Day eleven, Rutland, vermont to albany, up state new york

Right, breaking news today, now while our accommodation here is on the cheap side and the occupancy is not that high, when we headed off for a run this morning, I asked the troops if they heard the bloody dog barking and the guys fighting over by reception in the night? They didn’t, but I got up and checked the bikes and saw a bit of agro going on between two guys across the yard. They were far enough away so I went back to sleep.

When we got back from our run, we were advised the dog was a Police dog and one of the guys fighting was a swat team guy making an arrest, apparently it’s on the tele today as well. Bit of excitement. I know how to pick the best accommodation venues for sure. No wonder the Police car cruised through here for a look yesterday, maybe they were keeping an eye on one of our fellow guests?!!

A bit later we decided we had had enough of watching drug deals go down and swat team arrests. We thought that Rutland, Vermont might be, how do you say, perhaps the opposite of a tourist attraction, so we decided to bail instead of wasting a day off in this wee town. If I was riding a motorcycle in Vermont again, maybe I would pick a different town to bed down in……….…..just saying.

Packed up and on the bikes we headed south on Route 7, a pleasant ride through southern Vermont in a valley on the edge of the Green Mountains, hills both sides, pleasant enough riding.

We entered Massachusetts, the Berkshires region and by a gliche in my normal OK navigation we finished up continuing south on the Route 100 scenic byway, very peaceful country riding with shag all traffic. We hit route 2, the Mohawk trail and things got a bit busier and more up market as we headed east. When we hit Troy in New York State, the countryside went from peaceful to the Auckland Motorway equivalent, Jesus wept. Anyway arrived safely at the Comfort Inn, south Albany, much more up market then our digs in Rutland. Tommorrow we might finish our tour of the Berkshires where the rich and famous from NYC all have their holiday homes, to see what all the fuss is about!

As we speak, Mark Batty and Tracey Boot are wheels up from CHCH and winging their way to San Fran for a few days then NYC before joining us down the road a piece in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania on the 20th. Enjoy San Fran you guys, see you in a week, safe riding out of the Big Apple.