2019 Giddy Up Tour - Day 16 Bangor

We were looking at an easy ride to Bangor today so we were in no hurry to leave Gorham, NH (have got to stop calling it Gotham)

We left the motel with a quick stop at the Road Hawg Swine Dining (not a typo) for breakfast.  As you can probably guess their specialty is BBQ pork.  We bought the T-Shirts...I mean any place that has Swine Dining in their name...I mean....

We head out on the road with a few stops for our bum breaks.  One stop was in Rumford.  We have never stopped here on our many trips through.  We stopped at the local info center which also overlooked the dam (yes, dam it) in this little village.  Of course we also got a look at Paul’s Buns...I mean Paul Bunyan and Blue.

  

On the road again, we had another stop at the Windmill for ice cream (in honour of our little Dutch Boy).  Just as we were leaving, about 20 bikes (mostly HD) pulled up in the parking lot.  They were local and just returning from a weeks ride to Quebec and back....When I asked if they all travelled to Quebec, his response was yes and it was a huge pain in the a$$ trying to get into restaurants even though they had planned the trip and booked ahead in January.  Travelling spontaneously is not easy the more people you have, but we have managed to do well even though we didn’t have anything booked in advance after Quebec City.

The next stop was Dunkin’ Donuts for some coffee.....ice coffee and then on to the final leg.  We managed to get rooms at the Hilton Garden for a really great price.  A quick dip in the pool after we got checked in and we were ready for supper.  Larry and I like to end our trips with a stop in Bangor and a meal at the Texas Roadhouse.  We have now introduced all our friends to Texas size margs, steaks, salads and ribs.....we had to call the hotel shuttle to pick us up!

It has been a great trip.  The others, who didn’t even know each other at the beginning of the trip, have gotten along famously and we have had a great deal of laughs and fun.  It has been a real pleasure to travel with this group.

Tomorrow, are final destination.....home.  Or as I said to the others, “you can book your own damn rooms for tomorrow night”....I think at least one couple is staying with us.

Here is a quick summary of our trip....

2 provinces - except for Jerry and Thy they travelled 4
4 states - Vermont, New York, New Hampshire and Maine
Total kms (not including Bangor to Moncton which is approx 480 km) - 4796.6 which includes 67 km ferry ride to Baie Comeau.
2 down days where we didn’t ride
4 Mountain ranges - Laurentians, Adirondacks, Green and White
Animal siting - 1 bear, and he was huge; wild turkeys mostly baby ones; Canada Geese everywhere but in Canada.
Numerous twists and turns....way too many to count.

We look so forward to doing this long trips...they can be challenging when on the road.  It is not like driving in a car since you don’t have air conditioning when you are stopped at construction areas or in long lines of traffic, or shelter from rain or cold weather.  You also have to deal with the “cagers” who are not paying attention to what they are doing, or in some cases, even where they are.  There are reminders of past trips and yet many things are new...coming down the #2 highway today in Maine, Larry and I counted the number of times we had travelled this road since our first trip in 2011.  Today makes 13 times....and there are still lots of places we haven’t eaten at, stopped at or seen along the way.  That’s what makes travelling by motorbike so interesting.  You need to stop more often, but it just gives you a chance to explore things you wouldn’t in a car.

....TIL the next trip....

2019 Giddy Up Tour - Day 15 Mount Washington

So today we left Barre early with one thought in mind.  Get to the hotel we are booked at, hope the rooms are ready to dump our bags and head to Mount Washington Auto Road...now this all seems very simple especially since Barre to Mount Washington is really just 3 hours a way however the bigger issue is the weather..we have a very small window for all of this to happen.

We enjoyed a great ride through the rest of Vermont and crossed over into New Hampshire.  We passed by the memorial for the 7 motorcyclists that were kllled by a driver just over a month ago.  We didn’t really anticipate seeing the site but as soon as we came over the hill it was immediately apparent that this was the location.  

We continued on to Gorham.   The others would go back later to visit the site.

