Lunch in the Adirondack Mountains...Twilight Zone!

At this point in our trip we’d decided to start making our way toward home.
We rode south through the Adirondack Mountains. More beautiful sights and curvy roads! We stopped in a small town called Chestertown, New York. At the filling station I asked a man if he could recommend a tasty place to eat lunch. He gave me directions down the street to a local pizza and sandwich shop. We road down the street and easily found the small pizza diner. While parking our motorcycles on the street we noticed a German motorcycle with side car turn into the motorcycle shop beside the pizza diner. Two men in their late 40’s or 50’s were riding the bike and side car. We walk over to them while one gentleman was still sitting inside the side car and the other standing real close to the motorcycle and looking down. Brad made a comment such as nice bike or how does that side car ride. Neither of the two men looked up at us. We thought perhaps they didn’t hear us so we side stepped around the bike just as you would walk around a bike on display at a bike show. We said some more comments and these guys still did not even acknowledge that we were standing there. In my mind I heard that music from the Twilight Zone!

We turned and walked to the pizza diner. We were the only customers and hungry. We sat at a table in the window and the waitress handed us a set of menus. We ordered a calzone and a nacho appetizer to split. It turned out to be way too much food for us. Anyway the waitress returns with our drinks. The soda came in those white Styrofoam cups. There was no ice! I figured they had a refrigerator with those two liter bottles of sodas to serve the customers. This seemed similar to a restaurant we stopped at while in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Brad ordered some water and the cup came with more ice than water! He was puzzled about why the soda had no ice but the water did. As we waited for the food we looked at the map and tried to determine if we should turn west toward Syracuse or get on the freeway toward Schenectady before turning west. We decided to go toward Schenectady and then our conversation turned toward the small motorcycle shop next door and those men not acknowledging our presence.

Our food arrives. The waitress places the food on the table adjacent to us. We look at her puzzled and she nonchalantly asks if we need anything else before walking away. This confirms that the Twilight Zone music I heard in my head was real! Brad and I had to stand up and get our food from the table beside us. This was crazy! Was the waitress afraid to get too close to us? Is the practice of setting the food on a different table related to the no ice in the soda but ice in the water? Did we smell? Did this have something to do with the two men outside the diner ignoring us? Is it possible that we found the Twilight Zone in the Adirondack Mountains? Perhaps we did!

Vermont to Missisqoui Bay, Quebec

So far in our trip we’ve stuck to our rules to avoid chain restaurants and to make no reservations or definite plans. We did have a few goals such as riding to the Atlantic Coast, eating some Maine Lobster, perhaps cross in to Canada and make our route plans on the fly. We’ve completed our goals except for crossing into Canada. So we set a direct course through Vermont into Canada. The road through the mountains took us past more “Bear Crossing” signs and through some big patches of fog. Some of the trees were changing colors and we saw patches of red along the course. It was common to ride to the top of a mountain and look off to one side and see a small town nestled in the valley below.

We reached the Canadian border crossing. There was no traffic and only about three cars crossing the border. The Canadian border agent started out speaking French but switched to English one he realized that I could not get past bonjour! The agent asked my purpose for the visit so I told him the abbreviated version of our motorcycle trip. He asked where in Canada we planned to visit. I told him that our plan is to ride around Missisqoui Bay then perhaps cross into New York. Once we crossed all the signs were in French. It was pretty neat and made us feel like we entered another country.

On the other side of the bay we stopped at the Duty Free shop at the U.S. border. I bought a few souvenirs and noticed the stop signs in the parking lot had the English word under the French writing. We entered the line at the border and noticed that the west side of the bay was much busier. We turned off the motorcycle engines and coasted the bikes as we waited in line. I noticed a border patrol agent walking between the lines of vehicles. He bent down and placed a package on the underside of a pickup truck then walked away. Several minutes later another agent with a working dog weaved between the vehicles. The dog walked past the truck then turned around quickly. The dog smelled whatever was in that package. He passed the test.

