Maine 2021

 Now that we are both officially retired, like most people we hope to travel.  Unfortunately, COVID has made that a little more complicated than in prior years.  Regardless, we have a method to our travel: set our destination for the day, set Google Nav to "avoid highways" and go.

Our first trip is to Maine: specifically to join the family gathering at Happytown Farms near Elsworth where the celebrations of Karen's 80th birthday, Paul's 70th birthday and their 45th wedding anniversary will take place.  The other part of the trip was to spend a few days at Catherine Hill Winery outside of Cherryfield, about 45 minutes downeast Route 1 from the Farm.  Deb and Walt bought the winery in January of 2020 and have settled into the Maine lifestyle quickly.  Open Wednesday to Sunday, their micro winery bottles up some awesome vino.

But first- where to go and what to see.  Lots of stuff and lots of place.  For those that have not yet seen our "master map" here it is:

and this does not include any trips to place like Newfoundland-Labrador or the glacial lake region of Ontario.  These are just places on a map; some common like Jackson Browne "Standing on the Corner in Winslow Arizona..." some are just odd like the Archbald Pothole, or an abandoned cable rail bridge in the middle of nowhere.

Sticking to the let Google sans highways do the navigating we set off for Kingston, NY via the Stargazer's Stone near Embreeville, PA.  We have been to the Stone years ago, and it was nice to visit again; heck it was on the way. 

The Stone was set by the Mason Dixon Survey as a fixed position on the globe to determine the "starting point" of the Mason Dixon Line.  More at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Gazers%27_Stone

The navigation rules were simple: follow the Google no highways directions, if we drop out of cell coverage for too long, just make it up until we return, avoid chains for meals, and see some cool stuff along the way.  So of course, our first lunch under this new paradigm was a Red Robin.   The new nav rules lead to some interesting bits of driving- lots of unnumbered roads.  The rules could be amended if we were running significantly late or when the only passage is a major road, but for the most part, this worked well.  

After lunch, we caught up to 209 and that took us all the way into our motel in Kingston.  Just up the road a piece came the highly recommended Boiceville Inn; boy howdy what a great pizza. After ordering the house special, the waitress asked if  that included anchovies; of course it includes anchovies.  We took the leftovers home and made two more lunches out of them.  There was this funky place along the road just east of the inn on 28 with interesting artwork along the road.  

The hotel pool was nice and large, but they were low on pool towels (?).  Still a refreshing dip after dinner.  Next morning brought no "grab and go" breakfasts so we packed up and headed over the Olympia Diner-  cheeseburger cheeseburger cheeseburger, 2 chips, Pepsi.  [google it kids].  And off we go, to Newport, VT just shy of the Canadian border.  Same Nav rules apply- no major highways- and today was a whole bunch of backroads; the kinds with names not numbers. 

It truly an amazing drive and we hope it bodes well for such future travels.   With some leftover pizza in our cooler, we stopped in Vergennes Falls Park in Vergennes, VT for lunch.   Popular spot for picnics and fishing.

After a short, bug infested walk along to the old canal towpath, we got back on the road heading for Newport.

Intermittent rain fell as we arrived into Newport, the capital of the Northeast Kingdom, or simply NEK or the Kingdom.  This sliver of earth is completely different geologically than the neighboring Appalachians.   The Kingdom is home to some of the last active volcanoes on the eastern seaboard which created the granite native to this part of the state when the Taconic orogeny took place.  Yeah, we had to Google that too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taconic_orogeny 
The Newport City Inn is a funky place along the main street through town; you can tell it has been expanded several times during its life and now has a separate building with a conference center as well as a very nice pool house attached to the rear of the motel.   Dinner was from the East Side Restaurant, located on the east side [duh] of Lake Memphremagog.  We arrived early and were very glad we did as the line was very, very long for seating as the outdoor areas were closed due to the rain.  I tried to get a picture through the windows of the lake but the window screen had that Moiré effect and it looked weird.

Sunday was up early and on the road after a great breakfast from the Brown Cow.  That gave us leftovers too which served as lunch this day.  The Nav rules got bent a little today as getting to the farm via the winery was time sensitive; all that really changed was how much of 95 do we use in Maine.  Turns out, just the stretch from the Turnpike/295 merge to Bangor.  We arrived at Catherine Hill Winery pretty much on time as Deb and Walt were setting up for the day's business.  A quick trip through Ellsworth to grab ice cream from Morton's Moo for the happenings at the farm and we arrived there to find the party in full swing.

