EAST COAST USA 2015 (DAY THREE)

The sun gods have blessed me so far as I awoke to yet another spectacular morning. I got a pot of coffee on right away as the camp started to come alive. It's interesting to watch the various other campers as they slowly emerge from their tents or motor homes. I'm finding myself in the minority when it comes to camping. Just about everyone else is in some fancy chrome beast that is literally their home on wheels. Where's the adventure?
After breakfast, a shave, shower and a few dishes to wash, I was packed up and back on the road. My second day getting completely off track taught me the value of maps and talking with other campers and bikers along the way for local perspectives on the best routes to follow. Here are some pics I took on the route that interested me. These are taken in front of a funky shop that had these amazing life size metal sculptures.

This is a shot of The Mount Washington Resort.

Today my mission was to ride to and up to the top of Mount Washington. It's not the tallest pile of rock but at 6300 feet it's a lofty place to experience. I took this shot at the base across from the visitor center which is important because later I have a shot from the top looking down to the spot I started from.

They charge you $16.00 to drive up and they wouldn't allow me to take my trailer which I left at the base with other bike trailers. They said the road is quite narrow and steep and would be too dangerous with the trailer. Here is a pic taken by a fellow visitor about half way up the mountain.

Even though there is no helmet law in New Hampshire I wore mine, just took it off for the photo.
At the top is a weather station and a well preserved old stone hotel that is no longer in use but back in the day was the only place to stay for the very hardy few that made it up to the summit. In the next shot of my bike you can just make out the visitor center to the right of my headlight.

There is another way to scale this mountain. Starting out somewhere near Littleton, NH there is a cog train which uses rails like a normal train. Because the terrain is so steep a normal train wheel would not be able to grip the rails and it would simple spin in place on the slick track. The cog train uses a third track in between the two outer tracks. This center track has notches in it. Under the cog train engine is a center drive wheel with corresponding notches that fit into the notches or cogs in the track. This feature allows the cog train to negotiate very steep ground. Here is a photo of the cog train being boarded for the long, slow decent to the valley floor below.

The sky had begun to cloud up by mid afternoon so I decided to get on my way and head east to Portland, Maine area. A fellow biker gave me some very simple directions and off I went. 

My bike and I both needed some fuel so I got some gas and stopped for a quick bite. By now the sun had returned as I cruised through small towns enjoying the breathtaking scenery. I figured I better look for a camp ground before hitting the coast as I imagined there wouldn't be many choices along the water. 

I found a nice spot just outside Portland, ME. and set up camp for the night. Luckily their wifi was very strong so I could update my blog.

For those who are following along with me, I have gone back and added in some photos to the first two days of my adventure. Also, if you click on a photo it will enlarge it so you can see the details better.