Leaving Mirek and Kinga a day early, I set course for Burlington in Vermont. It'll rain there on Wednesday, the internet says, so in order to avoid that, Tuesday was the day to go. There's a motorcycle shop in Burlington with a Ner-A-Car, that I want to take pictures of for a magazine article.
Crossing the border in the US is easy, and soon I'm on the old main road next to the freeway, going south. The US flags are still up everywhere, though far fewer than before. Apple yards and wineyards line this road, the surface is way better than the average Canadian road, and all is fine until it turns out I have to go on a ferry across the waters to Gordon's landing in Vermont. I'm not fond of water deeper than where I can see the bottom, and with winds and waves the tiny ferry rolls a bit. But it makes it, and I reach Burlington at noon, just as planned.
Above and below: Small ferry to Vermont, with sign at the ramp telling people not the use their bloody phones when embarking onto the deck. The pic below was taken by a kid with size 18 shoes (Danish size 51).
At 'The Daily Rider' motorcycle shop, Ben Pierce, their mechanic working on the Ner-A-Car, attaches the rear wheel, rolls it out, and the necessary photos are taken. Over lunch he tells a bit more about the odd little thing, which already has done one Cannonball cross-country run, and is now being prepared for another. For some reason it's painted orange, instead of the usual black, and has all sorts of sensible modifications - that probably aren't particularly good for a magazine article.
Mechanic Ben Pierce posing with the Ner-A-Car, an evolutionary dead end as far as motorcycle design went. The hub centre steering bike was nevertheless a big seller back in the 1920s, as it was easy to ride, and marketed as an excellent bike for women motorcyclists.
Yesterday's ride to the Austrian mock-village was a small foretaste of what the road and the scenery looks like from south of Burlington, and all the way to Hartland, Vermont. The bike manages to run a 50 mph most of the time, despite a very strong headwind, which is a relief. Rt. 4 going east from Rutland is particularly impressive, with the Sherburne mountain pass of 2150 feet (admittedly not much compared to the Rockies) followed by an hour's worth of slow 45 mph curves along the Ottauquechee River, sun in the back, now a tail wind, and cops that either don't notice or just decide to ignore this helmetless Dane.
In Hartland good company and a good dinner awaits me, hummingbirds hover just outside the window, and before going to bed I see fireflies outside.
Dairy farm on Rt. 7, with cows inside lining up by themselves, in order to get milked.
4 hours of beautiful rolling hills all the way to Miles & Patrice's house, a nice and very welcome change from 4 weeks of flat prairie.
We all saw the movie, didn't we?
Arriving at the Mushlin estate, blue-smokin' in 1st gear up a long winding gravel road.
Toronto to New York and Rhinebeck.
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