Day 4

Its hard to believe its Thursday already! I knew it would fly by. We have 3 new states on our schedule today. Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. And of course there is spotty rain in the forecast today.

We got an early start today pulling out just after 6:30am. As you can see from the picture the sky wasn't looking too good to start the day.



The radar made it look like if I can get a little south by Montpelier it should clear up. Remember this statement.

We crossed into Vermont and it was trying to be a beautiful day. It was still chilly though. I broke down and turned on the grip heaters. We stopped for a couple pictures of Lake Champlain right after we crossed the border. In case you don't know there is a lake monster in Lake Champlain, he's call Champ. Maybe we'll get to see it.



Don't know what this old fort was called but I thought it was cool. It was on the New York border looking back from Vermont.



We followed State Route 2 most of the way through Vermont. Vermont is a beautiful state. It was hard to pay attention because of all the great views we have around us. Had to keep one eye on the clouds and one on the road. The closer we got to the mountains the more ominous it started to look.

Holy crap I think I caught Champ on film. The rumors are true. He does exist.



In case you can't see him look at the right edge of the picture. I never saw him when I snapped the picture but it turned out pretty cool!

We got on I89 to bypass some towns. Normally its no fun to be on the slab but I only did 60mph most of the time and the scenery was awesome. And you could see 2 on most of the time too. It was paralleling the interstate.

By this time we had been playing hide and seek with the rain. So far we have stayed out of the rain but we are getting there just after it quit. The roads were soaked in spots and the bike was getting just as soaked. At one point we had to pull off so I could get the rain boots on. Found this when we pulled off.



We got on I 93 to head into New Hampshire to ride the White Mountains. We could finally get a state sign to take a picture of.



The stupid GPS pulled one of its tricks again. It had me get off the interstate and then told me to get back on. It was lunch time so I said the heck with it and made a right into Littleton for lunch. I found another cool little diner.



I didn't get a picture of the inside but it was set up a lot like the Red Rose Diner from Tuesday. Not as rustic as the Red Rose, but it was still diner car like. The food was good too. While we were there is rained some too.

Back on the road we turned on 3 for a short jaunt to 112 to ride the White Mountains. As we cruised 112 the clouds were coming down to cover some of the highest peaks, but so far nothing more than sprinkles directly on us. A lot of wet roads though. Its a shame because these roads could be a lot of fun!

We pulled off on several sight seeing turn outs. Started to see more bikes on the roads now. The temperature is dropping as we climb up the mountains. Kind of wish we could have brought the liners to the jackets.

At one pull off the rain was coming in on us. Since this on had a covered area I thought we would hang out a bit and let it pass over us. It felt like it might be in the mid 40s now and the winds were blowing pretty good adding to the wind chill factor!



After the rain moved through we headed back out. We crested the peak of the mountains and started back down. It seemed like we crossed an invisible line and the temperature jumped 10 degrees it felt and the rain clouds disappeared. The rest of the ride down the mountain was really comfortable. Except for the road went to crap. It was in rough shape. Still had plenty of scenery to look at.



We got on 302 to start our trek toward Maine. New state 3 of the day! When we crossed into Maine there was this tiny little blue sign to let you know you crossed the border. If you weren't looking for it you'd miss it.



This part of Maine was kind of disappointing. It reminded me of Ohio a lot. LOL We stayed on 302 until we got to Portland Maine. Then let the GPS take me through the back roads of town to get us to the Motel.

We clocked about 300 miles on the day! Over all the weather wasn't too bad. Not much rain actually fell on us. The kid is holding up pretty well!! Not bad for a 12 year old.