So I am on vacation. The time off I took this summer was not as relaxing as I might have liked so I figured I would take more time off in the fall. I have a couple of pictures stuck in this narrative. To see more pictures, My Photo Album.
I worked a half day on Friday, loaded up the car, picked up my grandmother’s ashes, and got on the road at about 1315, en route Avoca, PA, to see my old Navy buddy, Terry Boone. It had been a few years since I had seen him, at least three, when I saw him in Vegas after I did some work in San Diego for my last company. I got up to Avoca shortly after five.
Terry is from the area…he showed me houses all around him that his cousins lived in and, about two blocks away, the house that he grew up in. When Terry got out of the Navy, he hoped to work at NSA but had problems with that because his wife was not yet a U.S. citizen. Sarah is a Korean woman, now American, who he met and married in Korea.
Anyhow, while having problems getting employed at NSA, he went out to Vegas to visit another out of our Navy buddies, Jeff Burchick. Somehow on that trip, he must have put in an application with the USPS and got a job. It payed the bills, Terry and Sarah had three boys, and bought a house. After a time, Terry had had enough of Vegas and wanted to get back to PA. After two failed attempts at a transfer, he finally pulled one off.
I had always wanted to catch up with him to see this town he had always spoken of where draft beers were 25 cents and everyone knew everyone. Well, the price of beers has gone up but is still cheaper than most places in the States that I have visited and, after 20+ years, not everyone knows everyone but Terry was still a king in the town.
After settling in and having a beer, we got two of the boys together, the other was off bowling (reminds me of Pete Townsend on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour when he was asked how he learned that “‘windmill’ guitar move” and he said “that was bowling.” I bet he was “bowling!”), and headed off to pick up his Terry’s dad for all you can eat pizza and wings. Terry’s wife Sarah, who had, unfortunately, just asked for a divorce, was off to work the late shift. Terry’s dad, Marty, who I met when he visited Terry in Korea, lived in a retirement home that had been converted from an old high school. It was pretty nice. He had a very big place with high ceilings and lots of room.
We walked to the restaurant from Marty’s place. It was weird going out to eat there. All the buildings were so established that there was little in the way of new construction. People made restaurants, bars, and stores out of old homes. We basically walked through a residential district to a restaurant nestled into a block of homes. We were the only group in the place other than kids of the proprietors all of whom served in some function as cook, waitress, cashier, etc. We did chow down on some wings and pizza, eh.
Afterwards, we walked back with Marty to the retirement home, grabbed the car and headed back to Avoca where Terry got the boys settled in with movies and sleeping bags in the living room. Sarah headed out to work in such a rush that Terry had to make her some sandwiches and we ran them over to her.
Later, we had some time to get out and have a few beers. Everything is within walking distance which is nice. We headed to a local Irish pub, lots of Irish and, of course, Catholics in this part of PA. If the locals weren’t Penn State fans, they were Notre Dame fans. Unfortunately, it was karaoke night at the bar…I was not impressed, but then I never am. Nonetheless the beers were reasonably priced and not all of them were made in PA.
After reminiscing for a time and a few beers, we headed off to the VFW where we found Terry’s step cousin tending bar. We were there till about 0330, way past closing time. However, since everyone knows everyone, including the cops, or is related, the legal closing time seemed to be irrelevant. I wish that it had been relevant since I had to be up early and on the road to Vermont the next morning. It was not the most pleasant of trips.
I had planned to hook up with my buddy Mike Livingston and perhaps kayak but more than likely go up to his camp in Ripton, VT. I have spent many a night there and always enjoyed them but Mike had something come up so I wound up at my friends the Devino’s place in West Addison.
Linda D. had to work till about 1700 but at a place just down the road so I stopped by and said hello en route at about 1430 after which I got to the house and hung out. We ended up having a couple of drinks and dinner and then going to see their new neighbors for the NASCAR race. The neighbors apparently do pretty well for themselves and have money to burn. They moved over from Waitsfield, VT, presumably to be by the lake. Steve apparently wanted quite the recreation facility because they have a basement with an audio/video set up that includes a 100+ inch projection TV with 5.1 sound, pool table, air hockey, and huge wet bar with multiple built-in refrigerators.
