To: n0abe@sio.midco.net

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Subject: Travelogue NH and VT

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One thing we noticed about Maine and these two states are how old things are with a few of the towns being started in the l600's and most in the 1700's! We also seen a lot of fisherman along the coast and ate Maine Lobster 3 times and it was excellent and easy to eat and reasonably priced. A 1.5# one seemed the best. A couple of places had a second one for $5.00 more so Edith and I split the extra one!

The first thing that greeted us as we stopped at the NH information center as we first entered from Maine was another challenge. I noticed one side of the 5th was a little low and crawled under and the leaf spring I had replace had a cracked leaf and the two left were bent. It did not look like it would get us home. I have one more spare along a light duty one which I really don't want to put on so I prayed to find a shop that could fix it. We went on to Gorham, parked and decided to take a tour of the north woods. We got about 6 miles north at Berlin and was going through town and THERE IT WAS, right at the corner where I looked right at it. BERLIN SPRING INC. and that is what it was! All they do is change out leaf springs. They had a SIX leaf spring they said they could replace my four leaf with so we went back and got the 5th and waited while they finished up with a guy. Pulled across the highway, blocked traffic and backed it in the high door right over their pit and they changed it. What they don't have they make. The just made the U bolts for it which had to be longer because of the six leafs. The leaf spring cost $31.50 so I bought a spare and have the web address to get more or I can order it from these guys. The labor was $43.50 Definitely an answer to my prayer. I have never seen a Spring Shop in my life anyplace! The equalizer between the two springs is now straight up and down!

NH like Maine is trees, trees, trees and again the scenic highways to us are nice but not spectacular but would be if the foliage was changing. The Kancamagus Hwy in the White Mountians for the east coast is quite spectacular. From our stand point the auto trip to the top of Mt. Washington at 6700 some feet the highest mountain on the east coast was quite a thrill. I believe you start at 800 feet. The highest wind ever recorded in THE WORLD, 234 mph was recorded there. Many things such as winter survival gear are tested on Mt. Washington. Edith said her pucker factor was real high looking straight down, she said it looked farther than the Alaska spots. The road is narrow and no guard rails!

The other things worth seeing is the Old Man of the Mountain, the basin and the Flume all close together located south of Mt. Washington in the White Mountains of NH. The Presidential range has several mountains over 5500 feet high so that is high for the east coast. The north woods of NH are nice, we drove all the way to Canada. Lots of people spend the summers up there like in Maine. The Dixville Notch is high and rocky and the hotel there is neat. They open the polls for the election at Midnight in the hotel lobby. 100% of the voters are there, they cast there ballots and then a few minutes later the polls promptly close and these are the first Presidential results which go out world wide.

We seen six covered bridges on this swing and drove over three. They are nice and the engineering is special. One is a wooden arch truss. The other just amazes me how it works. It is clear span and basically made out of be 12 x 12 timbers and where one ends another is butted against it and held in place by a steel rod from a similiar rail above and the joints are alternated on the top rail in comparision to the bottom rail. Seems scary that it can go clear span this way for 100 feet or more? Rating is like 12 ton!!!!

VT is not liked by most people in NH. It is a very liberal state and gays can get married! NH people really don't like this and they call it the drive thru state. They say if you have to go through it just drive through. We found VT. to be a lot like NH, lots of trees but more open clearing, not as high of mountains, quite a few dairy farms and the towns seemed more what you would picture as New England. Lake Champlain and its islands was nice. It is a huge lake. We stayed at Cumberland Bay State Park on the NY side which has a huge sand beach on the Lake. One of the nicest parks we have stayed in on this trip. It was also the site where I changed out the second leaf spring of the trip! That will be reported separately. The next day we toured the Adirondacks and spent some time at Lake Placid the Olympic site and present day training site as I understand it. That had to be some traffic jam when the olympics was there but a very pretty area. Lots of people live in the Adirondacks and reminds me a whole lot of the Black Hills but not as as rocky.

One last note about Cumberland Bay State Park. It was just full of montreal, Quebec people as it is only 65 miles north. We had a great visit with a fellow from there. His English was not very good but we managed. They came down and used the day use area on Sunday, went home and came back on Monday. At 8 pm on Monday night there was the final mass exit and we had the place to ourselves. We spent Monday afternoon on the huge sand beach in the sun. Watching the sail boats and wind surfers. I am going to do some sailing, Not sure when or how but I am going to do it!

Next we headed back east as we have to go to RI and we want to tour some of the things around Boston. South of Plattsbourgh we crossed Lake Champlain at Crown Point on the bridge back over to VT. There are several ferries across the lake. The lake has the Adirondacks on the west and the Green Mt. of Vt. on the east so lots of drainage into it. The Champlain Valley looking back to the north with dairy farms in it was beautiful but just no place to get off with the 5th to get a picture. I hate it when that happens.

We then headed back east for Foxborough near Boston to do some touring from that area via tour bus out of Normandy Farms CG. Thanks to Chris-AC0M for research on the Internet for us to find this place where the bus comes right to the camp ground. This also gives us a chance to tour RI which we missed on the way up to St. Paul Island. We are now at Normandy Farms and have the bus tour to Boston confirmed for all day tomorrow and may take one the next day to Newport, RI area and Friday to Plymouth and Cape Cod and head for Niagara Falls on Saturday to begin the final homeward journey through Ontario, UP of Michigan, northern WI and enter MN at Duluth and go to Virginia, MN where Edith has a friend.

On the way to MA we went through the Middleton, VT which had a lot of history and a college with granite and marble buildings. From there we went through the Green Mt. of VT. and that is just what it is Green Mt.! They range from 2000-2500 feet most places with one area with several around 4000 feet. Again the towns in VT. seems more New England with the tall church steeples, stores and type of houses. Because of the dry weather some of the trees are turning; especially some of the maples are red. One can get a hint of what it is going to be like in another month. Sometime we will have to come back just for that.

FYI diesel in NY was $1.50, VT was $1.46 and NH was $1.39, I assume the difference is tax although when you get close to Canada it seems to always be higher as it is definitely higher in Canada. Also every place we go in New England it is very, very dry and many trees are dying and when you do see a corn field it is in tough shape.

Ed and Edith

[MID: 1538_W0SD Sent Via: KN6KB Date: 2002/09/03 23:25:42]