Contrary to what I said I needed to do in yesterday’s blog, I didn’t backtrack to Orford to deal with the bridge outage in Lyme, but rather headed south, through Hanover, the home of Dartmouth College, so that I could take the Lyman Bridge west from Lebanon, New Hampshire to the White River Junction in Vermont.

When I passed through Hanover, I texted our friend John G. to ask if his daughter Susan, who attended Dartmouth, had ever gone to the “Circus Smirkus,” which is being advertised all around Hanover right now. (Susan has been a frequent out-of-town guest at our Saturday runners group gatherings over the years.) John asked Susan, and her response was that she was going there tonight! I thought this was a joke, since Susan lives in North Carolina. And then I learned to my amazement that she moved from N.C. to Lyme, N.H. last year and now lives only a few blocks from the inn I stayed at last night. She knows Jack, the innkeeper I wrote about yesterday, who she said has been “the most welcoming and awesome neighbor.” Susan said she and her family actually walked by the inn last night while I was there! Too bad I didn’t know earlier that they were so close.

In Lebanon, my final stop in New Hampshire on this trip, I stopped at the Four Aces Diner, which has been around since 1952 and reminded me of Moody’s Diner in Waldoboro, Maine (see blog from 7-3-23), right down to the worn areas of the counter showing the places where folks have rested their elbows over the years.

I love this menu.

I chatted with Marianne, one of the waitresses, about my trip. She was quite interested. I also told her about the funny coincidence about our friend Susan being so close by, since Susan and I were texting while I ate. (In fact, Susan and her youngest daughter were at the Four Aces, which she says is her favorite diner in the area, only a few weeks ago.)

Marianne said she and her son once took a month for a very slow trip (not on the interstates) all the way across the country in a convertible. She said it was a great trip, and that they had the top down the whole way, except for one day. She told me that based on her experience on that trip, she thought I would discover lots of amazing synchronicity in the connections I am able to make with people I meet along the way.

My first choice for lunch was meat loaf, but they were out of it, so I settled for the turkey dinner. Not for small appetites.

Lots of interesting signage throughout the diner, and I thought I would share a few examples so you can feel like you were there too.

I saw a marker for a horrendous train accident in 1887 and stopped to take a picture of it. There was a car parked there and I thought–wow, someone in these cars speeding by actually noticed this thing and also stopped to take a look at it. Well, actually, the car belonged to Stephanie, who was doing a fiber optic cable survey, and who came over to ask about my trip. She lives in Boston and she and her husband are avid cyclists.

Here is Stephanie, who is asking, “why would you want to take a picture of me? I should be taking a picture of you!”

And so she did.

I biked about 36 miles today and didn’t get to my destination, a remote B&B near Royalton, Vermont, until about 5:30, after climbing what I think was one of the steepest hills I’ve encountered on this trip so far. Evelyn, the owner, has a number of chickens and also does some farming on the property, which has been in her family since before the American Revolution. Here is the view from her front porch.