Day 10...Home Sweet Home!!!

Today we headed out of Beckley, West Virginia bright and early at 6 am. We watched the sunrise while traveling along the most beautiful interstate we have ever been on winding through the mountains. It made the start to a long day very enjoyable.
After a long, hot 574 mile day, 19 states, Canada, and a total of 3,648 miles over the past 10 amazing days, we arrived home around 4 pm.
We now only have 15 more states to go before we will have accomplished our goal of riding all 50 together! With extra vacation time on our hands for later in the year, we are already starting to plan......could the Grand Canyon (Ditch Run) be next????

Day 9...Washington DC

We left Newark, Deleware at 7am today with Washington DC as our destination. Once we arrived in Washington, we planned on driving by the White House, but so many roads are now blocked off that it’s impossible to drive by. We did get a couple of pictures from one of the main roads that runs in front of it. Next stop was at the Smithsonian Institute where we had planned on touring the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of American History. We got to tour the Natural Museum, but the American History Museum was closed for renovations….just our luck. We enjoyed our tour of the Nautral Museum, then it was on to Virginia.

Our travel through Virginia took us through some gorgeous countryside. We took the Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park. This drive is over 100 miles of smooth winding roads over the Apalacian Mountains. This was a much needed treat for us after spending so much time recently in the big cities on the East coast. We took our time and just soaked up the scenery.
Our day ended in Beckley, West Virginia…432 miles today. After a great 9 days, tomorrow we will head for home!!!

Day 8...NYC & Philly

Today was not going to be a lot of miles, but a lot of sightseeing, so we decided to get an early start. We left our room at 6:15 to do down for a quick breakfast. Once there we ran into some Harley riders that we had run on the Interstate with yesterday for quite a ways, then low and behold we stayed at the same hotel last night and ended up meeting them and having a great time talking. They were from Boston and were headed for the Dragon in Tennessee. We had fun discussing that as they had never been there before and didn’t know what to expect. They were excited to be going, and we told them we were going in a couple weeks and all this talk about it got us anxious too! By the way…for any "Survivor" fans out there,none of them knew "Boston Rob," but a couple of the guys did know Rocky from the last season of Survivor. He was the bar tender from Boston. These guys go in the bar where Rocky works (which is owned by Rocky's father) so they kenew all about Rocky. Small world!
By 6:30 we were on the road headed for Central Park in New York City. Once we made our way there, another disappointment….the Park was closed. We drove all the way around the park and finally saw a policeman and stopped and asked him how long the park would be closed. He told us that the park would be closed most of the day for a bicycle race. Can’t wait around all day, so it’s time to move on.
From Central Park we headed for Times Square. We arrived at Times Square early and couldn’t believe how busy it was already. There were lights and flashing billboards EVERYWHERE! Took some more pictures and moved on.

Next we drove by the Empire State Building. It still has claim to fame…classy old building. No time to stop though, so this was just a drive by.

Our next stop was the main reason I wanted to go into New York City...The World Trade Center Site. We parked our bike where there were security Officers at every corner, so it felt safe to leave it. We walked up to the Site and I can’t even describe how it made me feel. The area was so huge! My mind immediately went back to September 11, 2001. One can't help but stand there and imagine what it was like that day. Today the sound of construction equipment still fills the air all around the Site almost 6 years later as work is still in progress. As we continued our walk we rounded a corner and saw NYFD Ladder No. 10….the first responders on 9-11. We took a look at all of the names of those that lost their lives that day, and one last look at the World Trade Center Site, stood in silence for a moment, then quietly walked away.

