Quintessential Vermont and New England

Pietree Orchard: Rolling down Waterford Road near Sweden, Maine you'll happen upon Pietree Orchard.  High atop a hill overlooking the surrounding landscape is this perfectly manicured orchard of organically and conventionally grown apples.  Matter of fact, just about every apple the mouth could savor; Red Astrican, Lodi, Vista Belle, Jersey Mac, Paula Red, Virginia Crab, Machintosh, Red & Golden Delicious, Mutsu, Northern Spy, Rome, Winesap and plethera of others that I'm unfamiliar with.  I call em' all "good" apples.  On a side note, the orchard is owned by Tabitha King, wife of the author Stephen King.  Apparently, they have a home in the area and he spends some of his time here while his wife manages the orchard and small store.  If you're in the area at apple time, it's a must see. 

For more information, you can visit their site http://www.pietreeorchard.com/

Sayre's Bridge in Thetford, Vermont

Thetford, Vermont is home to the 134 feet long Sayre's Bridge.  Located only about 1/4 mile outside Thetford on Tucker Hill Road, the bridge was built in 1839 to provide local families a means to cross the Ompompanoosuc River.  It was constructed as a single span using what has been called a "Haupt Truss" with arch support design.  Not until 1963 was a mid-stream support added.  Recently the bridge underwent a major five month, $814,000 rehabilitation and was officially reopened to traffic on October 10, 2007.  

The waterpower provided by the river in this location once served eight sawmills, four gristmills, a straw-board and paper mill, two flannel factories, a carriage shop and bedstead factory, an edge tool and trip-hammer works, and the Sayre Brothers furniture mill.

While I'm there, a local stops to talk and shares a bit of history regarding the bridge.  Apparently, a few short years ago, a lady and her two small children were crossing in the dead of winter with lots of ice and snow buildup on the floor of the bridge.  If you'll notice on the previous post, many bridges were constucted with extra timbers on the floor to provide raised parallel "tracks" for vehicles to roll on.  I can only assume this was to create a wear surface which was easily replaceble instead of having to re-floor the entire bridge as the surfaces wore down under vehicular traffic. 

According to story, the lady was crossing when ice buildup on the raised panels caused her car to slide off violently enough to crash through the bridge, and plummet into the icy waters below. Fortunately for her and the children, a local fireman was approaching the bridge at the same time and was able to rescue all three from a certain disaster.  Secondary to the incident, the town counsel voted to reconstruct the floor without the raised panels and thus the reason for it's current flooring configuration.  Seeing how strongly these structures are built inside, it's difficult for me to imagine crashing completely through the side of one but...........that's what the gentleman says happened and he seemed to know what he was talking about.  I just love learning these little tid-bits from the locals.

Fall Has Hit New England

Wednesday Sept. 30, 2009: Tonight, I'm in Ellsworth, Maine.  Today consisted of 258 miles of what would have been the most beautiful colors had it not been for an all-day pouring rain.  Fall has definately hit the New England states, but unfortunately, so has the rain, by the bucketfuls.  At last count, I think I've seen approximately 3-4 hours of sunshine since Saturday morning.  Needless to say, my efforts at photography have been very limited.  I just can't seem to get the colors captured with the dark overcast skies and the almost constant rain.  During the few periods of sunlight, I did manage to capture a couple shots to share.  Maybe it'll be better on the return side.

I find myself very intrigued by the engineering of the support trusses that support these covered bridges.  Keeping in mind they were built at a time before steel "I" beams were common to bridge construction, the spans are commonly well over 100 feet.  The longest being the Blenheim Bridge in New York which is 228 feet long with an incredible 210' feet between abutment supports.  With support truss names like  the Burr, Inverted Bowstring, Multiple King, Paddleford Arch, Tied Arch, Town and Supplement, etc., it's going to be interesting to learn more about the construction techniques of the period and why one design was favored over another.  More on that later if I'm fortunate enough to visit them coming back.

Vermont along has something like 100+ covered bridges and I had intended to visit approximately 25-30 of them.  Unfortunately, the weather isn't cooperating, but I was able to visit about four before aborting the bridge tour for now.  Just as a reminder, you can click on each picture for a full screen view.

