Boston, Massachusetts 1

For most people when you lose your "khakis" you've lost your pants. When you're from Boston and lose your "khakis" you can't start your car.

Heidi's grand old house in Concord.

Holy shit I was looking forward to Boston, I loved the accent and was grateful to spend some extended time in one place. First I had to leave New Hampshire, so after saying goodbye to Heidi, I jumped on my bike and headed into downtown Concord. I was hoping to see some covered bridges, this is apparently what New Hampshire is famous for. That and the most crazy licence plate slogan yet: "Live Free or Die".

However the the closest "good" covered bridges were a bit of a distance away and in the wrong direction. So I just bought a few souvenirs and ate breakfast at chain very similar to IHOP (pancake place for those playing back in Australia). There was a stunning capital building in Concord too, but motivation was waning that day.

From left to right, top to bottom:
Christina, Jessica, Anjali, Natalya, myself and Blair.
Taken from the steps of their house.

In all honesty I was feeling a little under the weather; it seemed as though I had somehow caught a cold. Who thought that eating bad food, getting little sleep, drinking heavily and riding around in the cold could make a person ill?

My phone had run out of credit so I had to ring up T-Mobile to recharge it. After 15 minutes of being on hold, the operator picked up and told me the system was down and I'd have to call back later. Luckily through a open WiFi connection I was able to send Christina (my Boston couch surfing host) a brief message through the magic of Apple iMessage. Lucky for me she had an iPhone too. I said I'd be leaving Concord soon and would be in Boston in 2 hours or so.

It was raining that day and I was already cold from my sickness, so I put as many clothes on as I could and lethargically set off for Boston. Luckily I already had the address of the house so I was able to just follow my GPS's directions.

The street which the girl's lived.

When I arrived at the house I met Anjali, and not long after the rest of the girls started to slowly arrive one-by-one. Blair then Natalya then Jessica and finally Christina came home. We all chatted about my trip, what each of them were studying and their plans for the future. It was a little weird for a person like myself to be the centre of attention from so many people, but they all seemed really excited to meet me. I guess there might have been some nervousness there too, I was their first couch surfer, a very large motorcyclist from a country on the other side of the world!

The girls all studied at Tufts University which is a very well respected educational institution located Medford - a town just outside Boston. All were final-year undergraduate students (called "seniors" in America? Have I got that right?), except for Jessica who I think was a post-grad. I loved the diverse mix of the group in terms of race (Caucasian, Indian and Asian), background and personality. Each person was interesting in their own right. The girls had known each other for a long time - it was like living in some sort of college sitcom! Plus the house itself was really awesome, it was very old with an interesting layout, situated on the most classically American suburban street. The only thing I can liken the inside to was a cubbyhouse, but bigger. It was awesome.

Everybody loves Halloween!

I stayed up in the loft, which I guess was essentially a converted attic. Pretty comfortable since I got my own bed, but standing at 6'4 I had to be careful near the edges of the room not to hit my head!

That night most of the girls and I headed down to a local pub. Unfortunately I was still feeling a bit under the weather from my cold and they were all studying for midterms, so we couldn't have too much of a big one.

All the girls had pumpkin beers where the bartender would line the edge of the glass with sugar and cinnamon mix margarita-style. These girls loved pumpkin, and as it was approaching Halloween there was plenty of pumpkin goods to be had.

Taken near Tuft's University.

This obsession with annual flavours - especially pumpkin around Halloween - was a pretty foreign concept to me. I'm pretty sure we don't have anything like it in Australia. Around this time in America you can get pumpkin beer, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies (which were later baked by Christina), pumpkin hot chocolate and almost every food retailer or restaurant will have some food containing pumpkin. Even the big chains like Starbucks will join in.

Pumpkin is also especially interesting as an Australian as it is mostly served in a sweet manner (like pumpkin pie), which I guess makes sense as it is a sweet vegetable. It was met with much surprise when I told Americans that we only tend to have pumpkin savoury style in Australia - like baked pumpkin in a roast, in a risotto or in a salad.

Christina and I get lunch.

I found the obsession with pumpkin quite endearing to the American people. A feeling that I'm sure many would take offence to - coming from a foreigner who lives in such a small country. The all powerful and mighty US being endearing!?

But I loved how everyone got so excited about holidays and themed food in the States. Every year it seems that some Australians try and get us involved in Halloween, which is either met by stereotypical Aussie apathy or annoyance due to the way an American holiday is forced on us by the retailers.

Not to say that I think Halloween really belongs in Australia - I won't be celebrating it back home - but it sure is fun in the country where it originated. It feels more genuine rather than just retailers trying to make a quick buck before Christmas. Americans have been encouraged to embrace and celebrate it since they were very young, and it is consequently a bit more "grass-roots" than just ploy to sell shit - even thought that's obviously still taking place.

Tree within Tufts University.

I've got to point out that pumpkin beer is not considered to be some sort of girly drink either. Plenty of guys I met in America were drinking pumpkin flavoured stouts, ales and porters. I had one up in Fargo but it wasn't really my sort of thing. So that night I just got a regular local beer - which was fantastic by the way.

Oh and it also must be said that many of the girls I'd meet in America have an outstanding taste in beer. I don't think drinking it - or maybe being a beer snob like me - is as confined to one sex as it is back home.

The next day Christina invited me out for lunch and a walk around her University. We went to a sandwich shop with an adjoining café. The coffee and food was great despite the hipstery nature of the place (I don't mind hipsters by the way, they make for great baristas!).

We then wandered around Tufts University, where I tried to get some photos of some good fall foliage. Apparently I'd come a bit too late, as the tree she was intending was looking a bit scraggly now (see above), but still the colours were amazing! I walked back to Christina's house as she had classes to attend.

Anjali, Blair and Natalya put up with me during study.

That night the girls (plus Anjali's boyfriend) all gathered around for a study session. I tried to leave them alone so they could concentrate, the last thing I wanted was to disturb their studies during midterms! So I bought a few beers and put in some couch surfing requests from the attic.

After a while I realised that there was not much studying going on so I came and joined them. It was like being in University again! Except without all the exams, stress and drama - I was glad I could relive my university years vicariously.

The next day, to the Boston Universities!

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!