Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Biking in Vermont


I pictured biking down lovely paved paths gently strewn with leaves, a canopy of brilliant color overhead, a slight breeze blowing in my hair, a faint smell of apple cider in the distance and a leisurely stop along the road to sip cider. In my vision, I arrive perfectly coiffed, hair fluffy, a healthy glow, clothing neat and tidy, and just feeling ever so east-coast-put-together. It was a lovely fantasy while it lasted.

Instead, every biking photo you see of me from here on out will look like this. Can you see the ear muffs? Woodstock, Vermont was a little colder than we anticipated. A little steeper, with fewer designated bike paths. You see, the folks in the east are tough. They don't require things like separate paths for bikes and cars. Can you see the white line in the photo? That would be the line designating the bike trail (yes, an official trail) from the driving lane. You see, a bike trail is different from a bike path. A trail can cover any and all surfaces, and in Woodsstock, runs along highways and biways. This is a rest in the middle of a 20 mile, up-hill both ways (I'm sure of it), bike trip on a day so cold no one but a determined tourist would be nuts enough to be out leaf peeping on bicycle!

At the end, we arrived, mud splattered, sweaty and cold with frozen nose, toes, and fingers, exhausted, with helmet head. BUT WE DID IT! We biked our 20 miles, we peeped at red leaves, yellow leaves, reddish yellow leaves, orange leaves, reddish orange leaves, and yellow leaves. We peeped at green leaves, greenish yellow leaves, yellowish green leaves and brown leaves on the ground. We spotted farm after farm with rolling green meadows and fuzzy farm animals. Dave was aghast when I hollered, "Look at the sheep!" pointing to a heard in the distance and started "bahhhhhhing" gleefully. "They're cows!" he replied, and has not let me drive the RV since.

1 comment:

  1. OH HOLLY!! I love you! This makes me smile...and miss you!

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