We got to our motel at 1 pm and as luck would have it, our rooms were ready (thanks to the people who run this place, they said they would try), so we dumped all our bags and headed up to the mountain by 1:10 pm.  by the looks of things the mountain was clearing a bit and the threat of rain/thunderstorms was now later in the day.  Goes with what we often say when on the road....if you let the threat of rain stop you from going, you would never get anywhere.

We enjoyed the ride up except for the really slow vehicles.  We found out that there had been a bicycle race up the mountain, yes UP the mountain, which had closed the mountain until just before we got there...lucky yet again.  The only side affect was all the people trying to get up the mountain at the same time.  Some more nervous than even myself...despite having gone up this mountain at least 5 times it still makes me nervous.  There is beauty in being at the top on a clear day but there is even more beauty when you get to watch the clouds moving, sharing glimpses of the valleys and other peaks as though they are little “gifts”.  The views are always breath-taking and I love being at the top.

After a quick bite at the Chinese Buffet next door (which was really good), we spent the rest of the evening watching the lightning in the mountains.  Good way to end a very full day.

Day 14 Giddy Up Tour - Day 14 Barre, VT

Today we had a great ride...it didn’t start out that way....trying to get out of Schenectady took us longer than expected. It was a very slow ride out of the city....and by slow I mean that it took us a good hour with the traffic to travel just over 20 kms.

Once out we had a great ride through Vermont with a little stop a a favourite spot...the Big Moose Deli.  We thought we might be able to cross into New Hampshire before end of day but decided on a stop in Barre for the night.

We stopped for lunch in Jamaica at the Workhorse Cafe...one of the best stops for food along the way.  We love the little towns that seem to have some of the best places for lunch or dinner.

We pulled into our usual spot in Barre but they did not have enough rooms for us, so we ended up down the road at the Quality Inn for the night.  A short walk away we were able to get a great dinner at Ladder 1.  This is just as it says....a converted fire station.

The meal was good and the walk there and back was probably just what we all needed.  We are watching the weather for Mount Washington as everyone seems to want to do this again......I do travel with a bunch of crazies...that is what makes it so much fun.

Some pics...of the crazies...

2019 Giddy Up Tour - Day 13 Schenectady

Day 13 was a little underwhelming.  Outside of breakfast.

We ate at a local diner down the road from where we were staying in Watkins Glen.  The lady that Larry had described as “crusty” from breakfast the day before, was interesting, sweet and full of energy.  I didn’t go there for breakfast the first day, so I missed meeting her for the first time.  I find that usual “crusty” means character...that she was....at 79 years of age, she was considering retirement.  Something tells me that this is just a way to let people know how old she actually is....she was turning circles and tables over at a rate twice as fast as the two younger ones.  She had a great sense of humour disguised as ornery.  She was a doll and really funny.

We started out our journey with no stop in mind.  Wanted to see how far we could go.  The two hour feedings however, need to be maintained.  The actually ride was just that, a ride.  We managed to find rooms in Schenectady for the night but the wifi wasn’t great.  But neither was the neighbourhood...oh well...the room rate was great!

Next time though, we will try the road race route....which we just discovered in Watkins Glen...until then WG!  Peace Out!

2019 Giddy Up Tour - Day 12 Watkins Gorge

Today was what we call a real down day.  It started with finishing 3 days of blogging I wasn’t able to do while in the mountains.  Followed by laundry, because it has to be done and then by a hike through the Watkins Gorge.

We visited Watkins Glen in 2013 and always wanted to come back to experience it again.  I still want to come back and experience it again.  In a small town of 7,000 people they have so much to offer and do.  There is the track, a NASCAR track.  Apparently you can drive behind a pace car on the track.  There is another park nearby, there are museums and wineries....so much to do so little time.

We had a great dinner on the marina to finish off our time here.  Not much else other than I think the pictures say it all.

 

2019 Giddy Up Tour - Day 11 Watkins Glen

Last night we celebrated our anniversary with our friends up in the Adirondack Mountains.  Could not have been more perfect.  Today we head out to one of our most favourite stops on our past adventures...Watkins Glen.  We are taking two days here to explore the Gorge, which is full of waterfalls but also to get new tires for Mr. J’s bike.

