Day 2: Ticonderoga NY to Burlington VT
The plan for the day was to ride 37 miles to Essex, NY and then take a ferry to Charlotte, VT. We had been warned against the standard route, mostly following Rt. 9N, due to thin shoulders and much truck traffic. The alternative was a few miles longer and involved climbing up to the town of Moriah which appeared to be a 1,000 foot gradual climb. Being big babies, we stayed on the flatter main route and never really hit much truck traffic, although the wide shoulder definitely disappeared.
After breakfast at McDonalds (where Chris had the Policeman’s special) and a side trip along Airport/Shore Road to view the massive International Paper plant, we turned north on Rt. 9 which pretty much follows Amtrak, with a few steep climbs in and out of towns like Crown Point and Westport. We passed a big sign listing the sightings of Champ, Lake Champlain’s equivalent of the Loch Ness monster. We weren’t impressed – Chessie of Chesapeake Bay fame could easily whomp Champ’s scaly green butt.
We passed the site of the first airstrip, the first sawmill and the first drive-by shooting, marveling at New York’s ability to be out in front of everything. A nice tailwind made the cycling a piece of cake.
The rain finally caught us just north of Westport, where the route veered onto Lake Shore Drive with many short, sharp rolling hills. We were thoroughly drenched but after a half hour or so the rain ended and we dried right out.
We rolled downhill into the town of Essex looking for lunch. A local advised us to avoid the overpriced, mediocre food available in Essex and to wait to eat until we reached the Brick House store in Charlotte, VT. The ferry was leaving in a few minutes, so at $3.25 per bike we steamed towards lunch. It was windy and cold on the Lake, and we retreated to the indoor cabin of the ferry and enjoyed the view and chatting with locals, who informed us that the town in VT was pronounced CharLOTTE, rather than our southern pronunciation of CHARlotte. We also learned the ferry had been running for over a hundred years, initially powered by horses walking on a turntable.
The sun came out and it actually became hot as we made the short, steep climb to the Brick House store. As part of his ongoing bike rolling weight reduction, Rick attempted to fill his tires with helium after stealing balloons from a small child. The food at the Brick House was great but the people there didn’t seem very friendly towards sweaty cyclists – no bathrooms and the water out front tasted like alka seltzer. We got the feeling that this local hangout was inundated with cyclists each summer and dreaded their return. They did take our money, though.
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Back on some beautiful roads heading out of CharLOTTE towards Burlington, our destination for the night. The roads were nice, the views were great and the houses were incredible. Due to our heavy input and no output of liquids at the Brick House, we stopped at a convenient stand of trees to recycle our Gatorade into the bushes. The politically correct gods of VT frowned on this and an enormous peal of thunder let loose and echoed thru the hills.
We slogged uphill to Spear Ave and then enjoyed some beautiful rolling hills along a golf course. A left turn at Allen Avenue was followed by a screaming downhill to the lovely Rodeway Inn on Shelbourne Avenue in S. Burlington., aka the Bates Motel. This hotel was the cheapest we found on the Internet and looked it. John hiked down to the nearby Howard Johnsons to do some laundry, while the rest were slackers after 55 miles in the saddle.
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We took a bus into downtown Burlington for dinner that evening. While waiting for the bus we marveled at the stereotypical Vermonters driving by in identical Volvo station wagons and Saab turbos. Burlington looks like a miniature Seattle, with many Goth looking kids, multi-colored hairdos and numerous coffee joints. We had a good dinner at the Plump Tomato, figured out how to use the bike racks on the front of the buses (even though we had no bikes with us) and caught the last bus back to the Bates Motel. A stop at the Mini Mart next door for snacks and newspapers and we hit the sack, once again lulled to sleep by forecasts of rain on the Weather Channel.
Today's ride: 54 miles (87 km)
Total: 109 miles (175 km)
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