New Hampshire to Maine…

I was up early, eager to start riding in what looked to be the perfect day for it. Clear blue skies greeted me as I strolled to the dining area to have my first of three cups of coffee… Before I went out to refuel the Big Fella, I lifted a cup in Jane’s direction and said,

“Domo arigato, Jane !!”, thanking her in just about the only Japanese words I could remember… A huge smile spread over her face as she bowed back and thanked me in return…

Steve arrived at the agreed time and the French couple, Andre and Joanne, came from their room to chat to us and wish us well before we left… i was itching to get on the road and make good of the weather, because it was known to be fickle around the summit of Mount Washington, and the updated forecast foretold of rain later that same afternoon…

Steve Filion on his Honda Varadero.

We headed north out of town, and onto Route 16, rode through Jackson and on towards Gorham, twisting our way higher up into the mountains, before turning off into the state park where Mt. Washington is located…

What ?? No chauffeurs…!!

$16 and no cd for bikers… Cheek !!

I’m thinking we’ll beat him to the top…

We lined up behind a long row of cars and a few other motorcyclists and waited our turn to be let through the boom gate…

The park officer took our money with a smile, handed us a pamphlet and reminded us that no overtaking of other vehicles was allowed…

I think he must have sensed that the Big Fella straining to be off and up the mountain…

“No overtaking…!!”, I spluttered… “Where’s the fun in that ??”

“Well sir, I can tell you that’s it’s no fun for us scraping crazy bikers off the side of the mountain either…!!”, he replied…

I gave him a winning smile and assured him that we would be on our best behavior, despite the Big Fella humming the words to that old rhyme that begins with, “Liar, liar…, your pants are on fire !!”

We got tucked in behind a few geriatrics on Harley’s, intent on crawling up the steep mountain road, as if they had all day to do it…!! This did not sit well with us at all, and after a few kilometres, I slowed down to get some space between us, so that I could make a fast run by them at the first opportunity…

Ride up to the sky, then make a right turn…

I think the riders ahead either sensed my frustration or were embarrassed to be traveling at less than 20 miles per hour, because just as I was about to give the throttle a healthy twist, they pulled over to let us go past…

We rode onto a short stretch of gravel, where the road surface was a little treacherous on the tight corners, before the final section of tarrd road took us to the top and into a large parking area…

Parked at the summit with Harley’s for company…

We parked the bikes and then watched the Cog Train that takes passengers up the mountain, chugged away to begin it’s long descent down to the valley below. Steve suggested we visit the station on the way back, as he had been there yesterday but could see nothing in the thick cloud which had covered the area…

The cog train was just leaving to go back down the mountain as we arrived…

Mount Washington is the highest point on the eastern side of North America, and is best known as the place where the highest wind speed on earth has ever been recorded by man… I cannot imagine what it must be like to experience wind that is blowing at over 370 km/h !!

Enough to blow your hair back…assuming you had hair…!!

Steve and I roped a tourist in to take our photo…

I enjoyed Steve’s company, and we discovered that we had many things in common… Lack of a thick head of hair, for instance…!! Steve was a serving member in the Canadian Armed forces, and had completed three tours of duty in Afghanistan, and spent nine months in East Timor with the United Nations Peacekeeping Force. He had enjoyed his stay in East Timor, and we laughed about the places I remembered and the things he too recalled from his stay there…

Spectacular views from atop Mt. Washington.

The views from the viewing decks at the summit were amazing… We were lucky that it was a clear day to start with, but as we stood watching, a huge bank of clouds was moving swiftly towards us, and began filling up the valleys below…

Might come back in the winter to try out those ski slopes…

The road up here was often closed due to poor visibility or high winds, neither of which would make riding up here on a bike, a fun thing to do !!

What the heck were they doing walking up here in 1819… Surely there were moose to hunt down below…??

After spending almost an hour on the summit, we began our descent, and I reminded Steve, who had not been riding for very long, not to keep his hand or foot on the brakes, all the way down. I advised him to let the engine do most of the braking, by keping his bike in 2nd and 3rd gear at all times…

GB ticks another item off his bucket list. This time, it’s Mount Washington… Photo: Darlene  Shaefer.

Do not turn left here… Although, it would be a much shorter way to get down off the mountain…

While Steve went cautiously down the mountain, I used my gears to slow my descent, hardly touching my brakes…

We stopped at the little gift shop at the bottom of the mountain to buy a few postcards and drink some water. While we were standing around and preparing to leave on the next part of our ride, Don and Darlene Schaefer, who we had met on the summit, arrived on their Harley’s and after hearing that I was planning to visit Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park in Maine, very kindly gave me their entry passes ro this area, which were still valid for another few days…

They had ridden here from New Jersey, and Darlene had actually worked in Freehold !! Small world indeed !!

