Ride Report - Fall Colors Trip 2014 - Pic Heavy

[olddawg]

i always enjoy your trips and posts.Enjoy your trip and ride safe..

[DK Custom Products]

,,,riding along on another one Kevin , you guys be safe and keep it coming ,,,a big fan of Mary and yourself .

i always enjoy your trips and posts.Enjoy your trip and ride safe..

Thanks guys!

Working on another post right now.

Kevin

[DK Custom Products]

Up until today we were taking mostly interstates to get up to this part of the Country!

What a full day! We left out of Watertown, NY and ran secondary roads all the way to the ferry crossing, ending up in Vermont.

First pic is of us entering the Adirondacks....



....for us southerners, we never picture New York looking like this.





Didn't cover a lot of miles today, but was in & out of the saddle a lot...so many places to stop, and we did at more than a few.





I usually like to push it in the curves, but today I just took it easy (most of the time ) and soaked in the views.

You may notice how far out the camera is from the bike...Mary can get pretty creative with her picture taking....lol...hanging way over to get the pic she wants.





Another stop where Mary was playing with the leaves.




I've been riding a lot of decades, and today, slowing down and taking in all the views and smells...it just reminded me of one of the reasons I like to ride so much...being connected with all that is around me.




Just amazing countryside!





Another stop....rode the TG right up to the edge of the bank. Went down to the water...that was COLD!




One last pic of the NY countryside......




.....then it was a ferry ride over to Vermont.



Much more to come!

Kevin

[steamer]

Don't forget the Ben and Jerry's factory while in VT.

[Rod69]

Hey Kevin and Mary looks like your having a great time. Keep up with the Pics and be safe riding. Were enjoying your ride.

[ride3]

Thanks for sharing!! Excellent trip so far.

[DK Custom Products]

Had a great ride today. Lots of stops. No time to do a report tonite. Probably will have time tomorrow nite.

Kevin

[slick rick]

Your right Kevin ,, not what we think of when thinking of New York ,,great pics ,,,,,be safe

[DK Custom Products]

Don't forget the Ben and Jerry's factory while in VT.

Up in Maine right now, may be passing back thru VT.

Hey Kevin and Mary looks like your having a great time. Keep up with the Pics and be safe riding. Were enjoying your ride.

We're have a great time, for sure, glad you're enjoying...more coming.

Thanks for sharing!! Excellent trip so far.

Thank you!

Your right Kevin ,, not what we think of when thinking of New York ,,great pics ,,,,,be safe

It's amazing how many trees there are up here! We've be successful in staying away from the big cities so far!

[DK Custom Products]

We left out of Vermont (just outside of Burlington) headed for Fryeburg, Maine.

It was overcast most of the morning...




....Mary has taken at least 50 pics trying to get the Ride Free patch AND some color in the background...both focused....but it just does not seem possible....here's the best one so far. Both of those patches have been on this vest since 2004 or 2005, back when we got our first bagger, a Road King Custom.




Before we knew it we were crossing into New Hampshire. It was still overcast....




....But it cleared up soon after. There must be a million trees for every one person!





We took steamers advice and headed up MT. Washington. What a great experience, and fantastic views!

About halfway up we rode into the clouds...




When we reached the top we were above most of the clouds and it was pretty much blue skies. 6288 feet.




Headed back down, back through the clouds, gives a bit of an idea of the road, hairpin curves AND lack of any guards beside the edge of the road and thousands of feet drop.

Mary is a trooper, after we were at the top, she told me she was afraid of the edge...I asked her why she didn't tell me so I could stop. She said, "I did not want you to stop, I wanted you to get to the top as quickly as possible."

On the way down she told me she was used to it now, no longer afraid.





Getting below the cloud layer, and back into some amazing colors!






Back on the road toward Fryeburg. Seemingly endless hills of color!




Back awhile ago I started a thread on using GPS for the first time in my life. Here's the link to that thread-

http://www.triketalk.com/forum/threa...ght=technology

I know I'm behind the times...but until 3 months ago I had never even seen a GPS in action...we have been using it this entire trip, and it has revolutionized our travel. For Mary it is SO MUCH easier, for myself as well. We just look at what town we want to hit/pass thru for the day and punch it in. No looking at maps, or directions while riding, no having to pull over for a missed turn to look at how to get back on track. Amazing.

Anyways...here we are headed toward Fryeburg, ended up staying at a nice motel right outside of North Conway.



More coming.

Kevin

[slick rick]

Great pics Kevin but I have to agree with Mary on the lack of safety rails on mountain curves , gives me the heebee geebees .

[Papa Zook]

Loving the pics Kevin, keep em coming.

