This campground (The Cottages at Tower Hill) has a couple of ‘community’
fire pits stationed around the area.
Woke up at 2:38 a.m. to the sound of loud music, laughter and voices
coming from the front of the campground. This place obviously doesn’t enforce
any sort of ‘quiet time’. There was a
lot of traffic noise from out on the road also.
Didn’t hear any of that noise when I went to bed because I was tired and
went out like a light. But eventually it
seeped through and woke me up. As I was laying there trying not to think of
pagan fire rituals, a vehicle pulled into a nearby site and must have left the vehicle
door open...there was a solid 5 minutes of that ‘ding, ding, ding’ sound of
keys left in the ignition. I peeked out
a tent window and saw the shadow of the guy next door walking around outlined
by his truck’s interior light.
Again, people either don’t know how much sound carries outside in the
dead of night or they just don’t care.
The motto of New Hampshire is Live Free or Die, which on the face of it seems
to be an extreme philosophy but someone told me that it really refers to a ‘don’t
tell me what to do’ attitude. That might
explain the “I’ll make as much noise as I want and too bad if it infringes on
what you want to do” attitude of last night’s revelry.
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Motorcycles are everywhere!! I
asked if there was some ride going on this weekend and the answer was “No, this
is just New Hampshire. It’s a popular place to ride...all year long...people
ride.” Really? People ride in the winter?
Do you get much snow? Ice? “Sure
we get snow but it doesn’t last on the roads long...maybe a day until it’s
plowed. I’ve seen guys riding in single
digit temperatures.” No way...wouldn’t do it.
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We are camped across the road from Meredith Bay which is one of many
little bays off Lake Winnipesaukee. U.S.
Route 3 is the road that runs along this area of the bay...lots of bikes
running this road, all times of the day, most of them loud.
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A fellow camper with a strong New Hampshire accent and few teeth came
over to tell us about a real scenic road up in the White Mountains....the Kangamanga
Highway. He mentioned it several times
and I repeated it back to him as many times.
Yes, that’s the road. So I
googled it to find out what he was talking about and found this on kancamagushighway.com:
The
Kancamagus Highway, also known as "The Kanc," is often misspelled and
mis-pronounced Kangamangus Highway, Kangumangus Hiway or Kancamangus Highway.
The correct way to pronounce Kancamagus is "Kank-ah-mah-gus.” 😧
The Kancamagus Highway is a 34.5 mile scenic
drive along NH's Rt. 112 in Northern New Hampshire that is well known as one of
the best Fall Foliage viewing areas in the country. The Kancamagus Highway is
now designated an American Scenic Byway for its rich history, aesthetic beauty
and culture.
The drive along the Kancamagus Highway takes
you back in time as you drive through a forest that offers no comforts of the
modern day world; no gas stations, no restaurants, hotels or other businesses
have pierced their way into the heart of the Kancamagus Highway. Those luxuries
are left behind at both ends of the scenic byway but well within reach when
needed.
---------------------
Vermont isn’t a wide state so we could just
blow right through it but we decided to overnight it in Vermont. We decided to
stay in a hotel tonight...just had to find one that didn’t cost a fortune and
had good reviews. Actually some of the
reviews on the lower prices hotels were funny to read...those people didn’t
mince words, that’s for sure. But their frank words served a purpose...we moved
onto the mid-priced hotels. Found one in
Barre, VT, just outside of Montpelier.
The hotel was less than 90 miles by the
direct route. But we wanted to ride ‘The
Kanc’ so direct wasn’t in the plan today.
I had picked out a scenic route and then mapped it with Rapunzel in
sections. We spent a good deal of our
day riding in the White Mountains and its foothills.
--------------------
‘Kanc’
trivia:
*Kancamagus
means ‘Fearless One’ and was the name of the last chief of the Penacook Confederacy.
*Elevation
at the Kancamagus Pass is 2855 feet which makes it the highest mountain
crossing in New Hampshire.
*The
road rises over 2,000 feet in the 15 miles from Lincoln, NH, to the Kancamagus
Pass.
*The
Swift River is 25.6 miles long, runs through the White Mountains and is paralleled
its entire length by ‘the Kanc’.
--------------------
From what I could see through the trees of
the Swift River it was picture worthy. There
were several spots along the Kancamagus with access to the Swift River; cars
overflowed the parking areas and were parked along the roadside. Not the easiest parking scenario for Kim’s
bike pulling a trailer. Found a pullout
with one other vehicle that had plenty of room for us to get back on the road.
We had to walk through some trees to get to
the river’s edge and came upon two people sitting out in the river on a
rock. They looked suspiciously at us as
we greeted them but since I didn’t want them in my picture we went a little
farther down river. Every time I looked
around, I saw the guy watching us.
Eventually they packed up and left.
That’s when I said to Kim, “I feel bad that we chased them out...they
didn’t have to leave, we aren’t even near them.” The Kim quietly said, “They were smoking
pot. Well, he was smoking a cigarette
also but they were passing a vape for smoking pot back and forth.” Oh, no wonder he kept his eye on us.
This made me curious about New Hampshire’s marijuana
laws. I found info on visit-newhampshire.com
but there wasn’t a date on the article; I wanted a date so I looked
on Wikipedia: In 2017,
New Hampshire decriminalized cannabis, replacing misdemeanor charges with a
$100 fine for a first or second offense, and $300 for a third offense. Four
offenses within three years would result in misdemeanor charges. So it’s not legal for
recreational use but the penalties for possession have been lessened. Medical use of pot is legal.
--------------------
Saw lots of Monarch butterflies while riding
the Kancamagus Highway. Wonder if they’re
gathering for the migration to Mexico?
--------------------
At 6 p.m. tonight we crossed in Vermont which
means we have now ridden our bikes in every one of the lower 48 states plus
Alaska!! We can now check that off our
Life’s To Do List. Wonder what’s next?
--------------------
Kim
has dragged his heels, quite literally, in every one of the lower 48 states
plus Alaska. I can usually tell when he does it because I can smell the
rubber...occasionally it gives off smoke also.
So the heels of his shoes are looking a little more worn than when we
started on this trip. 😏
--------------------
At
some point on our way to the hotel we left the highway for the road less traveled.
However, it was also the road less
repaired which meant a very bumpy road through some very scenic countryside.
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Sunday’s miles: 196
Total: 2,467 miles
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