Day 31 - Ticonderoga, NY to Rochester, NY - 48 miles

We met Dean and Billie at the Super 8 around 5:30 and went out to dinner with them.  First off, Dean was nice enough to drive us down to where the ferry runs in the morning so we know exactly where we have to go.  Then we went to an Italian restaurant (there wasn't much open in town on a Monday night) where we had a nice visit with the two of them before we called it an evening around 7:45PM. 

I was excited that we were going to get to sleep in this morning - I had the alarm set for 5:30 and we were both laying wide awake at 5:00AM so we decided to get up and get packed up and go out and eat the continental breakfast.  We were very disappointed in the breakfast that was served at this Super 8 - they advertise that they have the super starter breakfast but we don't call cornflakes, bagels, doughnuts, juice and coffee exactly a super starter when your going to be biking hills all day. 

Dean came down and met us and gave us a container of raspberries (thank you Dean and Billie - they were delicious).  We packed up and headed down to the ferry around 6:15AM - the ferry starts running at 7:00AM and we wanted to make sure we would be there in plenty of time.  Dean and Billie also drove down and said goodbye to us at the ferry.  Right at 7:00AM the ferry took off - the ferry charges $2.00 per bike and John jokingly asked the guy being that we had a tandem what he was charging and he said "well, how about $3.00".   At 7:15 we were off the ferry and immediately started to climb up and out of the valley (hills, hills, and more hills) and we bicycled for 20 miles and then stopped in Middlebury at Rosie's to have a good breakfast before we started biking up to Middlebury Gap.  Vermont is absolutely beautiful with rolling hills, fertile farmland, apple orchards, and flush green mountains in every direction. 

We left East Middlebury and slowly started to climb up to Ripton, on to Bread Loaf, and finally after a lot of grunting and groaning on the bike and a fair share of pushing the bike we made it up to Middlebury Gap.  All the while we were on Hwy 125 we were along the beautiful Middlebury River which is quite shallow and you can see rocks and rapids all along the way.  Overall it was a very tough climb and we are definitely beat tonight but have three more days of tough climbing through the rest of Vermont and then into New Hampshire.  It really won't level off even a little until we get to Maine and then we have been told that Maine is definitely not flat either.  Oh well, we will take one day at a time.

We ended up checking into the Pumpkin Patch B&B.  When I first called the owner said the room was $110.00 and I told him that we just didn't want to pay that much for a room and he asked how much we would pay and I said $75.00.  Well, he came back with $95.00 with breakfast and I came back with $75.00 without breakfast and he said okay. lol  We are finding that lodging is far and few between and outrageous prices so John sends me in to dicker the price. lol

After getting cleaned up we walked down the street to the local cafe and had a excellent chicken sandwich with fries and a pitcher of water and then on to the library to update our blog.

Last night at the Super 8 in Ticonderoga I was updating the blog and I kept having trouble with it saving and next thing I know I have a black screen of death and my laptop shut down and won't turn back on.  Damn, that is frustrating.  I had just done a defrag and also ran the Malwares the day before but ended up getting a virus anyway.  So I will only be updating the blog when we can get to a library so please don't panic if we haven't updated or added pictures.  It just depends on how often we can get to a library. 

We have three more days of intense hills to climb and then will be in Maine and heading for the finish line and dipping our tire in the Atlantic Ocean.  I am getting excited but the next three days are going to be tough.

We were first in line for the ferry - John and Dean are in the background discussing our route for the day!

John talking with Dean and Billie as we wait for the ferry!

View of Lake Champlain - the west side of the lake is New York and the east side is Vermont!

Dean, Billie, and John having a discussion regarding routes!

The ferry coming to pick us up to take us to Vermont!

Getting ready to load!

We met Vincent from New York on the ferry - he was taking his daughter and son to camp in Vermont!

Immediately off the ferry we started to climb!

Beautiful Vermont landscape!

Kathi standing by a War Plaque!

John reading the plaque!

Beautiful Vermont landscape!

There were numerous orchards and quite a few farms in this area!

I love the clouds in this pic!

More beautiful Vermont landscape!

Strawberry patch - now if John would just stop the bike I could go and sneak some. lol

Oh man, there are some big hills in Vermont!   It wouldn't be so bad if there wasn't one after the other!

We had to really take it easy because there were a lot of potholes and rough roads!

Vermont landscape!

Vermont landscape!

There was a bronze cougar or mountain lion on top this rock as we entered into Middlebury.  There is a beautiful collage facility here.



Midlebury College!



Downtown Middlebury - we were looking for a good restaurant and I asked two gentleman that were walking on the street if they could recommend a good restaurant.  Here they were from the Appleton, Wi area and vacationing in Middlebury.  It's a small world!

This was a beautiful butterfly on the side of the road!

Middlebury River

Middlebury River

Middlebury River

Middlebury River

About 5 miles into our climb to Middlbury Gap we stopped and got some cold drinks at the Ripton Country Store!

Middlebury River

More pictures of the Middlebury River but this time with a bridge!

As hard as the climb was today we were just in awe of the scenery!

Long and winding road!

There is some type of a retreat or private college in Bread Loaf, Vermont.  All the buildings had "Private" signs on them.  I was very curious and still wonder why the town is called "Bread Loaf"???   We loved the deck on this building!

On the right side is a sign that say's "Moose Crossing".  We did see some tracks in the wet areas but didn't get to see any moose.  The last thing we want to do is take on one of them babies with our bike!

When we were just to exhausted to bike we'd push the bike!  What a job that is with the B.O.B. completely loaded!

I am disappointed that I didn't take a close up of this sign.  It was 12% downhill grade!  Yes, we used the drum break!



The road was quite rough so we had to keep our speed down!



Weeeeeeee!

I just love listening to the river as we pedal along!

This is the Pumpkin Patch B&B in Rochester, Vermont where we are staying tonight.  Our room is the window on the right (first floor)! 
Good night all!