3000 miles, 70 Tractors, and 40 Snowmobiles....

Just 4 miles into today’s ride, I hit the 3000 mile mark for the tour so far. I cannot believe I have already done a fifth of the total miles. Wow, that has gone by really quickly!

In keeping with my scheme to stop at exactly every 1000 miles and take a photo of the road, here is my 3000 mile photo which was taken just west of Jeffersonville, in Vermont.





















Todays ride was really centred on Lake Champlain, in the north west part of Vermont. The landscape soon changed from seeing millions of trees to seeing great landscapes and the lake itself. It was mainly grey skies today, so the lake wasn’t at its best, but still very impressive anyway. As soon as my route took me close to the lake, I visited Sand Bar State Park. This consists of a length of lake edge, a strip of grass and a large car park. Not that I wanted to, but nobody was allowed to swim in the water due to the high levels of bacteria. So, I paid $3 for the privilege of parking in an empty car park for the 10 minutes I was there, which is not a problem as State Parks do cost money to run and maintain, so I don’t mind paying my share. I did wonder however who decided a lake edge, a strip of grass and a car park was worthy of “State Park” status. As I rode away, I had the Joni Mitchell song Big Yellow Taxi in my mind... "They took all the trees, put 'em in a tree museum and charged the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em". Maybe I felt the same about the lake edge?

If you look carefully in the first of these two pictures of Sand Bar State Park, you might just see my bike parked in the vast empty car park....







































The ride north though the lake (there are a series of islands joined by causeways) was interesting as the lake appears on the left, then the right, then back on the left and so on. I was surprised that I didn’t see bigger houses on the islands – I thought they would be a magnet for the wealthy, but it didn’t appear to be the attraction I thought it might be. Maybe the bigger houses were away from the main road. Here are The leading Ladies next to the lake....




















Just before leaving Vermont, at the northern end of the lake is a strange old building. Not strange because of anything to do with the building itself, but with its location. It is called U.S. Fort Montgomery and here is a poor picture of it across the water.... it was a hazy day....




















This is what a sign about the fort said.... “Before you are the ruins of U.S Fort Montgomery. This massive fortification, built over a 30-year period starting in 1844, was constructed on the site of a much smaller fort, which was started in 1816. The first stronghold on this site came to be known as “Fort Blunder” because it was built on land discovered to be north of the United States – Canada border. It was abandoned before completion.” Oops, can you imagine finding this out after 30 years of construction? We have all done things that when we realised we goofed-up then felt really bad, but how did the person feel when got this wrong!!! That must have been one heck of an “Oh-shit” moment!

This is the bridge that carries one back from Vermont into New York State at Rouses Point....




















As soon as you cross the bridge you are faced with a simple decision....























Had Mrs F been with me, we would have turned right as I would have taken her to Montreal to catch a plane. Being on my own, I turned left.

As I went from Vermont back into NY State and the difference was noticeable straight away – that part of NY is much more affluent than its neighbouring part of Vermont. The house are bigger and the whole feel of the place is more up-beat.

After travelling north for some way, it was now turn to head south along the western shore of Lake Champlain. There are many farms here – something I haven’t seen a lot of on my tour so far. I passed one structure that I didn’t have a clue what it was, so I turned around and went and asked. I was greeted by a guy about 6 foot tall with a long grey beard, who told me his nickname was ZZ Top! He said he rode a Harley and he explained that his long beard was fun on the bike, as it often parted in the wind and got pushed back into his wife’s face when she was on the back of his bike. She had been known to tie his beard in a knot behind his head to keep it out of her eyes. I wish I had taken a picture of him.

ZZ Top told me the structure was a plant for storing and mixing different types of grain and corn, to be chopped and blended to feed to the one million chickens that lay on the land behind the plant. One million chickens!!! It was an egg farm I had stopped at and I now wish I had asked to be shown around, but my silly British reserve got in the way. Note to self – ask, or you shall not find! Here is a picture of the plant....



























Next I saw one of those sights you don’t quite believe as you take in what you are looking at.... is that really a line of tractors stretched out across the field.....




















I of course had to go back and find out what this was all about, so I rode my bike into the farm and found a guy cleaning out a barn. His name was Tony Trombly, the latest in a line of Trombly’s to run the farm since 1916, appropriately called “John Deere Hill Dairy Farm”. They were his tractors and they were all made by John Deere. Wait for it.... he had 70 of them! In addition, he has 40 John Deere snowmobiles (“John Deere made 40 different models, so it took a long time to collect them all”). Here is Tony standing next to a 1938 model that he had recently taken to a tractor show....




















It was a strange but enjoyable sight seeing all the tractors, so I took a walk along the line of all 70 and took some photos....

A 1957 model. A very good year....




















This one was very old – note the wheels....




















The long line looking back up to the farm buildings....



























I loved this 1935 model....




















Seen better days....




















A very early model in good condition....




















The biggest tractor at the end of the line. Note the double wheels, and bizarrely, a snowmobile on the roof....




















It was all very strange, but great fun. I didn’t ask where the 40 snowmobiles were!

I stopped at the H-D dealer in Plattsburgh to get some goodies for giving the Leading Ladies a wash, and I saw this chopper with a shovelhead engine. Nice....




















I checked in at a really nice (and at $45, a very cheap) motel very near to Ausable Chasm, to find a few bass boats already there. There is a large (150 boat) fishing competition on the lake tomorrow, so I took a look at the boats and spoke to the fishermen, some of who do bass fishing full time and make enough money at it to be professional fishermen. Nice work if you can get it....




















A 250 HP outboard motor....



























I decided to check into a motel very early today, so that I could give The Leading Ladies a wash. They were much happier afterwards.

I had dinner at Dana’s Rusty Anchor which is right on the lake. Here is the view from the restaurant....




















The server, a young Harley-owning guy at college wanted to know all about the tour, my bike......etc. He almost sat down with me to hear more!

Finally, just for Bobscoot, because I know he likes his food, I had a delicious Lobster and Crab Baked Pie and Strawberry Sponge cake.... Here is the cake....




















A great day!