Vermont Tour (Day 10: Back to Burlington)

The last day of riding was almost too stereotypically Vermont quaint, with amazing weather, blue skies, and one charming scene after another. We did have a bridge detour that added six miles to the 55 miles from Middlebury to Burlington, but we almost welcomed the added time in the saddle. A few hills, but nothing like the previous few days.

Stopped in the picturesque village of Vergennes for a delicious latté.

I imagine there're more than a couple Shoppes in this town, some no doubt ye olde.

Gilfeather's Fine Provisions in Ferrisburgh was quite a find, a fantastic little deli. I had a pasta salad and a thick slice of lemon cake that was as dense as it was tart. We also bought maple pecan bars that were so rich we had to take several swings at them before they were finally devoured on the train ride home.

Lily pads.

Lake Champlain.

Okay, there were a few hills.

Von Trapp (yes, that von Trapp) Dunkel Lager.

Hand made pappardelle with smoked mushrooms at Pascalo Ristorante in Burlington. Un. Fracking. Believable.

This.

We almost forgot to leave Pat in Burlington, former home of the Socialist mayor and our mutual hero, Bernie Sanders. We were in for the night, however, so we made use of our fourth-floor window.

Nomad is the perfect coffee with which to end our journey. Oh, and it's Damon spelled backwards.

Bagging up the panniers. These Osprey Airporter duffels really did the trick.

Third world infrastructure. Thanks Republicans.

Spotless and now unused galley. All the meals on the Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited routes now only serve cold boxed meals.

The Amtrak dining car has become a pretty dull and empty place since they stopped serving proper meals.

One book I read on my bike tour was former head of Planned Parenthood's Cecile Richard’s memoir, Make Trouble, and in that spirit, I wore this Raygun t-shirt while off the bike in D.C. and other select cities, and on the train home. It was a hit with some people; others, not so much.

Approaching that dirty old town, Chicago.

Revolution Anti-Hero IPA, Chicago True Foods.

Last beer of the tour and one of my favorites: Bell’s Two Hearted Ale at the Metropolitan Lounge at Union Station , waiting for our last train. This tour is over.

Vermont Tour (Day 8: Middlebury)

Our penultimate day of riding promised to be hotter than hades, with hills only a beelzebubba in an ATV could love. But it would be short, only 40 miles, and we had to push it as we were meeting a former student of mine for lunch in Middlebury. 

We rode down the coast of Lake Champlain, on the New York side, from Port Henry to Ticonderoga, where we caught the ferry to Vermont. The ferry was but a short cable-drawn affair that took all of ten minutes. Then it was about a three-hour ride to Middlebury, home to my 1980s Chinese language alma mater, Middlebury College. Christ on a pogo stick was it ever hot. There was a front moving in and a storm a brewing the following day, so we decided to $pend an extra night in Middlebury. That proved to be the best decision we could have made.

Waiting for the ferry, which was cheaper than a Trader Joes three-buck Chuck.

Former student Logan Shannon, an all-time favorite.

Otter Creek (Middlebury) brown ale at Sabai Sabai Thai in Middlebury. Great beer and decent food.

The old mill dam that no self-respecting New England town would be without.

The Storm Café, in the background, right, where we had lunch.

Kids learning how to bike tour. We met up with them again the following day on our way to Burlington.

Zero Gravity Cone Head IPA at the Storm Café down by Otter Creek.

The Shed Brewery's (Middlebury) Mountain IPA.

Simple Roots New North End IPA, Burlington.

We stayed at the Swift House Inn, a historic assemblage of guesthouses on a four acre estate in the heart of Middlebury. We kept expecting Bob Newhart or a Gilmore girl to pop their head in at any moment  The current owner is a long-haul bicycle tourist and was very welcoming and interested in our travels. They serve a killer breakfast. This is the Gatehouse where bikers are probably most comfortable as it has bike accommodations close by.

This Gatehouse carriage house is where bikes are stowed.

There was even a Park bike repair stand available, as well as this rather rudimentary bike rack, more appropriate for non-loaded bikes for sure.

Vermont Tour (Day 7: The Adirondacks)

The day started out auspiciously enough—clear skies, temps in the high sixties, and a three-mile (mostly) down hill ride from our hotel to the ferry. Looked like a good day to drop a packet of Pat off the stern of the Champlain during our one-hour crossing to Port Kent, New York. It would, however, prove to be a rather taxing day, even for Pat. 

Unlike the Vermont side of Lake Champlain, where the Green Mountains descend gracefully to the rather broad plains of the valley, the Adirondacks end smack dab at the lake. The Adirondack train line takes up most of the flat real estate near the shore, allowing the road very few chances to ramble along the flat spots. So, whenever the road heads inland, which it does with regularity, hills ensue. And these aren't just wee, sweet affairs; they're often at extreme grades, and a few of them are fairly long. Another continuing challenge is the unseasonably hot and humid weather. When I attended school at Middlebury College in the 80s, the temperature seldom made it into the 80s. Today it topped 95, with humidity to boot. Throw in the hills, and 45 miles  in the saddle was sufficient.

Our ferry started out life as the City of Hampton when it was commissioned in 1930 in Baltimore, Maryland (above). It served the city of Hampton, Virginia, until 1957, with the opening of several bridges and tunnels rendered the old ferries obsolete. Towed to Lake Champlain in 1957, the boat was renamed Champlain, and now serves the Burlington-Port Kent route, alongside the Adirondack and the Valcour. 

The Adirondack, the Champlain's sister ferry, built in 1913 to ply the river between downtown Jacksonville, Florida South Jacksonville, Florida, until a bridge was built in 1921. She wended her way to Lake Champlain in 1954.

Might be a bit too much boat for this use.

We had three other bikers join us for the crossing.

The Adirondacks await us.

While Dean checked his email, I took a packet of Pat to deposit off the stern (with the head wind, I didn't want him to end up like Donny in The Big Lebowski). After I did so, I looked down and discovered there were actually passengers in the open-air lower deck. No one ever thinks, partly cloudy with a chance of ash.

Port Kent, New York.

We are smiling because we didn't know we would immediately begin a climb out of the port.

A fellow biker, sans bags, a talkative guy who teaches special education in Burlington public schools. He had some interesting observations about the depressed economy in northern Vermont as compared with southern Vermont, and also the Midwest (his girl friend recently moved to Madison, ostensibly for higher wages. I have another theory.).

Lake Champlain 600 feet below. This I know because I just climbed 600 feet to get there.

"Did I leave the gas on? No, I'm on vacation."

One of the hills that proved too much for Dean. He lacks the extreme low grandpa gear I have, so this day was a bit much at times.

Great lunch spot. We had caprese paninis, ice cream, and lattes.

Lots of these wonderful stacked stone walls on this route. Many of the towns along the way were established in the mid-late 1700s.

Looking west.

Our city campground in Port Henry. We met half a dozen bike tourists from Madison, Wisconsin (background) who invited us to share their pasta dinner; we in turn shared some of our beer, which, for the life of me, I can't remember.

A forty seven mile day, when one adds in the mileage from our hotel to the ferry. The elevation scale looks about right.