Concord, New Hampshire

So beautiful...

When leaving Montpelier, I thought it'd be a great idea to get a traditional breakfast from some boutique café in town. Unfortunately for me, each café as jam-packed full of "leafers" (like myself, regrettably) and the table wait times were very long. So instead I thought I'd head out to the nearest town and find a place to eat on the way.

As I rode inside the next town the only place that seemed to be open was Dunkin' Donuts. What the hell, how bad could it be? I got myself a "Big N' Toasted" sandwich... which was pretty fucking disgusting. Why is there so much oil on the outside of the bread? Who makes a sandwich and butters the outside? I guess it was fried but eww. However, I did manage to get talking to a motorcyclist who suggested I head to a particular small town (whose name I've since forgotten) to get some good scenery, so a successful breakfast nonetheless.

Vermont and the typical house architecture.

The rain had cleared up and it was a beautiful day for riding. Lots of windy backroads and red, orange and yellow foliage. I eventually made it to my target town and stopped in a local bar for some wood-fired pizza. Damn I was hungry.

Here I got talking to Dino, a fellow motorcyclist who lived (from memory) in New York state. He owned a beautiful vintage Triumph Bonneville, and was riding around with some of his mates up in here Vermont. We talked bikes and I told him about by tour so far.

It was kind of funny because initially he had a misconception of me due to my helmet sitting on the chair next to me. My helmet is very sports-bikey; a bit flashy, modern and of course full-face (open face helmets kind of scare me, my face is as important as my head!). Apparently sports-bike people kind of insufferable in America, and don't like associating to tourers or cruiser riders. Funny because I technically would be a sports-bike rider back in Australia. But once he worked out that I was touring not some sort of weekend race boy we got along fine. He introduced me to his friends and they let me tag along with their group for the rest of the day.

"One stuffed moose please"

One of the members of the group either worked for or contributed to the American Motorcycle Association (AMA) magazine. To which I'm a member by the way! I've got the card and everything. He seemed to know some good routes through the area, and took photos of us one handed as we rode in the pack. Something I wish I could do but my SLR is way too bulky - this is what the GoPro was for. But who knows, I might be in an issue of the AMA magazine!

The AMA guy took us to this crazy little store in Glover that sold an eclectic plethora of items. What was particularly peculiar was the stuffed animals strewn around the store. There was an awesome stuffed moose in the middle where you could just see where it had been shot in the fur.

We all rode together and I took lots of photos and video. Eventually we ended up at a brewery that was unfortunately closed. Eventually we all parted ways, but it was fantastic to spend some time with some fellow riders. Some of images of the ride follow.

Dino stands next to me on the right.

Later that afternoon I had to head down to Concord, New Hampshire to stay with my new couch surfing host, Heidi. It was getting pretty cold, and I was still using my ultra-cool summer jacket, so I didn't want to hang around too long before dark. Heidi was a middle-aged teacher who lived in a beautiful old house in Concord. Since I arrived a bit after dinner, she gave me some great corn chowder and I headed to bed pretty early. This was a rare occasion where I got my own room and bed from a couch surfing host!