Tag Archives: Road

DAY 7 – 09/21/2012 – Stowe VT, Cradled in the Arms of Family

You never know how you’ll be received whenever you call a relative by surprise.  They have their busy schedule, need to work etc.  But, you’ll know whether they really want your brief company.  Perhaps bringing our own bedroom where ever we go will help?  Here we feel welcome.

Jane, Caroline and David at Huntly & Doug’s beautiful home. Mt Mansfield in the background

Huntly, Doug and Caroline help us feel at home in their home.  We slept in late (anything after 8 is late for me) and sat around for lots of coffee and pancakes. We ate their home cooked food, had long showers and did laundry. Great hosts, eh?!

Jane, Huntly, David and Amber, our host dog cousin.

Later we rode into Stowe and up/down the “Rec Trail”.  A beautiful 5 1/2 mile paved ribbon between Downtown Stowe’s Blinking Red Light and the Top Knotch Racquet Club along the river all the way.  Idylllic, safe and peaceful, but we yearn for single track.  Won’t be long.

– David & Jane

DAY 6 – 09/20/2012 – Vermont or Bust, Vergennes/Verizon

…enough said!

We started with “Second Breakfast” at a diner:  The Hot Biscuit in Ticonderoga or Ti as they call it.

Here was a breakfast we’d share as we’d already eaten. Homemade biscuits with sausage gravy.

Finally receiving good news buoyed our drive out of New York.  We really don’t want to leave, but Fall moves fast up here.  (We want to move North to Maine and New Brunswick at a modest pace so we can turn South and travel as slow as our overall experience and  entertainment suggests.)

Jane has romantic childhood memories of Ticonderoga, (a game that we’re having trouble researching) or a place she’s never been. We saw this as a reason to explore and plunked down about 17 bucks each for the fort museum.  Despite my frenetic ways, independence, and ability to read display signs, I gently lobbied to wait for the tour.  Boy was I glad.  Dan the presenter in period dress, herded about twenty of us to a flat below the ramparts.  A very good speaker, he skillfully painted the times that these places flourished.  A new nation, French and British interests…very lively and informative.  Looked like a great job for a History Major or actor.   We really enjoyed it.  But as will be our way, our feet were soon aching to make some miles toward Vermont.

Dan had us feeling “Revolutionary sentiments”…

Oddly, the brief “service” our phones had given us, they also irritated us.  However much our phones said “looking for service” and we enjoyed being out of touch, what we lacked most was a way to blog.  This feels like an important part of our adventure.  Surely if we only fitfully jot a few things and posts, it won’t capture the immensity of the country or the privilege we’ve stolen to travel within it.

We saw the Big Red Check Mark:  Verizon Store in Vergennes, I pulled right in.  Picking phones and service plans can be pretty tedious stuff.  In Maryland the stores are so busy it can be over half an hour before anyone notices you are there.  Not so in Vermont.   Chase was gracious, informative and entertaining.  Nick too got involved and we couldn’t help telling them about our adventure to explain why we needed a “hotspot” or something to connect for blogging.  We are 4G!   Both of us picked “dumb phones”.  I see an image of people everywhere, standing, looking down at something in their hands.  I see many parents so engrossed in their swiping and texting, they miss excited toddlers crying up for attention.  I don’t want to miss the world around me.  We want to see and hear all we can.

My cousin, Huntley returned my call, sounding almost like she was jumping up and down.  Wow, you’re up this far already?  You’ve got to visit!  We can make Stowe before 930 PM…more nice back roads then about 20 “icky” miles on Interstate 89.  I think it was the 40mph “Minimum Speed” that confirmed our disdain.  My poor little V6  4Runner can’t decide which gear to kick down into and seems to struggle more trying for 60 on the highway than whatever we roll on those back roads.  (Wonder how long it will last?)

– David

I remember having, as a child, a game called “Fort Ticonderoga”. Or was it Fort Ticonderoga Lincoln Logs? It’s pretty hazy. Maybe Nancy or Bob can refresh my memory. Anyhoo, that’s why I wanted to go to the fort. We also took Iris, our little stuffed bunny who travels with us. We have pics of Iris from all over the world.

– Jane

DAY 5- 09/19/2012- Adirondacks

 

Pancakes with Maple syrup were in order.  The sky is clear blue with piercing morning light.  Today will be fun.  90 miles of 40mph beauty led us to more surprises.  We picnicked at a river and upon looking upstream found a great smooth place to paddle.  Jane and I are water-weannies and just like to be on placid water for an hour to see the sites and look for birds or whatever.   A short, narrow portage led us to West Canada Creek at a confluence that had been used to run logs over the years.

Beautiful West Canada Creek

 

 

 

Later Jane mentioned Gore Mt. was near, so I turned into the access road.   I convinced Jane to take a little walk up the Mountain.  We went about a third or halfway straight up the gondola then walked down some nice green trails back to our heavy little home.

– David

 

DAY 4 – 09/18/2012 – It’s raining – let’s just get some driving done

Dry in the camper, we decided there wasn’t much else to do.  We can make it to the Adirondacks today.  On wet roads especially, I began to notice the front of the truck is a “little light”.  The weight of our tramper settles down onto the back, known as tongue weight and this raises the front end.  Dramatic cornering or braking will be avoided.

We drove 250 miles today.  We sat in a McDonalds, of all places, trying to use WiFi.  Frustration.  Next, we drove to Buttermilk Falls and made our lunch, walked around and felt ready to DRIVE.

Evening and hunger sent us off on a side road where we blocked our light from going out our windows. (Stealth Camping)  The nearest driveway had a sign warning trespassers of 24 hr video surveillance.  Weird.  Good thing we weren’t poaching.  Jane and I assembled a lovely pizza with fresh tomatoes and peppers from a roadside stand and feasted  once again.

Yum! another feast

We have Liftoff!

At about 7:15 on Saturday, September 15, 2012, we left home for our trip. Yay! Pants were sacrificed

-Jane