Now it's on to the Statue of Liberty. We really wanted to view the Statue, but had difficulty finding parking. We spotted "Park Personnel Only" parking and guess who pulled into that lot to park….you guessed it, the Cape Girardeau County Park Superintendent! As we got off the bike, a Park worker approached us and said, "Do you work for the Park System?" Bruce answered, "Yes" and handed him a business card. The young man took a look at it and said, "OK, just leave this on the bike so that we will know." Bruce sure was able to charm those New York City Park Personnel. After viewing the Statue and snapping a few more pictures, we were off again. This time heading out of New York toward Philadelphia.Our main agenda in Philadelphia was to visit the King Tut exhibit, and have a Philly Cheesesteak. We met a couple in Bar Harbor from Philly that told us about a popular place that the locals go to have Cheesesteak. First it was off to see the King Tut exhibit. This was a very interesting and awesome display of actual artifacts that were found in King Tut’s tomb. The items were very beautiful, and some of them looked as good as new even though they were 3500 years old!!! A person’s mind in just in awe at the craftsmanship that the people possessed during that time period. Well, after all that walking, we had worked up an appetite, so it was off to Pat’s Steaks for that Philly Cheesesteak that was MMMM MMMM GOOD!!!!!!! It hit the spot!
Our day ended in Newark, Delaware with 3 new states, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware…and 180 miles.

Day 7...Plan B...Head South

This morning we woke up once again to heavy fog and rain. After checking the weather forecast for the next several days in Nova Scotia, we turned to plan B and decided to head south rather than farther north. The weather forecast was calling for a high of 60 degrees with very strong winds and rain. Our original plan was to ride to Maine, and we did that. Nova Scotia would have just been icing on the cake. This also gives us a reason to come back!
We checked out of our hotel and bid the owners of the Highbrook Inn farewell and thanked them for going above and beyond for us and making our stay there completely enjoyable. We pulled out of Bar Harbor around 7am with heavy fog and light rain. We ran Highway 1 to Brunswick, where we decided to take Interstate 95 because of the fog and poor visibility.
We made a long pit stop in Boston this afternoon. It is a beautiful city full of history. We walked the 2-½ mile Freedom Trail, which consists of many historical sites, and enjoyed a great meal at Union Oyster House. This is a very popular historic restaurant right down from Faneull Hall. Union Oyster House is the oldest restaurant in Boston and the oldest restaurant in continuous service in the U.S. – the doors have always been open since 1826! And once again, the food was great! After eating, we walked through the Farmer’s Market. On Fridays and Saturdays the streets of several blocks are closed to traffic, and the most beautiful fruits and vegetables you can imagine line the streets in the stands….and yes, we got our fresh fruit for the day!

By late afternoon, we decided to head out again and get as far south as we could. The weather was beautiful when we left Boston on Interstate 95, mostly sunny and 83 degrees. Part of the Interstate is a tunnel underground for several miles, and when we came out, the weather had changed, so as soon as we got out of the city, we stopped to put on rain gear once again. The trick must have worked this time…all we got into was a little light rain, but there were thunderstorms all around us. We were lucky enough to dodge them.Our day ended in Stamford, Connecticut. Even though we didn’t make it to Nova Scotia, we did accomplish something today…3 new states…Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut…and 482 miles. See you all soon!!!

Day 6...Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine

Today we awoke to the sound of rain. I knew I should've never taken that rainsuit off! We decided to stay in for a while since it was supposed to stop around 10 am. I whet to open the back window in our room and was surprised to see a deer standing right there! And it did not run away when it heard me. They say the deer here on the island are very tame since there is no hunting allowed here. The deer did provide some entertainment while we waited out the rain.
The rain stopped around 10:30, but the weather still looked threatening, so we geared up and headed out to ride the Park Look Road in Acadia National Park around 11am.
As we entered the park, we could immediately tell that it had to be gorgeous! We just could'nt see two car lenghs in front of us for all the fog and mist. We tried to go up Cadillac Mountain, but really there was no view at all up there because of the fog. The futher we got into the park, the heavier the fog got. We got a few glimpses of some great rocks with the waves crashing in on them, but could only imagine how beautiful it would be with sunshine! The picture below shows what kind of views we saw this morning.
After driving the Park Loop Road, we headed back to our room to take off rain gear, then downtown for some shopping. The weather now was heavy clouds, but not raining. We arrived downtown and decided to just have a snack to tide us over till we got a real meal. It was already almost 2pm so we had some clam chowder (aka clam chowda) from a little corner stand and sat down by the water to eat. Then we were off to do some shopping. Well, between riding in the cool mist this morning and all the shopping this afternoon, we had finally worked up an appetite. We decided that we would try the West Street Cafe/Seaside Gill again. This time Bruce tried the fried Haddock and I tried the crabcakes. MMMM....Food was great again! It was now almost 6pm and the weather kept looking bettter, so we decided to go back through the park again to see if the visibility had improved and try to get some better pictures.
This time through was SO much better! It was warmer, but better yet, very little fog! We saw all kinds of things that we didn't even know were there this morning. We made stops this time at Sand Beach (pictured below), Thunder Hole, and other scenic overlooks.

