Bootleggin Poetic History

Today I was an Ink Ho. What exactly does than mean? Well today I wanted to ride being the birthday of our great country. Read I had no place to go. My choices were I could go to work or I could go for a ride. It is closing in on 10:30am and the weather is not looking really grand out, there is rain water on the street and I am sitting here in front of the computer looking at MapSource. I figure there really aren’t any good roads to Quincy ever, so I might as well grab Adams National Historic Site today. Geez JFK and Olmstead are in Brookline, who would ever ride to Brookline unless they had a reason. Gas is 4+ dollars a gallon so I better throw them in the mix. Hey Longfellow is just a hop skip and jump away and look MinuteMan is kinda on the way home. So a plan has evolved. Not even gonna do a route, I will just as Garmin for the shortest route to each waypoint. So back on point. Ink Hoing is just going and grabbing the stamps.


I just like what this guy did, so I stopped and took a picture




Now in my past I participated in OSJ Treasure Hunt. Telescope domes where worth 700 points a piece. How could I not stop? 1400 points. Woo Hoo.




Adams is 2 stops and 2 stamps. One in downtown Quincy and the up the road a piece at the Old House. The Old House is pretty nice and has a great garden.



The slide show is 2:25 minutes
Click here to watch "Adams-National-Historic-Park"

Frederick Law Olmstead site was closed for restoration, however the gates were open and there was a car there, so of course I rode into the site. Ya know greasy mud is slippery. It was an almost Kodak moment. The person gave me a very brief explanation of Olmstead while he was looking for the stamp. Fred moved his business to Brookline in the late 1800’s. He was considered the father of American Landscape Architecture and Design. One of Fred’s works was Central Park.



Next stop was JFK’s boyhood home. Now I looked for the hidden passage ways and place to store the bootlegged liquor, but I just couldn’t find it. The kid behind the counter told me they never proved old Joe was involved in bootlegging. I told him they never have caught Whitey Bulger either.



So I hang a right at this driveway and I find myself in the back of Longfellow’s Historic Site and the VC is only 50 feet away. The place is crowded so I was in and out for the stamp.






Minute Man National Park has 3 stamp locations and each has their own stamp. Being the 4th of July, and being in MM Park, I felt this special connection as I INKED my books with step. Hey we still have Taxation without Representation. I wouldn’t exactly say Congress is representing the American public, but how can we complain, we keep sending them back to DC.






I have started collecting old railroad stations. Why you ask, because I can.






Not many miles but a lot neat places traveled to and seen.

Nine Rocks to One Corner of the World

Met PhatPat (Pat Leonard) right off 495 at the Shell Station precisely 7:30 (doesn’t that sound so official). After the obligatory photo op we headed for Augusta, ME. North Country Harley Davidson was our destination. Pat needs only 3 to complete the tour, I need 4. We slabbed it to Augusta



Off the slabs and onto the back roads for Acadia National Park, but not without stopping for Pink Floyd. Pink is a Tag You Are It Rally that OSJ started to replace his normal season long rally. Pat and I were too late on Pink; someone else has grabbed him and posted up Ben and Jerry’s in Vermont, which is definitely not on the way.





The obligatory entrance photo to Acadia

The are 9 stamps (these are not the rocks) in the Park at 7 different locations. I feel for the IBA NP Tour these should be counted as 7 different places, we shall see if they are in agreement. This is my second visit to Acadia and this place is one of those 1000 places you should see. Hey on page 20 in Patricia Schultz’s book she has this place listed. I am going to have to return here a third time to really see this place, but that’s ok.

Video of Acadia National Park 2:25 Minutes (enjoy) .
Click here to watch "Acadia-National-Park"

After spending 3 or so hours at Acadia we needed to make some tracks for Caribou, ME our next destination. According to Garmin on ETA was 10:30pm. To add some variety to trips sometimes the GPS thinks I am on an adventure bike. This road went from pavement, to choppy pavement (not atypical for Maine) to hard packed dirt got narrower then the hard packed dirt turned to ruts and fist size stones (not the greatest for 2 sport tourers) then narrowed so you couldn’t turn around. After about 7 miles, I just know this road is gonna take us no where and we are gonna have to turn around and do this POS road all over again. I hate when I am right and I hate when I forget to take pictures like in situations like this. Sigh

At this place we decide I95 is a good decision and we head out on the highway. Well of course it raining off and on, the bugs are having a Shindig of some sort, they were dressed to the Nines (nope this isn’t the rocks). In Houlton, ME we pulled into to a gas station to get GAS of all things. I got into a conversation with the woman at the counter and she warned me about the Bullwinkles that also liked to party on the roads we were headed on. We decided to find a place to stay. I would of figured DIRT under our wheels would be over, but Houlton town decided to rip up RT 2A. Wet mud is slippery. !!


We spent the night at the Scottish Inn. Apparently there was one heck of a storm that I slept thru. Well the morning was not bright and not particularly warm. At least it wasn’t snowing. We had a great breakfast here and of course I bought a mug for my diner collection.

=====Here Comes the Sun and 9 Rocks to Boot========

Right down the street on Route 1 is the Maine Visitor Center. We drove around the parking lot looking for the FIRST rock. I wasn’t about to give up and I went into the VC. Well Pluto is so small they moved it inside. The folks in several communities between Houlton and Presque Isle erected a largest scale model of our solar system in the world. Pluto is located exactly 33.2 miles from the Sun. ( www.umpi.maine.edu/info/mmms/solar )

Pluto

Neptune

Uranus

Saturn



Jupiter

Mars

Earth (3rd rock from the Sun)

Venus

Mars

HERE COMES THE SUN

You too can have a fulfilling career in Slow Stop Sign Administrator

Now the real purpose of our trip was to visit Plourdes in Caribou, ME for our stamps. With this one I have 2 to go and Pat has ONE !!!. That is going to cost me dessert at dinner some night.

