June 6

The time arrived so sudden.....the long anticipated journey of The Silver Sheephas come to the end.

After our breakfast in Hampton NH we drove our baa-car to The Bike Barn in Manchester where we unloaded our bikes for the last time, there they will be packed and shipped back to California; all in one piece and hopefully arriving at the destination! The drop-off was quick and within half an hour we were on the way to the Airport to return the baa-car. Diana and I were to fly home on Sunday, Diana had the great idea to check at the Southwest counter and inquire, if by any chance there was a flight to Sacramento later that day and room available for the two of us? Yes, how lucky can we get!!!
We had hardly had time to say good bye to Sherry, Larry arrived to pick her up, as they went back to the best Bed and Breakfast ever, their son and daughter-in-law.
With luck on our side, we were also able to cancel the Hotel without a fee!
Our trip was a wonderful experience; we had fun, enjoyed the comradery, laughed a lot and solved problems.... Our rides were special, maybe not as long as we originally thought they would be, but they were very special. It was such a joy to meet so many friendly, kind and helpful people. I truly enjoyed the lovely countryside , the quaint little towns, the  forests , the green meadows, the georgeous New England style houses and mansions, it looks so serene and beautiful.
Our in-the-saddle adventure lasted 7 days and we had the luxury to choose when and where to ride....hats off to Gail and Wendy and the Woman's Tour riders, the are pedaling for 50 days, one mile after another ....flat , uphill and downhill, in the heat, rain and wind! I'm very impressed and admire them very much.
The Silver Sheep was a great team, and we returned home with a lot of happy memories.

Dori

Another note from Silver Sheep #3...to share some final thoughts about our wonderful adventure.  I so agree with Sherry's assessment that our trip turned out to be so much more than the biking.  What I noticed was that we each contributed from our strengths and were able to make light work of our tasks.  I ended up doing a lot of the driving because Sherry was so good at navigating with her phone.  Dori was always ready to make light work of the packing and arranging of our bikes and gear.  And we listened to each other's suggestions.  Especially when we had to find our way along unmarked roads or trails. At one point two of us thought we were going north and one thought we were going south!  It ended up not to matter because we just made a circle.  I also realized what wonderful people-skills both Sherry and Dori have.  Sherry could talk to anyone and get what we needed.  And Dori's smile was the key to persuading a Southwest ticket agent to get us back home a whole day early.  I could not have found more delightful traveling friends!  A trip to remember.

I think this is My Final Post...


I miss my buddies, Diana and Dori as we parted yesterday and they caught an earlier flight home..
Our bikes are packed and ready for shipment tomorrow and hopefully, mine will have a better transport home than to the east coast and Merrilys will be back at Jerrys within a week.
I've given this trip a lot of thought as to what made it so special and surprisingly, it was not about the cycling.  As we planned this trip, I think we all thought it would be a wonderful challenge to cycle new roads and perhaps, some days, it was.  But, what made it special for me was meeting all of the challenges off of the bike.  The lost bike, the chipped tooth, finding our way on unknown and sometimes unnamed roads and always getting to the place we were headed..with a few side trips for ice cream and CVS.  The motto of the trip was flexibility..for all of us. It made the trip a treat.  If we were thrown a curve we went with it and all of us shared that one trait in common.  We were proud of that.
Most of all, we had fun with each other, told stories, listened and observed what was going on all around us.  We were inspired by Gail and Wendy and the Woman's tour folks but decided that the kind,of bicycling they do is awesome, brave and focused and probably not for us. It takes an enormous amount of dedication for a long period of time.  We were more foot loose and on to the next exciting part of our trip..
We met some awesome people, too..the Rudys, John at Southbridge Cycles,Marilyn on the Womanstour trip, some other of Wendy and Gail's group who rode in the rain and never complained.
And a special thank you to Larry and Carl who just sat by and let us have our fun!
What started as a search for what lay outside our comfort zone turned out to be a discovery that all we needed was right there inside us all the time.!
Sherry

as you have read in Wendy's blog, we did make contact and went out to dinner at a fabulous restaurant across the street from the ocean! The food was fittingly spectacular for our last meal together..we will all have very pleasant memories of our trip.. We all probably ate too much but Wendy and Gail will continue to work it off all the way to Maine while the less active sheep will just go off  to pasture

So delicious and fitting
that our best meal was our last together

   

Dinner

The Nashua Trail

More photos from Dori of the ride along the Nashua Trail the Silver Sheep did yesterday.  What a beautiful place to ride!  Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could just transport it here!  In the meantime, enjoy the photo!

The Nashua Trail was very beautiful

Diana & Sherry

     

       

Along the Trail

The Turtle

     

Downtown Pepperell
After the ride we had lunch in Diner on the left

Two Lovely Ladies

     

A little lake on the end of the trail

River View

butterfly on cyclist's arm

Clock downtown Pepperell

The view from our Restaurant window was great
Dinner was fantastic, yum!

