Stats for the day:
Depart Quechee 8:00 a.m., arrive Proctor, VT 3:50 p.m.
Trip mileage – 209.3 miles
Today’s mileage – 45.96 miles
Time on bike – 4:12:22
Average Speed – 10.9 mph
Max speed – 43.0 mph
What a day today turned out to be. We met some great folks, saw a bunch of interesting sights,
busted our seats getting up hills, and are now ready for a day off. We started our day with a great
breakfast thanks to our friend Louise who supplied us with a piece of smoked
wild Alaskan salmon. You put the
salmon on an everything bagel with some cheese and Wa-La, the breakfast of
champions.
So, we left the Quechee State Park Campground under clear
skies and warming temperatures.
The campsite we had was fabulous as it was large, clean, and very near
the new bathrooms, as well as just a short walk to the pizza place where we had
dinner. Now that’s living!
Our first stop was at Quechee Gorge, what a magnificent
site. Even Bottle was
impressed. As you can see we took
the opportunity to get a photo op, so we “got gorgeous at the Gorge.”
As we pedaled on we took in the varying
spectacles that are Vermont. Quiet
fields and pastures sprawled across the base of tree covered hills, and
mountains streams meandering across the landscape. Vermont really is a beautiful state, one with a rich
history, and part of that history is beer. We went by the Long Trail Brewery and you can’t imagine how
hard it was for Rick not to stop and offer his services as taster and quality
control person! 
What is distressing is to see the damage caused by Hurricane
Irene and the flooding that ensued.
On our way up to Killington, we passed this now defunct gas
station.
Vermont is also known for its hills, some very major hills,
like the one we climbed, Killington.
There were two, one mile long seven percent grades in order to get to
the top. That was a long hard
haul. But we made it and even got
some pictures. The best part of
the ride was the run down to Rutland, which gave us six miles at five percent
grade down hill to enjoy. 
Just on the Rutland side of Killington is the Long Trail,
which runs the length of Vermont from the Canadian border to
Massachusetts. Here, it matches
with the Appalachian Trail, so we stopped and stretched our legs just to say we
walked on the trails.
Our descent into Rutland was smooth and we managed to
maneuver through town without incident, then continuing on through with a
relatively flat trek to Proctor and our friends, Dan, Andrea, and their
daughter Sarah, where we were greeted with cold root beer floats. Nothing ever tasted so good!
We look forward to a day off from riding while we take in
the local sights and enjoy the company of friends. Check in later to see how we spent the day, but don’t expect
it to be on the bike!
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