Serendipity

Day 62: Rouse's Point, NY to So. Burlington, VT--53 miles

We woke up a little tired from our long ride the day before, but were anxious to get on the road. We're getting so close to the end of the ride! After a nice breakfast at the Old Tyme Cafe, we headed across the bridge into Vermont.

Our ride in Vermont was really fabulous. We crossed over Lake Champlain onto the islands that are in the middle of the lake. It's a lovely trip south over North Hero Island, the Grand Isle, and South Hero Island. What fun! We saw some fantastic houses and the little towns were so charming. Yet another place we need to return to...

We had a little trouble finding lunch in South Hero, but managed to find a grilled chicken sandwich and then headed over the causeway into the main part of Vermont. We hadn't totally planned our route in this part of Vermont because I was trying to reach my friend Cindy Elcan to see if she lived close enough to visit. The problem was--I didn't have her phone number!

We stopped at Chimney Corner and found a phone book, and it turned out that the Elcans live only about 10 miles away! And they were available, so we decided to stop there for the night. We headed toward So. Burlington, and as we were climbing a big hill, we saw a cyclist coming the other way. We waved as we usually do and kept grinding up that hill. The next thing I knew, this guy was behind me. He said "I met you in Montana. I'm Garth, and we were riding west." It was they guys from Wheels for Change! Garth had finished his ride about 3 weeks ago, and was already back home. How fun that he saw us on the road! We stopped and chatted for awhile, and he offered us a place to stay for the night. But we already had plans...

We found Cindy and Amanda Elcan as planned and they led us to their house. Amanda is getting ready to go to college at WVU, so I was excited to hear about her plans for Freshman year. Their place is just gorgeous--right on the river with a beautiful lot and a nice garden that Randy is growing. The Elcans, with about 2 hours notice, were the hosts with the most! Cindy set us up with showers and laundry, and when Randy got home from work, he brought GOOD BEER! Ha! So we had some beers and then David and Randy went to get some fresh corn on the cob from the local market. They came back with much more beer and some wine for dinner! Oh, my. We put quite a dent in that while Randy cooked up some awesome steaks.

We had a fantastic meal and some fun conversation, and I even got to play the piano while Amanda sang! It was almost like being at home again. Randy then put a fun bonfire together and we chatted out there until almost midnight. Then reality set in and we all decided we should go to bed because they both had to work the next morning!

So off we went to bed in the downstairs--a lot of room to ourselves and a great night with friends! Thanks so much to the Elcans for their wonderful hospitality! I'm glad we were able to connect with such luck!