Spontaneous ride

When was the last time you jumped on your bike for a spontaneous ride?

It seems that everything in my life is planned and scripted. Work schedule, appointments, exercise schedule and a lengthy to-do list mean that Mike and I only fit in a bike ride when we plan it in advance. We pull out our calendars, check the weather forecast, and eventually agree that if everything works out, we can go for a ride on Saturrday at 11:30.

Today, spontaneity ruled.

Mike was working in his upstairs office, I was sick of spending the day on computer tasks, and sunshine beckoned. A quick "do you want to go for a ride?" turned into "let's go, right now!".

No matter that I had chicken and steak thawing in the fridge for dinner. Work was put on the back-burner, the kitchen floor can wait another day or two (or maybe week or two) to be swept, and the temperatures won't drop for at least another 2 hours. We were out the door in less than 10 minutes, heading toward the back roads of Dorset and Rupert.

A quick ride through Manchester on Route 30, turn onto Dorset West Road to enjoy a lightly traveled side road, and finally a left turn onto Route 315 that twists up over Rupert Mountain and down into West Rupert led us through newly plowed farmland and small clusters of houses in quiet villages centered by a white-clapboard church with a cemetery next door.

Route 315 becomes Route 153 when we cross into New York. If you miss the sign welcoming you to New York, you wouldn't realize you were in a different state. The state lines are blurry in this rural area, where kids living in Vermont go to high school in New York  because it's closer than the nearest Vermont school.

Salem, NY, boasts a stoplight where 153 intersects with 22. We head south on 22 into Cambridge, and tired of the busier 2-lane highway, I suggest to Mike that we turn off in White Creek onto a road I believe leads to North Bennington. As Mike always says, roads around here have to lead somewhere, and we followed NY 68 up and down rolling hills through more open farmland into White Creek and finally into North Bennington. We ride more slowly, giving us the opportunity to notice groups of daffodils blooming around the base of an abandoned farmhouse, cows grazing in newly green fields, and the smell of fresh dirt and manure.

North Bennington, population around 1,400, is busy with people driving home from work. Kevin and Mike's Place II is a popular restaraunt/bar, and since it's early we sit at the bar to order dinner and watch sports on the large TVs lined up on the wall. We don't linger over dinner since we want to avoid the rapid drop in temperature sure to come with dusk, and I pull on an extra sweater under my jacket as we get back on the bike.

We've ridden this route hundreds of times, but tonight Mike sticks with the theme of taking side roads whenever possible.Instead of staying on 7A all the way to Manchester, he turns off on Dunham Road in Arlington. It's a dirt road that twists and turns along a swampy area to our left, with scattered houses and steep forested hills to our right. At a couple of points Mike slows down to make a blind corner, just in case a car is coming from the opposite direction. The road narrows quite a bit, and it's easy for a car to take up more than its share of the road. Dunham Road ends at River Road, leading us along the BattenKill back to Manchester, with views of Bromley Mountain in our sight most of the way home.

A little under 3 hours after we left home, we pull into the driveway. We'll have to plan to be spontaneous more often.

First trip to Europe in 26 years!

Mike and I lived in Germany for the first three years of our marriage. I was stationed in Augsburg as part of the Army military intelligence service, and Mike worked for Sony in the PX system. We loved living in Bavaria and the opportunity to travel throughout western Europe. We always planned on returning to Europe, but life, kids, and work got in the way.

Today we’re head back to Germany! We’re flying Aer Lingus through Dublin, and then transferring on to Munich. The reason for the trip? We’re celebrating our 30^th wedding anniversary with a 12-day, 5-country motorcycle tour through the Alps with RoadRUNNER Magazine, followed by a week-long barge/bicycle trip in the Netherlands.

We started figuring out what to pack – and what to leave home – earlier this summer. We have to carry everything with us on the motorcycle, and the barge has very little space for suitcases and luggage. Our goal is to bring only the essentials – motorcycle gear (including helmets and raingear), bicycle gear (including another helmet) and a minimum amount of extra clothing. Thank goodness RoadRunner sent us very cool bags for our motorcycle helmets, since we’re using them as our carry-on luggage. A camera and paperback book fit nicely inside the helmet! Check out one of our suitcases, full of motorcycle gear:

There always seems to be some sort of malfunction when traveling, and we had two today.

First, our dishwasher started leaking about 45 minutes before we planned to head out the door. Mike pulled out his tools and worked his magic, but if we had left while the dishwasher was still running we could have had some serious water problems in the house.

Second, I took out my contact lenses and put on my glasses when we got to Logan Airport in Boston, and the promptly forgot to put the contact lens solutions in the checked baggage. When my carry-on was identified for extra scrutiny, I knew immediately what I had done. The contact lens solution bottles are too big to pass airport security, so I’ll be looking for alternative solutions once we get to Germany. At least I have my glasses!