Karen and Paul have been successfully running an organic farm since the 1970's- way before it was cool.  Their farm is mostly covered in trees including sugar maples which syrup is part of their offerings, as well as free range eggs, turkeys, pigs and some sheep.   The party was set up in the front lawn along Happytown Road overlooking Branch Lake- it was an ideal setting.

Karen and Paul renewed their wedding vows and live entertainment was provided by a group of talented fiddlers who seemed to have that whole 'pick up a tune and run with it' which made for some good times.   We talked with the cousins; it's such a pretty place to be.

The winery is a busy place, 7 days a week job despite being open for only 5 of them.  Although not as labor intense as farming, there are daily tasks to perform just to keep the wine flowing.  Monday was an 'off day' meaning there was some early morning chores to perform in the fermenting room as well as some prep work after dinner to get ready for filtering day on Tuesday.  This meant the five of us could do some fun things; the weather was nice so we headed off to Lubec, the easternmost point of the lower 48 for a short hike around the woods before heading into town looking for lunch and some craft beer.

Tuesday, our last full day in Maine for this trip, was just us out exploring.  We had intended to have an early lunch at the Jordon Pond House; apparently, so did everyone else on Mount Desert Island.  The line to get the table pager was over a quarter of a mile long- just after 11am!!!!   Popovers will have to wait.  So lets head to Stonington and grab some lunch along the way.   On our way to Ellsworth from the island we spy what has to be the world's smallest Harley dealer; no bigger than the average lobster roll shack.  There wasn't even a boutique or adjacent service building.

Ellsworth is a fun little tourist town; lots of funky art, cool viewing and pedestrians.  Good food too.  The trip to Stonington was uneventful although it appears those folks who couldn't get into the Jordan Pond House decided to get some ice cream in Stonington.

New Nav rules suspended, the trip home was mostly normal.  But we did see this gem just along US-1A near Holden among the early morning fog.

Retirement trip 1 is in the books.  We have some camping, a trip to the Smokey Mountains plus our first full month on Jekyll still coming this fall.  Stay tuned.

the whole trip is here:

https://new.spotwalla.com/trip/6197-17130732-4f68/view

2021 MS 5000 Challenge

My goal for 2021 is different;  my pledge is to again match every dollar donated to support my ride through the MS5000 donation page below AND ride at least 2 miles for every dollar donated.  Donate $50- that equals a $50 match plus 100 miles in your honor.   As you may know, my dear friend Paul who hosts this fundraiser has MS.  After initial diagnosis, he was told the cure was “a million miles away” so he thought he’d just get on his motorcycle and go get it.  To date, Paul has logged 443,860 miles.  This a number that most people never even drive a car in their lifetime.  My Aunt Pat died from complications from MS; I do this ride in her honor.  I’m planning to do my part- the next move is yours.

 

https://www.longhaulpaul.com/ms5000/ms5000-donations/

 

click the “CHECK THIS BOX TO SELECT THE RIDER YOU ARE SUPPORTING” and my name will be second from the bottom [it’s posted in reverse registration order I think].   Donations can be submitted anytime between today and October 25^th, although the riding portion is limited to September 1 through October 20.

 

Thanks again for your support- stay safe and enjoy the ride

A Return to Almost Normal

 

One thing the pandemic has taught me, is the value of being around people.  I'm normally a bit of an introvert and I still find it awkward to address a large group in person, even if I visualize them naked.    The annual Minnesota 1000 has returned as it normally would have in 2021.  You see the years ending in "0" are reserved for the 2000 mile version.  2020 was supposed to be the Minnesota 2020 which was a long running joke between myself and the late Eddie James.  See 2020 was to be a magical alignment of the stars: the last Mason Dixon rally, the Minnesota 2020 and the last ButtLite.    Then the pandemic hit.

I find myself in the showroom of MotoPrimo in Lakeville, MN; home of the COVID Karens anti-mask and anti-vax association.  Lakeville made the news during COVID and not for good reasons.  My ride to here was circuitous and that is in a separate entry covering the Grand Tour I am participating in this summer.  After stopping by to see some friends in Columbus, I worked my way to the Mississippi to gather Great River Road byway signs.  Managed to sneak in lunch at Zanz in Mankato, which is a nice way to finish a trip.  So, here I am at MotoPrimo meeting old friends and some new ones getting ready for the 2021 Minnesota 1000.  Barbecue, rallypacks, some brief remarks and we're off - no group photo bonus so back to the hotel room for some planning.

