The RA rally Location 2010

[PAULBACH]

Where is Pownal, Vermont?

Hey Paul! Pownal, Vermont? How far is it to Pownal?

Glad you asked.

Within A Day’s Ride of Pownal, VT (Lat: 42.76N, Lon: 73.24W)

Here's the cities within a day's ride of Pownal:

Akron - 529
Baltimore - 373
Bangor - 351
Boston - 179
Buffalo 325
Cleveland - 506
Detroit – 574
Montreal - 245
New York - 187
Ottawa - 365
Philadelphia - 275
Pittsburgh - 499
Portland - 223
Providence - 173
Quebec City - 391
Richmond - 523
Rochester - 260
Syracuse - 179
Toronto - 417
Washington, DC - 412


Here's another list from State Capitals:

(BMW's Secret Project)


Alaska – Juneau - 3910
Arizona – Phoenix - 2568
Arkansas - Little Rock - 1369
California – Sacramento - 2886
Colorado – Denver - 1843
Connecticut – Hartford - 123
Delaware - Dover - 345
Florida - Tallahassee - 1284
Georgia - Atlanta - 1044
Idaho - Boise - 2532
Illinois - Springfield - 1025
Indiana - Indianapolis - 818
Iowa - Des Moines - 1170
Kansas - Topeka - 1363
Kentucky - Frankfort - 842
Louisiana - Baton Rouge - 1530
Maine - Augusta - 277
Maryland – Annapolis - 397
Massachusetts – Boston - 179
Michigan – Lansing - 648
Minnesota - St. Paul - 1250
Mississippi - Jackson - 1367
Missouri - Jefferson City - 1185
Montana - Helena - 2322
Nebraska - Lincoln - 1359
Nevada - Carson City - 2784
New Hampshire - Concord - 121
New Jersey - Trenton – 248
New Mexico - Santa Fe - 2097
New York - Albany - 38
North Carolina - Raleigh - 677
North Dakota - Bismarck - 1684
Ohio - Columbus - 643
Oklahoma - Oklahoma City - 1558
Oregon - Salem - 3003
Pennsylvania - Harrisburg - 334
Rhode Island - Providence - 156
South Carolina - Columbia - 890
South Dakota - Pierre - 1639
Tennessee - Nashville - 1022
Texas - Austin - 1880
Utah - Salt Lake City - 2232
Vermont - Montpelier - 132
Virginia - Richmond - 514
Washington - Olympia - 2956
West Virginia - Charleston - 693
Wisconsin - Madison - 996
Wyoming – Cheyenne – 1796

The best riding in New England awaits you!
[
COME EARLY - STAY LATE - No charge for camping before the rally starts. Vermont wants you to come and have a great time.

• Sunday Camping - FREE
• Monday Camping - FREE
• Tuesday Camping - FREE
• Wednesday Camping - FREE

And, stick around for the Yankee Beemer Rally in Heath Mass. For more information about the YB Rally click here.

Rally Registration is now open. For registration click here.

 

[PAULBACH]

At Over 200 Years Today's Destination is the Oldest Inn in Vermont

Are you visiting Vermont for a special celebration with the SO? Want to make a spectacular impression and collect memories. Today's destination is only 40 miles from Pownal but is one of the most famous Inns in Vermont. It's not your typical motorcycle destination but it is an outstanding destination.

The Dorset Inn is Vermont’s oldest continuously-operating inn and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It boasts 29 rooms with private baths. First built in 1796 the Inn expanded with additions in 1900 and 1947. Anchoring one corner of the Dorset Green it is one of 60 historic buildings in the center of this picturesque and historic community where Vermont ’s first conventions were held in 1776 to draft a state constitution. The inn is most noted for its “comfort food” and casual and relaxed atmosphere.

For more than 200 years, The Dorset Inn has offered traditional New England Hospitality. Gracious lodging, gourmet dining, fine wines and great spirits….all trademarks of Vermont’s oldest continually operating inn. Downhill skiing at Bromley and Stratton, shopping Manchester’s designer outlets, attending summer stock theater at our own Dorset Playhouse, enjoying Vermont’s unparalleled foliage season….From the quiet getaway to the outdoor adventure vacation…All of this and more are within minutes of The Dorset Inn.

Destination: Dorset, Vermont
Distance from Pownal: 40 Miles
Duration: 50 Minutes

For more information about The Dorset Inn, click here.

The best riding in New England awaits you!

COME EARLY - STAY LATE - No charge for camping before the rally starts. Vermont wants you to come and have a great time.

• Sunday Camping - FREE
• Monday Camping - FREE
• Tuesday Camping - FREE
• Wednesday Camping -FREE

Rally Registration is now open. For registration click here.

