September 2, 2009
It was a beautiful day in Vermont! We woke up to fog covering the trees and hills. After breakfast, we headed out to Thetford, a small town about 10 miles from here where Bill used to live. He saw a house that he used to live in. Another road that he wanted to take was blocked by a concrete barrier. Then we went to Hanover, NH, parked the truck and walked around. By then it was sunny, but pleasant. Not too hot and the sun did not have anywhere near the intensity it has in Klamath Falls.
After lunch, we went back to the Welcome Center in town and back to the food coop.
Then it was off to Quechee Gorge, with a stop on the way at the Cabot Cheese Store. We got to sample several kinds of yummy cheese. They had some cheese that was encrusted with various flavors. Butter, too, though we didn't have a chance to sample that. Still, it seems like it would be easy enough to make. When I get a kitchen again I will have to try it. I saw a book put out by King Arthur Flour about whole grain baking and I was reminded again how much I am looking forward to settling down for awhile and having a chance to cook and bake again. Quechee Gorge hasn't changed much in the 28 years since I saw it last—at least not that I noticed. I still got slightly dizzy looking down at the bottom.
We walked down a path through the woods to get to the visitor's center. It was quite lovely—trees, shade, squirrels—and pretty quiet.
Tomorrow morning we head out for Burlington. We will check out a campground in town and see about staying there for the next several days, since the weather is supposed to be good. No rain in the forecast until late next week. I think it will be somewhat frustrating to have to wait over the holiday weekend before trying to find a place to live. We have no idea how long that will take. I hope it doesn't take too terribly long for several reasons. First off, though the campground is open until mid-October (ready to take those foliage-watchers), it will presumably be getting somewhat cold at night. We could deal with that if we had to. But it is also the case that it takes lots of effort to live in a tent and we have things we need to do, so it would be easier to not have to expend energy unnecessarily. And, there is the fact that we are looking forward to being settled for at least a little while. I am sure that in the spring I will feel my usual restlessness. But I am always a winter hibernation kind of person and I am getting into that mode. And I want to be able to cook and bake and that kind of thing, as I said earlier. But this isn't really something that we have control over, so we will just do what we need to do and deal with whatever comes. We have had lots of practice doing that.
The truck has been nice and quiet since last Friday, when we brought it to American Tire and Automotive on Route 22 in Green Brook, NJ. They were great. We had an 8 a.m. appointment and they took it in right on time. They had a clean, comfortable waiting room with really good coffee. They came out and told Bill that it was his U-joint that was the problem. And the front shocks needed to be replaced. Neither of these things was a surprise, since he had done some research on the web. What was a surprise was the price. One of the things Bill was able to do was to get an estimate for that area. We thought it would cost between $750 and $1000, and hoped it wouldn't go higher. It was $500. And Bill had found a coupon on their website, but couldn't print it out, so he asked them if he could use it anyway. They got one for him and took $20 off of the price. I took home some cards and recommended them to my aunt, cousin, and cousin's daughter. They also gave me some coupon books to hand out, so I did that as well. We were really pleased with the way it all turned out.
The adventure continues!