Last year Brad got in trouble at the American border near Niagara Falls. He parked his motorcycle too close to mine. The border agent made him push his motorcycle back and was talking very sternly. This year Brad kept his distance and waited to be called upon before moving the bike forward. I was first so I shut off the engine so I could converse with the border agent. I had my passport and was answering all the questions. The agent asked if I bought anything in Canada. I answered with an exact list; I purchased some post cards, refrigerator magnet, and a hockey puck. The agent gave a big grin thinking my shopping list was comical. He asked if I rode all the way to Canada to buy a post card and hockey puck.  I said yes, my son plays hockey adn is a fan. He asked if I visited anywhere else while in Canada. I quickly replied by stating that we crossed on the east side of the bay from Vermont. We rode up route 133 turned onto route 202 and then to route 15. The agent was a little stunned and asked again how many times I visited this area. I told him that it was my first time. He examined the dash of my motorcycle closer while asking if I had a Tom Tom navigation system. I told him that I didn’t have one. I have a paper map and I was the navigator for our trip. Brad tells people that he doesn’t need a Tom Tom. He has a Bill Bill to navigate. It seems that we spend more time at the check points returning to the U.S. than we do leaving. Missisqoui Bay was pretty but uneventful. Perhaps it was out timing. It was still mid morning when we crossed into New York. Oh well, we still have good memories from last year in Sudbury!

New Hampshire to Vermont

After a late night telling stories in Laconia we got back on the bikes and found some more covered bridges. Some were closed to vehicle traffic. We walked through them and enjoyed walking along the streams. Some of the streams reminded us of wading through the streams aboard Quantico during our Marine Corps training. It was training in Quantico where Brad & I met for the first time about 11years ago. Unlike the streams in Virginia these streams and roads had moose crossing signs! That day in New Hampshire we saw many Moose Crossing and Deere Crossing signs. In Vermont we saw Bear Crossing signs too!

We spend most of the day riding the back roads of New Hampshire. We did cross into Vermont over the Cornish-Windsor Bridge built in 1866 pictured here. The bridge had a wooden floor and two lanes for traffic. When we crossed into Vermont we stopped for fuel. We did not see any welcome to Vermont sign so we asked the policemen in the parking lot where the Welcome to Vermont sign was. The policeman told us that a truck hit the sign and knocked it down. Another sign was not far away. The policeman told us to turn left out of the gas station, go to the next stop light; turn left and we’d see another sign. So we figured it was simple and short. Usually when someone says go to the next stop light we think it may be a city block at most. Well, this stop light was over 5 miles away. It turned out to be a nice curvy road but not so close! We found the sign and took a snap shot.

After riding some more curvy roads we crossed Quechee Gorge. There was a little gift shop there that sold souvenirs including the well known Maple Syrup candy. About half a piece is all I could handle-it is sweet! It melts in your mouth! Who knows how many calories are in a small piece. Our stomachs were telling us that it was dinner time but all the diners around the Gorge were closed. We ended up crossing back into New Hampshire and eating at a restaurant and pub I think was called Seven. Not sure of the name but we closed the pub down talking with a few business travelers that were there for the night.

Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire then to Laconia

We crossed the state line into New Hampshire. We rode through White Mountain National Forest and ended up in Conway. We met some bikers who told us about the famous covered bridges. They suggested that since we rode all the way to New Hampshire we have to ride the well known Kanacamagus Highway. They invited us to follow them to the Kanaca Highway toward Lincoln. We rode with them for several hours. The Kancamagus Highway took us through so beautiful mountains. Nice curvy roads with green trees all around us. I bet this would be an excellent ride in the fall when the trees are changing colors.

We had lunch in North Woodstock at the Woodstock Inn. We sat outside and there was another group of motorcyclists dining there too. We started talking about our adventures. A couple members of the group were riding from Ohio. We were familiar with parts of Ohio. Recall Brad & I stopped in Wadsworth, Ohio last year. So we told the story about meeting the U.S. Olympian, Gary Broadband, who is a boomerang champion in Ohio. The couple from Ohio had met him too! Small world! You can read in the archives from 2008 about our stop Wadsworth. It was kinda funny that a group of tough bikers were eating outside at a small town diner in Woodstock talking about boomerangs of all things.

The Woodstock Inn had great food. It was actually a restaurant, pub and bed and breakfast. It has its own brewery too! A moose was waiting in the foyer. We sat on the moose’s lap for a picture here. This town seemed like a great place to say but we wanted to enjoy the curvy and scenic roads a little more.

After lunch we set a course to find some of these covered bridges we heard about. We found a few and we rode around the lake where the movie ‘On Golden Pond” was filmed. Squam Lake is where the movie was filmed and I think we passed some of the houses from the movie! We continued and ended up near Lake Winnipesaukee and into Laconia. Laconia is famous for having an annual motorcycle rally. The streets are a little easier to navigate without all the rally visitors. We ate dinner and found a cabin to stay in for the night. The cabin was right on a waterway. We found ourselves in small bar on the Laconia strip telling stories until it closed. Then we walked back to the cabin hoping some of the other residents were still sitting outside around a campfire but it was too late no one was around. This seemed like a really nice place to spend a vacation. There is a train station, beach, great restaurants and pubs. We may have to visit Laconia again some time!