Day 10: Fair Haven, VT

August 13, 2017

Miles: 45

Average Speed:  10.1

Total Climb: 2300 ft

Despite the bourbon shots and peach moonshine slushies that we drank last night, we were up bright and early (well for us about 8:00a) to get the morning rolling.   We were hoping for a 10:30a departure time to be on the road this morning. Before we met Michelle and Brian this morning, Steve started packing as I quickly worked on the Garmin Map for the day.  It was about 9:15a when we met Michelle and Brian to go have breakfast. 

As we entered the restaurant this morning, things looked a little chaotic; we worried that it would be a long breakfast, which we wanted to avoid.  But right after being seated the waitress came to take our order and within 10-15 minutes the food was ready and served. And it was quite good.

Brian, Michelle and I had eggs and hash browns; Steve ordered the special.

Steve's special

We headed back to the rooms after breakfast.  It didn't take us long to get back to our rooms because they were just next door to the breakfast place.  We still had some more packing to do and Michelle and Brian were already packed. Probably because we were about 30 minutes late meeting them this morning, which probably gave them the time to pack. Michelle and Brian are great vacationing partners.  They are so easy going and when the people they are vacationing with are late to meet them, they never even say anything. Thanks guys!  We really appreciate it!  It was sad to say goodbye this morning after such a fabulous three days together!

Here they are rolling out about 30 minutes before we did.   It would have been earlier for us, but as I said we had final packing to do, and then we spent about 10 minutes looking for a lost room key which we eventually found packed away in one of our bags!

Free and easy

We were finally ready.  Steve said one more quick snap before we leave.  It was about 11:15a.

A quick snapshot

We were lucky this morning to roll out of Lake George on a bike path.  The bike path was very pretty and extremely well maintained.

A stolen snapshot

After about 3 miles into our ride Steve wanted to pull over to oil his chain.  We both had discussed wanting to do this but never did.  It seemed like the right time and place to do it this morning.

The oiling location

Steve oiling his chain

Me oiling my chain

Originally, todays ride was planned at 39 miles with moderate level difficulty with hill climbing.  It turned out to be 45 miles because google maps unfortunately put us on a dirt road, which was also a dead end.   We decided not to take the dirt road after speaking to a woman in a car pulling out of this dead end road.  She said the road ends followed by a walking path that is sufficiently grown over. She said no one walks that path anymore.   So our options were to retrace back by about three miles or continue going straight to intersect a different road to take us to Fair Haven.  We decided to continue going straight because, lets face it, it never feels good to repeat riding the same miles in reverse because of a mistake.  In hindsight, it would have been shorter by 2 miles if we had.

We passed many farms today with lots of cows, piglets and sheep.   And lots of bales of hay! 

Landscapes so pretty

We finally came across a country store after riding for about 30 miles.  We gladly pulled in for a quick sandwich.  I had turkey and Steve tuna.

Tuna melt and a lettuce wrapped turkey, both with spicy mustard

Steve with his chocolate milk

We crossed back over into Vermont today, leaving New York behind.

Vermont: The Green Mountain State

New York: The Empire State

We rolled into Fair Haven at about 4:15p.  When we pedaled into the center of town, we realized we had passed through this small town on last year's bike trip.  We didn't stay over night, we just passed through.  Tonight we are staying at the Marble Mansion Inn.  And if you are wondering it is built with 12 inch thick marble blocks, said Greg the owner.

Room on the 3rd floor

We ate dinner at the Fair Haven Tavern, which was a short walk from the Inn.   It was highly recommended by Greg.  He was right, our food was excellent.  We both started off with a salad; Steve a greek salad and me a tossed.  We forgot to take shots of our dinners.  I guess we were too hungry tonight.  I had a steak and Steve lamb!

Salads so good

The Greek Salad

We have just two more days of riding.  Tomorrow we are off to Middlebury, VT and the following day Burlington, VT where we started.