It is a pretty unreal set up but just give me my bed and book. That was another pretty late night. I wanted to kayak in the morning but felt that with all the beers and lack of sleep it probably was not a good idea. I headed up to Breadloaf in the Green Mountains east of East Middlebury to a spot where I had seen some trails I wanted to explore. I took the “Widow’s Clearing Trail” which basically went from Route 125 to State Road 32 a bit west of the Blueberry Hill Inn, where I had cross-country skied this past winter.
The walk was most pleasant and refreshing…just what the doctor ordered in fact. The fall air was crisp and the foliage, though slightly past peak in the mountains, was gorgeous. I am still on the hunt for a good moose sighting but other than going across the mountains with Mike a few years ago en route York Beach in Maine, I haven’t seen any. There were plenty of signs…I followed a set of tracks for about 30 minutes that had to have been made the same morning.
I stopped in Middlebury to buy something to cook for dinner. I ended up doing a Beef Burgundy that had something missing. We were all in agreement on that but, unfortunately, couldn’t decide on what the missing ingredient was…certainly wasn’t the wine. And, thankfully, after two late nights of beers, we all took it easy and I got a restful night’s sleep.
Earlier in the week, in an IM chat with Linda, I heard that David Bicknell, an old friend from Vergennes Union High School in the mid-seventies was in town. Dave has lived in Asia, currently in Thailand, ever since I can remember. The last time I saw him was in 2004 at our 25th reunion. Before that I last saw him in 1986 when he showed up in Korea on two or three days notice.
Anyhow, I had called on Saturday after I got to Linda and Ed’s and left a message on Dave’s parents, Liz and Don Bicknell, phone saying that I heard he might be in town and asking that, if he was, he might call me. Dave did call back a bit later saying that he was in town for his sister Anne’s wedding, which was actually underway. I certainly appreciated that he could take the time on such a monumental day to call me. I told him that I would call back at the first of the week to see if we could make arrangements to get together.
And back to the narrative after the moderately informative aside…early Monday I made arrangements to meet Dave at his folks house at 1300. My intent was to head up to Burlington, take my grandmother’s ashes to the memorial garden at St. Paul’s Episcopal cathedral (major reason for the trip), get in a quick walk, head back to Ferrisburg to hook up with Dave, and then get my kayak out on Lake Champlain.
En route Vergennes, I decided that this probably was not going to work. Since I had the intention to head up north later in the week, I blew off the hauling ash part and headed right to the Ferrisburg Town Beach to launch the kayak on Lake Champlain.
I just started kayaking this year and haven’t done much open water kayaking. I am mostly into rivers and small lakes where I can get about a four or five mile paddle in without whitewater or white caps. I have been on the Potomac River and tributaries of the Chesapeake bay at some pretty wide spots but stayed close to shore.
I could see when I put in that my trip was going to be challenging. All the waters I was heading out to were exposed to the northwest from where the wind was blowing. I didn’t have a splash skirt but will definitely have one before I venture out on Lake Champlain again. I headed out of the inlet I was in to increasingly rougher water. The chop started out at about .5 to 1 foot without whitecaps. I was out in fairly open water for about 45 minutes and really had to watch the wave action and be sure I didn’t get broadside to it.
I tried to work the journey so that I could keep myself heading into or getting pushed by the waves. I did not come close to foundering at anytime but definitely caught some serious bow or side splash. I was pretty well wet from the waist down by the time I pulled in. The last two stretches of the paddle were headed into or followed by 1.5 to 2 foot swells. I was happy to get in but probably would not want to try that again by myself. None the less it was a good paddle.
For some silly reason, I didn’t bring any dry clothes to change into. I had about an hour to kill before meeting up with Dave so I decided to walk around the nearby peninsula that was protected and managed by the Nature Conservancy (I think I have used their facilities down my way). I hoped that maybe I could generate enough body heat to dry out my light long johns and pants but it didn’t really work. Thankfully I had dry socks and boots and that my top stayed pretty dry.
I headed off to meet Dave. He had given me a new address…apparently his folks had moved from their century plus old house to a newer one on adjoining property next to their son Tim’s new house. I saw Tim’s house under construction about 11 years ago when my brother Reid and I brought my grandfather’s ashes up to the cathedral. Dave greeted me outside the door. I talked to his Mom and Tim, who is now in the town doctor business with his dad, both of whom I had not seen since 1979. I also met Dave’s wife and children whom I had never met before. Timing is everything!
