Riders from Canada to Delaware started from Kate & Matt's house.
The ride has started at Johnson's Dairy Bar in Groton each year.
Mark, the mysterymeister, passing out route packets at the start.
Mat, Matt, Kate and Mike at Johnson's.
"Read all instructions before starting." And have some breaky.
Samuel Finkel Buxton enjoys a pancake.
Sam and Hilary say, "Cheese!"
Falvio, Mocha, John and Steve before departure.
Clue: note OCCUPATION to later turn left if composer or right if tax evader.
Mocha hasn't quite worked out the whole helmet thing yet.
Clue: note # OF MAILBOXES, then later left if 44, straight if 45, or right if 46.
Mark sucks it up and holds the stupid moose for a moment.
Clue: note OLD VILLAGE NAME and later left if Peckersfield, right if Packersfield.
Clue: note MUSIC GENRE and later left if chamber, right if hip-hop.
The gazebo built over a huge stump at Apple Hill.
Dave McElvain met up with us at Apple Hill.
Clue: note OBJECTS PILED in front of obelisk and later go left if bowling balls, straight if brass balls or right if cannon balls.
Not a route clue, just interesting. Sign for 36' dry-laid stone arch bridge built in 1862.
The impressive Gilsum Stone Arch Bridge.
The other side of the bridge.
Clue: note MIDDLE NAMES, later left if Czar Augustus or right if King George.
Westminster VT's Town Hall, next to the monument with the middle names.
Lunch stop for some: Curtis' BAR*B*Q, the 9th Wonder of the World.
Curtis cooks up some chicken and potatoes, as he's done for over 39 years.
Scott chows down on some corn on the cob for lunch.
Mocha meets Henri's rat and declares him scarily enormous.
Clue: note WHEN BRIDGE BUILT (nearly impossible to see here) to later go right if third digit is even or left if odd.
Imagine 15,000 people here in 1840 for a political rally.
I wonder how 15,000 people even heard Daniel Webster speak.
Perhaps unnoticed by many, an older monument was at the top of the driveway.
Clue: note "AIRPORT" name, later "R if Sunrise, L if Sunset, (sing) Swiftly fly the years"
A sign warns people away from the ominous east portal of the Hoosac Tunnel.
By 5:30pm the portal was in much darker light than this long exposure shot suggests. Cool air breezed out from it.
Mocha had a brief moment of despondence, but he got over it.
Clue: note PROJECT NAME. Further on go L if Save The Moose, Str if Impeach Bush, R if Bear Swamp.
Mocha hoped to catch a glimpse of more of his kind, but failed.
Clue: note LARGE STRUCTURES to later pick the correct state route to follow based on whether they are wind turbines or antenna towers.
This was Mocha's view of Green Mountain Power's Searsburg Wind Facility, still Vermont's only commercial wind plant.