Windham and the Green Mountains of "Vermont".

The music festival was in full swing so in spite of frequent showers my hosts were out late and up late. I got up and fueled up and headed out for an absolutely gorgeous day on the bike. It started misty and cloudy and cleared up in the middle of the day before threatening rail late in the ride. The storm clouds were all bluster and no bummer but I think I escaped getting wet by the luck of my timing.

 When I stopped for coffee here on my bike ride, I noticed a couple of guys that started to stop and changed their mind. This morning I stopped here again and Greg and Carl stopped in this time and we had a nice conversation along with a local woodworker named Ed whose shop I passed a few times near Windham. In chatting with them and looking at the map to plan a ride for today or tomorrow I noticed how close I would be to my friend Gerhard and so I gave him a call and I'll be staying with him now instead of at a motel in Albany for my visit to see Matt perform in his play in Stockbridge.

 I continued on to Manchester Vermont which is like an outlet mall that has taken over all the old houses in the town center with all the usual suspects that women love. It is also a ski area and just plopped down in the middle of the Green Mountains but a short hop up hiway 7 from the Berkshires. I hurried through with a short stop to apply sunscreen and switch to shades from my clear lenses of the morning. The hills are in abundance and I was well above 100 feet per mile of climbing. Though I looked often, I have yet to see a bear or a moose in Vermont.

 I just love tunnels, even this kind.

 There was water next to the road most of the day which I have grown to expect with the wet year that has been experienced by every place I have visited.

 There were lots of dirt roads on this ride and at one point I started to run short on water so I stopped in to visit Harold who I met on the road and he offered to fill one of my bottles from the spring fed hose. I took it happily but had no intention of drinking it unless things got desperate, which they fortunately did not. I'm wary of untreated water that is reported to be "good water" because I have no desire to experience giardia on this trip. The Newton's water is from a spring fed uncovered cistern complete with frogs moss and mosquitos. All the assurances that it was good enough for people for thousands of years do little to sway me, something about life expectancies improving with the advent of water treatment and refrigeration. Thanks anyway Harold. I enjoyed the conversation if not the water.

 I stopped often for cookies and water and such and enjoyed the slow relaxing pace even though the ride ended up being 97 miles and 9,200 feet of climbing. I met lots of interesting people and they all knew Amos and his family even though my ride took me far afield. Each person offered their advice about the shortest way back to Windham but that's not what I was looking for today or ever. Somewhere along the way, Dan and Trey called from the century ride that they were doing to report temperatures north of 100. I think I briefly saw the low 80s but most of the day was cool and pleasant.

 I hope they were trading up and had no room left to store these.

 After such a nice ride through the woods, there was no better way to cap it off than a nice bath in my own private waterfall. I'm sorry to all my friends back in Texas, but folks, this is LIVING! I could get used to this but I keep repeating to myself. There's no place like home in the winter.

Headed to Southern Vermont

Taking off from lake Willoughby it was still cool and damp. I was headed to southern Vermont to explore the area around Townshend and Windham.

 The drive down was excellent with lots of beautiful scenery. My memory of Vermont was that it was just piles of gorgeous and it did not disappoint. I was headed to stay at the home of an acquaintance from another life and I was a bit apprehensive but I just had faith that all would work out as it should. I was last here 17 years ago with my ex and so I didn't know what to expect except it would be different. It was. I reached them by phone the day before and Ilana said that there was a big music festival going on just down the road. She said I should just plan on staying in one of the many extra beds inside but that there was no hot water this time of year so they just jumped in the brook to get clean. Different.

 Just as I got in the area I saw a sign that told of a farmer's market starting at that moment. I stopped in thinking that my hosts might be there. They weren't but everyone, of course, knew them.

 The directions included turning at the pond and following the road to the end. There I would find the big house, so named because it is huge.

 The kitchen was huge, amazing and well used. There was a huge wood burning range that doubled as a water heater and since they don't use it in the summer, they also have no hot water at this time unless they heat it on the smaller gas stove nearby. There were herbs and canning and all sorts of projects going on. These folks raise and can their vegetables, sauces, ketchup, sodas, spices and meat. The list goes on. They salt and smoke the meat that they raise and seriously limit the electricity they use for refrigeration, lighting and so forth.

 The big house was built in two parts. The white section on the left was built in 1780 at the time that the area was settled. Amos's grandfather was a teacher from Connecticut and in the mid thirties he bought the big house and added the huge wing on the right to create a boys' school called the Newton school. Boys learned everything there from standard curriculum to raising food and building with hand tools. They cleared and milled with axes and hand tools and cut the firewood that would heat the school through the winter. The traditions are carried on by Amos and his family. It was a magic experience and the next day's ride was pure pleasure finished off with a bath in the waterfall.

North East Kingdom ride to Newport

It's been a nice stay here in the NEK. Doug and Bari are very nice people and run a cool and funky campground. I enjoyed staying dry in the lean-to shelter perched on the hill. I discovered that I could get phone service if my phone stayed upside down in the cup holder of my folding chair and if it was facing the north. There was no service in any other configuration but I got to catch up with people as time allowed. The rains came and went and I snuck in some great rides in between. The country store had a gentle giant named Oscar. He's an English Mastif and at 17 months weighs 181 pounds so he'll top out way north of 200.

 Thursday looked good for a ride to Newport so I gave Lucky a going over and saddled up. The roads were often rough with cracks you could get lost in so vigilance was required especially when taking pics on the go. There were lakes and streams and beauty in abundance.

 I pushed fairly hard for the first two hours of the ride until I got to Newport and then my speed and wattage dropped due to sight seeing and I stopped to take care of some banking and personal calls. Before I got to Newport I logged the highest two hour power curve of the year in spite of a couple of stops to reroute for unexpected gravel roads and interstates. I had begun to wonder if all the taking it easy had affected my fitness but at least today I seem to be doing ok.

 The slanted stakes in the foreground are a speedometer indicating that I was traveling 15 mph when I took the picture. Most of the pictures are taken on the fly.

 This is where I stopped to make a bunch of calls. Not a bad place to kill some time.

 On the way back to camp I hit the edge of some passing showers but nothing serious. I just left the phone put away so pics on the second half are a bit limited.

Sunset on the Lake Willoughby.