BURLINGTON, 9/21-9/22
Tuesday, September 21
US Route 7 all the way to Burlington. $2.069 Mobile gas in Pittsfield. Another large lake north of Pittsfield--the day before, Al told me what its name is but I don't remember. Pretty country, no denying it. At downtown Pittsfield, I almost missed a sharp right but no one was in that lane so I got into it without any trouble. A little bit of color in the trees--light green yellow, a little bit of yellow on one tree, brownish orange, brownish red. There was a beautiful wide large vista south of Williamstown--rolling hills with a valley between them and me, a handful of houses, very impressive.
Looking in the mirror last night, I realize why people comment on my loss of weight. My clothes, my tee shirt all hang on me, I look like a scrawny old man. I need to go back down to small tee shirts again, I guess.
Welcome to Vermont at 11:12. Bennington at 11:26, a typical New England small city, brick buildings. Route 7 north of Bennington is a freeway with no median, 2 lanes going uphill, one coming down, sometimes just one lane each way, lined with deciduous trees and pines. A couple of open areas with lots of dead trees. Mildly spectacular country with forested hills to my left, right, and ahead. Some tall ones to the left rise up behind closer ridges then fall. A mountain rises to a tiny hump then to a double hump at the top, one lower than the other, behind it a range of hills form a ridge for some distance. At Dorset, the road becomes a normal road, with businesses alongside the road. A fairly large pond or lake to my left with a narrow island; a railroad parallels the road.
Wallingford, Vermont--American flags sticking out from telephone poles, a Congregational church, a stone house, a square house with gables, ironwork, a widow's walk, square cupola and nooks sticking out, an old brick house, a ramshackle building with a tin roof and rusted cars and a porch with junk on it. A sharp spire at Clarendon, below the road to the left, a true church spire, one I haven't seen often lately for some reason.
Rutland. A mess trafficwise, 2 lanes filled with cars, some stopping everything to make left hand turns, past a solar farm, a large array of solar panels, a ramshackle building starting to fall down on itself. Quite a few unpainted old wood buildings, graying with time and exposure to the elements. More solar panels. A vanilla cone at A&W, regular ice cream, $3.30+tip to a curb service girl. More solar farms below Ferrisburgh, one quite large with 20-30 rows of panels, 20 deep. A brief stop for a tank train south of Ferrisburgh. A brief glimpse of the bottom end of Lake Champlain.
The temp hits its high of 67 at Shelburne, where there's an old wooden bridge that's blocked off. I take I-189 to I-89 to Autobahn Bodyworks, where they agree to try to do something tomorrow morning. Into Motel 6 at 3:15--across the street to the Athens Diner for iced tea and Greek chicken cream soup. Then I stay in the motel trying to catch up on things until I go to bed around 10:00.
Tuesday, September 22
Up at 7:00 to drive to Autobahn Bodyworks for them to work on the underpanel that dropped off Friday. Bought some Zingers--cream filled pastry--on the way to Autobahn. They were done by 8:45. It cost me $47, which wasn't too bad considering what could have been. It was a glowering but not threatening day. To the north was a very sharp peak (Mount Mansfield?) instead of the usual rounded mountains of southern New England.
I went to a Dunkin' Donuts for a bagel with cream cheese and a vanilla chai. Went to the Fleming Museum, where I performed in the Champlain Shakespeare Festival in the basement in 1960. Very ornate marble that I don't remember, some Buddhas, a mummy and her case, nice paintings by people I've never heard. Where we performed is now a lecture hall. The temporary parking signs for the Museum said "Authorized Paking Only."
I tried to find 10 Colchester, where I lived in 1960, down the street from the museum, but all I found was 12 Colchester next to 2 Colchester, which is a large brick building that looks like it's been there forever. So maybe I lived at 12 Colchester, which is now part of the University.
12 Colchester Avenue, Burlington
I think my room was the first window on the back end of the building
Walked around downtown, remembering nothing. Burlington is a lot hillier than I remember. Parking next to Lake Champlain was supposedly free for 2 hours but it apparently wasn't. I bought a battery for my guitar tuner. Went back to the motel for my camera only to find I had it in the car.
Since I was thirsty, I went to the Athens Diner and had a reuben that I really didn't need, helping to make this my most expensive day this far. Can't spend like this every day.
Why is it that the best views seem to be where you can't pull over and take a photo or just sit and contemplate or whatever?
For some inexplicable reason, I followed Colchester Avenue out of town instead of going back to the interstate only to find out that Colchester Avenue brought me right back to my motel a lot quicker than going back to the interstate. Back to the motel at 1:45 and dozed till 3:15.
10:30. Spent most of the rest of the time in my motel room, watching television (one of the "Night at the Museum" movies), trying in vain to get things organized and beginning to feel a bit depressed over all the unnecessary stuff I've brought and the difficulty in finding "necessary" stuff. The open mike listed for Burlington tonight is no longer happening. Tomorrow I drive to a motel near Mount Washington. I need to get organized. No loneliness yet--that will come later.