Movers and Shakers

It appeared to have rained a bit overnight but naturally the morning dawned blue and beautiful again for our intrepid group of Model A tourers. We had a nice breakfast at the Holiday Inn and we we off again this time with Doug and Nan in the lead.

We headed towards the FASNY Museum of Firefighting in Hudson, New York. It turned out to be a very interesting take with fire apparatus dating from the 18th century to the present day. Many exhibited fire engines were interactive allowing you to sit on board and pretend you were a firefighter! There were hand operated pumpers, steam operated pumpers, ladder trucks and all sorts of fire fighting accessories like axes and hooks (as in hook and ladder). There was even a Model T fire truck (see photo). We bought tee shirts for grandchildren, dog biscuits for Tucker and other stuff we could not live without.

From Hudson, NY we then headed to the Shaker Village in Hancock, MA. Since we arrived just before noontime, we decided to have lunch before starting our look-see of the place. The lunch was very good (I had the tuna wrap) and after eating we were ready to walk off some of those lunchtime calories. The last Shakers to live at Hancock sold the place in 1960 (I think) to a not for profit group that eventually became Hancock Shaker Village. The round stone barn is world famous and still houses farm animals including turkeys, pigs, cows and goats. The village consists of more than 20 buildings.

After spending a couple of hours looking at the Shaker village we were on our way east again through small western Massachusetts towns and over big Massachusetts hills on route 9 east. Going through Dalton, MA we passed Crane Paper Company the manufacturer of all paper used in the printing of United States currency.

We reached Barre, MA and the start of old familiar route 62 and realized that we would soon be home if we could only navigate the worst stretch of state owned roadway in the Commonwealth. I remember going this way a few years ago and the roadway still hasn't been fixed. It is just plain awful! We survived crappy route 62 and finally made our way home to the Merrimack Valley by early evening.

More stats later but I do know we travelled 1900+ miles without any on the road breakdowns. We had one flat tire and a worn fan belt that was replaced.