Maine/Vermont, Day 7-8: Onto Biking

At The Cupboard in New Harbor, Maine Amy and I split a freshly baked cinnamon roll and a freshly baked sticky bun.  Both were light and airy as souffle, with not too much icing or sugar.  The couple at the campground said they brought some back in their car, and the yeasty smell was in their car for days.  If they could put that in an air freshener...

We spent most of Saturday driving, returning to Carie and Randy's house in Woodstock Vermont for some downtime.  After the quintessential Yankee dinner of pot roast, root vegetables, and gravy, topped off with tarts Amy and I picked up at Dartmouth, Randy showed us slides of their Alaskan Cruise.  They travel on a small boat, about 12 passengers plus crew, that was built in the 1930's.  In such a craft, you can get up close to the glaciers and coastline.   It's difficult to comprehend how enormous this all is.

The next morning, Amy and I set out on the twisty, picturesque Vermont roads for Bristol, Vermont. There are Moose Crossing signs everywhere.  I do my Bullwinkle imitation (it is just my way.)  No moose arrive, but a mother black bear and her three babies scurry across the road in front of us.

8 of the 20 members of our group met at Vermont Bike Tours headquarters in Bristol and boarded a shuttle for Lake Champlain.  It was a quiet ride.  Maybe we were sizing each other up - who was gonna blubber like a baby at the first sight of hills or wind?

We made some passing comments about the Vermont scenery - the solar panels, the houses for sale (courtesy of Hurricane Irene 3 years ago).  Electric poles have artificial osprey nests built on top, and the ospreys were coming back in full force.  Then there was Lake Champlain itself, 125 miles long and anywhere between 1/2 a mile to 40 miles wide.  Yeah, it's kinda big.  And we were gonna bike right down the islands in the middle.

Our first spot was the North Hero Inn on Hero Island.  In true VBT fashion, the Inn was ritzy.  We had our own balcony overlooking the lake with a hammock. Across the lake, four enormous wind turbines caught the considerable lake breezes.  It was ... kinetic, I think.  There was a sense that even as you were on vacation, you were in motion.  Which is Newton's First Law of motion right there.

So the twenty of us met for a trial bike ride.  VBT provides the bikes and helmets, and you bring bike clothes and gloves and your favorite other stuff.  We did seven mile trial run, which was mostly flat, but it was good practice for reading cue sheets.  We took our first "optional leg" - a four mile jog up the lakeshore and back, which Amy and I did.

The ride shook out the "social cobwebs" and we met for dinner and chatted like old buddies.  I mean, none of us knew each other beforehand (except our pardners, which came in various configurations).   So we met Alan and Judi from Omaha, close to my old stomping grounds in Lincoln.  Every year for the past few years, Alan hikes from one rim of the Grand Canyon to the other in one day without camping.  If you've ever seen it (I haven't yet), this is quite a feat, and it requires being in shape, obviously, and a bit of planning.  Alan has this cool, booming laugh that I can tell will be one of the defining sounds of this trip.

Ximena and Alvery are from Chile.  They definitely the "furthest from Vermont" award.  This is their fifth or sixth VBT tour, and it's very clear they have visited more places than I will ever go.  In the United States, even!   They speak English very well, idiomatic and formal.  Amy and I grill them about places to visit in South America, and they're pretty positive about Brazil.  Which means we have to go.  I'm a big fan of Bossa Nova and MPB (Música popular brasileira) so it doesn't take much persuading.

The forecast this week is for cold, wind and rain.  Amy asked me in private, "if it's raining, do they give you a free spa day?"  I have no idea - my only VBT trip had no rain.  You can always ride in the van - rain or no rain - but the van will hold only 10 or so people.  Someone's gotta ride.  I volunteer!