We head out through the park with the hopes that we will manage to dodge the rain and thunderstorms which are predicted for our start, our stop and in between.  Not even 10 minutes on the road, it starts to sprinkle.  It is too hot to even worry about a little bit of water at this point.  We keep the clouds in our sights as we twist and turn our way out of the mountains and just as we think that we have avoided it all we get a full on downpour.  Now it is still a very hot morning...32 degrees to be exact so while navigating in the rain can have some challenges (like seeing the road lol), the beauty is the cooling affect that it has.  Needless to say there was no reason to stop and put on rain gear.  We could see that it was going to clear and it just felt darn good.  We figured we would be dry by the time we got to our destination...or in 20 minutes which actually turned out to be the case.

New York (the state) has some of the greatest roads and byways.  The same road can take you through 2 lane countryside to 4 lane divided highway without the feeling of being on the interstate.  This is the part I have always appreciated about NY.

We had a great day through the park with a stop at another diner for yet another fabulous meal...I had a $12 salad with a piece of salmon on it that would have cost me at least $20 back home.  The salmon was cooked to perfection and I mean absolute perfection.

We headed out having timed out our ride to Watkins Glen (found a shortcut as well) and the radar showing a major cell closing in around arrival time.  We managed to dodge it and arrived at our motel in Watkins Glen.  Just across the street from the Gorge and minutes walk from just about everything.  The motel is perfect, just renovated and hidden off the main road.  Newly renovated and the beds are amazingly comfortable.  As you watch the video you can see as we ride into Watkins Glen, the cell we are avoiding.

As we are gathering to head out for supper, that cell that we managed to dodge had found its’ way to Watkins Glen.  It poured, and poured.  We grabbed an Uber to Thai Elephant with the intention of going to the Marina for supper the next night when we could sit outside and enjoy a great meal, which was recommended by the innkeeper.

Here you bring your own drinks apparently, or at least to this restaurant.  We order our meals and the guys head around the corner for wine and whatever (like a quality rum maybe?).  We had a great supper, lots of laughs and a great walk back to the motel as the rain had finally stopped.

As the friendships grow, so does the appetite for adventure.  We are already talking about the routes we will take after our down day here....let the adventures continue.

2019 Giddy Up Tour - Day 10 Old Forge

Today we left early with the intention of stopping somewhere along the way for breakfast “on the road”.  Our destination for the night is Old Forge in the Adirondacks Mountains or ADK.  We have been through Old Forge twice....once by chance in our travels, and once with Con and Terri last year.  We always enjoy stopping here although we have never stayed here.  The village has tons of character.  The first time we stopped at a gas station as we were on our journey.  A gentleman insisted we needed to stop at the “hardware” store in Old Forge.  It was a store like no other....and it certainly is.  Books ✅ fishing supplies ✅ Christmas decor ✅ flags ✅ chimes ✅ pottery ✅ pretty clothes ✅ cooking utensils/cookie cutters/rolling pins/cast iron pots ✅✅✅✅.  Name it and you will most likely find it there.  The other thing we discovered about Old Forge was the store Life is Good...thanks to Terri, I am now in love with this store...and then there is a local food joint called the Front Door (restaurant)/Back Door (bar).

But I am getting ahead of the day.  As I mentioned we headed out on the road early in search of breakfast on the road.  We made our way through Burlington again (so many turns) headed to Grand Isle and Hero Islands..this is a series of three islands connected by bridges or causeways located on Lake Champlain.  You enter them in Vermont and exit in New York State.  We had a hard time finding a breakfast place but found Hero’s Welcome where we could pick up some pasteries and coffee and have a little break sitting next to the water.  They had a great little general store where people could also buy supplies.  They had breakfast sandwiches but were all sold out by 9:30 a.m. when we arrived.  By looking at the number of people in and out it is no surprise.

