Moto Giro degli Stati Uniti: Countries, turkies, ferries, syrup, no ice cream and RAIN

There are many towns in the Adirondacks named after foreign countries and cities. We passed through Greece yesterday and Russia today. We skipped Poland and Mexico but have been to Rome. We did not see Turkey anywhere but we did see lots of wild turkies this morning. Naturally as soon as we got a camera prepared we never saw another. The mountains today were taller than yesterday and there were also more pine trees. I saw almost no pine trees yesterday. Later on in the day I saw a road on the GPS screen that turned left off of our planned route and crossed into Vermont. It was too late to catch Clint and Charleen and tell them I wanted to take that road. But they had seen it also and turned there. It took us to a ferry crossing over Lake Champlain. On the ferry we noticed a brochure for a maple syrup farm about 45 minutes north. We all love maple syrup so we took off for the farm. We learned a little about maple syrup and better understand the prices now. They used to boil 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. They have improved the process now to boil only 10 gallons because they can remove most of the water before they start. We bought a pint of syrup to take home for $10 which Linda said was a very low price for real maple syrup. And then we saw another brochure for the Ben and Jerries ice cream factory about an hour south which was the way we were going. So we went there with our eyes on the black sky we were heading into. The next tour we could take was almost an hour later so we decided to find shelter before the rain hit. But this town only had one motel which was expensive and several bed and breakfast inns which were even more costly. But the girls had coupon books and had a coupon for a motel about 15 miles south so we tried to beat the rain. We lost, we lost big time. We got on the interstate and the rain started. We pulled off and put on rain jackets and the rain started coming down harder to compensate. We arrived shortly after at the motel, got the rooms and went to park the bikes. Then we really got wet. And it is still coming down. Linda and I had considered a campground and she said to do the motel instead. What a great choice as we would have been completely soaked to the skin putting the tent up in this kind of weather. I am not going outside to check the mileage.

Che bella giornata. Buon tempo, belle colline, tanti tacchini selvaggi. Anche c'era un piccolo giro attraversare Lago Champlain sul traghetto. Poi siamo stati in Vermont dove fanno lo scirropo dai alberi acero. Ci piace molto cosi abbiamo visitato una fattoria, imparato un po' del processo e comprato un mezzo litro. Poi abbiamo sentito di un posto dove si fanno una marca speciale di gelato cosi abbiamo provato fare un giro ma il cielo stavo diventando nero. Cosi abbiamo cercato per un albergo. Linda e Charleen avete avuto un libro di sconti e li hanno usato al albergo. Buon idea perche' la pioggia era terribile e non era un buona notte per la tenda. Adesso e' 5 ore piu' tardi e la pioggia e peggiore. Grazie alle signore!!