[DK Custom Products]

We left out of North Conway toward Maine. Had our first little rain of the entire trip so far...30-45 minutes of light rain...not enough to break out the rain suits.<br />
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We have been using the heated jackets for a few days now...makes all the difference.<br />
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Had some fog too, but check out that sign on this little back road!<br />
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Today we are headed from North Conway, NH to Rumford, ME, then Rangeley and then Solon.<br />
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Fun sign at a turn we made.<br />
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At one point Mary told me she felt like she was trying to take a picture of every tree. <img src="images/smilies/laugh.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Laugh" class="inlineimg" /><br />
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Even though it was overcast most of the day, and the pics don't capture the detail nearly as well, it was still an amazing ride!<br />
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One of the many stops we made....<br />
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...not sure quite where, but we had a sandwich and looked around a bit.<br />
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The sun did peak out a few times....<br />
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<img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/DKCustom/Fall%20Colors%202014/FCDay7/MaineColors_zps61f319da.jpg" border="0" alt="" /><br />
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I think the last time we were on an interstate was on our way up to Watertown, NY. Up until today, every secondary road we have been on was in great condition. Today, there were two different roads that were in poor condition...like bad enough to rival some of the worst we saw in the Yukon.<br />
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Here's a pic of me riding where ever I could to avoid the heaves in the road.<br />
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When we got to Solon there was no where to stay, nothing in Madison either, so we headed down the road a bit to Skowhegan. We stayed at the Belmont Motel.<br />
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We've stayed at hundreds of Motels and Hotels over the years, and the Belmont is one of the best we've stayed in. Clean, and all the little details were just right for Motel "camping" on a motorcycle. Right down to the towel hanging on the post at each parking spot and a good grocery store right across the street.<br />
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I spoke with the owner to find out how new the place was. It was built in 1956! That was a surprise.<br />
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Kevin

[Brentwood Bob]

The colors up North look great. We don't see much seasonal change here in Northern California. Ride safe you 2

[DK Custom Products]

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<img src="images/misc/quote_icon.png" alt="Quote" /> Originally Posted by <strong>Brentwood Bob</strong>
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<div class="message">The colors up North look great. We don't see much seasonal change here in Northern California. Ride safe you 2</div>

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Thanks man, we will. Much more to come! <img src="images/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Smile" class="inlineimg" /><br />
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Kevin

[DK Custom Products]

Today we rode from Skowhegan to Jackman, to Moosehead Lake/Greenville to Bangor.<br />
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It was a great day for riding and taking pics of the fall colors. Sun was out most of the day!<br />
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Headed toward Jackman, ME......<br />
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<img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/DKCustom/Fall%20Colors%202014/FCDay8/TowardJackman4_zps3b9e9b98.jpg" border="0" alt="" /><br />
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...it was fantastic riding and amazing views.<br />
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We contemplated heading on up into Canada a bit. When we were in Jackman it is only another 20 miles to Canada. Decided not to deal with the border, there is so much to see around here.<br />
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It was a bit chilly, but with the electric jacket liners we were toasty warm.<br />
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We stopped and had lunch at this little pull-over by the river....<br />
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...Fantastic views. Gotta keep reminding ourselves that in the winter it is bitter cold up here. lol<br />
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Taking care of some business at the shop. If you're on our mailing list, the email update you just received was discussed by myself and Devin right here. <img src="images/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Smile" class="inlineimg" /><br />
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Trees everywhere!!!<br />
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The road up to Jackman was great, the road from Jackman to Greenville had its' share of road heaves, but still the fantastic views!<br />
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Really enjoying the GPS and finding small side roads that still get us where we're going.<br />
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Heading into Bangor. We used the infotainment system to find a small, cozy motel in Brewer, right outside of Bangor. Going to be here a few days, doing some whale watching, checking out Bar Harbor, catching up on some work.<br />
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More to come!<br />
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Kevin

[DK Custom Products]

The view from our room in Brewer before leaving for a day trip to Bar Harbor!<br />
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When we got to Bar Harbor we found out that the whale watching tour had been canceled. <br />
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We knew this was a possibility, it had been canceled the previous 3 days also. Swells 20 miles out were 5 feet tall.<br />
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So we had some lunch in a park overlooking the harbor.<br />
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Then decided to do a bit of riding around the Island and Arcadia National Park.<br />
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Inside Arcadia National Park we enjoyed nice roads, views and riding with no helmets...but we did make use of our electric gear. <img src="images/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Smile" class="inlineimg" /><br />
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Stopped and walked around in the woods a bit....I did make it across without falling, but opted to take the easier way back across the stream on some rocks. <img src="images/smilies/laugh.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Laugh" class="inlineimg" /><br />
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Took a ride over to the lighthouse...it is still operational, and has been since the 1800's.<br />
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Walkway down to the rocky shoreline below the lighthouse.<br />
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Back over to the other side of the island, enjoyed exploring many of the roads at a leisurely pace.<br />
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<img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/DKCustom/Fall%20Colors%202014/FCDay9/AcadiaNatPark2_zpsf80366d1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /><br />
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Headed up Caddilac Mountain....<br />
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<img src="http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i339/DKCustom/Fall%20Colors%202014/FCDay9/UpCadMT_zps5d3bb1f6.jpg" border="0" alt="" /><br />
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...Very nice ride up and back down. We had a camera malfunction, so no pics from up top, but google will turn up plenty of pics from the top of Caddilac Mountain.<br />
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Very enjoyable day, and a great place to take a bit of a break from being in the saddle 7-10 hours a day for the last 8 days. (yeah, that might not seem like much to some of you...but pushing 60, sometimes it's nice to slow down a bit. <img src="images/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Smile" class="inlineimg" /> )<br />
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More to come!<br />
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Kevin

[steamer]

They cancelled the whale watching tour when we were there due to high sea's also, so we took the lobster fishing and sea lion tour.

[John Luciano]

Don't pass up a chance to ride RT 9 in lower VT or RT 2 the top of Mass. Great roads. Ride to the top of Graylock Mt would be nice too!

[DK Custom Products]

We've pointed our front wheel southwest and will be heading thru CT tomorrow. <img src="images/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Smile" class="inlineimg" /><br />
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Kevin