After a great evening ride though the park, we headed back downtown for some ice cream, then it was back to the hotel for the night.

Not too many miles today....only 85 toay!!!

Day 5...Bar Harbor, Maine!

Bruce and I left of Montpelier, VT at around 7am heading for New Hampshire. The weather was a little warmer, but still cool enough for jackets and a threat of rain, so I remembered what Marlene told me....if you wear your rainsuit, it won't rain! So the rainsuit went on, and it didn't rain on us all day long. Thanks, Marlene!!

The first excitement of the day was when we were driving along the Kankamankus Highway (referred to as "The Kank" up here) when I spotted a moose! Needless to say we turned around to grab a few pictures. We saw another moose later in the afternoon, this time with a baby in tow.

After crossing into New Hampshire, we came to the small town of Bath.. This was a typical rural New Hampshire village. There was one main corner which had the Post Office, Town Hall, General Store, and a church. We discovered a couple neat things in this quaint little town. First is a covered bridge built in 1832 that is still in use today. The second is America's oldest General Store. This store was so neat! It truly was the traditional general store where you could buy just about anything you could imagine! Bruce and I purchased some fudge, a homemade buttermilk donut (which was only 30 cents!) and 2 Brick Store brand sodas in glass bottles (Sarsaparilla for Bruce, and cream for me). While sitting on the porch enjoying our treats, we were approached by a couple that pulled up in a pickup truck pulling a bike. Turned out they were from Bar Harbor, our destination for today! They gave us several tips, we thanked them for the information, then we parted ways.

After finally crossing into Maine, we decided to start looking for a place to have lunch. We came to the small town of Bethel where we spotted Crossroads Diner & Deli. This would work. We are having a lot of fun going into these "local" restaurants where everybody knows everybody and the food is usually excellent. This time was no different....good food again.

We arrived at Bar Harbor around 5pm and checked into our hotel which is the cutest little "mom and pop" family owned hotel we've ever seen. It is very well kept and very clean. It is owned and operated by June & Lewis Bowden and their son, Adam. This family is so nice and helpful tht we feel like we are staying at their house!

After settling into our room, we headed downtown to West Street Cafe/Seaside Grill where we had the best lobster we've ever tasted! Then we walked around town, had ice cream and watched the fireworks. Great ending to a great day! HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY EVERYONE!!!

(Today was 338 miles)

Day 4...On to Vermont!

We headed out of Watertown, NY around 7:15 this morning, traveling to Lake Placid, NY via some beautiful back roads through the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York. The weather was still pretty cool. We learned at one of our stops that is is unseasonably cool up here right now. Upon arriving in Lake Placid, we could immediately tell that this is a tourist town. The Olympics have been held here twice, so there were lots of sports and Olympic shops, ski slopes, and we also saw the place where the ski juming is done. We had a great lunch at Jimmy's which was located right on the lake, and our table was right up to the water!! After lunch and walking around the town, we headed toward Port Henry, where we would cross into Vermont, by way of more back roads.

