6. The Great North Woods & The Border Crossing
I gave myself 48 hours to fix my headlight. Fewer than 30 miles from Burlington, just as I left secondary roads for back roads, I met someone who directed me to a dealer so that I could buy a bulb. The plastic stuff that makes a Goldwing a Goldwing is great at keeping off the elements in inclimate weather.
It's also great at making a 10 minute job a two hour job. I pulled plastic and chrome off in the parking lot and replaced the bulb... without the desired effect. Still no light. I borrowed contact cleaner from the mechanic and soon got the light working. The picture doesn't really show the mirrors, chrome, and plastic strewn about the parking lot. I'm getting good at working in dealer parking lots.
Electrical gremlins scare me and I was beginning to worry. Though I never planned on riding after dark in Moose country, I still didn't like the idea of having a busted light. Oh well, I put the bike back together and began riding North.
As I ambled along through farm country, I saw a sign and knew I had to go. I hadn't planned on going to Canada at this point in the trip, but I figured I see how long the line was and check it out.
The little 1 1/2 lane road with no lines on either the sides or the center rounded a turn and there was a border crossing. I was the only one there on both the way in and on the way out. It was pretty neat. I rode four miles to Frelighsburg, Quebec and then came back to Vermont. After spending the day riding thru the most rural areas up North in Vermont, I headed toward NH.
I liked this town. It was built on a river, but used the river not for commerce, but only for natural beauty.
As dusk approached, I crossed into New Hampshire. Riding down a small road, I noticed a small sign that said: " Racing on Saturday nights at 7:00" As a short-track fiend, I was excited. It was nearly 8:00 so I raced down the gravel road a couple of miles and pulled into the raceway. It was clearly race night. After checking with the cop standing in the parking field, I went to the back corner of the field and set up camp. I chugged a liter of water, grabbed a handful of trail-mix, and walked toward the track. I saw three hours of great racing before walking five minutes back to my tent for ten hours of fantastic sleep. What a Saturday!
Some folks at the race had told be about an unusual bike rally up the road about 20 miles. It had been going on since Thursday. I woke up with this view and then headed out on a beautiful Sunday morning. The "Our Lady of Grace" shrine is a French church which holds a biker rally as its premiere fundraising event.
Pretty Cool
Over 500 bikers came to have the minister bless their bikes. It's called the Great North Woods Ride in for the Blessing of the Motorcycles. I didn't stay for the blessing, but I did check out the vendors and stay for the pancake breakfast. I was talking with a woman whose husband served the pancakes. Their son's girlfriend had a job offer from some school in no-where NC. They didn't know the name of the school, but after playing the name game, we figured out it's the NC School of the Arts, located five minutes from my house. Certainly not in podunk NC! What a small world. They are going to look me up when they visit in the fall.
A group of French speaking women took this picture for me. You can see the shrine in the background. It's quite large. The surrounding grounds are beautiful.
I left the rally at 10:00, three hours before the blessing. I had to make the coast of Maine before dark. There was plenty of time to take the long way. At a brewery on the NH / ME border, I got a great lunch and a great tip to head further south than planned to go to Old Orchard Maine. It's a vacation town for people from Quebec. There, I met some guys from Quebec City who overheard that I was from NC. One was smoking Winston's, so I commented that I was from Winston. One of the other guys said he lived in NC for awhile and asked if I'd heard of Greensboro. He played hockey there. I asked when and he answered 2002. I told him I'd seen the Generals play in Greensboro every Thursday night that season. His friends spoke broken English, but when they heard that I knew the name of the Generals, they were stunned. They were all hockey teammates now playing for a team in Quebec. He played goalie in Greensboro and I actually have pictures of him playing during the 2002 season. While working in Dallas several years ago, I took a fantastic picture of Patrick Roy in action while the was tending goal during a Stars / Avalanche playoff game. Since then, I photography goalies. (Because the indoor lighting is tricky and they are the only ones that stand still long enough to be photographed.) Anyhow, the picture is on an old computer, but I'll update this report when I find it. What a small world! They insisted that I party with them in Quebec on my way back from Alaska. That was truly amazing! Two "small-world" experiences in one day.
I walked back to a downtown campground. It's nice to be able to camp and walk to the downtown scene. Nice, but expensive. I like the free camping in Lake Ontario Apple Orchards.
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