It was nice chatting with Dave. He has somehow worked himself into a position whereby he can live in Thailand and do contract work for various media organizations around the world. Last I knew he was traveling often to London doing work for a company there. Now he is doing a WAN redesign for Hindustan Times in India which makes for a much shorter commute. He has to travel to Delhi often but the that trip from Bangkok beats the trip to London any day of the week.
That night, Monday, was moderately wacky. I actually ended up drinking some beers with Ed and Kelly Barrows while they butchered two deer…yes…I have the pictures. That was quite an experience. The deer had already been gutted and hung for a couple of days. Ed and Kelly skinned them, cut them into their various major parts and made steaks, burger, and cube steak. I have a couple of pounds of deerburger in the freezer that I brought home with me.
As part of Ed’s whole butchering sideline…he does beef also…he made a walk in refrigerator. We had a beer in there while he showed it to me. It felt a bit Sopranoish. I got a picture of myself on a meat hook. After awhile chilling out there, I just had to get out. Thankfully the refridgerator was not on.
Linda was a bit pissed but because we had not come in in time for dinner but she says that with Ed that happens all the time. I was working on bonding with Ed and Kelly so I had to play a role that I am not traditionally accustomed to. Nonetheless, we did scarf down some tasty Sheperd’s pie. Ed went into a doze and snore mode…Linda and I chatted for a bit till she disappeared at about 2230 when I decided I should probably hit the fart sac myself.
The next morning was rougher than I would have hoped. I briefly showed my face before everyone headed off to work and school and then jumped back into the fart sac for a bit. I got up and read a good bit of the Washington Post. Not sure what the heck else I did because I heated up some leftover Beef Burgundy and chowed that down for lunch before heading back up again to Breadloaf/Moosamaloo to hike.
I parked at the same trail head that I started on on Sunday but took a different trail. I thought that I was going to wind up at Goshen Lake but missed my turn. The turn was marked but did not say where it was going. To begin with I took a cut off trail about a mile that I thought was my trail but turned into some pretty rough deer and moose trails. Once those branched off for about the third time I started worrying about getting lost and headed back to the main trail.
When I hit the end of the “correct” trail, there was a cut that went up to the Long Trail and then a tee intersection at a trail maintained by Blueberry Hill, again (all roads must lead to Blueberry Hill, especially if you like Fats Domino). Eventually I should have, and would have, hit State Road 32, as I did on Sunday, had I not missed my turn. As it was, I got a very refreshing and beautiful 9 mile walk in.
I stopped in Middlebury on the way back to Linda and Ed’s to have a beer, something I rarely do anymore when I am driving. One is my limit but even that bothers me. Anyhow, I wanted to stop at Mr. Ups but there was some construction going on at the entrance so I parked by Two Brothers and figured I would go in there. I stuck my head in the door and found the bar to be packed with a bunch of guys (next to no women) who seemed to be fresh from the field, either farming or hunting. Past experience at Two Bros has shown this to be the norm.
I decided to leave my car where it was and cut back across to Mr. Ups. The clientèle there seems to be a bit younger than Two Bros, though, since it is younger than I am, I am not sure the draw. I guess the crowd seems a bit more urbane which in Vermont may mean only that you have just not come back from hunting or farming. NTL, the beer selection at either place is good. I had a Dogfish 30 Minute IPA at Mr. Ups which I savored as I ogled the all too hot barmaid. Fortunately, I registered in her conscience as much as an ant might have on her shoe, I was limited to one beer, and she was on headed off the day shift to be replaced by a much older gray haired bartender who I had seen there before…no reason to stick around.
Linda’s daughter Cassie had a JV soccer game in Vergennes that afternoon that I debated stopping by to watch but by the time I got down off the mountain and had my brew, that was not on the books. I headed back down to West Addison where I found Big Ed whipping up his famous pork cutlets in cream sauce. That was truly tasty…I have the recipe and will have to whip it up on my own here soon.
