2015-06-02 - VT - Days 6 to 7 - East Thetford to Middlebury and Rest Day

After the bonding nightmare that was the ride down the White Mountains, I think everyone was in much better spirits in the morning. Riding alongside the river, some of us took the time to stop, take photos, and thrown branches and rocks into its twirling liquids. The ride was more pastoral that day.

I made a wrong turn and ended up biking 1 or 2 miles and with different groups. It was fun to see Joe do his running man motions as he rode with only his feet and butt contacting the bike. Our first stop was in Royalton where we enjoyed shopping in the grocery store and sharing everyone's food as we ate.

We rode to our second rest stop in Rochester and then up a hill to the top of Middlebury Gap. Reed, Bridget and I rode for a section of it but they rode faster than me towards the end and we split up. Riding on the highway, I stopped to satisfy my cravings for an order of french fries at a fast food place. Other patrons ate in their cars, served by roller-skate waitresses. I sat down at the seldom-used table to use my phone and eat in peace. But when I was in the rest room, a gull flew down and ate my fries. I came out confused, wondering if the wind was that strong to topple the paper container and spill fries onto the ground. The waitress was happy to serve me a new batch. Amused, I finished eating before finishing the ride.

We were staying at the warming hut, a building for athletic teams on the Middlebury school campus. There, I saw Amanda's parents again. Amanda and her family had stayed in my rental house before we started the trip. Now she was returning home but planned to ride the last several days with us. It was bittersweet saying goodbye to such a pleasant person. We lost our geographer.

On the rest day, I had planned to work on my website and post these days up online but discovered that the water during the night we stayed at the Jigger Johnson Campgrounds up on the White Mountains had damaged my SD card reader. When I put my SD card into it, it corrupted the card. I ended up spending several hours recovering the photos. It wasn't until a few weeks after finishing the ride that I put those photos and wrote these posts online. It also left me with the knowledge that you need to be careful with SD card readers when travelling. You can have strong SD cards and water-proof cameras, but a silly connection can ruin everything. The rest day, however, was still a great day and well-deserved. I remember fondly of a previous BTUS4MS member buying us dinner and Alex getting slightly drunk. We got ice cream late at night and Reed vomited a little from drinking. We played Coup, the card game I brought, for a bit before I went to sleep.