Day 35-Appreciation Day and Subarus

Day 35 Saturday, June 12, 2010 Distance 62.18 km. Time 3 hr. 23 min. Distance so far 2459.92 km. Elevation climb 1805 ft. It wasn't raining in the morning so we both had showers in the mini mall washroom and packed up. Just as we were ready to go, it started raining so we moved Silver and Blackie up to the gazebo floor. That's when I noticed...you guessed it... a flat front tire on Silver. She just isn't watching very carefully where she's going, I guess. It was a little piece of metal. It must have leaked slowly during the night because it was fine when we came here last night. I'm getting pretty fast at changing flats. Since there was no lightning or thunder, we decided to ride in the drizzle. That means not many photos though. The wide Connecticut River was running along the highway today. Katie came up from behind me. She is from this area, which has a lot of cyclists, and she does triathlons and was out for a training loop ride. She has a 4 month old named William and her husband is a doctor. In the past she has cycle toured from Washington to Maine and has led several high school cycle tours. She says Dartmouth College is just over the river in Hanover, New Hampshire. She said most folks that live here in Norwich and Fairlee work at the college or the hospital. When we came to the grocery store in Fairlee, it was appreciation day and there were free hotdogs, chips and pop. While we munched away, we talked to Bill and Marjie. They used to bicycle tour in their younger days. Marjie is 80 now. They live in Massachusetts but have a 100 year old family place on a small lake here and come for the summer. After that snack, we didn't have to buy anything. On we went and I keep noticing that Vermont is drowning in Subarus. We have seen several big dealerships and many, many Subarus on the road. Alas they are too fast for me to capture on film. When we came to Newbury, there was a crowd in front of the grocery store as well as a monster truck, a racing car and a bagpiper. It was customer appreciation day here also but they also had hamburgers, cake and wine and cheese tasting. While we partook of all the goodies we had a long talk with Wally and Jennifer. Wally bicycles to work everyday and is into racing and would like to tour someday. He had lots of questions. Before we left I photographed a Vermont state trooper. We made it to Wells River Motel that Jennifer suggested. We are drying out yet again and did a load of laundry at the laundromat. Tomorrow morning, weather permitting, we will cross into Woodsville, New Hampshire.