Vehicles, the New Hampshire Version

For the last week and a half I have been up in Moultonboro, New Hampshire, where my parents have a summer house.  It has been a really nice respite from the craze of packing in France, and from the dreaded cleaning up after a year of tenants in the house.  No one else in the world will ever love your stuff half as much as you do…

But that is all an aside.  After the lake activities, and just general relaxing that happens at this house, one of the things that we love is the outings.  Whereas in Aix-en-Provence there was hardly any issue with having no car, here you would be hard-pressed not to have some sort of regular ride.  The distances are so great and there is no such thing as a sidewalk around here. 

So what do you see on the roads?  Well, it is at the same time totally different from what we saw in Aix-en-Provence and not that dissimilar. 

The only place where you will see pedestrians is in the several-block stretch that counts as Main Street.  There are bright cones in the intersections reminding vehicles that pedestrians have the right of way.  And the crosswalks come at literally every corner. 

Next up, bikes.  Not so many, and only in the mountainous backroads where you need to swerve widely to avoid hitting them. 

Then, the REAL BIKES.  You got it, the motorcycles.  These are no small scooters, as in France.  These are big Harley’s, with large, American-sized riders on them.  And definitely no helmets.  This is New Hampshire after all, where they “live free or die.” (Really, live free and die.)

In terms of cars, there are some smaller vehicles, some vans, but more of the larger types like SUV’s.  Many of them will be covered in backroads dirt, many of them will be towing something behind them: a boat or boat trailer, a camping trailer, even farm equipment.  A surprising number of jeeps as well.

The trucks are pick-up, also pulling loads, many from earlier eras.  And there are cabs for sale on many a front lawn, as well as other various and sundry items looking for new homes. 

And finally there is lots of farm equipment.  Mowers, tractors and lots of other John Deere-type things that I might once have been able to name in a DK book read with Julian. 

So lots of motorcycles and lots of priority placed on farmed foods.  But also lots of immensity and lots of aged vehicles.  Again I am struck by how it is possible to feel comfortable in both environments, yet in neither feel a full part of the whole.