Looking for Locks in all the Wrong Places

Long weekend, cabin fever starting to set in, have avoided the flu thus far. The winter season is bad enough without riding, couple that with my need to chase stuff, it is abit over the top. I choose not to ride in the winter, not due to temperature, but black ice. A new vehicle is all I need to chase stuff. Today I am going cave man and gonna ped it. Yup gonna use my feet, both of them. (please click the pictures to see them full size)

Yesterday I re-visited Blackstone, MA to pick up the Blackstone Viaduct for waymarking. Waymarking is a place to log places you have visited by category. They have well over 1000 categories and I specialize in National Historic Places. Today's quest is for the Blackstone Canal Historic District. This cover 8 towns and I am doing Millville today.

The Blackstone Canal is pretty hard to document with photos, since much of the canal is way off the beaten path or simply no longer visible. With a bit of research, you see the trenches off to the side of roads and the river, you find these are part of the canal.

The Canal was built between 1825 and 1828, covered 47.5 miles between Worcester and Providence, and closed in 1848. The trains came and made it obsolete.

Around 10:30am I pull up to the Millville Lock #21 parking lot. There a few cars and people getting back into their cars. My guess they just finished a walk down the Southern New England Trunkline Trail.

 

 

I see another couple get out of their car, and I immediately head towards them, saying "Excuse me, Do you know how far the Millville Lock is". The guys says "About  a  mile from here" I have no clue how far a mile is any more. Back in the day, and I mean day, walking a mile, swimming a mile, was nothing. I just assumed it would be true today.

 

So I head out. Theres the couple that told me how far the canal was.

 

 

And walk some more and more

 

 

Finally see pay dirt

 

 

When I get to the edge I am saying to myself, "This doesn't look like the canal lock I have seen in the pictures. It just a bunch of train bridges".

 

 

If you look just to the right of the bridge, you can see a structure. I am saying to myself, that can't be. What are we suppose to cross the bridge. For a moment I actually thought about venturing out of the iron beams. They looked wide enough to walk across. Good thing I gave up that idea.

 

Then I said to myself, maybe the locks are down at the bottom and I just can't see them from here. Both sides kinda of look liked they had a pathway down to them. Without regard for my age, physical well being (or should that be pitiful bad being) and abilities, I started the descent.

 

This was not a gentle descent, this was an old railroad track bed that crosses a river. The pitch had to be 60 degrees, lots of leaves, mud and snow. Once false move, one slight trip and I would have found myself at the bottom lickety split.

 

At the bottom I was greeted with prickly bush limbs that were grabbing a hold of my clothes and trying to rip them off. No canal lock down here. Might as well take some pictures

 

As they say what comes down, must go up. Well that might not what Newton had in mind, but for me I had to get back to the top. There just was no way I was gonna bushwack my way back to the parking lot.

 

When I looked at the challenge in front of me and fighting off the prickly bushes some more, I realized I should have given some more thought to making this descent. This is the embankment, which is how I have to go back up.

 

 

Let's just say the climb back up was not at all pretty. Like the descent, once false move, one loose tree branch I was grabbing on, or just a moment of loss of footing, I would fnd myself back at the bottom with the prickly bushes. Only difference would be, this would be akin to a back flip, with a twist, degree of difficulty 3.0.

 

I make it to the top and my lungs about to explode. My heart I didn't even feel it, it probably died on the way up or the lungs covered masked the sound. Still haven't recovered from the three pack a day habit from 12 years ago. Sitting for awhile would be a good thing. I could review where I have been, where I need to go and just take in the cool crisp air of a winter day. At least now I have a perception how far a mile is.

 

I did start to wonder, what if I had a heart attack. I did have the cell phone and I could call MeAsWe ( I did invite her, but she declined), I had my hand held GPS, I could give her the coordinates and maybe make the news that night. Enough of that.

 

The walk back was pretty much like the walk to get here. Matter of fact it was exactly the same. It just doesn't look as green and colorful as getting there.