As we get ready to take off some are still looking for breakfast on the road.  Larry now has a full belly of donuts so his food finding skills are no longer honed.  After another 45 minutes we are now closer to lunch then breakfast.  Since he seems to have passed a handful of places in that time, I spot what looks like a diner on the road.  He is not sure whether it is open or we should stop however I am thinking of all the hungry folks behind us and just give him the pull over signal......which is “pull over, pull over” in desperation.  This place was AMAZING for a ton of reasons....great 60’s music is playing inside and out, they have a take out, a drive in and a diner.  They have cut-outs for picture taking, they have picnic tables and a canopy for shade and everything is PINK!  Had the best Rueben Sandwich ever!  We also had a great time exploring all the signs and the menu.  The servers were equally as amazing.  We left with full bellies, big smiles and a ton of pictures.

We finally arrived in Old Forge after a beautiful ride through the ADK.  We got checked into another lovely spot with a great view of the lake as well as a screened in porch.  We head to the Front Door/Back Door for supper and wandered around on our way back to the motel which was no more than 5 minutes away.

It is a beautiful evening, but after a long day we headed to bed.  Asleep by 9:30 pm.  Wifi is not great here and maybe it is by design.....it forces you to take som e time to enjoy your surroundings.

2019 Giddy Up Tour - Day 9 Headed to the Border

The anticipated departure from Quebec City was easy...we knew there would be some directional challenges but we were more concerned by traffic.  Church bells tolled as we left, which offered some good news with respect to traffic movement in a city where Sunday morning gatherings are highly regarded.

We made our way through the tangled city routes to find ourselves on beautiful country roads winding their way south.  Even in the countryside of Quebec, large churches can be found in communities that do not appear to have enough people to support them.  Each one of them is well kept, architecturally beautiful beacons to those who live in the communities and others who are drawn to them.

The day ride was going so well, we figured we might make Plattsburgh early enough as a launch off for the next leg of our trip.  We were going to be crossing into the States at one of several small crossings.  Four bikes, six people...generally not an issue.  In truth it really wasn’t for 5 of us.  I know, hard to guess who that “person” was right?.....not for anyone who knows Larry’s history, or in this case “luck” when it comes to entering into the US (again....queue Mary Anns’ gasp and my mothers chuckle - see previous blog for Arizona trip).  Larry, as it appears, is randomly selected for a search similar to what they would do at the airport.  As Larry goes in for the oral and written exam, I am left to provide access to his motorcycle to the rather nice looking young agent.  I am guessing I got the better end of that deal.  All in all, it took about 30 minutes and we were under way again.  

We stop on the other side in Richford, make reservations at a location in Burlington for the night, as it seems we will not make Plattsburgh.  Now, we figured that finding this spot in a little place like Burlington would be easy.....in fact there was more twists and turns to getting there then there was getting out of Quebec.  Thanks to Con and his GPS app we navigated right to the door.  This spot only cost us $69 a night.  Clean, comfortable, right next to a fabulous restaurant where we had the most delicious meal....unfortunately the mosquitos also enjoyed the most delicious meal on Larry, Con and Thy....but that’s another story.

 

2019 Giddy Up Tour - Day 8 Quebec City

Today was a down day...or up and down day depending on which direction you take when in Old Port/Vieux Quebec.

We did the right thing by walking there to get some exercise.  Problem is that we are all directionally challenged without first plotting it and jumping on our bikes...needless to say we were headed Ouest when we should have been setting Est.

We finally make it to Chateau Frontenac (by taxi) and just as we arrive it starts to rain...again.  This is beginning to be a recurring theme but so far we have been adventitiously missing the worst of it.  A quick tour of the Chateau, and then we all group together (2 taxis for 6 people) in the lobby to start exploring.

We head to the Parks Canada excavation site that we explored with the girls in 2005.  Apparently the excavation took 2 years, during which they retrieved over 500,000 artifacts.  The exhibit, which is below the promenade, is pretty amazing.

After our exit, we head for the funicular.  At the bottom we have a quick lunch and then head off in 3 directions to explore, meeting back at the funicular an hour later.  Larry and I head down to see the umbrellas hanging on the street with all the restaurants.  We have been here at Christmas and their displays are always beautiful...not much for shopping we decide to sit and share a Beavertail (SKOR) which is amazingly delicious.

From here we head on down to the dock and grab the next boat tour out.  We get to view the Plains of Abraham, Chateau Frontenac, l’isle de Orleans and of course Montmorency Falls which are absolutely beautiful...we also got to watch more of our favourite thing.....storm clouds.  Just as we are finishing up the tour by water, the wind and then the rain descended upon us.

