Day’s distance: 197 miles
Total trip distance so far: 4,862 miles
Temperatures were mild and reached a high of 77. It was a beautiful, mostly sunny day.
Avoiding Boston and the coastline north of the city, I decided to travel inland and use some interstates, but some scenic byways as well, to visit Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut all in one day. Here is a link to the google map for the day. It was a complicated one!
I visited some beautiful semi-rural countryside. Here is Hwy 125 near Andover.
I took a short break when I arrived in Milford. A Dunkin’ double chocolate donut hit the spot 🙂
I topped off the tank with fuel and the Milford Town Hall was across the street waiting for yet another tourist to take a photo. Who can resist?
Reaching Burrville, I felt compelled to prove I visited Rhode Island. I risked a parking ticket to get this one!
There were a lot of bikers on the roads today. I was happy to see that as it meant, to some extent anyway, that I had chosen my route well.
My planned lunch stop was the Vanilla Bean Cafe. It is supposed to be a biker friendly lunch / gathering place.
To get there, I crossed into Connecticut on Hwy 44. I think five bikes passed by as I spent about two minutes taking this shot.
Soon enough, I reached The Vanilla Bean Cafe.
The parking lot was gravel and I stayed focused while parking the bike to avoid embarrassing myself. There were about 30 other bikes there, spread around three different parking areas, including crotch rockets, touring bikes, trikes, two sidecars, and lots of Harleys.
I ordered a buffalo burger and watched the show. At one point, a group of riders left to continue their ride. Watch that video here.
I still had about 90 minutes of riding. Before taking off, though, I noticed this sign near the bathroom. This place was the official launch site of Vanilla Coke!
This place is totally worth a stop if you’re in the area!
To reach Windsor Locks, I would take Hwy 169 north through Woodstock, a seemingly wealthier community with big properties and prep schools. Most of the speed limits were 35 to 45mph, but I didn’t mind – there was much to see.
This was the end of week three on the road. I have 9 states left to visit on this trip. I’m not including Hawaii.
I look forward to checking off New Jersey and Pennsylvania tomorrow. I’ll be staying at my sister’s place for a full day of visiting on Monday. This is good timing as it is supposed to rain.