 

 

Off in the distance I see movement. It is a truck and I realize I am almost to the parking lot. What a welcomed sight this was. I felt like Merriweather Lewis however I did discover the Northwest Passage, whereas the two did not.

 

 

If you look to the right of the gate you can make out something that looks like a stand. There are maps in there. I pull one, sit down at the picnic table and realize I was not at the Millville Lock, but at the Triad Bridges. I can't believe that couple led me astray. They probably walk this every weekend together to stay fit, but they don't have a clue about the history of what they are walking. How do you ask, "How far is the Millville Lock" and then immediately follow up with "Are you positive".

 

The map indicates that the Millville lock is about half way down the trail I went and the hooks off to the left. There was a Millville officer sitting at the head of the parking lot. I walked over to him and confirmed what I had learned. He said if you head down Hope Street, it is just off there a little bit.. He also said, "I don't know if you can get in that way, there are private residences back there".

 

I thanked him and as I was walking away, thinking, when did obstacles ever stop me.  I walked from the Blue Flag to the Square 003.  Just above it you can see Hope St. I drove to the end of the street.

 

 

There were 2 guys outside, at the last house on the street, working on a car. I asked them if they knew where the Millville Lock was. One of the guys leads me into his back yard and points down to into the gully, "You can see the stones from here through the trees. It's just down there"

 

I didn't come this far not to get a picture of the lock.

 

 

 

 

All for a picture for something I chased. It's a hard habit to break.



 

 

Lightin the Fire for BBQ

Spent the morning over at Giff's. His place has become my Floyd's of Mayberry. Place to talk about bikes, politics, age, and whatever else comes up. Bill closes up right around 12 and I don't blame him.

Decided I needed to and should make a small run to get back in shape for the riding season. Not physical shape but riding shape. Earlier in the month I felt like I never stopped riding and was comfortable and confident. Today I was going to test this out.

Being involved in the Smoke Chasing thing I figured BBQ places was as good as anything to chase today and start racking up the points. The plan >>



Since I really wasn't in a rush, I stopped on the highway (ya gotta get used to this when hunting some stuff down) (I have MeAsWe face the traffic and let me know if we are gonna get run down) and grabbed a border crossing (another waymark category)



First stop was a 2 fold stop at LJ's. One for the picture of the BBQ place and one for a bonus stop for going there and taking the picture with your flag facing the wrong way. This was called the "waste of time, backwards bonus"





Next stop is United BBQ in Providence. We ate here last year and it was pretty good. Matter of fact I think I used this as a tag location. Well the economy has not been that great and it has taken a toll on the independent businesses and my guess it may have hit the food industry that much harder. Just look at the Piccadilly Pubs, they all seemed to have closed very suddenly.



Came across this old house and new it had to be on the National Register of History Places. The sign was kind of a giveaway.





But even more interesting right across the street was this place. I am not sure what this person is trying to accomplish. Now researching these guys, I would have called them gargoyles, however gargoyles are exclusively used as water diverters. They are grotesques when the are gargoyle like but don't function as water diverters.





We get extra points called sidedishes if we find foreign BBQ places.



I have a huge backlog of places we have been from last year and have been whittling away at this backlog for waymarking. One of the places was Putnam Railroad Station. When I posted it, the waymark was denied because the GPS coordinates did not seem right and I said the building was vacant. Also the picture wasn't that good. I decided to take another ride to this place and fix er up. BTW the building is vacant.





The long stretchy picture, I used some new software for creating panoramic pictures. I have one from ArcSoft that I got with one of my cameras, however it always creates a bowed and distorted picture, which is really neat if you are trying to be Salvador Dali. I went searching for a replacement so I could get rid of the bubble in the pictures. I found Hugin, which works mint, gives you lots of options and is free to boot.

Another BBQ that burned it's rub.



Downtown Putnam, CT is kind of a neat place. Lots of restaurants and the building are interesting. Another lost iconic retail company. There have been so many that have come and gone.



