OK! We have tickets and this trip is going to happen! We fly to Manchester, New Hampshire this coming Wednesday, and start riding on Thursday. We'll be posting our adventures and pictures as we go and get a chance.

Here's what we did with our actual route:

• Manchester, NH around several circles visiting relatives and going to a family reunion, then heading north to Dover, NH
• Dover, NH north to Gorham, NH over Evans Notch
• Gorham, NH up to Magog, Quebec and back down to West Barnet, VT
• West Barnet, VT down to Canaan, NH
• Georges Mills, NH to Manchester, NH to complete the loop.

Our last night out we stayed with Nancy's brother Dan near Canaan, which was too far to make Manchester in one day and still get our bikes packed. So Dan's friend Todd kindly gave us about a 30 mile headstart by driving us with our bikes to Georges Mills, which also gave us a more pleasant route.

These New Englanders are crazy about their history, of course. Every village has a marker about its own Revolutionary General. Yesterday we rode through Dunbarton, the hometown of General John Stark, an admirable man indeed.

But today we passed a memorial to Hannah Dustin. Hannah was carried away by Indians and taken to an island. But with her 10-year-old compatriot, she killed all the Indians, scalped them, and escaped back to home ground.

Don't mess with Hannah Dustin!

We love to meet people on our travels,and one of the ways to do is is the wonderful Warm Showers list, a hospitality list for touring cyclists. Most of the time the people on the list don't live where you want them to, but yesterday we hit the jackpot and got to spend the night with Brad and Sue Wyman, devoted touring cyclists, at their incredibly beautiful farmhouse-at-the-top-of-the-hill in West Dummer, New Hampshire. The delight of sharing the evening with them and exchanging cycling experiences was one of the high points of our trip so far.

Poem:

Chasing the colors up the Connecticut River
Into Vermont and New Hampshire
We weave the state lines.
Searching for the change of colors.
Seaching, seeing, awed, stop.
Get off our bikes
Snapping a another photo
We ride on.

STOP!

Another covered bridge along
the tour-de-covered-bridge.
Our friend and now our tour guide, Brad
guides us skillfully
through the back roads of his northern woods.
Snap, snap
We capture this early Autumn afternoon scene
Clouds racing in and out.
Wait, wait, the clouds are covering the green
the cloud is leaving,
uncovering the greenest of green fields,
it is unreal, nothing is this green
but freshly squeezed oil paint from a tube
of vermillion or forest green
but perhaps five shades lighter
Through the lens we capture
the simmering leaves, the distance hills
Snap, Got it!
ride on, around the next bend
Stop!
A picturesque diary farm with dual silos
having seen better days.
Not much red here
we ride north
looking for the change of colors
we ride on, we ride into Canada.

Thanks to Nancy's dear old brother (yes he is older) Dan, for the best gourmet meal this side of Italy and also a chance to see the "gang" again. Dan's building a second home on Goose Pond Road. Your all are welcome to stop by, and have a beer at sunset and watch the day settle into night on the newly contructed deck the "gang" built. It is a great tradition we all should all adopt. Stop what you are doing at sunset, have a seat in a comfortable chair and an watch the sun go down. Also thanks to Tod for giving us a lift 30 miles down the road. It would have been a 90 mile day with a deadline we would not have meet.

The night we stayed at the Quebec fishing camp with Pierre Robins, it started raining about 2:00 in the morning and kept raining all morning. As I awoke started to sing the only French song I learned when I was a young girl. As I sang it, Pierre joined in from outside the camper. Frere Jacques, Frere Jacques, dormez-vous, dormez vous Soon after we arose from out comfortable, dry accommodations we were greeted with hot coffee and the very very best French toast I have ever eaten. The three things made it special. The Quebec maple syrup was a lighter than that of other famous places, secondly the French toast was made with chocolate milk and thirdly it was made by Pierre a marvelous chief who kindness was truly a treat.

Randy and I debated if we wanted to ride in rain and or take a day off. We finally decided not to be wimps and ride in the rain. After leaving Pierre fishing camp at Lac Memphremagog, we rode south into Vermont.

It rained off and on that morning. Not hard but it was one of the colder days and we stopped a few times to get out of the rain. There was some coloring of the leaves but just a touch. I kept on searching for moose. I sure wanted to see a moose on this trip. I called out "here Moosey, here Moosey" but it did not work. Sometimes I just entertain myself while riding. Nothing much else to do but ride, sing outload, try to learn to whistle better, search for moose, and look around at the beautiful landscapes as we ride though the northeast in the autumn days of september. "Here Moosey, moosey, moosey".

I did manage to get a photo of moose crossing sign and a photo of a stuffed moose head wearing a Boston Red Socks baseball cap and sunglasses which will be posted with the other photos.

The crossing into the United States was somewhat uneventful. Drivers Licenses work for now to get back into the country, until 2007 in which passports will be required. The border inspectors have access to computer data base information so be prepared for a pop-quiz. So hopefully you do not suffer from not remembering things like where were you born. Luckily this is something Randy has not forgotten yet, or we would still be touring in Canada.

The border guard did ask us if we were carrying more then $10,000. It spurred a bit of a discussion on how we would carry such a sum on our bikes. Would it fit in our panniers if it was in $5.00 bills or would we have to carry large bills like $100’s? The guard had a good sense of humor. As we left the border the inspector told us that the rain will stop at the bottom of the hill. Which hill he did not say.