Days Eleven and Twelve

Another twofer! And no pics of the two days to post. But we'll post a few pics from earlier days so there will be something pretty to look at besides these words.

On day eleven, we started out in Bellows Falls and rode north and east our destination for the day was Gorham, New Hampshire, near Mt Washington.

It was a beautiful day, with temperatures in the mid 80s and clear skies. The mountains were steeper than Vermont's, with patches of snow and ice visible in the tops of some mountains, and more granite showing on more mountains. Absolutely beautiful to ride along and see steep mountains on each side of the road. We really enjoyed the ride, so we stopped very little to take pics. Janice took some pics along the way with her camera,but we have no means to transfer those pics to the IPad for blogging. 

We rode by Mt Washington on the way to Gorham, but since it was getting late in the day, and we were tired, we decided to ride to the top the next morning.

We picked a motel for the night and checked in. While the outside looked OK, we were delighted to see that the insides had been completely renovated and our room was very nice, well above average. And a bonus; there was a nice restaurant and lounge next door. So, we had a very pleasant experience in Gorham. Oh, and a second bonus, most of the rooms were occupied by motorcyclists, so we chatted with several couples.

About 10 pm, a weather alert came up on TV, and a few minutes later, the bottom fell out. Thunder and lightning came and moved on, followed by steady rain all night. The forerunner for today,

The morning started with the pitter-patter of rain on the roof. Ugh, rain. And the temperature dropped over 30 degrees from the day before. Cold and wet is not a good combination when on a motorcycle.

So, we debated just staying in bed all day and resting and napping versus taking advantage of the best of the next three days and moving forward. The forecast was for showers today (90%) and 100% rain the next two days. After a bit, the rain eased up and we decided to move on to Maine.

We packed quickly and took off in moderate rain and 52 degrees. Traffic was light, so we jumped on US 2 and headed east.  A little over an hour later, we stopped in Mexico, Maine for brunch. It was good; we also warmed up while there, and Janice put on another layer of warmth to fend off the cold.

The rest of today's ride was more of the same-- rain and cold. Temps ranged from 49 to 56 degrees all day. And the rain never stopped.

Around 4 pm, we decided to quit for the day. Janice was a block of ice, and my hands and feet were getting soggy. We stopped for gas in Bangor, made a hotel reservation, and checked into a motel for the night.

All in all, it was not a horrible day, but it was wet and cold. Tomorrow, we plan to ride in the rain to Ft Kent, Maine, see what is there, jump on US 1 (this is the northern terminus for the road that ends in Key West, FL).  Then turn southeast and ride to Caribou Maine for the night.