October 4, 2018. Ashford to Mystic, CT. 52 Miles.

I promised I would not interfere with Diana's planned ride today! We drove to Ashford and unloaded the bikes. As I was pumping up my tires I broke off the valve stem on the front tire. Yup, had to change a tire before we even got started. Finally we were ready to go.

We rode through central Connecticut, which was very rural. It also was very hilly!

Bill and Doris shadowed us, following the same route and waiting for us to catch up to see if we needed anything. We needed cookies and gatorade at the first stop this morning!

We stopped at the very small town of Scotland and had a comfort stop at Town Hall. We did not find a restaurant today so Bill and Doris went to a grocery store and bought fixings for sandwiches, and potato chips, and bananas. We had lunch along the roadside, not knowing there was a state park with picnic tables just 5 miles up the road.

We saw the stone fences again today, some farms had them around every field. The far field is full of pumpkins.

I've been impressed with the age of some of these communities. The oldest I saw today was near the end of the ride.

Five miles from the end of the ride we stopped at Clyde's Cider Mill for a rest and a snack. This is the oldest steam-operated cider mill in the US, in operation since 1881.

When we arrived at Taber Inn at Mystic, Kathie and Dianne were in the parking lot putting their bikes together--they hadn't been here long. Kathie asked what our plans were for tomorrow... they met us at 6 to go to dinner and plan our 2 days here. Below are Doris, me, Dianne, Kathie and Diana.

We all walked to a nearby restaurant where the waitress took our photo. A good time was had by all!