Day 53 August 10 2013 Bennington to Brattleboro VT

Leaving Greenwood Lodge on a foggy morning

Vermont Scenery

Day 53 August 10 Bennington To Brattleboro VT: Top of Hogback MT. Motor cyclists heading home after visiting Maine.

Day 53 August 10 Bennington To Brattleboro VT:  Crossing Mt stream, from left Tom, Dale, Jim

The Incurable Romantic in Brattleboro

Hogback Mt Vermont

Dale, Jim, Ed, Tom

Alan of Vermont RV Sales, Brattleboro, working on our RV

Tom, broke a spoke from a branch he ran over that got caught in his rear wheel. Luckily we were only 1/4 mile from this bike shop. Local rider stops by to say hello, She qualifies to be a 6 over 60.

In KOA of North Brattleboro, Dave befriends a group of New England Army recruiters who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
From left
Pat, Ed, Jim, Jake, ?, Rambo, Jerome, Dale, Tom.

Ice Cream Social at North Brattleboro VT, where KOA staff raised donations for us

Day 52 Latham NY to Bennington VT 08-09-2013

Day 52 August 9 2013 Latham NY to Bennington VT

And it was raining cats and dogs most of the day. We finished the ride with an 8 mile climb from Bennington to Greenwood Lodge and Camp Ground located at the top of the mountain next to the Prospect ski area.

We had to  use the RV to transport us out of Latham and Troy downtown, due to dangerous traffic and rain. Parts of the road into Vermont we could not ride because of high traffic, including trucks, and no shoulder and heavy rain.

We had hot chocolate and cookies at the Crazy Russian Girls Bakery

Catamount art work

Each year city picks an animal and makes statues that students and local artists paint. At end of summer, the art is auctioned off.

Dave, in matching outfit

Bennington downtown

Our destination Greenwood Lodge and Campsites

I was concerned about the amenities of this smaller RV Park and was pleasantly surprised.

The lodge had a homey feeling and was perfect for our stay on a rainy day. The upstairs had hostel dormitory rooms. Four of us slept in the hostel, which gave  us access to the full kitchen where we cooked  dinner and breakfast.

Texas Hold-M in the lodge, Tom was the big winner.

Our Gracious hosts and owners of Greenwood Lodge, from left Chris, Ann and Ed Shea

Day 55 August 12th Portsmouth NH WE MADE IT!!!!

We arrived today at 12:30 to a group of friends and relatives greeting us. 

Not only did we dip our wheels into the Atlantic Ocean, we dipped our bodies as well!

I will update the blog for Days 52 - 55 when I return home after August 14th

I will provide updates on Bennington VT, Brattleboro VT, Manchester NH, and Portsmouth!

Day 51 August 8 Herkimer to Latham

Day 51 August 8 Herkimer to Latham

Hmmmm...  Does he know we are not drilling for oil

Old bridge in Erie canal area

We past Fort Klock built in 1750, originally 600 acres, includes fort, town, school house. Jim and Tom, pictured with a volunteer who is a direct descendant of the Klocks

Summer children's program, here learning how to make rope

There was a train accident, causing this road closure on NY 5E, which resulted in us getting lost trying to follow the detour.

This fireman, from Schenectady area, got us back on track.

Day 50 Oneida Lake to Herkimer NY August 6 2013

Day 50 Oneida Lake to Herkimer NY August 6 2013

Sunrise on Lake Oneida

Left to right Ed, Dale, Fran manager of RV park, Jim.

Fran served in the Air Force as a baker.

Dave faithfully supporting us

Small NY town photo op

We stumbled onto this great spot for lunch near Herkimer. 

Great Italian sandwhiches, check out Tom's Calzone

Terry and Alice Berkson, who we met at the Pizza Plus restaurant. From Brooklyn, they summer in this area. Terry is a writer and has a web site
www.terryberkson.com.

Terry and Alice, thanks for you donation.

No we did not have an accident, no Dale is not hurt. Dale decided to lay down, after wandering the hills above Herkimer Diamond Mines. Our route, after winding us through hills so far off the beaten track, that we saw one car, led us to a closed private street at which point we gave up and called Dave. Dave had to follow our route sheet to find us since Google couldn't navigate to where we were.

River along Herkimer Diamond Mines KOA

We had dinner across the street from the Herkimer Diamond Mines KOA at the Crystal Chandelier Pub and Grille.  

The owner of the Diamond Mines, and his son the owner of the Crystal Chandelier, were having dinner at the restaurant. They came over to congratulate us on  what we are doing. 

From left Ed, Tom, Rudy Scialdo I, Pat, Rudy Scialdo II, Jim, and Dale

The Scialdo family lost one of their own serving in Afghanistan, Staff Sgt. Marc Anthony Scialdo  July 22, 1981 - March 11, 2013.

The Scialdo family and the Herkimer Lions Club have an annual golf tournament in his honor.

Day 49 Farmington to Oneida Lake

Day 49 Farmington to Oneida Lake NY August 6, 2013

Pat's Bullet proof, rear tractor tire, fails him with a flat....

Shawn Kindrew, met at gas station on break.
Shawn was US Army Green Beret

Sun rise on Oneida Lake

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Day 48 August 5 2013 Niagara to Farmington NY

Pat, and his daily ritual before we depart

Honeoye Falls

Village in New York

Honeoye Falls is a village in Monroe County, New York, United States. The population was 2,674 at the 2010 census. The village includes a small waterfall on Honeoye Creek, which flows through the village and gives it its name.

Below, we were somewhere in the country side of New York on the way to Farmington when

Tom, took a picture of this play house while the owner of the property was mowing his lawn.

Jim Woodard  the owner of the property waved Tom over. Tom is thinking, what did I do wrong?

Jim wanted to explain that he built the play house for his daughter when she was 8 years old. His daughter is now 38.  Jim and his wife Debbie support Wounded Warriors.