And, stick around for the Yankee Beemer Rally in Heath Mass. For more information about the YB Rally click here.

 

[PAULBACH]

Shots from the rally site.

Just after you turn off Route 7 this is what you will first see.

First site of the racetrack building as you enter the RA rally site.

Site for outdoor vendors. It is vast.

The camp grounds could hold thousands of tents.

Don’t forget your fishing gear.

This stream is where the Orvis guides go when they are off the clock. It is loaded with trophy sized trout. Trees in the background have been downed by beaver. They are trying to build a dam at the location but have yet to succeed.The best riding in New England awaits you!

COME EARLY - STAY LATE - No charge for camping before the rally starts. Vermont wants you to come and have a great time.

• Sunday Camping - FREE
• Monday Camping - FREE
• Tuesday Camping - FREE
• Wednesday Camping -FREE

Rally Registration is now open. For registration click here.

And, stick around for the Yankee Beemer Rally in Heath Mass. For more information about the YB Rally click here.

 

[dancogan]

Great pictures, Paul. Thanks for posting. It gives a real feel for the rally site.

 

[PAULBACH]

For a feel of the riding ...

60 mile radius

There is no other geographic locale in the US there is more diverse riding and access to 5 states within a 60 mile radius.

The best riding in the East awaits you!

COME EARLY - STAY LATE - No charge for camping before the rally starts. Vermont wants you to come and have a great time.

• Sunday Camping - FREE
• Monday Camping - FREE
• Tuesday Camping - FREE
• Wednesday Camping -FREE

Rally Registration is now open. For registration click here.

And, stick around for the Yankee Beemer Rally in Heath Mass. For more information about the YB Rally click here.

 

[PAULBACH]

The site, by some standards, is not pefect

OK! Ok! There are natural fauna not found in the Pownal region.

 

[glenfiddich]

OK! Ok! There are natural fauna not found in the Pownal region.

Oooh, the typo in your title is a very clever play on words!

By the time of this rally my GS will have been transformed in to a sidecar rig. I can bring my wife or my dog, but the dog cuddles better.

Are well-behaved pets allowed? (We travel with a roll of poop bags next to his kibble and my beer.)

Pete

 

[JoeDabbs]

Will it be possible to ship our camping equipment to the rally? We'll be riding two-up and have considered doing so...

 

[PAULBACH]

Will it be possible to ship our camping equipment to the rally? We'll be riding two-up and have considered doing so...

Yes there will be an address to which packages may be shipped ahead of time.

Not sure what it is right now.

 

[PAULBACH]

Go Back In Time and Choose the Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

It's possible to turn back the clock and now choose the road not taken.

Day Hiking - Robert Frost Trail
Trail Facts:

• Length: 1.2 mile loop
• Feature: Poetry, Views
• Max. Elevation Change: 30 feet
• USGS maps: East Middlebury Quad
• Amount of use: Heavy
• Hiking level: Easy
• Average hike time: 30 - 45 minutes
• Use restrictions: No horses, mountain bikes, or motorized vehicles
  Trail Description:

This trail is a National Recreation Trail that commemorates Robert Frost’s poetry; several of his poems are mounted along the trail in the woods and fields. Blueberries and huckleberries grow in an old field at the far end of the trail. The Forest Service maintains all of the old fields along this trail with prescribed fire to preserve the scenic, open appearance of the area. The trail is an easy walk, and the first 0.3 miles across a beaver pond boardwalk out to the South Branch of the Middlebury River is accessible and suitable for wheelchairs. Please practice Leave No Trace ethics, such as carry out what you carry in.
Directions:

From Middlebury, travel south on Route 7 to where it intersects with Route 125. Travel east on Route 125 for 5.8 miles. The parking area is on the right.

Destination: Ripton, Vermont
Distance from Pownal: 97 Miles
Duration: 2 Hours

For more information about The Robert Frost Trail, click here.

The best riding in New England awaits you!

COME EARLY - STAY LATE - No charge for camping before the rally starts. Vermont wants you to come and have a great time.

• Sunday Camping - FREE
• Monday Camping - FREE
• Tuesday Camping - FREE
• Wednesday Camping -FREE

Rally Registration is now open. For registration click here.

And, stick around for the Yankee Beemer Rally in Heath Mass. For more information about the YB Rally click here.

 

[PAULBACH]

Scenes like this are one of the reasons you are coming to Vermont. I hope that during the rally I get many questions like ... Well, where should I go for a ride. And I will say ...

Ride north young man, ride north. Follow Route 100 and eternal bliss and true happiness will be your reward.

