Sunday, September 6, 2015
Happy Labor Day to everyone!  We have been in Phillipston, MA since last Thursday and we wondered what we would do here.  As it turns out, we are in a fairly remote area, away from any large cities, and it's just fine with us.  With the holiday weekend and everyone off work, we are enjoying the peace and quiet.  We did find several rails to trails bike paths, and have been biking and caching every day since we arrived.  We met a few people out on the trails, but not many.  They have all been friendly, and like to stop and chat.  People are so amazed that we are on a 2 1/2 month trip to New England.  When you're retired, you can do that!  We had one frustrating event, and that is, that Jim's GPS got a crack in the face of it, and we were unable to use it.  That left us with his old GPS and it was like going from a Smart phone to an Apple IIe!  He immediately called Garmin and ordered a new one and it is being shipped overnight to our campground.  It is to arrive on Tuesday (hopefully).  We can't be without a good GPS, as it's our entertainment!  We use it for geo-caching and hiking.  We've enjoyed beautiful 70 degree weather and the nights are down to 49 to 55 degrees.  We hear it is sweltering back in the Midwest, so that means we'll be getting it in a day or two. We're finding small roadside stands with home grown fruits and vegetables now, and we had the most delicious sweet corn, that we have ever had!  Or maybe we were just hungry for it.  We are in moose country again, but no sign of them.   Enjoy your last big day of Summer!

Northern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire have a lot of biking trails, so that decided our plans for our stay here.  They are fairly nice, and one is similar to the one we have in Wittenberg.

There was a geo-cache in this beautiful covered bridge in Ashuelot, NH.  It is one of the best preserved bridges in NH, and was built in 1864.
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A geo-cache brought us to this monument in Northfield, MA, and it is a tribute to Isabel and Monroe Smith.  They were teachers in Northfield, MA and they took a boy scout group to Germany.  When they arrived there, they experienced the youth hostels for the first time, and they returned to the States and started one in Northfield.  It was the first American Youth Hostel and it opened for business in 1934.  The building is no longer here, but this monument is placed where the building stood.