Although the list was relatively short, all of the bonus locations were west of the Twin Cities.  Most of them were a long ass way away via super slab and dead straight roads.  There was a group of 14, all marked as a blue pin below, that if you got all of them, it was worth a bunch of points.  I figured it was at least 2 hours to get them all and the closest one to rally HQ was over 6 hours of hard riding away.  That was my original plan.  High tail it west stopping only for the time limited bonus in Fargo, the green triangle, and going straight to the one to the west to work them from west to east swinging by the purple dot one on the way.  Then I got sick around 11pm.  I'm blaming the full sugar sodapop which I do not normally drink unless it's Coke and I'm having tummy troubles.   Up and awake at my normal time, 5am local, I redevelop a more manageable route that swings south after getting the two in eastern North Dakota.  This was the safer option.

730 riders' meeting brought no additional locations, so off we go at the stroke of 802 and a half.

The Lake Wobegon Trailhead

Fargo Visitors' Center- the Woodchipper

and the one inside

The next bonus was cool- we have a "thing" for scale models of the solar system.  This one is located in Medicine Wheel Park, Valley City, ND. For the points, we had to take a picture of each planet, including Pluto, in order.  The scale?   1 foot = 3M miles, meaning the earth is about 31 feet from the Sun and Pluto is like half a mile.

From here, I turned south on possibly the most dreadful motorcycling road known to man: North Dakota 1.  Arrow straight for miles and mile of miles and miles.  In a nutshell, boring for a rider on a supersport tourer.  The heat was wearing on me and my problems from Friday night made me drop the next two planned locations so I could get out of the heat and start my rest bonus early.

The mascot of NSU, created from scrap metal and bronze.

The town of Manchester, SD was a thriving railroad hub and home to one of the Ingalls sisters.  After rail traffic slowed, the town began to depopulate.  In June of 2003, an EF4 wedge tornado blasted through town demolishing everything in its path.  Estimated at between a half and a mile wide at the base with wind speeds in excess of 200 mph, the town never stood a chance.  This is the town pump; the memorial is adjacent.

Official NOAA photo of tornado path; you can see the street grid just north of the main road.

Same sculptor as above, but a stunning war horse.

I piddled around a little before getting to sleep; the motel was jumping.  Lots of families travelling, lots of little kids, noisy conversations in the hall.  I am so glad I made a reservation as I later heard some riders got shut out for lodging due to the high volume of travelers.  This should not have been surprising as there is a huge pent up demand for travel after a year plus stuck at home.  The software said 6+ hours of riding plus 5 stops easily making the 8am cutoff.

Here's where Garmin failed me and I failed myself for not checking the math.  Although I ended my rest bonus 18 minutes later than I had planned, my route still said that I should have about 35 minutes of cushion to get back to the checkpoint; even then, I could drop the very last location on the way in as it was the lowest value and slightly off the direct line back.  

I punched in the remainder of the rally into my GPS, told it to optomize the stops and my estimated arrival time was..... wait for it........0820.  That's time barred by 20 minutes; dropping the last one only saved 10 I recalled from checking it out the night before.  So, reluctantly, I dropped the first stop, a place where Jessie James jumped over a gulch to escape a sheriff's posse since it was the most off the direct line back.  New arrival time 0745.  Something still wasnt right but at least it was before 8.  This left little if any room for my mistakes and I still had to refuel one more time.

About an hour later it dawned on me to recheck Garmin's route.  Dhuo- the route it had wasnt the optimal order despite being optimized.  So I manually reordered the remaining locations; new arrival time: 0650.  Dumbass- I could have easily picked up that first bonus stop with plenty of time to spare.

The Minnesota Music Hall of Fame

I arrived here to find my long lost brother Lee Miller.  Turns out in the 'small world but wouldnt want to paint it' Lee's father actually competed in the Plowing Championship commemorated here and won the title the following year.  How cool is that?

Along side the river in Mankato is a homemade memorial to SCW.  Zanz wasnt open yet.

The Ottowa little library adjacent to the historic Ottowa Town Hall had bad coordinates in the rally book, but the Google Machine knew where it was roughly a mile away.

How many MILES-7 license plates make up the roof of the Little Library?  Three sir, three.

Last stop: the Prince mural.  Apparently one of many around town.

I returned just about on the original  new net arrival time, got checked in and scored.  Easy peasy; lost no points only the ones I skipped out on the rally.  I have no allusions of grandeur; my hyper competitive riding days are behind me.  I'm here to meet friends, ride great roads, visit cool places and get home after a fun ride.
I did all of that, except the great roads part.   After the breakfast awards were complete, I bid my adieu and blasted off for the UP on Lake Michigan to begin the trip home on Monday.

Thanks Team Strange.