But for now a homework assignment. To prepare your path to Nirvana read this link.

 

[sdpc2]

sorry for the delay to your response

Yes, I was referring to our 30' fifth wheel trailer....

TIA

sdc

Trailer? How large? Please, just a few more details. I know you don't mean an 18 wheeler but probably have something more like a 5th wheel?

Will be over in Pownal later in week and will come back with lots of pictures. Maybe a look at this mammoth site would help.

 

[Theo]

If you arrive in Pownal early (or stay late), you may be interested is some dining, boating or mountain biking opportunities on the edge of the Green Mountain National Forrest in Wilmington, VT. Wilmington is on the northern tip of the Harriman Reservoir (a.k.a. Lake Whitingham) and is a peaceful 45 minute ride from Pownal.

Route from Pownal to Wilmington

Map of Harriman and Wilmington

This is a neat, trendy town with plenty of good places to shop and dine in a kicked-back style. It also happens to be home to a highly recommended (by me!) brew pub named the Maple Leaf Malt & Brewing.

There are also several outfits in town that rent mountain bikes and kayaks. If you enjoy leisurely paddling on flatwater, I highly recommend Harriman on a calm day. However, on a windy day Harriman is a real workout to paddle. I usually forego the kayak and launch the sailboat!

Harriman is the largest body of water within the state of Vermont. From north to south, it stretches 8 miles long and has 28 miles of shoreline. It supports a variety of wildlife and it's whole western shore is part of the Green Mountain National Forrest. The last time I went kayaking there I watched a moose and her calf stroll along the shore without a care in the world. Unfortunately, camping on the shoreline is not allowed and, perhaps, that is the reason why!

Cheers!

 

[PAULBACH]

Best Living History in America

A trip to Old Sturbridge Village, the largest outdoor history museum in the Northeast, is a journey through time to a rural New England town of the 1830s. Visitors are invited into more than 40 original buildings, each carefully researched, restored, and brought to the museum site from towns throughout New England. These include homes, meetinghouses, a district school, country store, bank, law office, printing office, carding mill, sawmill, gristmill, pottery, blacksmith shop, shoe shop, and cooper shop.

Authentically costumed staff, called history interpreters, carry out the daily activities of an early 19th-century community. Here you may wander country roads and visit with a farmer plowing fields, listen to the blacksmith's rhythmic hammering, or smell the aroma of bread baking in a fireplace oven. With four unique seasons and more than 200 acres to explore, there is always something new to see at Old Sturbridge Village.

The period portrayed by Old Sturbridge Village, 1790-1840, is of major significance because it was a time in which the everyday lives of New Englanders were transformed by the rise of commerce and manufacturing, improvements in agriculture and transportation, the pulls of emigration and urbanization, and the tides of educational, political, aesthetic, and social change.

For my money this is a don't miss opportunity. It's a site worth exploring on the way to or from the rally but is a long hike from Pownal. It is the best living history in America and I have seen a lot of them. Earbuds not allowed. Headphones not allowed. The silence can be deafening but that's how it was in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Destination: Sturbridge, Massachusetts
Distance from Pownal: 106 Miles
Duration: 2 Hours

For more information about Old Sturbridge Village, click here.

The best riding in New England awaits you!

COME EARLY - STAY LATE - No charge for camping before the rally starts. Vermont wants you to come and have a great time.

• Sunday Camping - FREE
• Monday Camping - FREE
• Tuesday Camping - FREE
• Wednesday Camping -FREE

Rally Registration is now open. For registration click here.

And, stick around for the Yankee Beemer Rally in Heath Mass. For more information about the YB Rally click here.

 

[PAULBACH]

British School of Falconry!

The British School of Falconry

The British School of Falconry is the nation's first school of its kind to offer hands-on lessons with trained birds of prey. Guests at the Equinox are invited to try one of the world's oldest sports in the picturesque setting of Hildene's meadows and enhance their appreciation of these magnificent birds. During a session, guests will learn to handle and fly Harris hawks. Introductory lessons and "hawk walks" are offered to give guests the opportunity to appreciate these amazing animals.

A once in a life-time opportunity. Come early or stay late and learn to hunt with falcons. And there is so much more to do in Manchester, like visiting Hildene and seeing Abraham Lincoln's top hat.

Destination: Manchester, Vermont
Distance from Pownal: 36 Miles
Duration: 45 Minutes

For more information about the British School of Falconry, click here.

The best riding in New England awaits you!

COME EARLY - STAY LATE - No charge for camping before the rally starts. Vermont wants you to come and have a great time.

• Sunday Camping - FREE
• Monday Camping - FREE
• Tuesday Camping - FREE
• Wednesday Camping -FREE

Rally Registration is now open. For registration click here.

