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Madison, ME to Jackson, NH: July 31, 2003
We rode to Madison, Maine from Albany, NH in the morning to visit CJ's parent's gravesite just off of Route 201 by the Kennebec River. Here's CJ planting flowers and cleaning up. We'd already ridden nearly 150 miles at this point, so we visited and walked about for nearly an hour before heading out on the road home.
This is Route 201. I took this pic by holding the camera down by my boottop.
Here's a roadside mower. It's haying season here in Maine, and there's a lot of this going on - not only on the roadsides, but in the fields, too. Check out the road snakes! This road is covered with them. It was pretty hot and they really had a grip on us at times.
You can see in this unmown field that the grasses are beginning to yellow - a sure sign that it is time to mow them. There will be a later crop of hay in the Fall if it is mown properly now.
This shot is from the bridge entering Norridgewalk from Route 201. This is where we turned off onto...
Route 2, West.
This part of Maine is flatter than the southwestern part that borders on our corner of New Hampshire. Rolling fields are dotted with small farms and vegetable stands. Oddly enough, there are also a ton of used car lots along this route. I wonder who they sell their wares to - each other?
In this field the owners are baling hay into traditional, rectangular bundles, called "bales". Each bale weighs around 40 pounds raw from the field. Later, when they have dried some, they weigh considerably less. You can see the haywagon on the left, loaded and almost ready to head back to the barn to offload and head back to the field.
This silo is used to store what is called locally, "cow corn", a particularly tough breed of corn that cows seem to love. I "accidentally" stole enough of it in my youth to know how bad it really is compared to corn that is specifically bred for human consumption. Cow corn is not only tough, but bland, too.
Here is a field of cow corn, not yet showing any signs of blooms yet. Cow corn forms cobs much later than sweet corns.
When we rode through Farmington, Maine we came upon this Lincoln with it's tail dragging about an inch from the ground. Ever read Stephen King's, "Hearts in Atlantis"? The car reminded me of the "Low People" that story centered around. There must have been five people in the back seat - and a full trunk to boot.
Heading south out of Farmington we began to open the throttle again. Here is a trio of bikes headed East.
Maine has it's share of properties for sale, like this home in desperate need of renovations. I don't know the price, but i do know property values are climbing rapidly in the area. This one looks like an old homestead, what with it's deer hanging rack in the front yard [or dooryard as it is known around these parts]. A hunter would clean his kill and hang it for a week to age before butchering. Still very common practice today. You can ride by a hanging rack like this with a half dozen deer on it in the Fall - each killed by a different member of the family. This is usually the only meat supply for the year.
Here is a Hudson and an old Jeep sharing a For Sale sign in a recently mown field. The hulks have probably been sitting in the woods out back since Grandpa stopped driving and they are just now becoming valuable, so the landowner put them out in hope that a passing car buff will stop someday and give him a fortune for them.
The further west we rode the darker the skies looked. The forecast didn't include rain, so we had hopes of getting away dry.
We passed this BMW headed east in Dixfield. This is a very small town - probably no more than 1,000 souls as residents.
This little junk shop is typical of the junk/antique stores in rural Maine. you never know what you will find inside. There are still plenty of bargains to be had in places like this.
Here we follow a Buell into Mexico, Maine...
Where we cross the Androscoggin Riveer...
And ride through the Paper Millyard. This mill has changes hands a number of times in the past decade, and though it is more stable than some, the local economy has suffered for it's fluxuations. In this picture you can see a semi full of chips strapped down on the lift. It will be lifted to a 45 degree andle - cab and all - with the back doors open. All the chips fall out, the lift lowers the truck back to horizontal and the driver takes off for another load. The chips are piled by bulldozers that shove it all uphill into temporary mountains. These chips are used in the Kraft Paper Division. Kraft paper is the shiny stuff magazines and the like are made of. Unfortunately, dioxins are produced in the Kraft process. Scrubbing processes are in place, but the river downstream still smells of 'cooked cabbage'. Right now this pile is mostly depleted and so, no bulldozers are operating. Normally the pile is three to four stories tall.
We passed this small, privately owned airport. These were the only two planes in the field and the camper looked like the airport 'office'. The blue tractor in the back is likely used to mow the landing strip. I'll bet its a bumpy landing and takeoff here.
Here we pass potato fields just south of Rumford Center, Maine. The potato plants are just short of the blossoming stage when the field will turn white with millions of small flowers. You can smell potatos as you ride past this 100 acre field.
We turned left onto Route 16 south and picked up a trio of Harleys to follow. This road is much twistier than Route 2 as it rises through Pinkham Notch and down the backside of Mount Washington's eastern flank. The skies thru here are variable and predicting a shower is nearly impossible. Right as we entered it began to brighten a bit.
Then threatening clouds began to cross the summit of Mount Madison ahead and to our right. Mount Washington is just becoming visible in the distance.
This shot is looking a bit to our rear. You can see that we have passed the darkness creeping over three of the Presidential Range peaks and sunshine is beaming through.
As we broke into the sunshine we got stuck behind some slow cages.
Finally the uphill road opened to two lanes. We expected the three Harleys to blast past the 45 MPH traffic in this 55 zone, so waited a moment, poised in the passing lane.
After they stayed in place for a short interval we blasted by ourselves and got ahead of the cage procession. These guys then folowed us by.
This is Wildcat Mountain one of the largest and, due to it's altitude and proximity to Mount Washington, coldest ski areas around the region. In the summer they host offroad bicycling, hiking, berrying and tons of other things to do. Taking a ride to the summit on the lift allows you a great view of Mount Washington [right across the street] and the valley below.
If it weren't for the lens burst in this picture you would have a great view of Tuckerman Ravine on the east flank of the mountain. This famous place shelters the snows with it's rise and offers climbers skiing into July in most years. It also calims about one life per year in an avalanche accident.
Now we're headed downhill having passed Pinkham Notch Camp and the height of land it represents.
Looking back at three Harleys and Mount Washington.
The covered bridge in Jackson, NH where they filmed a Budweiser commercial a number of years ago. Remember the team of workhorses puilling the beer wagon thru the covered bridge?
This view of Mount Washington and much of the rest of the Presidential Range [though it is a bit socked in with clouds] is taken from Intervale, NH's 'Scenic Vista' on Route 16. This is about 16 miles from the height of land.
This final picture was taken as we crossed the Saco River on River Road in North Conway. This is one of the routes that allow you to bypass the village traffic. It also has a great access route from it to the Kancamagus Highway, but that is another ride for another report...
Total miles ridden: 291
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