Day 33-Goodbye New York-Hello Vermont

Day 33 Thursday, June 10, 2010 Distance 65.74 km. Time 4 hrs. 1 min. Total so far 2316.39 km. Elevation climb today 5348 ft. It was very wet this morning but not raining so we ate a little bit, packed fast and were on the road after I returned for my helmet that I had hung on a tree branch. I said a prayer for safety on the busy stretch of road and the Lord answered it at the next hilltop where the road side became as wide as a lane. How nice! Shortly after we turned off 4 and went on HWY 22 and 22A which were more like back roads and not so busy. We went through Comstock where there was a big correctional facility. After that it was mostly cropland in New York and dairy farms. There were also lots of slate rock cliffs and quarries. Then all of a sudden we saw the Welcome to Vermont sign. Hooray- our 5th state. After 200 yards the road changed also and got worse. We were passed by about 50 motorcycles and then later by about 15 three wheeled cycles with two wheels in front and then later 6 side car motorcycles. In Fairhaven, we saw beautiful old homes which my son-in-law, Andy, who is redoing a 100 year old home in Wisconsin, would really like. In the country, I stopped and took a short video of a young lady, circling her horse from a rope in a pen on a big horse ranch. In West Rutland at the mall, we saw Sweet Caroline's (my daughter's name) restaurant. We also talked to Byron, who flew a small plane across the country to Washington when he was young. Now he is in the process of building a plane.We talked to various people and know that there is a big climb after Rutland and we like to do that in the mornings. We cycled to Rutland and priced some motels and they were pretty good at 45 dollars so we decided to take one and dry out all our equipment. Well, you guessed it, just as we got in the door it poured and poured. They have a little overhang outside where we dried the tent and groundsheet and have everything spread out in the room. Tomorrow looks good but more rain will follow after. Blah!