Don and Darlene Schaefer from Pleasantville, New Jersey… Don is a born and bred Southern boy, as you can tell by the paint job on his Harley.

Sign in the store at the bottom of the mountain… Makes sense !!

Steve confirms that the shop is open for business…

Confirmation !! Another sticker finds it’s way onto my pannier…

We rode back out onto Route 16, headed north to Gorham, and then west to skirt Mt. Washington and the White Mountains, to get to the Cog Train station near Breton Woods… The roads were clear of heavy traffic and we made good time along the way, until w reached the much narrower and bumpy road leading to the base station…

Signs warning of moose and other animals on this road were posted every few hundred yards, and I figured thy must be that plentiful for good reason, so we slowed down and rode the last few mils at a pace we deemed respectful to the wildlife…

Heading towards the Cog Train Station at the foot of Mt. Washington.

Never saw hide nor hair, let alone got to put one in my pannier…

That’s the ticket !! One less of the buggers to cause an accident !!

I was surprised at how many vehicles were parked at the station, and had to wind our way around the car park before we found a half decent spot to leave our bikes.

We made our way over to the station complex, which included a gift shop and restaurant, and went out onto the deck to take a few photos of the trains pulling into and out of the station…

The day before, Steve had arrived here to find the place covered in thick mist and had not been able to take a single photo. Today was vastly different, but high above us, the summit of Mt. Washington was already disappearing into the thick cloud we had seen earlier…

We had been lucky to get off the mountain when we did, and for the rest of the day, we would stay ahead of the bad weather that was brewing all over the New England area…

You can tour the train museum while waiting for the next train to arrive.

One coach at a time… No sense in endangering too large a group of tourists in a single go…!!

Fourth from the top !! And make it snappy !!

After watching what must of been one of the last trains to leave for the summit, we got back onto our bikes and headed for Bartlett, intent on riding the Bear Notch road once again…

The old general store at Crawford Notch, on the way down to Bartlett…

I was hungry enough to stop for a bite, but we had spent too much time horsing about and still had a long way to go before we got to our respective destinations…

I’ve heard of guys hanging up their boots, but this takes the biscuit…!!

Air-drying lumber made me think of home… We passed a number of sawmills in this forested part of the country, and the smell of wood resin hung in the air for much of the day…

We stopped in Bartlett while I changed batteries on my video camera, and then set off to ride the Bear Notch road, for what would be my third or fourth time… I rode ahead of Steve, wanting to make a hard and fast run of it, and knowing that he was riding a lot more slower than I was. I pressed the record button as we entered the first tight corner, and then settled down to ride as smoothly as I could…

I get off the Interstate and head up Highway 1, along the coast to Camden.

I did not have to pass a single car on the 14 km back to the Kancamagus Highway, and took some video that even had me sitting up straighter when I watched it later that night…

We stopped in Conway for a quick bite to eat and then rode up over Hurricane Ridge and into Maine, thereby completing the 25 State Ride that I had set out to do on June the 3rd…

Gi-Gi celebrated our feat by taking us on a completely different route than we had planned, and bringing us out at the southern edge of Portland, instead of the northern parts that we had wanted to get to…

At this point, Steve decided that he was not going to ride into New Brunswick that evening as planned, and wanted to head back to his home in Quebec, which was about three hours to the northwest of us…

We stopped on the I-95 to say our farewells, and then parted ways, as I headed for the coastal route that would take me to Camden. As the sky turned gray above us, I watched as he disappeared into the distance with a final wave…

I had enjoyed riding with Steve and looked forward to seeing him again if I took my planned route back to New Jersey…

Steve decides he’s had enough of camping and is missing his bed. He waves goodbye before heading for Quebec…

I rode the last 100 km as quickly as I could, watching the clouds massing above me and knowing that sooner or later I would be riding in rain… I managed to get as far as Waldoboro, just 30 km short of Camden, before I was forced to pull over to refuel and put on my rain gear…

A light rain descended over the entire area and I arrived in Camden, at Patricia’s sister Donna’s home, just as darkness was falling…

It had been a long but very satisfying days riding, and meting my wife at the end of it, made the ride even sweeter !!

Safe and sound and not a moment too soon. The drizzle turned to rain just after we arrived…

We planned to spend the next few days relaxing in Camden and the surrounding area, before I took off again to ride around Nova Scotia before we attended the next wedding, that of Tiernan and Rachel, on Prince Edward Island.

In three days of solid riding, I had completed my ride through New England. Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, as well as my “25 State Ride”

©GBWT 2013