No Map Moto | Day 6
Geneva, NY —> Wolfeboro, NH 🏁…454 miles (trip total - 2,805 mi)
Long push today to get wrapped up by sundown. Navigation definitely got harder as I moved into the mountainous and lake-strewn VT/NH zone where roads don’t just go straight east/west. As I found out, a wrong nav decision here is significantly more consequential. I got turned around a few times, and got stymied by big-ass Lake George that seemed to take me in the wrong direction for days. The riding was way more interesting, though - ups and down, curves galore. Huge shout-out to Chris Braun
@rides2little , rally nav Jedi, for the tech support helping me get my arrow to pop on RallyBlitz.
In the end my navigation took me about 12% farther than if i just followed Google Maps (with the no Highways option). 2,800 miles vs 2,500. Not bad, I think. Though I much prefer dirt over pavement, the nav aspect had me thinking the whole way which kept things interesting. I’m also totally enamored by small-town America. Such beautiful little hamlets with the nicest folks. Places just most people will never see (like chatting with a gaggle of older ladies playing their monthly Hand & Foot card game at the Silver Dollar Bar & Grill in Chelsea, Iowa).
A few things I learned along the way:
- Google Maps is incredibly efficient, navigating by a compass is not
- country music is the best for roadtrips
- generally, even-numbered roads go east/west, odd numbers go north/south (but not always)
- most people have no sense of direction
- it’s not just about the ice cream, but the atmosphere
- people everywhere are way more friendly than not
- having random conversations with a farmer in a Nebraska cornfield is fun
- the USA grows a $hIz-ton of corn
- dirt is better than pavement (“Bad roads bring good people.”)
- the size of the road is directly proportional to its flavorlessness (and vice versa)
- always put your rain gear on BEFORE it starts raining
- motels with flowers out front are cleaner/nicer than the ones who don’t have them
- the midwest is an espresso desert
Finally, a sincere shout-out to
@karenchristine1968 who never quite understood this one, but supported and encouraged me anyway. ❤️