Hey folks from New England - we are really peeved at you folks for not showing us more of the awesome things in your states - you really have to post more ride reports with pictures! What an awesome place you have up here!!!
Man, you folks have got to tout your states more than you do! The history, the scenery, the roads, the architecture
....man, it is
awesome up here!!!! I know that JP and I did not ride the really "good" roads that you must have up here, but what we did ride was out of sight!!!! We talked today, that New England, in it's own way, was some of the finest riding we have ridden. It was not what we expected and at times, took our breath away. You have beautiful sights, completely different homes than we are use to, great roads and all of them sweeping through these quaint little towns with houses dating back to the 1700's. Seriously, you gotta stop keeping this to yourselves and share it!!!!
WHAT A GREAT RIDE IT HAS BEEN THROUGH NEW ENGLAND!!!! We wish we could have ridden some of the roads that you told me about, but we were trying to get some miles before the weather got us and got us it did tonight. New England ROCKS ya'll!!!!!!!
We left out of Maine and it was foggy, wet and COLD. Once we got away from the coast a little bit, it warmed up a tad. Since the Mic Mac Motel did not have coffee in the room (one drawback), we had to stop in New Hampshire for a cup and a donut. We get these in Louisiana in boxes, but there are no Dunkin' Donut shops. We have seen a bunch up here and the donut was freash and the coffee was hot!
Cut across New Hampshire and it was BEAUTIFUL! We took 4 to Concord and took I-89 up to Lebanon. Folks, there were hundreds of homes like this.....
Then we crossed the Connecticut River......
And into the last state of New England that we had left to see.....
Both states were AWESOME - Must rides to everyone!!!!!!
We crossed over the Quechee Gorge in Vermont.
Rode some awesome roads through some beautiful country, let me tell you - NOTHING that we thought it would look like up here. For some reason, I thought Vermont was rolling hills with farms and orchards or something. This is some awesome, awesome country.
We did stop in Rutland for a burger. The little girl that waited on us was a nursing student and cute as a button. I know this must be a chain, but $9 for a burger with fries, a shake and a two scoop sunday sure put our tummy's right!
Weather was trying to come in on us when we got to west Vermont. This is that BIG OL' Squall band from the low that is pushing the mass of wet air up over Lake Champlain area. There were lightning bolts everywhere., so we stopped at a gas station and let the mass that we could see blow over - glad we did since the ferry captain said that it was a bad one with hail and everything. After a quick smoke, off to the ferry we went!
This is the ferry that will take you from Vermont to New York on the southern part of Lake Champlain.
So it was Ticonderoga bound baby across Lake Champlain!!!!
History Lesson: The Fort Ticonderoga Ferry has operated on Lake Champlain since 1799 officially and since 1759 on an unorganized basis. Only a few businesses in the United States can claim to have served the American public longer. Among Lake Champlain Ferries, the Ti Ferry is the oldest.
The first ferries were most likely glorified rowboats or canoes, but a double-ended sailing scow was in service by 1800. This vessel was about 30 feet long, with a mainsail that would swing completely around the mast to provide a simple means of reversing course. There appears to have been ramps on each end, leeboards to prevent sideways drift, and a sweep oar manned by a strong man to keep it on course.
Barges grew in size as traffic increased. They kept the leeboards, the on-board exit and entrance ramps, and the sweep oar, but the sails were replaced successively by steam and gasoline launches alongside.
A cable guidance system was installed in 1946. This eliminated the need for the sweep oar. The cable system much improved, is still the system used today. It consists of two 1-1/4" steel cables, stretched parallel to each other across the lake and securely anchored in concrete on either end. The cables are lifted and carried by four hardened steel sheaves, one on each corner of the present barge, and serve to steer the barge between two landing ramps, one at each end of the course. With this cable system, operation is assured in all but the most severe weather.
Today the ferry barge is powered by the Addie B, a sixteen ton double ended tugboat built in 1979 in Maine. The ferry barge, the Fort Ticonderoga 11, is a 94 ton unrigged steel barge built in 1959 in Warren Rhode Island.
The cables are tight, but not taught. When not actually in use on the sheaves, they return to their resting place on the bottom of the lake and do not interfere with other boat traffic. They are replaced every 4 years.
