August 5 to August 8, 2010 in West Dover, Vermont
My pictures from Vermont: http://motorcycle-journeys.com/current/photos/vermont/index.html
I finally got a cool day of riding (temperature). I had made it to Conneaut, OH Wednesday night around 8:00 PM. It was pouring rain when I first looked outside at 6:00 AM but had stopped before 7:00 so I could load the motorcycle and get on the road. Many, many miles of wet roads through Pennsylvania and New York yet somehow I was never rained on the entire day.
The scenery started getting pretty once I was east of Utica, NY and was much better after I exited I-90, took I-87 north briefly, and got on Route 7 to get out of New York. I’m not a big fan of interstate highways due to the lack of scenery but it was necessary to make up the time I lost in Louisville.
I made it to West Dover around 5:30 on Thursday. Arrival accomplished in four days but only 2 and 1/2 days of riding after spending a day and a half in Louisville, KY getting the motorcycle repaired. Quite a few riders had gotten there the day before so I was one of the last to arrive.
The Gray Ghost Inn is owned by Magnus and Carina Thorsson (http://www.grayghostinn.com) and is extremely motorcycle friendly, but I would recommend it for riders and non-riders alike. The setting is gorgeous with nothing but green in the back, large decks along the rear of the Inn with a hot tub, grass that slopes down to a swimming pool and fire pit. It’s a B&B so you get a great full breakfast every morning.
Our group spent evenings in lawn chairs circled around the fire pit swapping stories after riding all day and Magnus prepared a wonderful dinner for the group on Saturday night.
I rode alone on Friday so I could stop and take pictures whenever I wanted. Magnus has a binder at the front desk with motorcycle routes and when I picked the “Covered Bridge Route” he highlighted a Vermont map and talked me through the entire route so I knew exactly where I was going.
What a great place to ride — no traffic to deal with, gorgeous green mountains, homes and towns from the late 1700’s, and covered bridges. My route also included a stop at “100 Mile View” where you could see mountains all the way to Massachusetts.
On Saturday Carina took me on a tour of the Green Mountain area which included a stop at Grafton Village Cheese Company where I bought incredible aged cheese (Grafton is a beautiful New England town), more covered bridges, a stop in Peru, Vermont where the movie Baby Boom was filmed, and then a great lunch in Manchester (another stunning New England town) at Candeleros Southwestern Grill before returning to the inn. Carina is such a great person and I feel very fortunate that I was able to spend a day riding with her.
The temperatures were exquisite — mid 70’s during the day and it even dropped down to 39 degrees Saturday morning. I wore my jacket liner that day and it was almost perfect riding weather. Such a relief after the heat on the ride north.
The Chain Gang members from the Northeast were all very nice people and I’m glad I had to the opportunity to meet them and have time to talk and get to know them. We had three riders from Ontario, and then riders from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Washington, DC, Vermont, and me from Texas.
Sunday morning I left to ride north on Route 100 to head to the Canadian border under sunny skies and 70 degree temperatures.
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