Looking out of our motel room window we could see Kancamagus Mountain. This is the last mountain pass we needed to cross on our transcontinental bicycle tour. We needed to gain 2,000 feet of elevation to get over what the locals refer to as The Kanc. The climbing began almost from our motel door. It was ever so slight, but just enough for my legs to feel heavy. I kept looking down to see if I had a flat tire. I finally asked Carol, "Are we climbing?" She replied, "Yep, we sure are."
I soon fell behind as I stopped to take pictures and enjoy the roaring river views. The climbing never felt too steep and I found myself at the top with a beautiful overlook facing the 4,000 foot peaks of the White Mountains. I celebrated by asking another traveler to snap my picture to commemorate the last climb on our journey. We had a nice conversation and I got back on the bike, pedaled down and around the corner to see the REAL climb. I pushed up another three and a half miles before I found Carol at the real top of THE KANC. Kancamagus is a Native American name which means, "fearless one". We did feel fearless standing at the top of the pass, especially when we saw the sign which told us we had climbed the last three and a half miles at a 9% grade with fully loaded bicycles. This time we celebrated with garlic hummus and garlic cheese. Doesn't it sound delicious? It was.
Coming downhill I was grinning from ear to ear. We took our time coming down to enjoy the many overlooks of the White Mountains, which are especially rewarding on the downhill side.
Our route took us through Dugway Road, a back way into town which took us across the Albany Covered Bridge and meandered through cool shady trees as it hugged the river.
In Conway we called Sue Davidson to open the door for us to the United Methodist Church. When she and her husband Tom arrived to meet us, they informed us that we would be staying at their home. We were thrilled to ride five more miles, along our route, to arrive at their lovely farm house in Center Conway. We visited with Tom, Sue and Tom's 90 year old mother Mauren. Tom owns the UPS Center in Conway, Sue is a full time nurse and the Pastor at two United Methodist Churches.
Tom's mother Mauren entertained us with stories about how life used to be up here in New Hampshire when she was a young bride of 21. She got married and moved here from the big city of Boston, Massachusettes. Life took a lot of getting used to in the New Hampshire country side, but she successfully raised her family in this same home which has been in the family for 100 years. Mauren has two children, five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren who refer to her as Gigi, (great grandma). Mauren still plays the piano at church services on Sundays as well as the organ at a local retirement home. She is a devoted Red Sox fan. She's been following the team since her young days when Babe Ruth was playing and a ticket cost 10 cents.
Sue took Carol and me on a town tour on a trip to the grocery store. We also picked up Tom and Sue's three year old granddaughter, Jordan who entertained us with her renditions of "ABC's, Itsy Bitsy Spider and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Jordan has big blue eyes and blond curls and I can tell there is never a dull moment around her.
Before we went to bed, Sue got onto the computer to look up contacts for us further along our route. She helped us by giving us phone numbers and sending e-mails to her fellow United Methodist Pastors. This was a lot of energy to put out for us after her long day of leading church services, attending a church meeting, taking care of us and her three year old grandchild and preparing a dinner party for seven.
Carol and I are tired but gratefully clean, dry, well fed and tickled to be so close to Bar Harbor, ME.
We were able to get in touch with Pam and she did get a ride to Portland, ME and flew back to Missouri on July 25th where she is happy to be back home with her family.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment