Our arrival in Keene was “jarring”. Coming into town pretty fast all of a sudden the road surface deteriorated. Of course we’re used to this by now; Vermont and New Hampshire surely have the worst roads in the country. But we’d been on smooth roads and the sudden “pot holes loosely connected by tarmac” was an unwelcome surprise. As I tried to find a good place to ride, I almost lost it.
But closer to town was pleasant; large older homes all well maintained. This has not been the case in northern VT and NH – it appeared to me that most of the homes were not well maintained. Seeing a freshly painted house was a pleasant exception. But Keene seems different, a much more prosperous and lively town than most we’ve visited.
Keene is a city in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 23,409 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Cheshire County. Keene is home to Keene State College and Antioch University New England, and hosts the annual Pumpkin Fest.
There is a town square and adjacent streets are tree-lined boulevards with many shops and restaurants. We parked our bikes before going to the hotel and had a delightful lunch, sitting outside at Luca’s. The weather was perfect, sunny and temperature in the 79’s. Our hotel room wasn’t ready so we walked around town, stopping at the ice cream store. The Lane Hotel has a happy hour at 6:00 and most of us had dinner at an award-winning Thai restaurant.
Downtown Keene. Below, opulent interior of Bank of America and a tribute to Robin Williams.
Below one of the tree-lined boulevards. And when is the last time you’ve seen an anti-war protest?
I walked up Washington Street to photograph the beautiful old houses I saw on the way into town yesterday. It turns out that about 80% of them are now businesses – Dr’s, lawyers, architects, contractors, counselors, etc.
Since most of what we’ve seen of northern Vermont and New Hampshire has seemed very rural, even by Texas standards, I was curious about the population density. The results surprised me: persons / square mile: New Hampshire – 148, Texas – 101, Vermont – 68. So NH is more densely populated than TX and VT is less dense. From our experience, I would have guessed NH and VT to be about the same, but NH is twice as dense as VT. There must be large cities in NH which we haven’t visited.
I also wondered about road surfaces since I believe these have been the worst roads I’ve seen. Getting data on this is not easy but one rating agency rated Texas as number 11, New Hampshire as no. 18 and Vermont no. 28 (up from 42).
BRENDA’S BIOS
Ed and Karen Haas
Ed and Karen live in Reston, VA and have been married for 19 years. Ed, retired for nearly 10 years, worked for the Food and Drug Administration in an Economics Group. Karen, still working, works for the Department of Defense Military Hospital System as an IT Systems Project Manager. She is seriously considering retiring, hopefully within the next year.
Ed and Karen have been on 15 BAC rides and have also lead a number of rides. The next ride they are leading in in Northern Spain and will be announced to the club on October 1. Ed’s favorite BAC ride is either Huff and Puffers or Discovering the Heart of Southern Italy. Karen’s favorite is Costa a Costa (organized by John and Brenda).
Ed loves photography, especially wildlife. He spends time most days walking and photographing then editing his images. He also rides his bike 3,000-4,000 miles per year. Karen is planning on doing more quilting and reading when she gives up her day job.
They have 3 grand daughters, ages 10 months to 11 years.
Molly and John Mazzella
Molly is a virgin, at least as far as BAC is concerned! Welcome to the Bicycle Adventure Club. This is John’s 3rd BAC ride. They met on a local bike ride and have been married for just over 2 years. They each have 2 kids from previous marriages and Molly has 2 grandchildren.
Molly taught 3rd grade and has been retired about a year. John spent his career at IBM, working in the department of Engineering and Ergonomics. He retired in 2001 at the early age. They are both active in the ACTC local bike club. John has been leading rides for this group since the early 1990’s. In retirement, in addition to riding, they love to garden and stay in touch with family and friends. Molly is fluent in Spanish and tried to teach us a little song in French last night.
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