So this is it. After over nine weeks on the road and 2,500 miles, we come to the final stage. A fairly short one, but looking it over last night we were surprised to see that it features the most climbing of any stage on the tour. Saving the best for last.
With a 3H ride in store (hot, humid and hilly), we get an early start. There’s no breakfast on offer at our motel because of Covid, so not long after six we hop on the bikes and ride to On the Run Coffee Shop for breakfast. A small place, it serves up our favorite breakfast experience of the tour (well, with the possible exception of that amazing second breakfast in Clayton, overlooking the Saint Lawrence Seaway). For seven bucks I order French toast and sausage and get three perfectly done slices and two large patties. We enjoy them at a picnic table outside, surrounded by flowers and watching the English sparrows dancing around on the eaves above. An idyllic start to the day.
On the Run in Lakeville was our favorite breakfast stop of the tour.
Scott AndersonTo Jen RahnAdult male. That’s the look. Common as weeds. You’ve probably got them in your neighborhood. Also known as the house sparrow. Reply to this comment 3 years ago
Except for about a mile last night, today’s ride is all we’ll be doing in Connecticut; but it’s enough to make it seem attractive to us - more so than Massachusetts certainly, and probably more than southern Vermont. The first ten miles are on lovely, quiet small roads; and once we return to the highway we’re happy to find an abundant shoulder the rest of the way to Rivertown and the turnoff to the final four miles to Vance and Laurie’s home. It reminds me of some of the excellent riding we found in New York.
But it is hilly. There’s a short spike over a ridge dropping to the Housatonic at Falls Village, and later a gradual four mile ascent between Canaan and Winstead.
Southbound on Salmon Kill Road. The first hour of the ride was on a series of small lanes like this until we rejoined route 44 at Canaan.
Crossing the Housatonic at Falls Village. I should have taken a photo of the river, which is little more than a small mountain stream here. We’re very near its source.
Western Connecticut is hilly, in case you didn’t know. They look like the Berkshires, but the locals call them the Litchfield Hills or the Northwest Highlands because they’re south of the border.
The Second Congregational Church of Winstead, built in 1899 “of Torrington granite, trimmed with Long Meadow sand stone and is of French Gothic style.”
The final day of the tour is the hardest stage, and the toughest of it comes in these final four miles up from Rivertown. Relentlessly up, except for an irksome 200’ descent partway up that just means we have to reclaim those feet again; and steep - the worst stretch registers at 17%. We make it though, and are both proud of ourselves when we finally summit out and turn off on the road to Vance and Laurie’s home.
The end of the road. After over 2,500 miles, we find the hardest climb of the tour at the very end, a four miler that tops out at 17%. It’s a relief when we finally stop climbing and take the turnoff to Vance and Laurie’s cabin.
Video sound track: The End of the Road, by Kim Waters
Vance and Laurie moved from Portland to western Connecticut last summer, in the midst of the Covid shutdown. It took us by surprise at the time, but now that we’re here it’s very easy to see why they made the move. They’re in an exceptional spot, in a cabin yards from a small pond, surrounded by woods and Laurie’s relatives. It feels like every other person living around this lake is one of Laurie’s aunts or cousins.
We’ll be here two nights before relocating to Hartford Monday, where we’ll catch the train to the Newark airport the next day. There’s more to say about our stay here, but I’ll stop for the moment and come back tomorrow for a brief recap on the tour before closing out the journal and moving on.
Scott AndersonTo Jen RahnYep. One of two. The younger one, Stewart, works up in Seattle flipping salmon at the public market. Reply to this comment 3 years ago
The woods around Vance and Laurie’s woods are rife with mushrooms too. It must be wonderful to have woods like these starting right from behind your house, especially on days when the bugs aren’t biting.
Vance and Laurie are wonderful hosts, but the real star of the household is the extremely extroverted Sarge. A fantastic cat, he looks like he’d just fit nicely into one of our panniers.
Scott AndersonTo Suzanne GibsonWe’ll mine, of course! You didn’t really believe that story that I’d lost them, did you?
Actually, I’m trying something new this time and mail ordered an inexpensive pair and had them shipped to Vance’s. It will be nice to start reading the fine print again. Reply to this comment 3 years ago
Suzanne GibsonTo Scott AndersonGood idea! I was still convinced they were in the bottom of one of your panniers. Reply to this comment 3 years ago
Scott AndersonTo Bruce LellmanHe is a great cat! Heavy, too. I woke up with him standing on my chest, his legs boring down like pilings. Reply to this comment 3 years ago