Before crossing the bridge into Vermont, we stopped at Champlain Memorial & Lighthouse. As we pulled out onto the highway, we thought our Goldwing had turned into a Harley!! It was much louder than normal. We pulled off and Bruce found the muffler was loose so we went on and crossed the bridge into Vermont and made it to Bristol where we stopped at an auto parts store to get a clamp for a temporary fix. The man at the auto parts store was very helpful. He took a look at it and suggested that he call a friend of his that owns a chopper shop here that could do a real fix on it. Bruce agreed. The man made the call, told us to ask for Dave, and off we went to Huntington Choppers. Oh yeah, the man said, "Dave is a little scary, but don't worry, he does good work and knows what he's doing." Upon arriving at the chopper shop, Bruce went in to find Dave. When they came out, all I could say to myself was, "WOW." This man, Dave, was dressed in all black clothes from head to toe, had long black hair almost to his waist, and what skin on his arms that showed was all but black with tatoos, and cussing like a sailor. I was now a little leary of what was going on. Dave took a look at the mufler and said it would be no problem for him to fix it. He started rolling choppers out of the way so that we could roll our bike into his shop. He had to move 3 outside to get the door up, then 2 more from inside to make room for our trike. As the door went up, I another guy.....and another guy.....all very similar in looks to Dave, and I saw lots of choppers, all in vaious pieces. Now I was really leary of what was going on here! Before Dave got started on our bike another customer came in and they began talking about a bill. This guy owed Dave $1200 and wanted to pay him $1000. Dave got hostile, threw the guy out of his shop (literally!), cursing heavily the entire time. After a brawl in the parking lot, Dave was ready to work on our bike. This whole time I'm trying to just walk around and look at stuff like nothing is going on, while really I'm thinking, "Are we going to die in Vermont?"....Well, the answer to that is no....Dave was very friendly and nice to us and got us back on the road within about 1 1/2 hours. After he got the bike fixed, we chatted a little bit, then were on our way again. What an experience!!!

We headed on toward Montpelier, VT which was our destination for tonight. This time we were on some great twisties. Roger and Picky would have really liked these roads. Before going to our hotel, we took a road north for about 12 miles to Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Plant where we took a tour and enjoyed some great ice cream and talked about the experience we had today.

Finally it was on to our hotel and find something for dinner. The man at our hotel suggested an Italian restaurant called Sarducci's so we tried it and it was great! Very enjoyable setting and food. After we finished, we heard fireworks. As we went outside, there was a couple (from here) with their Goldwing watching the fireworks so we began talking to them and ended up having a really good time together. We didn't leave there till 10:30! (Still don't know why Montpelier had fireworks on the 3rd.) Today's mileage was 272. It's now 12:10 and we're off to bed......

Day 3...Boldt Castle

Bruce and I bid Niagara Falls farewell around 7:30 this morning under sunny skies and a temperature of 60 degrees and still very breezy and cool. We headed east on a scenic highway which turned out to be a very historic road to travel as there were a lot of older, very beautiful homes that appear to have been very well kept over the years. Also along the way ever so often, we would see really neat looking cemeteries, and as you all know, I enjoy tromping around old cemeteries so this definetely merited a stop. While walking around the cemetery we spotted a couple of intersting things. We found at least 2 Revolutionay War soldier's graves. One of the soldier's was born in 1729 and died in 1812 at the age of 83. There may have been more soldiers buried here, but the grave markers were very hard to read since they were so old. So...Picky...I found a place for the cemetery ride this year!!! (Just kidding!) We arrived in Watertown, NY around 1pm which was our destination for the night. Since it was still early in the day, we decided to go on up to Boldt Castle and tour it this afternoon rather than in the morning. This will put us about a half day ahead of schedule. We arrived in Alexandria Bay just in time to take the next shuttle boat out to Heart Island to tour the castle. Boldt Castle was truly another wonder. (The picture of Bruce and me is taken in front of the power house for the castle.) This is a very beautiful castle which was built by George C. Boldt for his wife. During construction of the castle, tragedy struck. Here is some information from a brochure that we received: "Boldt castle, on Heart Island, was to be the testimony of the unsurpassed love of a man for his wife. The magnificence of the structure was to be equalled only by George Boldt's adoration of Louise, who was the love of his life and reason for the construciton of such an elaborate summer home. The finest of artists, craftsmen and materials were sought for the work which was well underway when tragedy struck. Mrs. Boldt was dead, and a telegram arrived ordering all work to stop. Three hundred workmen dropped their tools and left the island, never to return. The sculptures, Italian mantle pieces, imported tapestries and fine furniture never reached their intended places in this ill-fated, melancholy mansion. Today, visitors wander in awe through the huge, empty rooms, imagining the luxury, splendor and gaiety that might have been."....."George C. Boldt came to America in the 1860's from Prussia, the son of poor parents. A man of tremendous organizational skill, daring and imagination, he became the most successful hotel magnate in America, managing/profit-sharing the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, and the Bellevue-Statford in Philadelphia. He was the president of several companies, a trustee of Cornell University, and the director of the Hotel Association of New York. For Boldt, to dream and to do were synonymous. Boldt Castle stands as an eternal monument to the memory of the man whose dreams were no more far-reaching than his capabilities." If you would like more information on Boldt Castle, go to http://www.boldtcastle.com/ . If you are ever in the area, this is a must to see. Truly breathtaking! After returning to Watertown, we checked in to our hotel, and found a really nice family style restaurant called Fairground Inn (because it is located next to the local fairgrounds). The restaurant was established in 1937 and is still there today, and doing a very good business. It was packed tonight. We are now settled in for the night a little earlier for a change. Today's mileage was 278 miles.

