This morning we started a little later as the ride was only 42 miles. So it was nice to get the extra hour of sleep. We ate breakfast in the university cafeteria, which was great. The kids sure have it good. It sure wasn't like that when I lived in the dorm at university. Ya ya I can just hear the groans from those kinds of statements, about how it was up hill both ways to school.

I set out with Ed and his wife after breakfast and rode along with them for about 11 miles. When they stopped for a drink of water I rode on. A few miles later I came upon Robert who is a sectional rider. He is in the Australian Navy but is on assignment with the Canadian navy. As I rode up I could see that he was having trouble so I stopped. Robert had suffered a blow out in the side wall of his front tire. I stopped and within 10 minutes I had the tube changed, a boot in the tire, and the tire inflated and the wheel remounted.

It was only 34 miles down to picnic so it came up very quickly even though I was trying to take my time. It was such a beautiful day, and the road was so pretty. This section of Vermont is absolutely picture book quality. The rolling wooded hills look just like the pictures you see in the calenders. I was just having a ball on the rolling hills and twisting roads.

After lunch was a special treat. The Ben And Jerry's ice cream factory was only two miles after picnic. I rolled in and took the factory tour which included a sample of a new flavour which is only available at the factory, Choocholate, which was vanilla with dark chocolate cows in it. The two miles further down the road was the Old Cider Mill. I stopped in and had a large cider and a cider/Cinnamon donut. I like a good cider once in a while however finding good cider is not easy as most of the available commercial cider is over processed and tasteless. This cider was fresh and very tasty.

Tonight's camp is two miles out side of Stowe VT, so as it was still early I rode on into town. Stowe is a very picturesque town. The church in Stowe is the one which is used in all the Vermont promotional literature. The town has a 5 mile bike path which leads up to the Van Trapp family estate. The Van Trapp family settled here in Vermont after fleeing the Nazis. Well who hasn't seen the Sound of music. I rode up the path however it was very congested with slow moving traffic. It is pretty.

Well time to roll.

Terry