Big Bikes and Pumpkin Chunkin

Monday Sept. 28, 2009: While I'd love to share wonderful pictures of the Adirondacks Mountains in Northeastern New York, three days of rain is playing havoc with my photographic efforts.  Despite some bad weather luck, I still managed to grab a picture or two of some interesting things along the way.  This bigger than life chopper complete with "ape hanger bars" was especially build for somebody like Doug........haaaaaaaaa

"Pumpkin Chunkin"  Steady rain for most of three days now has prevented me from taking a lot of pictures but I was able to stumble upon something interesting in the New York countryside. Somewhere on a lonely road in the middle of nowhere, I came upon the Glosser family farm and their trusty John Deere green "Pumpkin Chunker".  A device custom build for the sole purpose of sending 10"-12" pumpkins great distances using a large volume of compressed air.  How far you ask?
Funny, I had the same question.  When the operator informs me he could send it over the line of trees in the distance, I'm thinking to myself.........."no freakin way mate, that treeline is at least a 1/4 mile away.  With a sly grin the Glossers were happy to demonstrate.


They tell me their longest measured shot to date is 3,200 feet!!!!  To put that into prospective, a mile is only 5,280 feet.  Now that's what I'd call a "Punkin Chunker"  These guys also tell me that the record holders have cannons at least 3-4 times as large as this one, some with barrels as long as 100 feet.  Apparently those monsters are approaching shots of a mile long.  Pumpkin Pie anyone? For more information, go to http://www.punkinchunkin.com/

Genesee River Gorge

Sunday Sept 27, 2009:  Located just 35 miles south of Rochester, New York, I discovered the magnificence of Letchworth State Park and the plush Genesee River Gorge.  The plunge and spray of three dramatic waterfalls, and the lush forest all contribute to make this what must be one of the most beautiful valleys in the state.  The highest fall is currently 107 feet but every year the river cuts deeper into the limestonea and shale cliffs which approach 600 feet in height.

It's not even difficult to find a great place to........well..........just sit and enjoy the scenic beauty of the valley.

Who Left the Water Running?

Saturday Sept. 26, 2009:  Honey, is that the toilet I hear running?  You'd think a good Texas-sized plumber could have gotten that leak under control by now.  Big Tom, where are you?

Niagara Falls turned out to be even more spectacular than I had imagined.  I knew it would be big, but it's impressive to say the least.   For those who have never visited, the falls are actually divided into an American and a Canadian side, divided into three very distinct falls by Goat and Luna Islands. 

Accessible by bridge, Goat Island is perfectly situated between the two countries and offers a most beautiful vantage point known as Tarrapin Point.  The Canadian Horseshoe falls, pictured above from Tarrapin point, is considerably larger and makes up approximately 90% of the total water flowing over Niagara.  With a cresline of 2,500 feet, the horseshoe falls plunges 167 ft. to the river below dumping an amazing 675,000 gallons of water per second.

American Side: A view of the American side from Luna Island, a small off-shoot from Goat Island accessible only by footbridge.  With a crestline of 1,100 feet, the water spills approximately 75,000 gallons per second 176 ft. to the waiting river below.  From there, it flows into Lake Ontario and eventually the Atlantic Ocean by way of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Walkway to Cave of the Winds:  A trip to Cave of the Winds allows access to a view of the American Falls from the river level below and is well worth the time spent.  Only from below can you see and feel first hand the legendary force of nature.

Hurricane Deck: A trip up to the "Hurricane Deck" is............well..................exactly as you would imagine.  Frankly, I don't know why we even bother with the yellow ponchos.  You're going to get soaked, but the experience is one you'll not soon forget.

Wheels in Motion

Friday Sept. 25, 2009 / Mileage 346: Having finally completed all prepreatory work, I finally got the wheels rolling toward Newfoundland around 3:30pm today.  Weather was clear and no rain is sight.  Despite the night chill in the air, I decided to push on into the darkness to make up for a late start.  Wanted to get as close as possible to Niagara Falls, NY to increase time available at the falls the following day. 

I can't imagine that the crystal clear installation instructions for my new Aerostitch MotoFizz travel bag would have negatively impacted my preparation efforts. Go ahead, click on the picture and take a closer look yourself. Hopefully, I'll be as clear for you as it was for me.....haaaaa.  Now tell me, just how difficult would it have been to provide english instructions?

Nova Scotia & Newfoundland - Getting the Bike Ready

Just wanted to share a few pictures taken during the bike preparation stages.  Most of the tear-down was simply to superclean the bike from last years trip to Alaska.  For anyone interested, that trip can be visited at http://www.alaskan-odyssey.blogspot.com/

Since every crevice on the bike (including saddlebags) served to bring home Alaskan real estate, a complete teardown, cleaning and reassembly was necessary to get them back in working order.  Of course, dropping the bike twice in the boonies last year jammed the saddlebag gear system and required some repair.