Twas a mellow night which was good. Linda gave me a book from an author with whom she was enamored. I started reading that and, finding it to be a entrancing, read fairly late into the evening. I had decided to, after some research on the Internet, head up in the morning to the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge in Swanton, VT.
The NWR is on the migratory route for quite a few birds coming up (going down) the East Coast from Florida through the Chesapeake Bay, presumably the Hudson River basin, and the Champlain Valley. Not a few miles from Linda and Ed’s in West Addison is a stopping place for mass quantities of Snow Geese heading south for the winter.
After getting a major power sleep, I got up about 0900. I felt guilty…I watched Linda get Ed and Cassie off to school and go to work and then listened to Big Ed come back from work for his breakfast of pizza. What the fuck, eh? I was on vacation.
I got a bagel and coffee and sat down to read the Washington Post only to find that it was responding like a turtle in tar. I grabbed some quick headlines from the International Herald, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today before hitting the road. The drive up was a bit tedious. West Addison to Ferrisburg was not bad but after that it was too many stop lights. Not quite like I remember it from 30 years ago.
I had to do it though to get my Grandmother’s ashes to St. Paul’s Cathedral in Burlington. Once at the cathedral I went in the office entrance where I found no one. I said a quick hello hello and got no response until someone came out off a door at the end of the hall. This was not in response to my hail but a chance meeting of the sexton leaving a staff meeting to check something out. I gave him all my info and Grandma’s ashes. He put them on the rector’s desk.
I felt kind of weird but all the arrangements had been made 30+ years ago for my grandfather’s and grandmother’s ashes to be put in the memorial garden there. Not that I had ever seen any of the paperwork. I was just doing as I had been requested to do.
Ironically, I have terrible reception on my work and personal phones, both Verizon, in many places in Vermont, but just as I was putting my kayak in the water in Swanton on the Missisquoi River, I got a call from the cathedral rector asking me what I wanted done with Grandma’s ashes. I was like, I don’t know, the paperwork was all filled out in the mid-seventies, pull it out and see what the hell she wanted. If nothing else I thought she wanted her ashes strewn in the memorial garden. They were all worried about services and being sad and shit. I was like…spread her on the garden and call it quits eh? My mourning period was over
Eventually, I get up to the NWR and go to the HQ. I ask about hiking, birding and paddling and get some fairly good advice though the attendant seemed withdrawn and not totally informed. When I talked to her, she basically said she hadn’t even been to many places in the refuge for awhile. After getting a feel for the place and finding out, as I had already determined, that all the campsites were closed for the season, I headed back in to Swanton to get a room at the Swanton Motel. A little pricey at $80 per night for northern Vermont off season nowhere near a ski area with cable TV that had lines in it and wireless Internet that did not work in my room due to bad signal but what the hell.
After getting my room I jammed back to Louis’s Landing in the Missisquoi NWR to paddle up the Missisquoi River to Dead Creek and out to Lake Champlain. It was a right nice paddle though the part on the creek was more pleasant due to the fact that it was off the road, RT 78. I saw quite a few Great Blues and Kingfishers. It was my longest paddle yet, about 2.75 hours covering 5 to 6 miles.
It was a sweet paddle. Totally flat water though I am sure that might not be the case earlier in the year. I grounded myself once as I did not anticipate the shallowness (of my soul). As do many roads that follow rivers, RT 78 followed the Missisquoi which was annoying. This is the northernmost road in Vermont and NY that crosses Lake Champlain. There is lots of truck traffic. Fortunately the best paddling parts that I experienced in the NWR weren’t running parallel to the highway.
So I was good last night, had three beers, read for a good bit and slept.
Thursday morning I walked on an interpretive trail in the NWR. It might have been a three mile trip. There were lots of ducks but due to the leaves and gravel on the trail, not to speak of my ungainly body plodding it’s way down the trail, they took off in flight when they herd (pun intended) me coming. I did get to watch three wood ducks, two males and a female hang around and play for a bit. The pictures in my bird book don’t nearly do the birds justice. The coloring on the males was stunning. I saw other birds of course, signs of deer, two beaver lodges and a beaver-downed tree…sapling actually.
I ran into an older couple enjoying the experience, birding and such. I thought they were from Jersey since the only other car in the parking lot at the trail head had Jersey tags. Could have been a rental I guess but I saw them again and the Jersey car was not in the parking lot.
