47 miles. A grey day and a long slog up Brandon Gap in high humidity

We are out of NY and into our 9th state, Vermont. Starting early, we pedaled to the ferry landing and waited for the first eastbound trip.

The ferry arrives. That’s Vermont on the other shore

Once over into VT, it started to rain, as was predicted for the entire day, but stopped after about 15 minutes and didn’t rain the rest of the day.

Our host Richard at tonight’s BnB, the Pumpkin Patch, had told me by phone that the ACA route was under construction and he had learned from other cyclists to avoid the path through Middlebury and take #73. There would be climbs, he assured me, but once over the gap it would be downhill the rest of the way into Rochester. And what a climb it was.

We thought we had found a short cut to Richard’s route that would have made today a manageable 38 miles but, as these things sometimes go, our wonderful little short cut was blocked by a crew replacing a culvert on the road. We stared longingly at the other side of the hole being dug and our dream was to walk our bikes the 25 feet over the ditch to resume our ride. The foreman was adamant about his liability risk so refused our plaintive begging. The work-around added 9 miles or so to our day that was no longer the manageable ride we had planned.

We spent at least 20 minutes begging to be allowed to walk our bikes over to the promised land on the other side of the ditch. but to no avail. What you probably can’t see is the frustration on my face. The detour erased all of the advantage our short cut would have created.

The temps were cool but the humidity high so it wasn’t really comfortable cycling. Maja, of course, sped up the hill and I slogged along way behind forced to walk the bike at various times as the road grew steeper. Outside Brandon we passed a plaque commemorating the invention of the electric motor there by Thomas Davenport in 1834. I wasn’t aware that Yankee tinkerers were playing around with DC electricity then but I learned tonight that Volta invented a wet battery in the early 1800s.

But back to the ride.

The end of the long slog up and now for the 9 mile reward downhill

Once over the gap it was a 9 mile downhill run and after 6 of those miles I found Maja patiently waiting for me and after a brief sandwich we pedaled the rest of the way to the Pumpkin Patch.

An enjoyable dinner tonight at the School Street Bistro so now we are resting for tomorrow’s challenging hill climbs and our entry into New Hampshire. We will spend a rest day on Friday with our friend Camilla and visit the last of the Wright houses on this trip, the Zimmerman House in Manchester, NH. We are both looking forward to completion of our journey and will spend a few days in Maine decompressing before heading back to Phoenix… by air not by bike!

Vermont’s version of our hay bale motif