     

Best Day,Ever!  Today Dori, Diana and I rode the Nashua River Rail Trail.  My son had told us about it at dinner last night and we decided to give it a try.  It is 25 miles long and the most peaceful, nature trail among a canopy of trees by a quiet peaceful River.  Dori found a little turtle to take a picture of and Diana found Dori taking a picture of the turtle so she took a picture of her.....look below!
We found a beaver dam and heard birds chirping.  We hardly said a word to each other as we so enjoyed the quiet time.
We are coming to the end of our lovely journey.  Today was our last ride and tomorrow we drop off the bikes for a shipment home! I am going on to a trip to Canada after a few days with my kids and Dori and Diana will be back in Roseville on Sunday eve..
This has been a special journey for us all and we will all write a last and final accounting on what this has meant to us in a few days..stay tuned!
We are in Hampton Beach, NH along the NH coastline...We hope to meet Gail and Wendy for dinner but as of now, we have not made contact with them.  It was a long ride, 73 miles, so they are probably very tired.

Our ride from Massachusetts to New Hampshire

From Diana:

Just riding along!

Sherry taking care of necessaries

         

Dori taking a picture of a turtle

We have arrive in New Hampshire!

        

Scott and Sue's home in Pepperell, best Bed & Breakfast ever!

From Dori:

      

Look who stopped by!

       
         

Here is just a segment of a feast
provided by my daughter in law Sue and my son,Scott

Today was a nice day to ride! We started about 20 miles out in Whitinsville, Mass and ended our ride about 20 miles later in Northboro.  We then drove to my son and daughter-in-law's house in Pepperell, Mass. They have a lovely home on 4 acres.  Sue is an expert cook and Scott loves to do the dishes, a perfect combination for 3 tired but happy ladies! We had a lovely feast of a dinner which included homemade ice cream for desert! Tomorrow we are going to ride a 22 mile rail trail before heading for our last stop which is Hampton Beach, NH. From there we will bring our bikes to a bike shop for their return trip to Roseville.  Hopefully, they will have a shorter trip home than my bike.  I figure that this cannot happen twice, so I am very hopeful that Merrily's bike will not meet the fate of my bike that is still in Pennsylvania.  I hope to see that one before Christmas!
We have had a wonderful trip which we are all still processing.  I know, personally, that I have been affected by so much of what we did and saw and will write about it when I can get it all together and have a little perspective.


On the way:

Waiting in the Baä-carto join Gail and Wendy on the way

house on the way to Sherry and Larry'sson and daughter- in- law in Pepperell MA

     


 

house on the way to Sherry and Larry's son and daughter- in- law in Pepperell MA

house on the way to Sherry and Larry's son and daughter- in- law in Pepperell MA

house on the way to Sherry and Larry's son and daughter- in- law in Pepperell MA

house on the way to Sherry and Larry's son and daughter- in- law in Pepperell MA

Another Day....another Rudy!

Call this SERENDIPITOUS but today we are in Sturbridge,Mass and we wanted to take a ride.  We went to a local bike shop (southbridge bicycle Shop) because the roads are a bit narrow and fast and we needed guidance. At the bike shop we were greeted by a very lively man by the name of John and he introduced us to another gentleman by the name of RUDY.  We couldn't believe our ears as Rudy was the name of the man who so kindly helped us start our trip in Pennsylvania.  Rudy offered to escort us on a lovely ride through tree shaded, sometimes hilly  but beautiful streets. of Southbridge, Ma.  He was a delightful friendly guide who reminded us so much of our dear friend, Curt, As he rode in the middle of the street to protect us and always told us there were no more hills. Curt was famous for that.  We missed him today but we also felt that  in a way, he was with us.This was probably the prettiest ride that we have taken.

Tonight we are going to dinner with Wendy and Gail at  "the Publick House".  This was my suggestion as many years ago when I was about to give a going away party for one of my children who was about to make her way in the world, I drove an hour to the Publick House to buy 4 dozen of their very famous pecan rolls.  They are minature so you have to eat about 5 before you realize they have calories.  I sure hope that they have them or I wil be red-faced! Will let you know how it goes!

Pictures from Dori to go with Sherry's story:

Morning view from the Hotel.....sunshine!

Wendy, Diana, Sherry

    

Gail, Dori, Wendy, Diana, Sherry

Taking a walk to the  Publick House

Sherry at the restaurant

   

John

some eccentric gentleman's playground
with a plane in the yard.

 

Diana, sherry and Rudi (he is from San Salvador)

Back at the Hotel enjoying our well deserved coffee and bars!

Evening in Sturbridge

Evening in Sturbridge

         

Still Raining

So a visit to the Dr. Zuess Sculpture Garden is in order!

They are apparently have a lot of fun and the pictures just keep coming!

Diana & Dori

Sherry

       

          

"Which is the Grinch?"