The Adirondacks are beautiful. They have an entirely different feel than the Green Mountains of Vermont. Smoother, more peaceful. Serene. We took basically the same route through the Adirondacks as we did on the way to Evergreen, with the motorcycles.
This photo is en route to the ferry, looking across Lake Champlain from a Vermont hillside to the Adirondacks in the distance. It doesn't even remotely do the scene justice:
We keep forgetting how long it takes to get out of Vermont these days. We dropped Thunder off at his sitter for the weekend, and had to cross Warren Mountain, Lincoln Peak and Lake Champlain just to get into New York. Then we had to cross the Adirondacks in order to get to Harisville, where the Bed and Breakfast owners were less than pleased with our late arrival.
From the ferry (construction on bridge):
It was fun to be on familiar turf during tech inspection and in the pit area. There were pine needles on the ground, and it never got above seventy degrees.
A crowd of admirers...we've never had a crowd of admirers before:
The Black River Stages is unique from the other rallies Seth races in because the first stage starts in the afternoon and runs well into the night. I thought this was exciting until I realized that my reading lamp was setting, and it was going to get more chilly than I was prepared for. Now I know for next year!
The pit area was based out of a local camp ground, and since most of the motorcycle group was camping, the motorcycle section of the pit area was in the midst of a beautiful pine forest. Once the motorcycles roared back to their race I sprawled out in our trusty 4Runner and read until the last strains of light disappeared from the sky.
The race went late, as usual, but when it's supposed to end around 9 and things fall behind, it means it is REALLY late (and cold) before you can go grab a quick dinner and get some shuteye. Seth and I were both starving, and began to be discouraged at the hope of finding anyplace serving food, or even selling anything but alcohol. We were driving around Harisville searching the darkened windows for any hope that a tiny hole-in-the-wall would be lurking with food to offer. At last, in the midst of a completely black line of windows Seth saw a tiny "OPEN" sign. He went inside and came out with the joyous news that the bartender was willing to make us Turkey sandwiches. When we went in we found part of the Irish racing team (the driver and navigator). Apparently they'd finished first and had been there for some time already! We sat down and the aged bartender looked at me, then looked at Seth and said "You didn't tell me your mechanic was a woman!" with a twinkle in his eye that put me in mind of Grandpa. When the Irish team saw us receiving our turkey sandwiches (piled gloriously high!) they seemed aghast that they had been there such a long time and had not remembered to ask for food. As the bartender was making their sandwiches, their mechanics came in cursing, but were delighted to discover that sandwiches were available! I felt as though we had caused this poor old man quite a bit of trouble on what should have been a quiet evening. I liked him though, he made me think of Grandpa working the night shift and the fun times he must have had! At one point while he was making his fifth or sixth sandwich, he came out with a smile and said "Anyone want some clam chowdah!?" A rousing chorus of "aye"s came from the Irish corner. Seth and I were less hungry than we were exhausted, so we said goodnight and headed back to our B&B. Around 3:30 or 4 we were woken by footsteps in the hallway. The Irish racers kept impressive hours for the team in first place!
I'm sure the B&B ladies were displeased.
The next day the race was run during the day, as usual, and I had more time to snap some pictures.
This is my reading nook in the back of the 4Runner. (And coffee! The first day I never found coffee!):
One of the rally rules is that when you are refueling your "vehicle" someone must be standing by with a fire extinguisher. I thought our gas cans and fire extinguisher could keep an eye on each other while I read.
Normally no one is around to take a picture of me, so I got a self portrait:
Then Seth came back and one of the other riders took our picture before we left! I was so excited!
Look at Seth's gnarly beard!
No comments:
Post a Comment