2020, Days 25 & 26: (Sweat)er Weather

Ah, New England in the Fall! Itself the picture of the cottagecore aesthetic, with farmer's markets, apple harvests, trees on fire (figuratively, with brightly-colored leaves, not literally like the other side of the country), dependable rain showers, and an autumn chill. Is there a better time to be outdoors in the Northeast? Grab your PSLs and creme cashmere, girls, this is your moment.

Dad's beginning to cross into the uncertain territory of sweater weather as he transitions into the northeastern states. Sweater weather is great for sweaty work, but it's a fine line between brisk and dang-cold. It seems that dad's timed his trip perfectly, at least thus far, to use up a good portion of the former and avoid the latter. Hopefully Vermont doesn't REALLY promise all that snow, as beautiful as it is this time of year. Icy roads make for treacherous hill climbing. And maybe, should he avoid the worst of weather, our papa bear will get to take a nice long hibernation after the labors of his fall vacation.

Rain has cut short a few days of riding now, but that's no worry with no time constraints and since he was several days ahead of the original schedule, anyway. Since General Conference takes place quite a bit later in the day in Eastern Time than it does in Mountain Time, dad was able to get in some riding on Saturday, too, despite the four hours of conference. Once again, technology comes in clutch as mom and dad don't have to search out a church building or a cable connection to tune in, and can pull it up on any mobile device or laptop. Among the outdoor views, physical labor, and spiritual infusion from GC, this may shape up to be the best week of the trip for mom and dad's spirits.

After this stretch, dad's made it about halfway across VT, progress having been slowed significantly by the steep hills that make up the majority of the current road. The nice part is that after this, dad has to ride back down to sea level, so it should be some good downhill riding eventually.

October 2, 2020

Rain today, most of the day; so I spent the morning updating the budget and other financial stuff. The rain finally let up around 2:30, so we took off riding at 3:00. Right off the bat, I took the wrong road. But I was able to cut back to the right highway and we were on our way. Good shoulders/bike lanes most of the way to the Vermont border. The road was also a roller coaster: small dips that I could work up a little momentum to climb the next little hill, over and over again. It was fun. Highway 4 turns into an interstate at the border, but there is an alternate that goes through the very picturesque small towns of western Vermont. It was somewhat chilly after the rain, and with the late start, I was only able to ride for 2:45. But I covered 35 miles in that time.

End Point: Castleton, VT

October 3, 2020

Since we were limited on the ride yesterday, I wanted to take a little time this morning to get to the top of Sherburne Pass in the Green Mountains and get that climb behind me. Stiff climb of about 1500 feet in 8 miles. The morning was quite chilly, around 44 degrees, but I was still perspiring pretty heavily going up the hill. Rode 20.9 miles in 2:45. Then back to our motel in Queensbury so we could listen to conference, do laundry, change the oil, etc.

End Point: Killington, VT