Day 6 - Piggy's Last Day

It's a sad day here in Connecticut as the pig has passed on to Rhode Island - the runt of the New England litter. Before piggy left we took him through the capital (Hartford) and showed him the sights. We could have had him pose in front of each insurance building in the city (Hartford is the de facto Insurance Capital of the World) but really, who cares?

First stop was the historic Mark Twain house, where the author penned his famous novels, thereafter making grade schoolers miserable for years to come (until the advent of Cliff Notes, anyway). Actually one of those trivia things they show before movies recently told me that Tom Sawyer was the first novel to ever be typed on a typewriter. True story.

Here's piggy posing around the house:







Next up, the memorial to soldiers from Hartford who gave their life in the war for the Union (that's the Civil War to you Rebs - you know, the one WE WON):









And lastly, our capital building, which was clearly built by Russians:





There was little time left for sight-seeing after that as we had a long trek down to the Rhode Island shore to meet up for the handoff.

I'll miss that little bastard!

Day 5 - Local Sights

I was hoping to get the pig out for some sight-seeing today, but there were thunderstorms through the area until late afternoon. Despite that, we got out for an hour or two before it got dark, taking in some local sights under stormy skies.

The other thing that Connecticut is famous for (besides Foxwoods) is growing the shade tobacco leaf that most cigars are wrapped with. Most of those tobacco fields are right near my house, so we stopped by some to take some pictures.

These here are the tobacco fields, the big barn is where they hang the tobacco leaf to dry at the end of the season - there are a few barns next to every field.





True to the name, at some point in the season they drape huge tents over the fields to keep the leaves in the shade.

Next up was the sycamore tree nearby my house which is the largest tree in Connecticut. Certainly not the largest in the country, but the largest in the state.





And last but certainly not least, since this is a motorcycle trip for the piggy, I thought I'd take him on some of the hilly wooded back roads that are so prevalant here in the Northwest corner of the state. This is what I'm going to miss most when I move to Florida, for sure:







Weather permitting, tomorrow I hand off to Rhode Island. There are a few more places I'd like to take the pig before the handoff, but not many. This is not a very happening state.

Day 5 - Of cooooourse.

Good news: my back is feeling better, well enough to ride.

Bas news: Thunderstorms are blanketing the area for the rest of the day. Radar shows a possible break in a few hours, so if that happens I'll head out for a few photo ops, otherwise it'll all have to happen tomorrow morning before the handoff (assuming thunderstorms don't much that up as well).

Day 4 - Grounded

I am grounded today, and the weather is beautiful. I hurt my back yesterday and can't stand up straight let alone ride. SO frustrating.

Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow, got big pig plans.