It was a cool ride and will cost you $5 to cross. The old crew was cool too! They talked to us at the landing and the whole ride over.
When we got to the other side, we rushed over (before the weather hit us) to.....
This was a most cool place - we spent this evening talking to a couple from Maine who are here to see it.
History Lesson: Fort Ticonderoga is a large eighteenth-century fort built at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain in upstate New York. The site controls a portage between Lake Champlain and Lake George that was strategically important during the 18th-century colonial conflicts between Great Britain and France. At stake were commonly-used trade routes between the English-controlled Hudson River Valley and the French-controlled Saint Lawrence River Valley. The name "Ticonderoga" comes from an Iroquois word tekontaró:ken, meaning "it is at the junction of two waterways".[3]
The French, who called it Fort Carillon, constructed the fort between 1755 and 1758, during the French and Indian War. The fort attained a reputation of impregnability during the 1758 Battle of Carillon when an attack by 16,000 British troops near the fort was repelled by 4,000 French defenders.
This was the earthworks of Fort Carillon. I asked the young lady why they went out to the earthworks instead of staying in the fort and she said that the fort was the prize. The defenders, instead of being put into seige, took the battle to outside the fort. The french fought the same way the southern boys did during Fredericksburg - a line of musket loaders behind the guys firing. The British said the balls looked like a storm of bees flying at them.
In 1759, the British returned, and drove a token French garrison from the fort merely by occupying high ground that threatened the fort. During the American Revolutionary War the fort again saw action in May 1775 when it was captured in a surprise attack by the Green Mountain Boys and other state militia commanded by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold. Americans held it until June 1777, when British forces under General John Burgoyne again occupied high ground above the fort and threatened the Continental Army, leading it to withdraw from the fort and its surrounding defenses. The only direct attack on the fort took place during the British occupation of the fort in September 1777, when John Brown led 500 Americans in an attempt to capture the fort from about 100 British defenders.
In 1775, Fort Ticonderoga was still manned by a token force and in disrepair. On May 10, 1775, less than one month after the American Revolutionary War was ignited with the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the British garrison of 48 soldiers was surprised by a small force of Green Mountain Boys, along with militia volunteers from Massachusetts and Connecticut, led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold. Allen claims to have said, "Come out you old Rat!" to the fort's commander, Captain William Delaplace. He also later said that he demanded that the British commander surrender the fort "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!"; however, his surrender demand was made to Lieutenant Jocelyn Feltham and not the fort's commander, who did later appear and surrender his sword. With the capture of the fort, the Patriot forces obtained a large supply of cannons and other armaments, much of which Henry Knox had transported to Boston during the winter of 1775–1776. Ticonderoga's cannons were instrumental in ending the Siege of Boston when they were used to fortify Dorchester Heights. Arnold remained in control of the fort until 1,000 Connecticut troops under the command of Benjamin Hinman arrived in June 1775. Due to a series of political maneuvers and miscommunications, Arnold was never notified that Hinman was to take command. After a delegation from Massachusetts (which had issued Arnold's commission) arrived to clarify the matter, Arnold resigned his commission and departed, leaving the fort in Hinman's hands.
Well, as soon as it was time to leave and we entered into the town of Ticonderoga, the weather got us! We were soaked and when I looked at my tee shirt - it must have been cold too!
We went to the Super8 and asked if they had internet - yes, but you have to log in the lobby - it won't reach the room. So, we found us another little motel....
I highly recommend it! Internet works great, American owned, clean as a whistle rooms....They put us in the new part (the other one has like 10 rooms - the new part has 4).
Don't know what the weather holds for us tomorrow, but if we get socked in, this ain't a bad place to get socked in at.
There was about a 10 minute break in the rain and I rode over and got us some tatter chips and dip - that and a cocktail ends our day!
Seriously, we have ridden through some AWESOME COUNTRY TODAY! Folks, you gotta check out New England - WOW!!!! I know two old Louisiana Cajun boys sure have passed a large time up here. Plus, the people are as friendly as can be! Like I said, we have been outside talking to an elderly couple from Maine - great folks! Folks, you gotta get up here if you can!!!!! Thanks for allowing a couple of Cajuns to pass through.