And, hang around for the Yankee Beemer Rally in Heath Mass. For more information about the YB Rally click here.

 

[PAULBACH]

Slow Down And Smell The Roses

A Short History of SVAC
Given that the history of the Southern Vermont Arts Center is peopled by heroes and heroines embarked upon a noble quest, its tempting to begin with a familiar "Once upon a time" But no. Although that noble quest begins humbly, succeeds against great odds and ends happily, the Arts Centers tale is one of real people, with real vision, who made their own magic from a relatively simple plan.

That simple plan was hatched in Dorset, Vermont, on a late summer day in 1922. On that day, Edwin B. Child, Francis Dixon, Wallace W. Fahnstock, John Lillie, and Herbert Meyer, five gentlemen who would come to be known as the Dorset Painters, got together to show their wares at the Dorset Town Hall.

"On that August day," says historian Mary Hard Bort, in Art and Soul, her definitive history of the Arts Center, "local people came to see the work of their neighbors, visitors stopped by to see what was going on, summer people came to assess the quality of the work, and the ladies of the village served punch, tea and cookies to all. It was a Dorset social event and the start of something much bigger that would encompass the entire Battenkill Valley."

Two years later, Francis Dixon and Frank V. Vanderhoof, a summer resident and fellow painter, arranged an exhibition of paintings at ManchesterÔÇÖs Equinox Pavilion by a group that would come to be called the "Southern Vermont Artists." It was just three years after that, in August of 1927, the ten-day Fourth Annual Exhibition of the Artists of Southern Vermont featured over 100 paintings and drew more than 1,600 visitors from twenty-eight states, Canada, Norway, England, Wales and Algeria.

Destination: Manchester, Vermont
Distance from Pownal: 36 Miles
Duration: 45 Minutes

For more information about the Southern Vermont Arts Center, click here.

The best riding in New England awaits you!

COME EARLY - STAY LATE - No charge for camping before the rally starts. Vermont wants you to come and have a great time.

• Sunday Camping - FREE
• Monday Camping - FREE
• Tuesday Camping - FREE
• Wednesday Camping -FREE

Rally Registration is now open. For registration click here.

And, stick around for the Yankee Beemer Rally in Heath Mass. For more information about the YB Rally click here.

 

[Theo]

Can't go wrong with Belushi as a subject!

 

[deilenberger]

Fairbanks Museum

Paul,

Hadn't noticed if you have included the Fairbanks Museum in your suggestions - so I'll toss it out there. I found it quite a few years ago by accident, and now make a point to stop whenever I'm in Vermont.

It's located in St. Johnsbury (eastern side of VT, about midway up the state): http://www.fairbanksmuseum.org/index.php

One of the reasons I revisit it is to see the amazing collection of BugArt they have..

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/18105

If you're into quirky - this will be a winner:

Yeah - it's all made from bugs..

 

[PAULBACH]

Bug Art? Sounds interesting!

The Fairbanks Museum was founded in 1889 by St. Johnsbury industrialist Franklin Fairbanks. Inside our classic Victorian building, you'll find a dazzling array of animals and artifacts, dolls and tools, shells and fossils, and much more! Take a trip through the cosmos in Vermont's only public planetarium, and see weather forecasts in the works in our Eye on the Sky Weather Gallery. A full calendar of events, workshops, lectures and field programs invites everyone to explore the nature of our world.

When Franklin Fairbanks opened the doors to this Museum in St. Johnsbury, Vermont over a century ago, he invited all of New England to see beyond the horizon by bringing exquisite examples of natural science and beautiful artifacts from around the world to his home town. His "cabinet of curiosities" grew to include our National Historic Register building, a triumph of Victorian architecture, the cornerstone of St. Johnsbury's Victorian Main Street. Inside, our collections include some 175,000 objects:

• 75,000 natural science specimens (mounted birds, mammals, reptiles and fish; insects; nests and eggs; shells; fossils; rocks and minerals; herbarium)
• 95,000 historical artifacts (tools; toys; dolls; textiles; weapons; archival photographs and documents)
• 5,000 ethnological items representing Oceania, the Near East, Africa, Egypt, Japan and native North America.

Location: St Johnsbury, Vermont
Distance from Pownal: 170 Miles
Estimated Time: 3 Hours 11 Minutes

For more information about today's destination, click here!

 

[PAULBACH]

A moment Godfather ... .

Padrio,

There is an issue. A reliable source has told me that Al Ducci's in Manchester is going to be featured on this web-page as a destination from Pownal.

What shall we do?

Leave the gun.
Take the cannolis.

(to be continued)