Triking in Franklin County

What a great time we’ve been having in Deerfield, Massachusetts! It’s great to see my Mom, who is an amazingly independent and vibrant 92 year old. We’ve enjoyed lobster, fresh peaches from Clarkdale Farm, home cooking, and triking with our friend Carol.

The truck service was uneventful, although we’ll return this week for a wheel alignment and a transmission fluid replacement, just so we take good care of it. The trailer service was harder. The motor and mechanical mechanism for the slide is shot and needs replacing. The technician straightened and stabilized it for us, and advised us to shore up the slide inside the trailer to have it travel better until we can get the replacement parts. He said this would allow us to safely sit in the slideout (the dinette) when the slide wasn’t extended. Since we were able to get the slide in we haven’t extended it again for fear of it getting stuck in the out position. We have an appointment in late August in Nipomo, California where we purchased it. They have already ordered parts. Keep your fingers crossed that they can fix it quickly.

While Carol was here we triked to Turners Falls and Montague, and showed her Upper and Lower Roads in Deerfield. Weather was hot, but with our early starts, we survived.

On one of our return trips, as we were turning into Mom’s driveway, I noticed my steering felt weird. Turns out the right steering tie rod had come loose from the frame at the heim joint. We suspect a combination of off-road riding and the extended travel vibrations of the truck may be the culprit. Boy, was the timing good for me — I had just done a 36 mph twisty descent! Paula thinks she’ll update my life insurance! Thankfully Paul and Mel at Recumbent PDX in Portland sent us a replacement tie-rod, and Paula was able to do the reassemble. Whew!

Today, based on the recommendation of a triker we met on the Turners Falls loop, we traveled to Adams to ride the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail. It’s about 14 miles one-way, fully paved with fresh hot-top, and has lovely shade and scenery. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Here are a few pictures:

Check out the lights on the side of the building; excellent bicycle motif. 

The visitor center had this bike in its lobby. An E-bike that can take two passengers up front. Wouldn’t this be cool for the Sequim Wheelers?

And lastly, here are some photos of Old Deerfield where my Mom lives. Quite the idilic community…

I baked this fresh peach pie for Mom.

We visited Treehouse Brewing with Mom. Their flagship location is Charlton, Ma, but they’ve just expanded to other locations including South Deerfield. Paula enjoyed an IPA while Mom and I had ‘Dad’s Shoes’ — a milk stout. Yummy!