2k!

Monday, June 12. Burlington, VT to Rouse's Point, NY. The rain had stopped, the sun was threatening to shine, the growlers of beer were empty, Kurt and Holly had to go to work--seems like we have to leave Burlington today. But not before noon. Both Kurt and Holly have home-based offices, so in between their work and conference calls, we said our goodbyes and thanks, and headed off for a days ride along Lake Champlain.

There are a lot of bicycle routes around the lake--we chose to ride through the Lake Champlain Islands in Vermont, and end the day crossing the lake back into New York at Rouse's Point.

The first part of the day was overcast and cool--the sun finally poked through the clouds around 3:00pm. Right before we got to the first of the Lake Islands, though, we stopped to celebrate our 2,000-mile milestone. Time-wise, we're about 8 weeks into a 24-week trip. Mile-wise, we originally planned for about 6,800 miles, but without the New England states, the trip will probably be closer to 6,300 miles. It's still just a numbers game, though. The trip is all about the roads we'll travel, the places we'll see, and the people we'll meet.

Once onto the islands, we cycled through South Hero and Grand Isle, and stopped for a sandwich in North Hero. At that point we were about 20 miles from Rouse's Point, and the riding had been great. Lightly traveled roads with a bike lane or shoulder. We'd been off our bikes for 2 days, though, and pretty much every muscle I had thought that we were done. Parts that I thought no longer had nerve endings were now clamoring for breaks, so I was hopping off my bike at every opportunity. Gotta turn the map over? Well, let's be safe and pull off the road while you re-arrange the map. Look! Is that a Visitor's Center? Let's check out their lodging listings. Bio-break, ice cream, photo-op--I brake for them all.

So we finally topped the bridge that would take us into Rouse's Point around 6pm, and were at the Log Cabin Inn shortly after. The Inn is right on the lake, so the view and the breeze is wonderful. We're just a couple of miles from the Canadian border--we'll head toward Montreal tomorrow.

Tonight, we had dinner at a local place--Angelo's--and watched the sun go down over the lake. Since we're so far north, the sun doesn't set until after 8:30pm, and doesn't get dark until well after nine. The sun will be up at 5:00am--which means that it will be up well before I wake up tomorrow.

Once we get into Canada, we'll find the Route Verte bicycle path that will take us into Montreal. There's a KOA campground just south of Montreal where we'll probably stay. I'm looking forward to camping in Canada, and visiting Montreal. We might stay ane extra day to see more of the city, and then continue our route next to the St. Lawrence Seaway until we cross back into the US near Alexandra Bay

Back at the Inn, the local TV feed is from Canada--it's hockey night tonight!