[benVFR]

I had a great weekend going up to Vermont.

I didn't kill myself trying to make mad distance, but I did about 500 miles in all.

I put pictures and my routes on my webpage at: http://home.earthlink.net/~bboule/vt...rip/index.html

Saturday was the best day. I went out 101 and 123 to Bellows Falls, VT in the morning, then hit VT 5, VT 103, VT 100, VT 17, VT 116, and finally cut through Burlington and on up to Colchester, VT, where my grandmother has a cabin. I left around 9AM and got there around 2:30PM. The only time I really stopped other than one gas stop and some picture stops was at the top of Appalachian Gap on Rt 17. I had been cruising up Rt. 100, and there aren't really any hard turns, so I was making good speed. When I got to Rt. 17 I got kind of off guard, I put my left toe into the ground (dumb) several times, I ended up going up the mountain quite fast. When I got the top I had kind of freaked myself out, so I stopped to chill out. There ended up being about 10 other bikes up there, so I hung around and talked to a bunch of cool riders. This road was AWESOME. Thanks for the tip! Another amusing anectdote, when I pulled onto 17 I stopped to go to the bathroom, get a drink, eat some food, etc.. and a guy in a Ferrari 308 drives up and parks next to me while I'm outside getting suited up again. He proceeds to leave the engine running, leave the door open, and run inside for about 10 minutes while I'm standing there. When he came back out I had a funny exchange with him. "Only in Vermont would someone leave that car running and unlocked." He laughed and told me to enjoy Rt. 17, and then proceeded to rip off down the road.

My cousin was supposed to get there Saturday too, he was driving up from VA. However he ended up getting stuck working, so he didn't show up till Sunday night. So Sunday I went and rode around on the Islands in Lake Champlain. This was less twisty than going out to Smuggler's Notch, but I decided after going up to Lake Champlain every year of my life it was about time I went and saw the islands that are across the lake from where I usually stay. The weather was again fantastic.

Sunday I left late, around 3PM, because I wanted to actually get to hang out with cousin for a while. Because of this, and the fact that I was tipped off about heavy police action in Stowe by one of my relatives, I again skipped Smuggler's Notch and shot down 89 out of Vermont. Once I got into NH I got off in Grantham and took backroads. Right after I went through Newport, NH I ran into wet roads. By the time I got to NH 149 (great twisties) it was raining, and I put on my rain gear and switched to some other gloves. To my surprise this time I was much better prepared (I had my boot covers too) I got home warm and dry even though I was in a heavy thunderstorm for quite a while. As I got closer to Nashua it was very amusing to see the endless stream of Harley riders dressed in shorts & t-shirts with no helmet or gloves riding way too fast to try and get home out of the rain. I saw one guy on 101A in a full tuck, which looks quite amusing on a big cruiser.

I had a great time and got home very happy.

Ben

[Edited on 5/28/02 by benSV]

[Edited on 5/28/02 by benSV]

[Edited on 5/28/02 by benSV]