Day 41 - Schroon Lake, NY to Stockbridge, VT

Hard to believe it is Saturday, August 4th - we are in Vermont.  Yep, we arrived in Vermont after crossing Lake Champlain on a ferry, with Fort Ticonderoga on the shore of New York.  What we have seen of Vermont, so far, is more rolling hills and windy roads, small farms and, of course, maple syrup.  Yep - a can in the car!
I think we have been very fortunate, so far, that in our travels and booking motels on line, that we have have had pretty good accommodations - for the most part, modest but adequate.  To start with, finding accommodations on a Saturday night is rough - from an internet search, we called multiple motels, all full - finally finding one in Bethel, VT - a B&B, seemed okay on the internet.  After picking up the guys in pouring rain, driving ahead 13 miles, we arrived at our B&B.  What we found resembled something from the Adam's family with a Lurch in residence.  UGH!  It was dark, unfriendly, unkempt - simply unacceptable.  After having a heart to heart on the veranda of the haunted mansion house, we all agreed to say - thanks, but no thanks to the owner and put our bags back in the car and headed to Killington where we found a great inn, friendly owner and a fabulouse Italian restaurant next door.  As Jerry said, "it is the best thing we never did".
Patty in Vermont

Notes from Jerry:  Today was one of the big unknowns as we were leaving New York and the Adirondack area for Vermont, and the Adventure Cycling map showed one of the biggest climbs on their profile.  Once we headed out of the mountains down to Lake Champlain we saw a grand vista that was a little disconcerting - many rows of ridges in the distance followed by a real mountain!  The beginning of the Green Mountains. 

After getting beat up by all the ridges and hills for 50 miles, when we started the real climb out of East Middlebury, Tom and I started up what was a 10 percent grade or more right off the bat!  We both thought to ourselves, "I don't think we can do this for 4 or 5 miles"!  Luckily it tapered off and we survived - even did another 10 percenter near the top.  Only one more mountainous day and then it is literally downhill to Portland.

Notes from Tom:  When we left Anacortes, WA on June 25th, I don't think I would have guessed that NY was the best state for cycling, but so far it has been.  The paths and roads were great, and most of the drivers gave us plenty of room.  A pleasant surprise.

Vermont is our 9th state, along with one province--only NH and ME remain.  When we boarded the ferry to cross Lake Champlain, we notice that there are cable stretched from NY to VT, and the ferry just gets pulled along them--the "pilot" has an easy job and probably never gets lost.

Jerry described the first climb in Vermont, and the first real climb in a long time.  What made this climb difficult were the combination of the 10% or greater grade and the 7 mile length, but the real problem was the heat and humidity--one thing we rarely have in Colorado in the mountains.  When we got to the top we saw a sign saying that the descent was 12%--unfortunately the road wasn't that great so our speed had to be controlled.  Our 80 miles for the day ended in rain and lighning as Patty rescued us, again.