After the walk, I headed up the road a few miles to launch my yak at Mac’s Bend, a mile down river from Louis’s Landing. I paddled down the Missisquoi toward Lake Champlain. I went what I thought, and later confirmed, was about 2 miles in 35 minutes. 15 minutes or so later I was out on Lake Champlain. I was a little bit worried about duck hunting but it was the middle of the day.
I did have a couple in a canoe with a trolling motor launch after I did. I pulled off at a “Y” in the river for lunch and still almost caught up with the canoeists as we came out on the lake. Shortly there after I either heard ducks, entirely probable since there were so many around, or heard a duck call from the canoe. They broke left and I broke right coming out of the river delta. I still had to get back to the left and the canoe headed up north on the lake so I broke back across their path to head across the delta.
As I paddled west across the delta, I saw many gulls, including a pair of Great Black-backed, and a few ducks. I stayed out of the protected area of the delta which is clearly marked by the NWR signs. There is a branch of the Missisquoi that comes out in the middle of the delta. That area is said to be the largest nesting area of Great Blue Herons in Vermont. There are purported to be up to 300 nests. I did not head into that branch but did see about 30 nests in trees from my position way out in the delta. I moved further west and found my way into the westernmost branch of the river. I was glad to get back onto the river…there were a couple of stretches where I was in very shallow water and making headway was very tedious. I’ll have to research whether you just can’t get any speed going in the shallow water or whether there were currents. Plus you can’t discount the fact that it is hard to get a good paddle stroke in 10 inches of water.
Once I was back on the river I made better time. The scenery was great…especially the fall leaves. The trees were mirrored in the river so half the time I couldn’t tell if I was right side up or what, eh. Twas a fairly good ride till I realized I was paddling up a creek with a paddle. Closer to the truth is that it was a good , tiring paddle.
I met these guys on Thursday at Mac’s Bend Parking area. They were digging deeply into parts of the parking lot. They sifted the dirt they dug up through a screen. I wondered what they were up to. When I came back to walk the next day and they were still there I had to ask them what they were doing. Come to find out, the NWR was going to redo (pave, grade, I don’t know) the parking lot but they had commissioned whoever these guys work for to search for cultural artifacts and related issues as a result of the cultural artifacts. They were from Rhode Island.
The next morning I walked the “Jeep Trail.” I am not really sure why it is called that but… The trail was a 5 mile round trip which was perfect. I had planned on getting up a bit earlier but, due to the easy walk, sleeping in a bit did not hurt me. The trail was totally flat…it just worked it’s way up the west side of the Missisquoi as it headed north toward the lake. It was almost 2 miles as best I could tell to my “on the water dining experience” at the why. Up and back I flushed Leopard Frogs and constantly worried about stepping on one. There were tons of them so one or more flattened probably wouldn’t matter but I did not want to be the matter splatter.
On the walk I saw a duck blind that surprised me…caught me totally off guard…not sure why I didn’t see it. As I reflect back up on the experience, I might have noticed the duck decoys. I was out there with some orange sauce and shit.
After my walk, I jammed back to the motel to pack up and head back down to Linda and Ed’s. I took 78 West to Rt 2 which winds down through the northern lake islands, including Grand Isle where I camped in a lean-to on the lake in 2004 on my motorcycle camping trip. Eventually Rt. 2 heads across the lake onto the Vermont mainland at Colchester where I picked up Interstate 89. I took that to the Williston exit east of Burlington where I got 116 south. From Hinesburg, I headed back west to Charlotte to pick up Rt. S7 south so I could stop at Dakin farm to pickup some goodies.
I had hoped to have a last paddle for the trip in Dead Creek off of 17 en route the Devinos. Since I had seen someone putting in there, talked to her about my concerns re the duck hunting, and was put at ease, on my way to Swanton, I was confident I could put in about 1330 without fear. Unfortunately the weather was looking nasty on over Lake Champlain and on the New York side. I decided to head on to Linda’s and check the weather on-line. The weather did not look good…there was discussion of severe thunderstorms and lightning starting up at about 1500. I decided to bag the paddle and was disappointed to find that the rains, sans thunder and lightning, didn’t start up until well after 2100 in the evening.
