Lake Willoughby

Barn


Changing Colors


Puppet Museum


Puppet Museum Billboard

​If you have been reading my journals, you know that I didn't ride my bicycle yesterday. The first four days of our Northeast Kingdom tour taxed my legs and caused pain in unmentionable parts of my anatomy. So I was anxious about today's loop ride. We had two choices. One was much shorter than the other. Tom and Julie Leever, our ride directors, suggested that between the two, the longer ride was the hands down choice. Besides, when we went into town yesterday in the car, we saw the sights on the shorter ride.

​ So I rolled out of bed at 7:00 and joined the rest of our group at breakfast. I wasn't very hungry but I still ate two large blueberry pancakes with pure VT maple syrup, two scrambled eggs and some sausage. I surprised myself. The pancakes were too good to resist. So I got my carbs, protein and fat along with caffeinated coffee to wake me up.

​ When I got onto my bicycle, my legs were still a little tired and my unmentionables were still a little sore. That stopped within the first couple of miles. I was riding with Tom and Julie Leever along with John Beland and Stu Shakman. It was an easy pace along wooded and sharply undulating roads. The steep ascents were short enough so that they didn't cause any pain. For five miles or so, we rode along beautiful Lake Willoughby. Lots of summer home were between the road and the lake. A few small sailboats were tied to buoys in small coves. The hills surrounding the lake were just starting to turn to their Fall colors.

​ Lunch was at the Parson's Corner Restaurant in Barton, our halfway point. A tuna sandwich was good enough to get me back on the road. We were all anticipating the "big" climb after lunch. When we reached the base of the climb, I took off my jacket and leg warmers because it was getting warm and the climb would have made it warmer. It turned out that the climb was pretty gradual and posed no problems. About a third of the way up, Julie and I stopped at a Bread and Puppet Theater and Museum. This is a so-called community that has some life-size puppets in its museum. It also advertises "cheap art". We didn't go into the museum. We should have.

​ The rest of the ride had a very long and relaxing downhill which got us back to Darling Hill Rd and our inn.

​ Happy Hour was at the same time as usual. Our group photo came next. Then we went to dinner. I sat with Ken Stahl and Shirley Ripullone and Jon and Lexie Armao. We had lively conversations on several subjects. My meal was fried meatloaf (it wasn't deep fried but gently sautéed with a nice mushroom sauce). I only ate part of it because the portion was so large. Apple crisp was our dessert.

​ Back at my room I started packing. We were moving on to Stowe.

Today's Ride