Day 57: North Hero, VT

Day 57: North Hero, VT

August 8, 2016

Miles: 0

Montreal, Quebec to North Hero, VT


This morning, we met Michelle and Brian at 9:30a sharp to continue our journey. Brian was ready early and waiting for us, or perhaps we were a little late. Not really sure, either way, not by very much!  We decided to take the ride with Michelle and Brian this morning rather than ride our bikes.  It would save us the day, and what better way to spend the day then being with our wonderful friends!  

So. we are onto our next adventure - North Hero, an small Island in the center of Lake Champlain, where we rented cottages for a couple of days to relax and rest before hoping back on our bikes. 

Brian, alway prompt and organized. Not sure what we would do without him. 

We successfully packed the bikes and our bags in Brian's van, then navigated our way out of Montreal.  It took a bit, but we managed with relative ease.  We decided to get breakfast once we were out of the big city, but before the US/Canada border, if we could find a place.

We are ready to go

About 1 mile from the border, we stopped at a truck stop restaurant.  We all enjoyed our meals, and the woman who waited on us was especially enthusiastic.

All meals - good.  Michelle's crepe - great!

We entered the US through the state of NY.  Here is Michelle peeking her head out because she wanted her picture taken.  

Actually she resisted, but Brian and I insisted

As we drove up to the custom's booth on the US side, we reviewed our stories very carefully.  We had many versions that we rehearsed, but in the end we decided to say as little as possible and to answer only the questions asked, and to answer them truthfully.  We thought this was the best strategy :)  It took a little time to get through - about 10 minutes. I guess they had a lot to check with four passports.  

Approaching US customs

We waited patiently as the officer did his job; he asked many questions that we answered honestly, so we were confident that we would be allowed back in the US. Besides we were with Brian, we knew he wouldn't let anything happen to us!

Answering questions about what we were carrying

Once we crossed the border, it was no more than 30 minutes to North Hero.  We arrived about 12:30p.  As we drove to the cottages, we admired the island because it was so beautiful.

Barry and Denise (friends of Michelle and Brian (M&B)), and M&B in the red cottage and Steve and I in the green one

These cottages are great.  Two bedrooms, a large, open area kitchen and living space, and closed in porch.

Rustic, but cute.  And it has everything we need including a coffee pot

Bedroom with clean linens.  Ruth, the woman who own's the cottage, graciously supplied for us because we are traveling on bicycles.

When we arrived, Barry and Denise, friends of Michelle and Brian staying at the cottages were still on Lake Champlain.  They pulling up to the dock by boat as we walked to the slip.  Barry is a childhood friend of Brian's and he and Denise have been renting this same cottage for 10 years.  We are grateful to them for welcoming us and of course Michelle and Brian too.

Barry told us that the wind had really picked up and unless it died down a bit he wasn't sure if we would be able to go fishing on the lake after dinner.  Here below is Brian's wind dance, similar to a rain dance, but the opposite for wind - to calm it down.  Well it worked because after the delicious dinner Barry and Denise prepared for us, we did go out on the lake.

Steve and I should learn this dance.  It may come in handy as we continue our bike tour 

This is a close up of our beautiful view from the boat slip and the longer shot of what we see from the cottage.

Lake Champlain 

Before dinner, Steve enjoyed reading the Projo and then doing the crossword puzzle.  While Steve caught up on the local news, Brian and Michelle took me to the country market to get some groceries and we all needed fish and wildlife licenses. We also managed to squeeze in a game of cribbage, before dinner, playing cutthroat style between Brian, Steve and me.  Steve won the first game and the second game is still in progress.

Steve's reads his first Projo in 2 months

Steve doing the crossword puzzle

Denise and Barry made us a wonderful dinner.  What you see below is dessert, peach cobbler pie and raspberry pie.  Both were delicious!  Unfortunately, we forgot to take a picture of dinner, but let me describe it - fresh filet of bass caught the day before, sirloin steak cooked perfectly, caesar salad and potato salad just wonderful!  

Brian the photographer tonight

Well Brian's wind dance work perfecly.  The waters were calm so after dinner we all went out on the lake to catch some bass fish!  

On our way to Barry's lucky fishing spot on the lake

It was Steve's first time fishing.  Here he is getting a lesson from Denise on how to bait a hook.  We used nightcrawlers as bait tonight, just perfect for small mouth bass, which is what we were trying to catch.

Good student, good teacher.  

Looks like a Pro

Michelle catches the first fish of the night

Too bad you couldn't see it :)

According to Brian, fishing is really fun when you are catching fish.  That's right, real fun when you are catching fish!   He said, the thing to do is to bring food and drinks in a cooler for when you are not catching fish.  We thought that was good advise!

Steve kissing his first fish; it was a good thing Michelle was watching Steve's line because he didn't even know he had one hooked.

I hooked one too

Kissing my first fish too

Steve's second fish - back in the drink

Barry takes home the prize for tonight- about a 3 pounder.  We all caught our fair share of small fish (perk and yellow bellies [sunfish]) that we threw back in, but I would have to say Denise probably catch the most in terms of quantity.  She had the luckiest hook tonight!  Together, we kept a total of 5 fish weighting 8-9 pounds.  A good night all and all!

Good looking fish

A satisfying experienced fishing tonight

View as we motored in toward the cottages

Tonight's sunset on the water

We plan to fish all day tomorrow if the weather permits.  The weather forecast looks promising - the wind calm and temperatures in the upper 80s.