First Stage Complete

Getting out of town was the first task. Portland, Maine on a nice Saturday morning has traffic, complicated roads and we were following route instructions that seemed to call for a change every tenth of a mile. Lesson number one: trust your own navigation skills and don’t follow the other guys!

Once into the green hills and valleys of southern New Hampshire, the riding became very enjoyable. The crazy mass of bikes gradually filtered into smaller groups and I was riding with a couple of Aussies (1928 Indian Chief and 1928 Harley Davidson JL) and a fellow I had known only from the vintage website forum on a 1928 BMW R52. We seemed to have a repeated pattern of 5 miles of curvy roads at 30-50 mph followed by a small town with slow speeds and quaint (with a capitol Q) scenery. Imagine repeating this for a couple of hours; good riding and very little traffic. The only real eye opener came after a sign that said “Loose Gravel, Motorcycles Use Caution”.  Loose Gravel? Must be some term used with New England restraint…that was one of the Craters of the Moon! It spanned the entire lane, was a foot deep and filled with crushed rock. Fortunately we were able to go around the crater as there was no oncoming traffic.

Crossing the finish line felt really good, especially to see family and friends who came to hang out and show support. Thanks to everyone!

Sunday looks like a cool, gray day with about 260 miles to cover. See you in Binghamton, NY.