Day 20 - Back in the U S of A

Rowdy crowds on Friday night and into the early hours of the morning was to be expected.  Still we didn't get a lot of good sleep.
Once it quietened down, sleep came but that meant we awoke at 7am, a little late for us.  We were packed and ready to go.  We we're hoping for some breakfast before heading out.  We  walked to a coffee shop but they didn't open until 8am.  That meant hanging around for at least another ten minutes.  Oh well, get the car from the carpark and let's get going.

It was an easy exit through the city and on to freeway.    We stopped along the road for some coffee and a danish for quick breakfast.

Little town on the Canada side

With all the news reports about the proposed attack on Sept 11, the suspect vehicle/s being rentals, we were a little concerned that our attempt to regain access into USA might prove difficult.

We had decided to use one of the minor border crossings as past experience had proved these don't handle great volumes of traffic, that would save us from being in large queues.

The border crossing was relatively easy.  No armed guards, one lone customs officer working the booth, the usual questions, interest in the rental we were driving and that we had hired in New York.  The officer wanted to see the rental agreement and to know when we were returning to New York. Thankfully for us it wasn't today or tomorrow.  That probably saved us from having a more thorough search of our vehicle.

Lucky coin collectors

First town we came to in USA there was a change collection happening for the local Veteran's organization. We asked if they could use Canadian coins and after an enthusiastic yes, they got all our leftover coins.

Our intention was to travel back roads in Vermont to make our way through the northern part of New Hampshire and into Maine.  Vermont is still suffering from the effects of Hurricane Irene's dump of rain.  Hwy 105 closed.   We found a side track and  worked our way to Hwy 114 which could take us  back into Canada. Instead we ran parallel with the border for a while.

This new path lead us to an information office where we found out that Mt Washington wasn't too far out of our way.

Mt Washington Auto Road is a privately owned road up the side of the highest mountain in  New Hampshire.  The summit is at 6288 feet above sea level.  The narrow road is approximately 8 miles from bottom to top.  We were given a CD to listen to while driving up the mountain.  It gave instruction on how to safely drive the road as well as the road's history.  As it was slow travel, we wound down the windows if the car to get a feel for the outside.  The higher we got, the outside got colder and windier.  The car being front wheel drive with traction control wasn't all that reassuring on the way up.  It felt a little skatey.

At the top we spent some time having a look around the museum areas and shop.  We took some piccies but weren't keen to hang around.  It was cold!!

It was mostly bitumen, but very narrow with steep dropoffs

Going Down

Lots of motorcycles braving the road

For the drive back down the mountain, the car felt a little more sure-footed.  It worked really hard as we were required to keep the speed to a maximum of 20 mph and the gear in low. 

Our little side trip took up a good hour or so.   We called it a night in the town of Gorham, NH

Finishing the blog in our cosy room