2014 Covered Bridges of New Hampshire Tour - Oct 18th

Glad you made it up for it, Bill. It was great seeing and riding with you again. Hope to do so again soon.

Our pictures are at the 1 hour photo, soon to be released!

OK, here's what we got for pictures in the AM. After lunch the camera stayed hidden away from the rain.





Someone was following us!





There was some good color, but with the flat light it doesn't look all that great in the photos.



And of course, there were some bridges to be crossed. We hit six of the planned dozen...

Carlton Bridge



Sawyer's Crossing Bridge





West Swanzey Bridge



Gloomy skies





Slate Bridge



Coombs Bridge









And the Ashuelot Bridge



Some of the characters who came along:





In the back you see professor ionbeam and Helen working on getting a camera to self time for the group shot. We did manage to get one, but it needd a little photo editing to straighten things out. I'm sure they will be along to post the final version pretty soon.

From here it was a quick jaunt up route 63 through Chesterfield, and past Spofford Lake



More angry skies as we passed one of several working farms in Westmoreland



Looking across the Connecticut River valley into the Green Mountain State



We did pass these flower children. Must have been heading home from Vermont, the northeastern home for a lot of 60's drop-outs.



Mmmm... must be near lunch time



That was all we got. Hopefully some others took a few worthy photos.

I missed it the ride!

My sister's farm party was a little rainy too. Instead of motorcycling I got to do tractoring. This is what I plan to do when I'm retired and 90 years old. Tractoring.

^^^^^

Looks really fun!!! Both the tractoring and the Bridges ride

I noticed that the photo with the three fjr's in it; all of them had the longer mirrors. Hmmmmm, must be on to something.

FZ1 mirrors FTW!

Nice pix Fred, you're camerawoman does a great job! Catch you next time when the forecast is a bit less soggy.

Ed

Fred W said:

Click to expand...

The FZ1 mirrors look really good in this shot!

Yeah thanks. To be perfectly honest I was never that big a fan of the stock 2nd/3rd gen mirrors even in the "looks" department.

The Erector Set girder mirror arms don't do it for me, even if they are color matched to the bike. Plus there is that whole "pivoting the wrong way" thing.

It was nice having the FZ1's on for this group ride as I could easily keep tabs on the other bikes behind me.

I finally got the pictures from the cameras and some time to do a quick sort. Fred already has the bridges covered so I'll just post the group mug shot and some of the scenics that haven't already been posted. It was mostly a dull gray day and the rain kept the cameras at bay.



L - R Fred W and TMJ, ionbeams Alan 'n Helen, bigogre Mike, FJReady Russ, scorpa Bill, MrMOtO Dewin










In the picture below I removed the unsightly wires and I ran them in underground conduits



Below, a good picture of a NH chicken.






















Two more pictures to end it all. These two bicyclists got a surprise when they pulled into this parking lot and looked up.



Umm, ya....

Gorgeous NE Autumn pics, Mrs ionbeam! Thank you

Yes, great work with the camera Helen! Great work with the editing software Alan!

Folks may notice that we had a lot of foliage color for our ride. Only most of it was already on the ground under the trees!

edit - Where was that one that you repeated?

(I want to buy that place)

Fred W said:

...edit - Where was that one that you repeated?
(I want to buy that place)

Click to expand...

You will notice that I thoughtfully buried the electrical services to the farm for you in the second picture. You will be purchasing The Inn at Valley Farms B&B, Cottages, and Vacation Farmhouse, 633 Wentworth Rd, Walpole, NH 03608 (43.034455, -72.425802). Well, you may be able to rent a room there We went up Blackjack Crossing near Walpole then turned left on Wentworth Rd., the B&B is ~2.5k feet from the left turn; just after the apple orchard at the top of the hill on the left and a big red farm on the right. That will leave you quite convenient to Burdick's for breakfast :lol:

The pictures are not in ride sequence. Hope that doesn't spoil them

Actually, I did not notice that until you pointed it out. I'm a country boy, so stuff like power lines do not distract my eye as much as some city slicker.

Yeah, the Inn at Valley Farms... I should have known that. It was actually a waypoint on the route (if you were listening to your girl, Garmina, along the way).

And I would possibly buy that place, except it is in Walpole. There is a certain stuffiness about Walpole that I can't get past (not just because of the Burr-Dicks. I have other reasons). But a country B&B might be an interesting thing to do in retirement, don't you think?

Fred W said:

But a country B&B might be an interesting thing to do in retirement, don't you think?

Click to expand...

Sounds great but who is going to run it when you are out riding? Something like that would be an anchor. If you were in the heart of ski country, a winter B&B might be more practical unless you want to head south for the ugly season. I don't ski or snowmobile so I positively HATE winter.

All jobs are anchors, Ross. The trick is to find the one you dislike the least.

That, or marry a really rich old woman on her death bed who will leave everything to you.

Fred W said:

But a country B&B might be an interesting thing to do in retirement, don't you think?

Click to expand...

Nope. That sounds a lot more like a job than retirement.

Great job on pics everyone, thanks.

Fred W said:

All jobs are anchors, Ross. The trick is to find the one you dislike the least. That, or marry a really rich old woman on her death bed who will leave everything to you.

Click to expand...

And find one that you have sumtin in common with!



Alan-

Awesome pics and color btw! If you do a NE fall peeper next year?, I gotta fit it in.

ionbeam said:

Fred W said:

...edit - Where was that one that you repeated?

(I want to buy that place)

Click to expand...

You will notice that I thoughtfully buried the electrical services to the farm for you in the second picture. You will be purchasing The Inn at Valley Farms B&B, Cottages, and Vacation Farmhouse, 633 Wentworth Rd, Walpole, NH 03608 (43.034455, -72.425802). Well, you may be able to rent a room there

We went up Blackjack Crossing near Walpole then turned left on Wentworth Rd., the B&B is ~2.5k feet from the left turn; just after the apple orchard at the top of the hill on the left and a big red farm on the right. That will leave you quite convenient to Burdick's for breakfast

The pictures are not in ride sequence. Hope that doesn't spoil them

Click to expand...

I didn't notice that you had removed the cables. In fact I didn't notice that the picture was repeated. I guess I do need new glasses, but my insurance won't pay for them until April, so I'm going to have to stumble around bumping into things until then.

Anyway, I like the second picture much better, the one without the cables. Nice photoshopping.