Gifford Woods, Vermont - Lincoln, New Hampshire

Since Silver Lake State Park was still closed we diverted a bit from the “original” trail and went to Gifford Woods State Park where the tent sites were in the middle of the forest. We wanted to stay two nights but the first night was almost freezing cold (+3C, 35F) and our gear are not made for those kind of temperatures. I guess the campsite is great in hot weather when the trees provide plenty of shade. After a freezing night we left the next morning and continued the Puppy Dog Trail. Ok, it was most of the time, since I did not want to spend more time on navigating than riding, so I took some different (gravel) roads once in a while.

So much green, lakes and solitude.

Ooppps - a little bit too much deep soft fresh sand - nothing bad happened.

Navigating the "shortest" route did offer some occasional surprises.

Beautiful lake at Buels Gore.

Little girls were thirsty and did not wait for us to offer them water - good so!

"Locals"

This little shop in Waterbury offered a great selection of organic and vegan foods!

Hertta is bored... when are we going again?

More lush green.

Now we knew that we were a little bit too early in this part of the country and we would need to find a motel or so for the next nights. We approached Waterbury and our previous internet search did not provide us with many options. As we continued towards Stowe we settled for a lovely cabin in the middle of the forest – called “Cabins in the woods”. If they would have been cheaper we could have stayed there a whole week. It was spacious, warm and had all the features a cabin should have ... ok it did not have a sauna :D

Our cabin in the woods...

and the boot kicker was handy :D

Inhale green - exhale and inhale...

Lyra and her mega stick.

Hertta enjoying the sun.

It was a strange forest

Somehow roots came out of the ground a lot and some old remains were to be found as well.

Tree-mushrooms...

We were now somewhat ahead of our agreed schedule with Tim another ADV rider who offered us some tent space with sauna! I contacted him and it would be ok for him that we came earlier. We continued to ride through various backroads, went through Moscow and made it in the early afternoon to Tim's place.

Another break in the green :)

Sweet flowers.

What a view - reminded me of the Alps.

Green green green - We <3 New England.

Trees were now also here in full blossom.

Once more we experienced an overwhelming hospitality of locals towards strangers where the only connection was motorbikes. We could use Tim's Wifi and had a nice chat with his brother Eric who worked in the wood shop the other day.

We enjoyed the sauna very much and as the nights stayed pretty chilly we slept in the sauna cabin. The place had a nice lawn where especially Lyra could play a lot – at least one happy dog.

Thank you very much Tim for your generosity. Before we left, Eric and “Guymanbro” came over to say hello and look at those crazy people who travel with three dogs :D We had a nice chat while we were packing our gear together.

Vuokatti saunamökki @ Tim's place.

Getting spring water and firewood (Thanks Eric!)

Vermont had great dark beers - Kippis Tim!

That trailer caught my eyes - no worries, I rather downsize then get me a trailer (mmmh but would there be space for another dog???) :D

Eric and "Guymanbro" came to visit on Sunday morning.

Hertta is happy - we were going again.

It was Memorial Day weekend and we headed via some lovely gravel roads east. The ride took us along HWY110 and we managed to see Milan and Berlin within a few minutes. We entered into New Hampshire and obviously there was no law to wear a helmet. We greeted many Harleys and some lonely GS riders who did not protect their heads. Well well folks that might be fun, but it is not safe! My helmet saved my life back in 2010 when I had my bad accident.

Later on we passed Mt. Washington and made our way towards HWY 112 – the Kancamagus highway. Instantly when I bought the map in NYC, I wanted to ride that area and that road in particular. It looked already on the map tasty and now when I rode it it was real fun. Too bad that there were occasionally a few cars in front and tricky to pass. The joy did not last too long though (the HWY is only 50km long) and we started to look for accommodation.

Cool looking birch forest.

Not sure which one is Mt. Washington. We did not go there because it was a constant play between sun and sizzling rain.

No panic - this fellow was easy to spot.

Fantastic play of nature...

and those colors are hard to capture.

We found a nice break spot at HWY 110.

Beavers did some timbering here :D

Obviously many immigrants missed their birth places.

As we were standing there and checking out the first place a young couple climbed out from a pick-up truck and approached us. They saw me riding my sidecar and the guy was very excited about it and we had a small chat. Then we explained that we need to find an accommodation for tonight and since this was his hometown he was really helpful and checking some hotels for us. A few minutes later he found one which would take dogs and he even offered to guide us there since I could not find the place on my GPS. The hotel would have been 89USD – I guess a fair price for a room on Memorial weekend.

On the way to the hotel I saw a few steam engines and a sign 'Clarks Trading Post' and I bookmarked the place for a visit the next day and to take a picture. When we arrived at the hotel he explained that he checked a few other places and they were all fully booked. And then they offered to stay at their place which was about 20min ride away. We gladly accepted this generous offer and followed them to their place. They had also a dog – seven months old boy called Halford (after Rob Halford, the lead singer from the absolute fantastic Heavy Metal Band Judas Priest).

Our track:

Our track: Gifford Woods, Vermont - Lincoln, New Hampshire

and here is our track from NYC to Gifford Woods, VT

Another great travelogue (#19) by Skippy :)

Click here is you have trouble to watch the video.

