeves rolled up and no leather, rode to Dixie's Diner on rte 14 in Sharon for breakfast. Had my usual OE eggs w/corned beef hash, home fries and tabasco sauce and rye toast, yum! Next stop was Lucky's Motorsports. Talked to the parts guy and he thinks he can get me a Premeux fairing so I can use a line of credit that they take at Lucky's. From there I got on I89 and rode up to Williamstown and got back onto 14 and visited Granite State Cycles in South Barre. They have fantastic prices on lots of bikes. They had an '07 VTX1800 Spec 3 black w/flames for $9500; WOW!!! They also had an '07 Roadliner in Galaxy Blue for about $11500. That bike in that color could easily steal me from my Nomad in a weak moment. I went a mile up the road and visited the Harley dealer because I thought they had factory roadtests, but it was just a kind of open house. There was a booth where a guy was laying down two-tone blue flames with an airbrush on this one guy's bike. I drooled over a RoadGlide like Oldbiker got in the same colors and got out of there. Those Harley dealers sure draw the chicks on a hot Saturday; damn!!! I left out of there and rode up through Quarry Hill to get over to US 302 and rode that all the way over to Wells River across the river to Woodsville, NH. Followed US 302 into Littleton, which is a big central town with all the big box stores. I found the Kawasaki/Victory dealer and they had an '07 blue/silver Nomad in stock; very nice. They also had a Victory Vision, another bike that could tempt me away from my Nomad in a weak moment if I ever $20K to burn. Hopped on I93 and rode that through Franconia Notch past where the Old Man in the Mountain used to be before the rock facing crumbled down a few years ago. Got off in Lincoln/Woodstock and turned west at the Kankamagus Hwy and again south on rte 118 through a part of the White Mt National Forest. The north face of this mountain road really took a beating this winter and is pretty rough from the frost heaves that didn't quite settle. The south face of the mountain is much better going down into Warren. I stopped for hydration and ran across a half-dozen GW's from Lancaster Cty, PA that were up for Americade and now headed for Maine via Conway, NH. Continued south on 118 to the next town and then I turned west on 25A. Nice bit of road through pine forests that empties out to the Connecticut River. I crossed back over into VT and turned south on US 5 all the way to Norwich and stopped at this general store by the name of "Dan & Whits". There is a B&B right next door that was the model for the setting of the Bob Newhart show. Dan & Whits was jammed with people. I call Norwich "Hanover West" because it is less than three miles straight shot from Dartmouth College campus across the river bridge and the denizens are so friggin' smart they're dumb. Kept going south and stopped in Wilder for some eats. Funny thing; Wilder is a part of the town of Hartford of which White River Junction is a part of, as well as Hartford Village, Quechee and West Hartford. They all have their own PO's. What's even crazier is that out in West Hartford you also have these localities that used to be villages like Tigertown, Jericho, Dothan. I run across this all the time in my deliveries. There is even a village called Prosper that is comprised of parts of the towns of Woodstock, Barnard and Pomfret. Then up in Barre there is Barre City and Barre Town, the same out in Rutland too. You have to live here to figure it all out. Anyway, I finish eating and head down US 5 into White River Junction and get back on rte 14 and head back home. Oh, and here's another one for you; across the river from Wilder, VT in the town of West Lebanon, NH there is the village of East Wilder. The locals tell me that at one time it was part of Vermont.