So then there is the story of the Bobcat/Lynx. I have found out that, according to the Internet, a bobcat is actually a subspecies of a lynx. At the Devino’s, I was out on the front porch Friday reading a book when Linda came dashing out the door and headed south. I did not think too much of it. Come to find out, Linda saw a dead duck and what she thought was a duck flying away but might have been a duck in the mouth of a bobcat. The thing was that there were only two ducks and one was found with it’s neck nearly bitten in half and one was noticed alive in the cow pasture by yours’ truly. The chickens were truly freaked out in most cases…most were underneath the porch but some were in trees…new concept to me. Friends sent Linda and Ed pictures of the bobcat in their yard with a rabbit hanging from it’s maw. Pretty impressive!
That afternoon and evening the usual wackiness was going on at the Devino residence. A friend who will remain unnamed showed up with some awesome London broils a few of which Ed later threw on the BBQ. A couple of Linda’s summer time friends showed up from Connecticut to check out something at their camp. They hung out with us for awhile. Linda, who has been trying to introduce me to her friend Jane, invited her over so we had a good crowd at the house. We ate and drank well, kept it under control and actually got to bed at a reasonable hour.
That was good because I had to head out to Jersey at 0800 in the AM. I had a splash of coffee at the house while I got my shit together, stopped at WAGS to load up with the Green Mountain coffee and headed south. Let me tell, if I have not already, that the foliage over the course of this whole trip from Virginia, to Pennsylvania, to New York, to Vermont, and to New Jersey were just awesome. I wish I could somehow replay the images in my mind to DVD or hard drive because they would be worth revisiting. I have pictures but they do not really do it justice.
Next stop was West Caldwell, NJ, to see how my 93 year old grandmother was getting along after a month in the hospital and a procedure to keep blood from pooling in her digestive system. It took two tries to get the procedure done which took a lot out of grandma. In the time she was in the hospital, she gained 33 pounds of water weight which they are trying to get rid of while also helping her with rehab to get back to the point she was in before she went into the hospital.
At that point in time, she was walking a mile plus a day without a walker and dressing and cooking for herself in her apartment. She is now in the skilled nursing care in her retirement community. My mom has been with grandma for about a month now and my dad flew in about ten days ago. They live in Wales but are now staying in my grandma’s apartment helping out while grandma recuperates in skilled nursing.
I got down to Cranes Mill, the retirement community, at about 1230. We had some lunch and hung out with grandma until she had had her dinner. She needed help getting the food cut up and some encouragement to eat. Everything tires her out and I don’t think she can taste much. She is so much of a trooper though that she knew she had to eat and kept putting down the food. I brought her mail up to her, including a few catalogs I figured she would have no interest in, but she wanted to see them and thumbed through the pages even though the page turning tired her out.
Mom, Dad, and I headed out to a Thai Place off Bloomfield Avenue in Caldwell called Bangkok Kitchen where we had quite a nice meal. There are an amazing number and variety of restaurants on Bloomfield Avenue in Caldwell and Monclair! If you are like me and don’t eat out much, you could eat out on Bloomfield Avenue for years and never hit the same place.
In the AM, we all had breakfast and headed over to see Grandma. She looked pretty good…had just had breakfast…and was headed off with the nurses aide for a shower. She didn’t look quite as good when she got back. She said she vomited and had diarrhea. However, she was clean and in daytime attire sitting up in her wheelchair. After about 30 minutes she got her composure back and looked pretty good. She is a very proud lady and doesn’t like to show weakness.
Come to find out, the vomiting and such may have been caused by an antibiotic that she was getting at 0430 every morning. I think I’d get sick if someone woke me up at that time everyday. Nonetheless, when the stopped the antibiotic, she stopped getting sick in the morning. Go figure. I hate to see my grandmother like this but the hope is that the procedure will give here a few more years. I do hope it was all worth it.
Awesome road trip to Vermont I had. Good hiking and kayaking. Good friends. Great scenery. Not much more than my cheap, dumb ass can ask for. Many thanks to my friends the Devino’s in West Addison, VT, for putting me up and putting up with me. All my love to my grandmother in recovery and to my parents who are there with her.