~ Wolf

Rough plan for the US

I spend a few minutes on sketching our route (abt. 27.000km) through the US for the upcoming 11 months ;)

First Michigan then Wisconsin and then west before going north to Mt. Rushmore and Badlands. After that we will head westwards to the Rocky Mountains and go then south as the cold weather is pushing us. During the winter months we explore the southern states - maybe have a short ride to Baja. Next spring we head westwards again (maybe along the TAT), then north towards Canada and Alaska.

Suggestions and ideas for worthwhile places to see are very welcome.

USA - rough plan 27.000km 11 months

~ Wolfi

Catskill, NY - Gifford Woods, VT

We got our gear together, left NYC and headed towards North-West into the Catskill Park. There was a camp ground marked in the map. In case it would be closed, it might be tolerated to stay there for one or two nights before the season opens. We arrived at Kenneth L. Wilson campground (which is listed in the OSM maps but not in Garmin maps!) and it was closed. There were a few cars parked at the parking lot and the gate towards the actual campground was closed.

Two ladies came by and I asked them for advice on where to stay. One of them – Catherine – was very kind and told us two places, one of them was what she called “The Secret Spot”. The weather forecast did not look promising for camping, thunderstorms and rain... What the heck, when did the weather guys ever got their forecasts right- right? So we went to this spot and it was absolutely beautiful there. We pitched the tent on the meadow and the river was just some tens of meters away to provide us with water. Excellent place! Thank you very much Catherine!

Catherine's secret spot in Catskill Park.

Smoothie time with wild herbs/veggies :)

A man got to have a nap once in a while.

Beautiful fresh water river.

Since we did a major shopping along the road we had enough supplies to stay two nights. The weather was sunny and warm, and all of us enjoyed this little paradise. What a relief after Ghana! Here we had green grass, trees, bushes and fresh water :)

Summer is coming here as well.

Plenty of wildlife. First chipmunk...

... a snake...

"Gigantic" grasshopper on Hertta's paw :D

First real repair at the BMW. The tail light bulb was strangely melted into the plastic (already in Ghana but it was too hot to fix it).

Our next accommodation was already planned in advance. Steven – one of our eager followers – had invited us already a long time ago to stay at his place and so we did. It was absolutely deluxe place as we got the bedroom of one of his daughters and could be around the house where ever we wanted. Thank you very much Steven, Liz, Teagan, Molly, Toddy and the Cats to let us stay at your great home!

Steven and Liz.

The house was in the middle of a forest and a walking path started right away from the backyard. That almost felt like home :) I fixed the windscreen of Skippy's bike somehow (I think this original design is totally screwed). We did some further planning and research on route planning, accommodation and so on. David, Francine and Steven recommended us to ride the Puppy Dog Trail and that sounded like a great idea. Riding gravel roads and avoiding the busy highways was just perfect for our tastes.

Getting things organized and eating delicious organic apples.

We had a great time at Steven and Liz. Skippy made one day raw vegan dinner for all of us, and since we were so hungry we forgot to take any pictures :D We took it somewhat easy, tried to learn the local habits and cought up on our list of internet-to-do things. 

Forest walks.

Leaves are coming. A few more weeks and have to make a vihta for sauna :D

From wikipedia: Finnish vihta (vasta in Eastern Finland), made of birch. It is used in traditional sauna-bathing for massage and stimulation of the skin.

Some special flower.

Little waterfall where a mill used to be.

Hertta started to worry us more and more. She stopped eating, drinking and was extremely dizzy. She could barely walk and her tail was constantly all in. That was not good. Even though Skippy fed her and made her drink water it did not get any better and we decided to go to the vet nearby. After some initial tests, Hertta was kept there and received IV and blood transfusion. Since we didn't want her to be there overnight we agreed with the vet that we pick her up as soon as she is done, which would be around one o'clock in the night.

Voivoi Hertta - what is the problem???

Well, Skippy called at 2AM and Hertta was still not ready. At 4AM the vet called and told us that we can pick her up. We jumped on the bike and besides the misery, the ride in the morning hour was very lovely. The air felt unbelievable clean and the streets were empty. Hertta was doing visibly better and she was happy to be back with Skippy. We rode back to Steven's place and had a good sleep for a few hours. One advice to others. Do not get sick when being in America. The health costs are sky high and our bill was really heavy. There is – to our knowledge – no travel insurance for pets and even then Hertta would be too old anyway for that. Anyway, Hertta got better and better in the following days and that was the important thing here. We hoped that was it on medical stuff for some time now.

We really enjoyed our stay at Steven and Liz, nevertheless the road was calling us and we headed towards the Puppy Dog Trail.

On our first day we rode along stunning rivers, through most beautiful landscapes of grass, lakes and forests. I had hard times to describe our sensation in words. Both of us were inhaling this beauty of nature. A few times it was difficult to focus on the road when the scenery was exceptionally great ;)

Along Puppy Dog Trail - beautiful day, beautiful scenery.

More along Puppy Dog Trail - still beautiful day and different beautiful scenery.

 
Skippy made another great travelogue.

Click here if you have trouble to watch the video.


~ Wolfi