Our day one officially starts at MotoVermont HQ if/when we get picked up from our Best Western lodging. The other two John/Kip have not yet heard from our contact at MotoVermont. Maybe we were scammed and the guy is now on his way to Nigeria with our moto $$.
My plan B now is now in place. I’ll Uber myself over to a Craigslist motorcycle purchase, and do like I came here to do- ride Vermont. (That was earlier this morning) “You always needs a Plan B.”
Above is my first contact with the (wait for it) Vermont pancake maker machine; for a mere $3500 you too can own one Vermont pancake maker, and it comes with a lifetime supply of 100% authentic Vermont maple syrup.
And so, at 0930 a.m. just as stated in an unread text or email a MotoVermont representative shows up in his truckloads up our gear and transports us to to MotoVermont HQ so that we can get acquainted with our rental motorcycles. I drew the Triumph Tiger, and the other two drew BMW 1250 GSA’s. It’s not a comfortable ride as my BMW 1250 back home but, it screamed around those Vermont twisties.
What stays in the story and what stays out is now a challenge as my mind processed so much today like; we never rode a straight road today. The roads in Vermont are all either winding, twisty, up and down or curvy.
Excellent motorcycle roads with just a few sprinkling of cars. A pattern soon developed that I could decipher, like, we ride really really fast for a long stretch of road and then suddenly come up on a small out of the way place where the speed limit drops to 35 mph. Repeat, Repeat. And then we go about as fast as you dare until the next 35 mph slow down so some place can try to sell you real Vermont maple syrup.
We crossed into New York by ferry. The cost was $14.25. Room enough on the ferry for a few motorcycles, cars and a woman walking a Portuguese water dog.
And then I looked all over for a New York sign to photograph and couldn’t find one. And the New York we rode on doesn’t resemble anything we west coasters think of New York. What we saw and experienced looks exactly like Vermont. Amazing.
Our weather was a cool 60’s and towards the end of our day at 6:30 p.m. the weather suddenly dropped and declared fall is here. It dropped down to the low 50’s. No rain but, this air doesn’t smell like Southern California. The air here smells more treelike in both taste and smell. That’s until we got to farm and cornfield country. I think they were spreading manure around.
Fortunately for you that is all I can remember, except that we were really, really hungry and there was no place around to eat. Suddenly an A&W shows up we take it.
The lady at the Vermont fudge shop and maple syrup place where the speed limit is 35 mph told us to eat there. What a shame. We rode all this way for pancakes from a Vermont pancake maker, hamburgers and a root beer float. But it all went down so good. And then five miles later we find a really good looking Chicago style pizza place, and a locals cafe.
There’s four of us riding and a limited number of bikes available for rental so I drew the Kip took the xx. John and Teri are in the BMW GS 1200 and I am now riding a Triumph. This is my first time on a Triumph.
Vermont is contained in the 13 original states of our original colonies but, back then it was part of New York. And where I now sit we are exactly 300 miles from the Statue of Liberty.
The original colonies were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The 13 original states were also the first 13 British colonies. The British kept their summer homes here. Many came to these new lands for many reasons. Some wanted to make money or set up trade with their home country while others just wanted that religious freedom so they could continue to control their women.
And now we are 670 miles from the first colony in America, at Jamestown, Virginia.
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