Green Miles

As one of the most rural in the country with a population of just 608,827, the Green Mountain State is also a free-spirited, rider-friendly citadel of real democracy, practiced through yearly statewide town meetings. There is even a secession movement in progress, with the goal of making Vermont an independent country. "Better for tourism," they say, so perhaps some Vermonters are also a zealous lot. Nevertheless, the state offers riders a chance to explore like no other with lush farmlands, picturesque villages, ski resorts and hundreds of miles of scenic, serpentine roads.

My riding partner, Joe "Mr. Happy" Loverchio, and I took off on a hot, sunny day from Sloatsburg, New York. We planned a zigzagging route, choosing as many scenic roads as possible, and rumbled north along treelined Route 17 to the New York Thruway, then Route 84 east to the Taconic State Parkway.

If I could ever fall in love with a four-lane highway, the Taconic is it. Restricted to cars and motorcycles, it rolls north snaking through forests and farms. At Route 295, we headed east to Route 22 North, a rustic road rambling through New York's hinterlands, then took Routes 7 and 9 into Bennington, one of Vermont's larger towns with a whopping population of nearly 9,200.

We stopped at the Bennington Battle Monument, which stands 306 feet and is the highest structure in Vermont. It offers scenic views of three states and honors the Revolutionary soldiers who defeated the British invading army in 1777. American General John Stark said to his troops before the battle, "There they are, boys! We beat them today or Molly Stark sleeps a widow tonight!" After losing the battle, British General Burgoyne said of the Vermonters, "(They are) the most active and rebellious race on the continent and (they) hang like a gathering storm on my left."

From the monument we rode Joe's Kawasaki ZG1000 Concours and my Nomad 1600 north on scenic Route 7A to Mount Equinox, the highest mountain in southern Vermont. There our machines easily climbed the toll road to the summit, where a spectacular view of mountains and countryside spread out before our eyes like a colorful inland sea. On a clear day, the view encompasses parts of New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Quebec.

The mountain preserve is owned by a Carthusian Monastery that acquired it from a private family, which explains the grave marker I found on a hike from the summit to Lookout Rock. It marked the burial site of the family dog:

Mr. Barbo

Born April 20, 1943.

We loved him and he repaid that love with enduring devotion that only a dog could give.

Shot and killed by a malicious hunter on Nov 2, 1955.

Clearly, Mr. Barbo was the victim of some feud, but being a dog person, I fully understood the family's desire to leave a loving marker in memory.

A few miles beyond Mount Equinox is Manchester, a postcard village that can be viewed from Lookout Rock, and the mansion Hildene. This 24-room Georgian Revival mansion was built as a summer home by Robert Todd Lincoln, Abraham's only son. His descendants lived there until 1975. It's well worth a stop and the $10 admission charge.

From Manchester we rolled on to Route 30, then Route 11, zigzagging through the Green Mountains to Route 100, one of the most scenic roads in Vermont. We were heading north though farmland, forests and Vermont villages, as well as past Pico and Killington, two of Vermont's most famous ski areas, until we reached the Central Jersey Ski Club Lodge where Joe, a member, had arranged lodging for us.

After a night's rest at the lodge, we fired up the bikes and sailed north. Route 100 is a great road that zigzags its way north through small towns, farmlands and alongside mountains. Unfortunately, like many of Vermont's roads, it takes a beating in the winter, so unless repaved you bounce along on frost heaves and cracks in the roadway. Nevertheless, the sweet sounding rumble of my Nomad and the eye candy that is Vermont more than compensated for a few rough stretches.

We stopped briefly in the Green Mountain National Forest Visiting Center in Rochester and talked with Kevin Demeurers, a volunteer, who was very helpful with scenic route planning. The first side route he recommended was taking Route 17 at Waitsfield, and boy was he right. We rumbled up and down the sinuous mountain and then back to 100. What views!

Our next stop was Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory in Waterbury. These two self-described losers were part of the hippie migration into Vermont in the late '60s and early '70s. After failing at every attempt to make a living, they took a mail-order ice cream course, opened their first store, and soon became a nationwide corporation of peace-and-love ice cream, practicing the values of the '60s on a corporate level. But as with all fairy tales, they eventually sold out and Ben & Jerry's is now part of a conglomerate. Nevertheless, it's a fun place to see, and the tour of the plant is a worthwhile part of the visit.

We motored on to Stowe, the quintessential Vermont ski town at the foot of Mount Mansfield, Vermont's highest peak. Although closed to motorcycles now, the last time I was here I took the Mount Mansfield toll road to just below the summit, and then hiked a relatively easy 1.5 miles along the ridge to the actual summit, where the views are awe-inspiring. I felt like an Olympian God gazing down from the heavens at massive Lake Champlain and New York's High Peaks region to the east, the White Mountains of New Hampshire to the west, north into Quebec, and south over the Green Mountains of Vermont. Today you can take a gondola ride and then hike, but that trail is more challenging than the one from the road, and so far there's no toll-road shuttle service provided.

Not wanting to take the gondola, we continued on Route 108 through spectacular Smugglers Notch, a scary ride near the top as the road narrows and makes hairpin turns. From there, we continued northwest to Route 15, which isn't the prettiest road in the state but does give you a taste of working-class Vermont, which was a nice change of scenery from the rural, yuppie postcard side. Then we took Route 14 South to Route 2, rolling into Vermont's capital of Montpelier, population 8,035.

People-watching is a great pastime in Montpelier, with folks from all walks of life-foreign tourists, hippies, coed lovelies, local farmers, yuppies, bikers, government workers and so on. With fine restaurants, stores and

the State Capitol building to experience, spending time in Montpelier is worthwhile. On my last ride here, Vermont's senior Senator Patrick Leahy's mother was actually conducting tours of the capitol building, an impressive structure with a gold-plated dome.

With the day growing late, we decided to head back to the lodge. At Kevin's suggestion we took Route 12 south and then 12A, which is really back-road Vermont. After rumbling through one minuscule town with a locals-only kind of feel, we reconnected with 12 and Route 107 along the pristine White River to Route 100 and back to the lodge.

Heading toward the White Mountains in New Hampshire the next morning, where we planned to camp for two days, fate and weather dealt us an unexpected blow. The Whites, notorious for their extreme weather, were shrouded in dark, ominous clouds. We stopped in the Visitor Center and spoke with a ranger who showed us the forecast for thunder and lightning storms, high winds, even the possibility of hail and flooding with no relief in sight.

"What do you think, Joe?"

"It's sunny in Vermont; let's go back there and camp," Joe suggested.

And so we did, but first plotted a back-roads route to Calvin Coolidge State Park. The sun followed us for a little while, but then the heavens opened and we were pummeled by a deluge. We couldn't see 15 feet in front of us and there was no place to safely pull over. We finally reached the town of Sharon, got directions at the general store and headed to Woodstock...and sun! After setting up our tents we built a fire and relaxed after a challenging day on the road.

Although the trip hadn't worked out exactly as planned, Vermont is a fantastic riding state with its picturesque villages, farms, rivers and mountains. As the newest Vermont slogan proclaims, "Vermont was green before it was cool." To that I'd like to add, "Vermont was cool before it was cool to be Vermont."