BBQ places are usually very colorful and have neat signs.





All in all it was great day of riding, made a riding mistake (remember the confidence thing) that made me aware to be aware, captured a bunch of places for the grand tours and just had a nice relaxing day on the bike.

Having Liberty at the Elms

At Christmas my kids got me a HD TV. I have been hmmming AND hawing about getting one. I figured I would wait until the Sanyo I got 10 plus years ago to give out before dumping cash on such a frivolous purchase. Well T (my daughter) decided for me, making the decision on how fast a refresh rate, which 1080 this and that and whether I needed to get a new amp with 5, 4 or 2 channels. With this gift it became necessary on upgrading to cable HD. By upgrading I lowered my monthly cost by getting more services than I need, namely a phone. I just know I didn't ask all the right questions and there is a catch some place that will show up on the bill. I don't have a contract (supposedly) and can change at my hearts whim. With that the cable box is a DVR and can record shows. I didn't think this would be a useful feature until one night I recorded a bunch of DDD's (Diners, Dives and Drive- Ins).

I promise this is all connected somehow.

One night I simply could not fall asleep and got up and decided to watch what I had recorded via the DVR. I came across the Liberty Elm Diner in Providence RI. I couldn't believe I have numerous books on diners, have done extensive research all over New England and have visited well over 100 diners over the past 7 years and this one I had never heard of. On P16 in Randy Garbin's book Diners of New England is a paragraph on the La Criolla Restaurant, which is notated as CLOSED. I checked my MapSource Master Diner file and low and behold it is marked as a waypoint.

Today being absolutely beautiful out in NE winter terms, I decided we should go pay a visit to Liberty Elm Diner. On our way down I pulled one of my treasure hunt actions in the middle of RT95 South to get a picture of this guy.



I have been meaning to grab this guy for years, plus it will fulfill a requirement for another waypoint category, surely something to risk your life for. Back into the flow of the traffic to Exit 17.

My recollection this place looked alot less for wear on DDD than in person. This place is a Worcester Lunch Car diner. Alot of the porcelain covered siding has taken a beating and rusting out. Kind of like an abandon car in some urban area. Randy Garbin notes in his book this place is "oft-changed diner in another struggling neighborhood sits on Elmwood Street, the city's oldest gateway boulevard to and from the south"





While I was outside taking pictures, I watched this Camry pull in and make this crunching sound. As the driver got out of the car I said it sounds like you just ran over some really bad. She walked around her car and said to me, "do you own this white car, because I just hit it" I answered "No it is not mine". What a way to ruin a breakfast for someone.

Inside the place had a well patronized look like all these diners do. We sat out back in a built on addition. You could tell the place had South American theme in its past. The room was painted with alot of bright colors on the walls, however I think this was in keeping with the current owners tastes. I did not take pictures of the back room.



Well I finally settled into the reason for coming here the food. Prominently displayed on a chalk board was the featured food on DDD, the Guy Turkey Sandwich. I asked our waiter what he recommended and immediately this was the one. I asked what did the locals eat and he leaned toward the Monte Cristo sandwich with egg. So that what I ordered. MeAsWe had the much healthier omelet with tomatoes and bacon. The menu has a wide range of items and not all of them are the typical breakfast and lunch fare.

The food.





The food was good, even better than average, but doesn't come close to touching the Crunchy French Toast of the Miss Worcester. I have a feeling I should have gone for the Turkey Sandwich. Each meal comes with one of those little umbrellas. It appears there is some kind of ritual you are suppose to do with them, but I failed to ask because it did not dawn on me until I began this writing. I did take a picture



Around the side and back the building has been painted with more than just a roller and brush.





Other objects takes me back to the hippie days of my youth. Just had the 'je ne sais quoi' air about them.





