On our way out of the Hantsport area, we rode around to the east side of the Avon River to Avondale where we understood we would find another museum that had a lot of information on 'the planters'. As it turns out, the Avon River Heritage Society Museum closed for the season five days earlier, so on we went along the Minas Basin to Truro.

From there, we went through New Brunswick to Howland, Maine where we found some information in the 1896 tax records. Then we got to Rangeley Lake and spent a day relaxing while cold, windy, rainy weather passed by.

Entering the northern tip of New Hampshire, we went through Dixville Notch, where the first national election returns are tallied (at about 12:15 am on election day after 100% of the registered voters of the town have gathered at midnight to make their preferences known).

After a little loop through northern Vermont, we crossed New Hampshire along the Kancamagus Highway (route 112 from Lincoln to Conway), one of the prettiest motorcycle roads in the state.

Back at Wendy & Ben's winter home, Jym tries to give Ann's bike a bit more life (before the clutch dies completely). Servicing of the bikes (and a clutch replacement for Ann's) is scheduled for the next week at Max's BMW on the coast).

The view out the back window (as we compose these updates) is quite lovely. The trees are beginning to change in earnest and 'leaf peeping' season is coming into it's own (even though the forecast this year is for a rather dull display due to the warmer weather).

After spending several delightful days with Wendy and Ben, it was time to re-pack everything and head south for our appointment with a new clutch. Although packing has never been our favorite part, after sending a couple of boxes of stuff home, we had a bit more room to play with.

We went around the west side of Lake Winnipesaukee on our way to North Hampton, NH. This time, our view of the Atlantic (from Little Boars Head) was of a peaceful, clear body of water with two to four foot swells breaking on the rocky beach.

After delivering our bikes to Max's early the next morning, we hung out for a day and a half. The clutch replacement took longer than anticipated, and although they may have tried their best, we weren't really satisfied with the level of expertise we have come to expect from a BMW dealership. Immediately after getting Ann's bike back, we hurriedly packed and headed south to Newport, skirting around Boston on the freeway.

After navigating Newport's one way street maze around downtown, we found a place to park near the Newport Historical Society. Upstairs, in the research library, we set about looking for anything and everything we could think of. The librarian pointed us in the right direction and kept running downstairs to the vaults to bring us original documents.

Deciphering the 'hand' of 250+ year old document authors can be quite a chore. Particularly when some of them were retrieved from a British vessel sunk in the New York harbor in 1779. We were able to collect a bit more information than we arrived with, however the endeavor could have lasted many more days - we'll have to plan a return trip.

One of the pieces of information we found was the location of the final resting place of Jym's 5th great grandaunt. In 1750, at the age of 9, she was laid to rest in the Common Burying Ground of the Island Cemetery in Newport. The librarian had pointed us to almost the exact spot and we found Mary Michener's stone without any trouble.

Leaving the research behind, we took a little tour around the perimeter of Newport. Not only is the scenery spectacular, the mansions and summer retreats in the area are something to behold.

After Ann's bike started having transmission/shifting problems, Jym had to perform a bit of corrective surgery to straighten out a couple of deficiencies from the last service and clutch replacement. That corrected, we headed back to the Rocky Hill area of Connecticut.

In Rocky Hill, we got ready for Jym's High School Reunion. It turned out to be fun seeing many of the friends he hung out with in the dream time. We apparently were a bit of a conversation topic since we came the farthest, and by motorcycle.

Heading out of Connecticut, across New York, and into upper Pensylvania, we watched the tree colors come into their own. At a rest stop, Jym set up the BikeCam so that he could take photos of Ann riding past the amazing display.

Naturally, as soon as the camera was mounted, we hit miles of fog banks. Even though the colors were muted, they aren't something we commonly see in California.

After we left the fog behind, it was difficult to keep focused on the road and traffic because after each intense display, we thought it couldn't get any better. Then it did!

We had made an appointment at Mathias Cycle Sales in Ohio to get badly needed new rubber for both bikes. They got us in when we arrived, shod the bikes in good time, were friendly and accommodating. Other BMW dealers should take lessons from these guys!

Then, in an attempt to beat some heavy storms that The Weather Channel said were moving into the area (why do we still believe them), we blasted south into eastern Kentucky. The hills around here were the sight of the infamous Hatfield & McCoy Feud.

After hanging out for a day in Pikeville, we headed south in order to get below the storm that was moving into the area. After riding across the small parts of six states, through some spectacular scenery, and an increase of 40 degrees, we ended up in northern Georgia under gorgeous blue skies.