Manchester Lunch

Great weekend!  Saw Dark Star Orchestra w/ Bill @ Hampton Casino on Sat night, after 5 hours of laying in the sun and swimming @ Kingston State Park. 
 
Sunday involved a quick ride in to Hampton Beach following Laura & the girls.  The girls got Henna tattoos and then we laid on the beach for an hour until I took off w/ Sam (leaving Laura & Gabby to relax for the afternoon) and rode her back to Stratham & dropped her off at a b-day party.  From there I had an open afternoon and an open road in front of me. 
 
Eager to get in some quick miles to find less familiar ground, I took 101 to Manchester.  It was lunch time and I was hungry, so after a quick rest in the heart of downtown, I rode north on 3 and stopped at D'Angelo.  About this time I was dismayed to see the formerly sunny, blue sky turn overcast and dark.  Rain was on the way.  I was very much unprepared for this.  Not only did I not have rain gear, which I never bring on day rides (if it was going to rain, I wouldn't have gone on the ride!), but due to the heat, I didn't even bring my leather jacket.  I had 2 fleeces and my leather vest.  If I got caught in a downpour I would be instantly soaked, freezing, and miserable.  My plan after lunch had been to head north on 132 at least to Tilton, and then to decide from there what direction to head in.  The sky at first was equally dark in all directions (ie the potential storm clouds were sprouting all over rather than rolling in from the west) and it wasn't raining yet, so I started off toward my planned run down 132.  I've been on it before and it's an enjoyable, twisty road worth revisiting. 
 
I took 3a between Manchester and Concord to avoid the slab and the tolls and was 3/4 thru the 10 or so miles to Concord when the ground started looking damp.... then wet.... then soaked.  The cars on the road started leaving billowing clouds of spray behind them.  It had just rained here very recently, and hard.  In fact, if I hadn't stopped for lunch I'm quite sure I would have ridden through the mess.  Anyway, at this point I began to re-evaluate my plans, taking into consideration 1) my distance from home, 2) my lack of appropriate apparel, and 3) the sky- that was now a little darker to the north than to the east and south. 
 
As much as I didn't want to, I decided my original plans would have to be over-ridden and I'd have to find other open road to explore.  I was a little bummed by this at first, but soon found some great roads that I'd never been on.  I started out from Concord on 4 east, a boring, high-traffic road.  I planned to take a right onto 107 south, which would head in the right direction to getting me back to the seacoast in case the weather got worse.  Before getting to 107 though I saw a right hand turn that said "Take me!". So I did.  It was a slow, narrow side-road that I suspected at first would just quickly loop back onto rt. 4.  After a bit, it became apparent that this would not happen, which was exciting.  Once again I was thinking- where will I come out?  The road suddenly turned to dirt, at which point I would normally turn around.  This time I said, what the hell and continued on.  Eventually, I came out onto a paved road w/ a yellow line.  I guessed immediately this was probably 107 and took a right so I was heading south (putting the afternoon sun on my right :) ). 
 
There were no signs until I came to the junction of 43 at which point I thought "I knew it!".  Here I was already back into familiar territory having been through here on my rides home from Rochester.  I swung a left on to Deerfield Road, a favorite of mine.  I stopped to take a picture of a swamp full of dead but standing trees.  I then continued on until I took a left that I've passed many times and wondered to myself where it came out.  As I'd guess, it came out onto 152 a little further north than the end of Deerfield Rd (which comes out on 156).  I swung a right and headed down 156 until I came to a left I vaguely remember having traveled before (Ham St).  This brought me out onto 27, which I did not want to take back home- it would bring me home sooner than I wanted.  I turned right and headed west back to the junction of 107 & 102 and took 102 south.  I soon turned off 102 onto some backroads I'd never traveled and began zig-zagging toward the general direction of home.  I love when I can stay on roads I've never traveled, avoid coming out someplace I've been, and know I'm still heading in the direction I'm hoping too. 
 
Eventually I came out on 121a, then got on 111 and headed home.  175 miles for the day, and a lot of fun. 
 
8 more days til the big 2004 trip! Can't wait!