With the major mission completed for this trip we were foot peg fancy and free. Pat wanted to find the beginnings of Route 1. Pat lived in Florida and has the end point in Key West and he wanted the begin point, so up Route 1 it is. We both wanted to visit Madawaska which is one of the corners for the Southern California Motorcycle Association tour. http://www.usa4corners.org/ . This ride involves going to each of the furthest corners of the US (sans Alaska) in 21 days. One day I will do this ride. It is about 10,000 miles.

We stopped at this place which was very prominent from the distance on the way Madawaska

Pre Grand Opening of Madawaska Four Corner Monument

Route 1 Begin Point Fort Kent, ME

Pat and I headed down Route 11 for home. It is 1:30pm and miles to home is something like 500 miles. My ETA is 11:45pm. Pat is closer than I am, but not by much. Route 11 is supposedly a scenic route. While it does have some very scenic spots, it is also chock full of frost heaves which just rattles you teeth and brain.

Scenic Rest Stop along Route 11

Around 5:45pm we decide we would stop at the famous A-1 Diner in Gardiner, ME. This place was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network. I had a Reuben with horseradish sauce. It was GREAT, pricey but GREAT. I call to make sure A> they are open and B> to make sure we can make it there on time. They close at 8:30pm; Garmin says we should arrive at 7:30pm. This pic was taken at 7:26pm.




After diner, we headed out on the highway to slab it home. I arrived home at around 12:30 because Garmin doesn’t know about the repaving of 496 from Westford south which has all shoved into 1 lane. Trip for me was 1,178 STEPENDOUS miles.

Some Back Posts you may Have Missed

http://nomadwillie.blogspot.com/2008/05/courting-history-in-virgina-and-north.html

http://nomadwillie.blogspot.com/2008/05/carls-kings-and-cows.html

Conservation and Art go Hand and Throttle

Saturday, June 21st around 7:30am I left N Uxbridge with 3 destinations in mind. First would be a visit to Granite City Harley Davidson as part of the HD’s ride New England program. ( http://www.ridenewengland.com/ ). I reached GC around 11:30 got my stamp. While I was waiting patiently for the person at the cash register to finish up with a bunch of Canadian customers I saw a rack of coffee mugs with Twin City HD on it. Now I have been to at least 24 dealers and generally find the merchandise way to expensive to buy. I turned over the cup and it was 10.95. When I got to the register, the girl rang in 3.00. Wow something at a HD dealer that was actually cheap. Oh how did I know they were Canadian, I didn’t understand a word they were saying and it sounded French to me, so I assumed they were not from the Middle East.

During the winter, I was pondering where I was going to go this season on the bike, especially since OSJ wasn’t going to have a treasure hunt. One of the things I came across was NH Historic and Roadside markers. Now I have a Garmin file with all of these markers as WP’s and when I see one I generally stop and take a picture. Long term objection is capture all 175 of them.

Next stop was the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP in Woodstock, VT. This site center around the mansion and home of 3 people with a common theme of Conservation through out their lives. Marsh (the original owner) wrote one of the first books on conservation called Man and Nature. It is my understanding that Billings purchased the farm and land from Marsh and put Marsh’s theories into practice by reforesting Mt Tom where the farm is located. Now Laurance Rockefeller came into possession of the farm and donated the land to the National Park Service in 1992. Laurance was also a conservationist, awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his role he played in conservation. Of course I got some INK here.

Next stop was Saint Gaudens NHS in Cornish, NH. This place was Augustus Gaudens home and studio. Gus was a turn of the century sculptor, whose statues are located through out the US. He also was the designer of the 20 gold liberty coin, known as the Double Eagle. INKed here as well. This is one place everyone should visit and the roads to get here are pretty good as well. For about a 2:45 minute video click the link below.

Click here to watch "Saint-Gaudens"

During my travels I stopped at 5 diners, The Milford Diner in NH, Farmer’s Diner in Queechee, VT and Lindy’s in Keene NH, The 4 Aces in West Lebanon, NH. This is another passion of mine. I had a great burger at Lindy’s and ice tea all for a whopping 4.30. Unbelievable eh ?? and of course I had to add to my Diner Cup Collection with a purchase. I did stop at the Miss Bellow Falls Diner for a hamburger, but alas they were closed.

On the way home I passed thru Troy, NH and I was a wee bit on the fast side apparently. I was was given a reprieve from the officer who told me to watch my speed. Phew !!!. Actually the road went from 55 to 35 and I never saw the sign. He was sitting right on the change of speed and took that into consideration and I think my gray hair might have helped too. . Next I need to get a big AARP sticker for the bike. ( http://tinyurl.com/5ahudy ) . He must have read my previous blog entry on Connie has Harley Envy, because as I was preparing to leave, he said "by the way nice bike".

One last stop before I made it home. The Mountain Laurel (at least that’s what I think it was) was in full bloom in Leominister State Park. I passed this one spot that contained a blizzard of white flakes across a pond that was so spectacular, I had to turn around and take a pic. Now this photo does not do justice to what I saw thru my eyes. Maybe the photographer is an amateur