Day 2...Niagara Falls, NY

Bruce and I headed out of Monroe, Michigan by 6:30 am eastern time. The sun was up with a few lingering clouds. We were anxious to get to Detroit where we would cross into Canada. When we arrived at the Ambassador Bridge that crosses to Canada we had to show our passports and were only asked a couple of questions and then we were good to go. There was nothing to it! I was expecting more of a delay with this process.

We were planning on running some 2 lane roads today, but after about 30 minutes we decided to head for the big road and get to Niagara Falls. On our way we stopped for lunch at a Tim Horton's which was really good! MMMMM We sure are eating a lot of good food on this trip! At this stop we met a really nice couple from Rockford, IL that was also traveling on their Goldwing to Maine. We parted ways and said, " Maybe we'll see you again!"

Our idea to make time was a good one until we had to merge onto the Queen Elizabeth Way. This road was bumper to bumper, stop and go for miles. Bruce used the GPS and found a service road that ended up saving us a lot of time.

We arrived at the falls by mid afternoon and enjoyed walking around the tourist area and viewing the falls. You just can't look enough at this marvelous wonder. While looking at the falls, we met another really nice couple, this time from New Jersey. They asked us to take their picture and in the course of conversation, turned out the guys had a lot in common. This couple rides a Golwing Trike aslo! While we were chatting with this couple, the couple we met earlier in the day from Rockford, IL drove by with big smiles and big waves. Our paths did cross again...only sooner that we thought!!

We decided to have dinner on the Canadian side of the falls before crossing back into the USA. We found the perfect spot...Edgewaters Tap & Grill. This was a very nice restaurant located above another restaurant so the whole place had awesome views of the falls. While sitting at our table, we had a perfect view of the Canadian Falls. We also learned that the extra large crowd that was in town was due to today being Canada Day. Now we know why that traffic was so backed up earlier!!

After crossing back into the USA with no trouble at all, we found our hotel, got checked in, then decided to go back and view the falls from the American side since we are only about 2 miles from the falls and it was still early in the evening. The neat thing about this side is that you can see how the river is flowing leading up to the falls, but I agree with those of you that told us that the best view is from the Canadian side. Either way, Niagara Falls is truly a wonder to see!

The high temperatures so far have only been in the high 60's to low 70's with no humidity, overcast a lot of the time, and very breezy. Anyone that knows me very well would know that I was glad to get to the hotel, take a hot shower, and warm up! I even drove most of the way trough Canada because Bruce said I would be warmer on the front of the trike...not as much wind. Only one new state today...New York. Mileage today was 315 miles.