Day One Hundred Fifty-nine, 090806 - Shoreham, VT

Day One Hundred Fifty-nine, Date Thursday, August 6, 2009
Time in Saddle: 8:15
Distance for the Day: 61.81 miles From Montpelier, VT To Shoreham, VT
Accumulated Trip Distance: 7550.92 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 593’/431’ Highest: 2426’ Accumulated: 4911’
Speeds: Avg: 7.4 mph, Max: 43.1 mph
Weather: 52° fog in the AM clearing by mid-day with clouds in the south
Expenditures: $23

Got up at 5:30am, put on my rain gear, and exited my tent to a cool, foggy morning. I packed my stuff away, and was ready to roll at 6:18am. Since it was just down the street from me, I stopped at the same mini mart I’d visited last evening for breakfast ($2); a hot cocoa and blueberry muffin. I then continued on up Hwy 2 to Rte 100 which would take me to the next small town, Waitsfield, which I hit at 9am. I had started from an altitude of about 600’, and did a knee-killing thousand foot climb over a 1600’ mountain, sweating my ass off now; I was grateful for the still-cool morning air. Side note: there sure were a lot of Subaru cars around here. Seemed like every third car was a Subaru. Must be because of all the ice and snow they get around here in the winter (all Subarus have all-wheel drives). I eventually hit, and began riding west on Rte 17 at 9:13am. I stopped for a rather overpriced lunch at 1:30pm in Bristol ($12) for a sandwich and 2 sodas. It was now clear overhead, but still cloudy in the south, so if I was lucky, and I usually am, I might still get rained on because I’m heading that way. Whew! There were lots of hills today; I had to stop a lot of times to catch my breath going up one side, and had to use my brakes a lot coming back down the other side. This was the most I’d ever had to use my brakes, due to lots of sharp turns after steep descents. I chatted a bit with another cyclist, who said my route from VT to NY would be very hilly, with lots of peaks and valleys. Great. Tell me something I haven’t already encountered. Continuing on Rte 7 towards Ticonderoga, I hit Middlebury at 4:15pm, and got food and drinks ($9) there. If I haven’t mentioned it before, I’m now in the habit of recording route details I get from Street Atlas into my digital voice recorder. That way, I don’t have to pull out my computer to consult the map as often, unless I suspect I’m not where I should be. This saves the notebook’s battery, though it is a bit annoying to have to listen to my entire dictated directions over and over. Sometimes, I have to drag out my GPS, take a reading, and enter it into SA to find my exact location; it’s a pain, but has saved me from many long and time/energy costly mistakes. It was getting toward evening, when I found, or rather, was directed to, a lovely stealthcamp location. At about 7pm, I got to talking with a local about the possibility of a site I had my eye on, and she got to liking and trusting me (Sharon), so she walked me over to the nearby local library, where she knew the librarian (Dianne). Dianne made a few calls to not only verify it would be okay to camp out on the HUGE back lawn area, but also notified the local police, so they would be aware of my presence, and to protect me. Thanks Sharon and Dianne! I went over to take a peek at a historic pub – the library itself was historic, and then set up my tent at 8pm, whereupon I hopped inside with munchies, drink and my book (N43 53.599’ W73 18.878’). I read until it got dark, and got to sleep at 9pm under a nice, clear night. Tomorrow: I would take a ferry trip and enter New York State!