Undaunted, we dashed from the boat to our favourite Vietnamese restaurant that we found during our Christmas visit, to enjoy a great supper with our friends.  A walk around the artisan market after supper, a tour of the old railway station, another juggling act with taxis and we arrive back to our hotel, 12 hours later....it was a full day.

Much needed rest will now be required as we head to the border tomorrow.

2019 Giddy Up Tour - Day 7 Quebec City

So far we have ridden two days to see a big rock, 400 kms to see a big dam, and 2 hours to see a big lake.....we like big things and we can not lie.....

Before heading out to Quebec City we decided we would ride around Lac St-Jean as far as Roberval. The weather forecast showed rain in the afternoon with possibility of thunderstorm in both Quebec City and around the lake so we had nothing to lose.  

First though was breakfast and a birthday celebration for Larry.  Thy walked up to a local shop and managed to find a birthday cake at 7:30 in the morning!  Love her determination and thoughtful gift.  We celebrated at breakfast with a chocolate cake and a dining room full of people singing happy birthday in both French and English.  Great way to start the day!

Getting out of some of these smaller centres is not always easy because signage is so small.  Not having a real problem with the language issue as much as we are trying to find the signage to provide us with proper direction or at least confirm direction we are going in.

We rode through some lovely farming areas which surprised us.  We did not expect for this area to be as flat as it was given that we rode into this area through the mountains and we would be leaving through them as well.  We eventually came upon Lac St-Jean in Chambord.  It appeared and you immediately got the impression that it was a large lake.  As we rode the next 15 kms to Roberval along the lake, there was a distinct impression that this lake may even be larger than originally thought.  A stop on a wharf for lunch, gave us a view of the lake that was equally as surprising....looking at the far shore of this lake would be akin to standing on the shores of Alma and looking towards Nova Scotia.....you can tell there is land there but you can’t really see anything except a blue/gray outline in the distance.

 We ate our lunch, which we had picked up in Saguenay before we left, sitting there in the sun until the first drop fell.  It looked like we may ride out of it so we cleaned up our stuff, packed it up, got our gear on quickly, jumped on the bikes and headed out for the 175 to take us to Quebec City....just after Chambord, down came a little rain which we did ride out of, however the next cloud formation looked a little more ominous, so we pulled over and suited up in our rain gear.  We were expecting it on our ride to Quebec anyway so it was easier to pull it on at a gas station then it was to do so on the side of the road in the middle of the storm.

We rode out and with every twist and turn we had a new weather forecast....looked like we may dodge it or looked like we may get it....as with every twist and turn, you eventually get a bit of both.  We turned one corner and the rain started, then came pouring down.  We rode through this heavy rain for about 20 minutes which all in all is pretty lucky.  We managed to dry a little by the time we got to the gas station (first one in many miles) but you could still see the dark ominous clouds in our mirrors.  No better place to find it. 

Before we gassed up we took a little bum break with some coffee and a little snack of course.  I wrote out the directions for everyone to our hotel since we would be riding into Quebec City around 4:30 pm on a Friday night.  We weren’t sure what the traffic conditions would be.  About 30 minutes later a young couple on bikes came in just as we were preparing to go get gassed up and hit the road. They, unfortunately got stuck in the rain for about an hour and a half.  They were completely soaked.

As we were getting gassed up we could see that dark sky and it did seem to get closer..as we finished gassing up, two great big booms of thunder confirmed we best be on our way and quickly...so quickly we did.

The rest of the ride into the city was fairly easy.  We got to our hotel easily, checked in, parked the horses and headed for the POOL!  Yes, this hotel has an indoor pool and boy were we happy to see it after todays’ ride.  We followed that up with a hot shower (best one so far) and headed out for a bit to eat.  Larry got a second piece of birthday cake and another restaurant full of people singing happy birthday.  He is such a special lad, mon Chou Chou!

Our next day is full of exploring Quebec City and a break from the saddle...This is the first visit to Quebec City for Thy and Jerry.  Lucky for them they have 4 great tour guides.