Day 59: Burlington, Vermont

Day 59: Burlington, Vermont

August 10, 2016

Miles: 40

North Hero, VT to Burlington, VT

 
We found out late last night that Barry and Denise had to leave North Hero today for home because Denise's mom needed her help moving into a new retirement home.  It wasn't originally planned this way, but because of the change, Michelle and Brian decided to head out early as well.  And since Brian and Michelle had never been to Burlington, it was a no brainer to plan a meet-up in Burlington for dinner, which we did.  Luckily for me, they offered to carried my paniers to Burlington, so today I went bag free!   Steve could have offloaded his bags too, but he wanted to ride today with them.  Why I don't know!

Stowaway bags

Steve packing his bike. 

Ready to go

Heading out

We experienced something unexpected this morning.  Last year on our cross country trip, in Arizona, we passed a man walking the perimeter of the US.  He had been out over 10 months at that time; he had began his journey the year before on June 30, 2014.  He began his journey in Virginia Beach and started walking south from there. The cause - to raise awareness for the homeless and hungry. We thought it was amazing and a little crazy, but he was determined.  You may remember him because we put him in our blog on Day 2 - Jacumba.  His name was Leroy Bailey.  Steve and I remember him well because later that night in our hotel room, we looked him up on Facebook; it was then we realized Leroy had many followers, and that his journey was something extraordinary, and that it took a special person to do what he was attempting to do.  To walk the perimeter of the United States.  Some of the people who wrote entries on his facebook talked about how they supported his cause.  We were taken by the generousity of others who had helped Leroy; I later became haunted by the fact that when we saw Leroy in Arizona on that Mountain ridge in Jacumba, we had never offered him food or water, or even some money for a meal.  He never asked for anything and we didn't know enough to offer; I justified this by telling myself that it was only day two for us, everything so new, we just didn't know.  So why am I telling you this story?  Because this morning, we passed a man on the road walking vigorously in the same direction as us, but on the opposite side of the road. As we were about to pass him on our bikes, he said hello to us.  We immediately slowed down and crossed over to the other side of the road to say hello and as we approached him we thought he looked familar, then we recognized him immediately.  I asked him if his name was Leroy Bailey and he said yes.  We just couldn't believe it!  We again met Leroy Bailey, one year later in Vermont telling the same story - that he was walking the perimeter of the US and walking back to Virginia Beach, which is home for him.  What are the odds that we would pass him again on the road; so unexpected. He was in good spirits and we both thought he looked healthier than when we saw him the year before.  We stayed to talk to him for a while before wishing him well and parting ways once again.  We really don't know why our paths crossed again; why after 13 months we would see Leroy once again; it was one of those moments that you think anything is possible; we were given a second chance to say hello, to wish him well and to support him on his incredible journey! 

Leroy Bailey - Vermont August 2016

I have included Leroy's picture here from last year.

Leroy Bailey - Arizona May 2015

Wow!  After this encounter with Leroy, we had to stop to re-group.  We really were left in amazement.  A couple miles up the road was a country store, so we stopped for an iced coffee; we needed something familar to bring us back to earth.  There I am in front of the country store.

Appropriately positioned

Thought I would find Steve at the candy counter

Not this morning, he was at the dessert table

We only stopped for a little while, because we didn't need the physical rest since it was just 9 miles from the cottages; within 30 minutes we were off again.   We made it maybe 1/2 mile when Steve's chain snapped.  Luckily, we had spare links packed and the right tool to repair the chain.  Now I know why Steve carried his bags today!

Not good

A single string of links - that's not right!

I gave Steve a hand to help out

Within 45 minutes, we were back on the road enjoying the beautiful views as we exiting the islands (North Hero, Grand Isles, and South Hero).

Vantage point 1

Vantage point2

Taking a quick break

Steve posing for me

As we approached Burlington, Steve snapped this picture in a small town named - Winooski. 

Small falls

We cut through University of Vermount (UVM) on our bikes - Steve's alma mater. 

In front of Billings doing his wind dance

The Catamounts

Michelle and Brian has already arrived in Burlington and had checked into the hotel.    When we arrived, we found them in the pool enjoying a swim.  Now they know how to vacation! We agreed to a 6:00p meetup for dinner.  Of course, we headed for Church Street for dinner, downtown Burlington. 

Downtown Burlington

Dinner was fabulous tonight!  Not sure what this would translate to with Steve's rating system.

Burlington is a happening place

Here we are again - rearranged

After dinner we headed to Starbucks.  Steve and Brian wanted to play a couple games of cribbage, and Michelle and I worked on the garmin bike route for tomorrow.  She helped me with the map instructions as I typed them into the the garmin routing program.  It saved me a lot of time.  Thanks Michelle!

Brian - two time winner tonight!

We delayed saying our goodbyes to Michelle and Brian this evening because we plan to have breakfast with them in the morning. It's going to be hard to say goodbye.  It has been a blast hanging with them.  They are extremely funny human beings and generous with this time, and we really appreciate all their help! 

We are off to Middlebury, VT tomorrow for about 46 miles.