Saturday in Maine

We left New Hampshire on Sat July 19, headed for Houlton Maine. We were traveling with our friends Paul and Mary Foxworthy, going north on I-95, when we hit a bump or something, and we heard a pop under the coach. Mel asked what it was, and I didn't have a clue. I looked in the rear view mirror, and saw that our bike wasn't hanging as high as it had been. We pulled into a service plaza, and crawled under the coach to see 3 bolts missing, and the frame of the lift bent. After searching for a welding shop, and other possible alternatives, we decided no one was able to help us on Sat, so we took Paul's pick up, bought some new bolts, and a trailer, and fixed it(sort of) our selves. We bolted the frame as best we could, loaded our bike on the new trailer we bought, hooked it to the coach, and down the road we went. God provided a trailer sales place near by, a store that sold the bolts we needed, and a great friend with the vehicle to help us. The next day, we headed into Canada, and Paul's 5th wheel blew a tire. It tore of some trim from his trailer, but very little damage. We were only 1 1/4 miles from a tire store, he bought 4 new tires, and they had them changed in less than 45 min. Once again we were taken care of.

Internet service is spotty, so posting isn't easy. We have seen some great scenery, and will post as we can.

Ken

Na Hampsha

That's how they say it in New England.

We went to New Hampshire, and joined 15 other bikers, for a week of touring the beautiful northeast. To the left is out host couple Al & Patty Letizio from Wyndham, New Hampshire. They took us to some wonderful places. This is a falls just south of Sugar Loaf ski resort in Vermont. We got our pic there too.

We spent a night a Sugar Bush resort, and we were the only people in the place. The pic to the left is all our bikes under the canopy at the resort. We parked there all night.

We spent one day touring the coast, and we got to line up our bikes for a shot looking at the bay. If you notice, we all have bright florescent green shirts on. The folks on or trip from Ft Wayne IN, made them up and had them put together for all of us.

Wen traveled north to see the White Mountains, but the weather didn't cooperate. Instead of driving up the mountain, we drove around to see where the train goes up as well. This pic is a coal fired engine.

We had lots of beauty that wasn't recorded on film, it's etched in our mind

We left on Sat, July 19 and headed for Houlton Maine, before going to Canada on Sunday. We had an interesting challenge on Sat AM, but I will save that story for later.

Ken & Mel

Farther East

We traveled to a robotic dairy farm South of York PA, and saw how they milk the cows with robots. It was fascinating to see the robot move under the cows, and with lasers, it would wash the udder, and place the suction cups on the cow. It would analyze the milk for any problems before sending it on to the bulk tank. We didn't get any pics of that, but got one of a cow massager. It's like a car wash scrub brush, and when a cow nudges it, they just walk around it, and get a massage.

We then moved to eastern PA, and met with an old college buddy that we haven't seen for about 15 years. It was a great visit, and after we left, we realized we forgot to take his pic.

We moved north to a small town near Binghamton NY, and spent 3 night with some great friends we worked with last year with RVICS. They live on a farm and have made provisions for RV's to come and hook up. Better that most RV parks, and the rent was cheap. Their names are Ralpie & Shirley Rose.

One of the things to took us to was a tour of the Carousel's around the area. There are 6 of them all built and donated by the Johnson's of Endicott-Johnson shoes back in the teens and twenty's of the 1900's. it was fun to ride all 6

We left there, and moved east to Mass. Our first day there, we met an old friend from Ill, Dick and Pat Glenny, and they showed us around the area, went to Newport, had lunch on the bay, and then went for some fun. A member of Dick's church has a sailboat, and he offered to take us out. They have a race every Tuesday eve, and so because of the lack of people, we got to be his crew. Dick was driving for a while, and got a little nervous when lots of other boats were near by.

I even got to be a deck hand, and pull and wind cords to adjust the sail. It was something we had never done before, and don't know if we will ever have the opportunity again. The next day, We traveled on the bike to Cape Cod. and saw lots of great scenery. We visited a recreation of a Plymouth Plantation, with period actors, and replicas of what it might have been like back in the Mayflower day. We left Mass on Friday, and headed for New Hampshire. We will connect with a bunch of others today(Sat), and start a week long bike trip on Sun. More later

Moving East

We moved again to south central PA. On Sunday, our first visit was to Gettysburg, and the civil war area. The first shot is an actual cannon from that time.


The second pic is the PA Memorial built to honor the fallen from their state. It listed all the men lost during the war. Lots of names. on the way home, Mel said she needed a day of rest, and suggested I go golfing on Monday. It was a nice course, but proceeded to lose my set of truck keys, and my watch. I guess I laid them on the seat while getting ready, and didn't put them in my golf bag. Fortunately, 24 hours later, they called, and someone had turned them in.

Then on Tuesday, we connected with a former employee from Culver's, Kathy Volz, and went to a German Folk Festival. Saw lots of crafts, and demo's on making things, along with great festival food. Melody had a waffle sandwich with Neapolitan ice cream in the middle. Those PA folks use waffles for lots of things. The pic is off center a bit showing Kathy's Philly sticker.

Then on Wed we toured some manufacturing facilities. We went to a pretzel plant, and saw how that was done. Then went to a dairy farm were they use robots to do the milking. The cow walks in, and a computer chip is sensed, and then the robot proceeds to wash the cow, connect the miking suction cups, analize the milk, and then clean her when done. No man power at all. We then had a meal at an old mill in a small town, and the last shot shows another PA tradition, French Fry's on everything.