All in all not a bad way to spend a couple of hours in a New England winter. Heres the DDD segment and what Randy Garbins book look like. Oh I also found out this was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Throwing back Shots in Vermont

Today's adventure is a trip to White River Junction and pick up 6 locations for the Affair. Rising early and time on my hands, means I had time to complicate the trip.

First thing to do was look at my National Historic Garmin file with 18000+ waypoints and see if these was some low hanging fruit I could pick up. While I did add some waypoints I did not place them in the route.

Second file I looked at was the New Hampshire Historical Markers. I added 3 waypoints to the file and placed these in the route.

Third file was BBQ and there was a place in Claremont where 2 of the New Hampshire markers were so this got added to the route.

What started out as a 280 mile run was no pushing 325. By the time I got done executing the run it turned out to be more than 380 miles.

First stop was Winchendon Springs Post Office. I almost passed this place because it was not obvious this was a post office. From here I was headed to Keane, NH with nothing I had to grab, but ended up picking up 2 or 3 National Register of Historic Places.

Winchendon Springs PO


Wymans Tavern - First meeting of the Trustees for Dartmouth College


Next stop Bellows Falls. Picked up an Affair with how this chasin stuff all began.



From Bellows Falls it was a long haul (at least for this route) to White River Junction. This segment was broken up with a stop at Sweet Fire BBQ in Claremont, NH. This would give me the 3 required BBQ places needed for Smoke Chasing 2011. I had brisket with some cheese and mac for lunch. It was actually pretty darn good, but I am not the BBQ expert by any means. The cheese and mac, was quite cheesy, each fork leaving strings of cheese, like a spider web, to the dish. I was their first customer and they were reluctant to serve me the Cn’M because it had not been smoked. I am glad I still got it. I think this is the first time I got brisket versus pulled pork and I just may have brisket from now on.






In Claremont I picked up 2 New Hampshire markers. I think I have about 75% of the 200+ markers now.





This place is the oldest standing Episcopal Church in New Hampshire. It is also on the National Register of Historic Places.



Somehow when I arrived in WRJ, I must have taken a wrong turn and I found myself heading out of town on Route 4. The Nuvi is very quick to calculate a new route; you don’t even see a recalculating screen most of the time. A quick confirm with the GPS and found the next spot was Bridgewater Corners. Reroute to the Post Office is in order.




Now back on track, I am on RT 4 heading south and west. This is where the not so nice roads of Vermont and tedium started. You can read about my state of mind in an earlier post.

In Putney I stopped for gas and Curtis All American BBQ was right next store. There are not a lot of BBQ joints in Vermont with BBQ in their name. I grabbed Curtis in case I elect the 15 joints, 1 in each state.



A hop on I91 (I had had it with the choppy and dirt roads for the day) I am cruzin at 80+ on the way to Lake Pleasure, MA for the last stop. Now all I had to worry about was getting a performance certificate, versus deer, ruts, potholes, etc, etc.

Lake Pleasure is a really really really small town (if it is one, but it does have a post office). As I follow the road to the PO, it keeps getting narrower and narrower. I half expected it to turn to dirt. I finally came to a spot that looked like a parking lot and shrugged, where was the post office. The road was narrow enough that I had just passed it. Drats no sign on the Post Office. Right across the street, maybe 10 feet is the Lake Pleasure Community House. On the wall they have a small glassed in information board with a notification that has Lake Pleasure in the title. I take a picture of this, hoping this is allowed for the Affair.





From Lake Pleasure it was a straight shot across RT2 to I190 and home. Starting around Saxtons River I decided I would stop a Kapi’s, a local pub for some clam chowder. I had some about 2 weeks ago and was shocked at how good their home made chowder was. It is creamy, thick and has quite abit of clams in it. I arrived here about 7pm to find out they stopped serving at 3pm. Another rut in the road. I had a couple PBR’s that are only 1.50. Kapi’s is only a stone throw from where I live.

Today's title is my attempt to allegorarize with the GLMC An Affair with Water treasure hunt. Maybe I should have stuck with Another Affair complete in Vermont.