Day 13

Portland, Maine, to Bennington, Vermont
240 Miles
3081 Total Miles

We awoke to dark skies and a wet parking lot. Our plans for the day were to ride south and catch a sliver of Rhode Island, adding the 40th state to Bo's quest to ride in all 50 states. A quick check of the national weather map on www.weather.com showed only a very small portion of the USA would experience rain today. Most of that small sliver was the ride from Portland to Rhode Island. To the east lay new Hampshire and Vermont, two beautiful places that were forecast to be cloudy with an chance of light showers.

Great day for a ride

Let's digress a bit and talk about life. Is life a checklist of things to be accomplished? Or is it experiential? Since the checklist side of the ledger would be rainy and the experiential side might be rainy our decision was clear and easy to make. We decided to experience the beauty of New England in the dry instead of checking off another state in Bo's 50-state quest while riding in the rain. This is the kind of drivel that fills your mind as you ride over 3000 miles on a motorcycle. Imagine what ice road truckers think about all day.

But first, we needed breakfast. There's no need to fill in the details. Nothing has changed except for the absence of yogurt on the menu.

We rode east on Maine Highway 25, and then on Highway 104. We crossed into New Hampshire and a slight drizzle began to fall. We rode on until it became a light rain. We stopped to don our rain gear. Putting on rain gear does two things. First, it makes you hot. No matter how much Goretex a garment contains, it's still hotter wearing it than not wearing it. Second, it makes the rain go away. Within five miles of putting on our rain gear the rain stopped, not to return throughout the day. So, we rode on under hot and dry conditions for a while and then stopped and removed our rain gear. We then turned onto U.S. Highway 4 on route to Rutland, Vermont.

The Quchee Valley Gorge

We soon arrived in Lebanon, New Hampshire, a small town on the New Hampshire-Vermont border. We saw two restaurants that looked interesting. We stopped, dismounted our bikes and asked a passerby which was the better restaurant. He said they were both good but that he was a part owner of the one we parked in front of. That was all we needed to hear. His restaurant is called the Salt Hill and they served a great club sandwich, corned beef reuben and home-made chips.

The Salt Hill Restaurant in Lebanon, New Hampshire

The ride into Vermont took us through several old New England villages. In many ways, Vermont is like a green theme park. Most homes and shops are adorned with wildflower plantings, the architecture is often Victorian and well preserved and the business community is largely comprised of artisan shops, local restaurants and quaint country stores. The vegetation is lush and the small farms are neatly manicured.

Vermont countryside

It seemed to take forever, but we finally navigated the 42 mile ride to Rutland. Once in Rutland we turned south on Highway 7 on route to Bennington, Vermont.

We rode down Highway 7 for about 30 minutes and stopped for a cup of coffee. Convenience stores throughout New England carry Green Mountain coffee. Usually, they have five to ten vacuum canisters full of different brews, each of them really good. Accompanying the coffee is a half and half dispenser. Good stuff. Across the street from the market was a little workshop that sold birdhouses crafted by hand on the premises. We each ordered one and had them shipped to Nashville.

We finished our coffee and got back on the bikes. We were soon in Bennington, Vermont, our resting place for the evening.

Bathrooms in Bennington gas station

Accommodations for the night were found at the Kirkside Motor Lodge, an older motel that is clean and that caters to motorcyclists. The owner, a New Yorker named Billy, once lectured on financial matters at the Vanderbilt University School of Law. How and why he ended up running a motel in Vermont is anybody's guess.

While sitting on a bench in front of our room, another guest of the Kirkland Motor lodge walked up and joined in our conversation. He is from Rogersvile, Tennessee. Then a couple of guys rolled up on bicycles. They were two forty-somethings who decided one day to fly from New Hampshire to Washington state with their bicycles and then peddle back to New Hampshire. Neither of them were experienced cyclists. After 43 days on the road, they are now less than two riding days from home. One of them is still wondering why he did it. My advice, which I did not offer, would be to get something with an engine.

We had dinner at a local Italian place that was good, but no threat to Nikki's in Chester, Maine. On the walk back to the Kirkside we admired the many life like statues that were scattered along the sidewalks. They are part of a collection by artist J. Sewart Johnson that will be in Bennington through November, 2008.

Bo reading the Wall Street Journal with statues

Tomorrow we will continue south on to Nashville. We will figure out our route for the day over breakfast, as usual.

(Photos from Day 12 are posted below)