Drive Report: 252 Miles / 3:54. The drive was blessedly free of heavy traffic. We sort of expected this given where we were headed - when ya pull it up on Google Maps, it just doesn’t look like there’s much out here. This was affirmed by the State of Vermont’s liberal application of “Moose Crossing” signs to the shoulder of I-89 and US-2 along the route. About time. It’s a well know moose factoid that they frequent places where people are few. The long time reader will recall that it was with much bitterness and acrimony that the mountain West and I parted ways having seen neither hide nor hair of even a single moose - let alone a flock of moosen (the plural of moose). But here comes the Vermont DOT with signs purpose built to renew my flagging hope in moosekind. Today, TODAY, I was gonna see a moose.
As the reader may have surmised, today was moving day. After three nights in Wells, ME, (where I had no difficulty finding lobster, BTW. And there weren’t even “Lobster Crossing” signs.) today we’re off to Grand Isle, VT, which sits in the middle of Lake Champlain, which sits in NW Vermont. In fact, when we look across the lake from our campsite the opposite shore is New York. Canada is 27 miles to the North on US Highway 2. We’re debating on heading up to Canada just so we can say we did. But first we’ll need some assurance that they’ll let us come back. Rumor has it that those crazy Canucks are still smarting over the US capture of Montreal in 1775. C'mon - the British invaded Washington and burned the White House for God's sake, and we still let 'em come and go as they please. So, I've asked the The Thin Blue Ride's Foreign Affairs Department to put out some feelers to their Canadian counterparts - we'll see where it goes.
Oh - and we saw two, no four, whales today...
Vermont came quickly today even though we had to backtrack along the route we took to get to Wells, ME. Basically, we went South to go West, then headed North to Vermont. In the Midwest, a lot of Interstate Highways run East and West. But where we were today, mostly North and South. So, the route we took involved backtracking for a bit in order to avoid small rural highways. Susan saw quite enough of those during the ride portion of the trip, thank you.
Yup, ya gotta love Vermont, they arranged for all the moose to cross in the next 6 miles just to make it easy for us tourists. At this point, optimism reigned.
I don't know about you, but to me this looks like prime moose habitat. There were little swampy areas all along the highway. And as an added bonus, the colors were just starting to change, making the trip even easier on the eyes.
For this shot I took a mirror image of the pic above and used it. I tell ya, I almost regret that we're about two weeks too early to enjoy the colors.
Cool old barn - apparently they're spread across the entire country.
WOW! Now there's not even six miles to wait. They're likely just around the next corner.
Well, this river was right around the next corner. And moose like water, from what I hear. (I've been researching moose habitat.) This one looks like its just a bit too rocky tho. So we decided to pull in to put "some" (this means "a tanker full") gas in The Rig and switch drivers. I wanted to be rested for when the moose showed up.
While we were at the gas station, Susan spotted these two whales cavorting across the highway. Hey - if that doesn't look like cavorting to you, have somebody explain it to ya. Anyway, when we went to investigate we met Harold. Harold is a local who gave us the story behind the whales. Apparently they're the idea of a local artist and this is the second pair. The first being up around Burlington, VT. Harold himself is an interesting guy. He came to the US from Sweden at 16 when his parents moved here. He spent 20 years in New Jersey (yes - I apologized on behalf of the US generally. He graciously accepted) then moved here and has been here since.
After checking out the whales we had lunch in The Rig, then headed over to McDonalds for dessert. Hey - all that watching for moose takes a lot of energy. I couldn't believe they sold me a cookie with a bite out of it already. When I went back to the store, they denied it. Susan looked guilty, but I didn't bring it up. Better to let her conscience work on her.
This is when I knew my moose sighting had died the death of a thousand cuts. We had been seeing road work signs all day - but never much in the way of actual work. Just like moose, Vermont was promising road work in six miles. We saw exactly NADA. JUST LIKE MOOSE! I give up.
There was this cool old barn built in 1903. It has been restored and is now used as a wedding venue. It's called the West Monitor Barn. A barn is not a moose.
Sigh - two more whales at Burlington. The reader should note that there is no moose standing next to them.
We even saw a cool old RR bridge with a spillway dam. Lotsa water - no moose.
This was our first look at Lake Champlain. The reader who looks closely will note the box like duck blind located just on the far side of the reeds. I hunted a lot of ducks in my former life, but never in a setting like this. Look at that - the water is blue instead of muddy brown.
Oh sure - 1500 feet - like I believe that. Bah!
Susan and me down at the lake shore after getting The Rig set up for our stay. Note the hazy mountains in the distance. Their elevation is probably about 1200-1300 feet. About the same elevation as Manhattan, KS.
This is a little better shot of the shore line. Very scenic.
I took this pic standing just outside the front (who am I kidding - the only) door to The Rig. We'll be taking this ferry across the lake when we start the long trip back to Manhattan from here.
With the sole exception of the State of Vermont lying about the whole moose fiasco, it was a good day. I later researched the moose population of Vermont and learned that it has crashed over the past few years due to a tick infestation. Yes - you read that right. Apparently necropsies of dead moosen have revealed that anemia is a wide spread problem. Mostly in cows and calves. Cows due to the stresses of pregnancy and a smaller frame than bulls. Calves solely because of their small frames. Regardless of size, up to 50k ticks can infest one moose. Kinda hard to blame 'em for not showing up if the ticks have killed a lot of 'em off. I guess Vermont is off the hook.
Till next time.
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