Vermont Tandem Tour

Last Winter, Kathie and I planned out our vacation time for this year and decided to attend the Eastern Tandem Rally that was scheduled to take place in Hanover NH. We also added a tour that was held the week before the Eastern Tandem Rally that was being run by a couple from New Jersey who are starting there own Tandem Touring Company.

The couple is Caren and Michael Bianco and has been very active in the organization that plans and conducts the Eastern Tandem Rally. The tour that we took with them started in Chester Vermont and we spent 6 days exploring Vermont. The tour stopped in Chester, Ludlow, Woodstock, and Springfield.

On Saturday we left home for Chester with a stop off in Southern New Jersey to get our tandem tuned up for the heavy touring scheduled we had planned for the fall season. After a rigorous run over the tandem Kathie and I drove up into Albany and then over to Chester. We got to Chester at about 8:00PM. and checked into the Fullerton Inn. This was a quaint inn in the center of Chester. It had a large lobby and the people that ran it were very helpful to get checked in.

The next morning I got up and took my tablet to the lobby where Wi Fi was readily accessible. While there Michael and Caren came in and gave me the package of details for the tour and communicated the important points and highlights of the tour.  Kathie and I had breakfast at the inn and then got ready for our first ride.

Our first ride was a loop that went toward Bellows Falls. Trying to get started Kathie and I took a wrong turn and had to circle around to get back on track. While doing this, a couple pulled up behind us and asked us if we were part of the tour. This turned out to be Marc and Jill who were from Miami. Soon the ride started out with a nasty “wall” that required Kathie and I to walk up. Once we got over the initial hills the rest of the ride was filled with beautiful countryside and quaint New England neighborhoods. Approaching Bellows Falls we missed a turn and ended up doing an extra 5 or 6 miles, but with the help of a few locals we found our way back and got back to the Fullerton.

That night we had a group dinner at the Free Range Restaurant. We were offered a three-course meal that proved to be far more food than Kathie or I could complete. It was a great meal nonetheless and we got to meet our new friends for the coming week.

On the second day the ride took us to Ludlow. This route took us past the Killington and Okemos Ski areas and up to Buttermilk Falls. We climbed to the top of Buttermilk Falls and then took time to hike to the falls and check paths near the falls. On the way down on the bikes there was a section of gravel road and we took our time getting down for fear of loosing control. What ended up happening was that that section of road had been “oiled” while we were on the hill. The result was that our legs and much of our tandem got covered with black grit. We finished descending and stopped at a sandwich shop where we invaded the restroom to clean our legs off and had lunch at the restaurant.

After lunch we proceeded to our accommodations for the night. The Inn at Waters Edge was a classic New England B&B run by a couple that seemed to be on top of their game. The house was a New England Continuous architecture house that was 2 or 3 buildings were connected with hallways that became a maze for anyone who had not spent much time there. We had time to wash off the bikes before storing them in the garage.

We got our showers and walked out to the lake. We then gathered to the game room where we had a nice conversation with Bruce, the husband of the couple who runs the B&B. We later had a great dinner at the Inn and then had a happy hour before we retired to the evening.

On day 3 our destination was Woodstock with a stop in Plymouth to see the Calvin Coolidge Historic Site. The Historic site was about 6 miles off the main route. It was basically the national park that was made from the village of Plymouth where Calvin grew up and where his father swore him in as president after the death of Warren G. Harding. After touring the town we biked back to the main route where we joined others riders for lunch at the Long Trail Brewing Company. After lunch we stopped at the White Raven Drum works. Contrary to the name, the Drum works was more about Flutes and Didgeridoos. The man who owned the store gave us a demo on the types of flutes and demonstrated the Didgeridoos.

A few miles later we found our way to the Shire Woodstock. We parked the bike and took our shower. Kathie and I made plans for the evening to meet with our sister-in-law (Dawn) and her boyfriend (Scott). Dawn is widowed after losing her first husband (Kathie’s youngest brother) to leukemia. We participated in a happy hour before walking to dinner at the Brick Oven Trattoria. We had a great visit and dinner then retired for the night at the Shire.

On day 4 we decided not to ride and to take in the town of Woodstock.  We went to a coffee shop called the Mon Vert Café and had breakfast. After breakfast we walked to the Marsh, Billings, Rockefeller Mansion for a tour. This was part of the National Park System. Fitting because the 3 owners of this mansion were instrumental in starting and maintaining the National Parks system in America. After touring we ran from the rain and stopped downtown to have some ice cream. After ice cream we went back to the Shire and met with others on the tour for some wine and cheese. We waited until Dawn came to take us to dinner. Dinner was at a Pizzeria back toward Ludlow and there we met up with our niece Ivy and her boy friend. After dinner Dawn took us back the Shire.

On day 5 our route took us to Springfield. We got up and grabbed breakfast at the Market Across from the Shire. We got going on the route and stopped at the Simon Pearce Gallery, which was a gallery of glass items. The gallery had an open work area where the glass creations were created. Sometime after visiting the gallery we found the Artisans Park that contained a Distillery, Shops and Harpoon Brewery where Dawn’s boyfriend Scott works.

This was a longer day that ended in a climb to the Hartness House Inn. This was an old Hotel that was used as an Inn. It had a feel of an old hotel with a large lobby. By this time Kathie and I were at various stages of a cold that we had caught. We went to the bar hand had a few soft drinks and visited with other tour members. Soon we were at dinner supplied by the touring company. After dinner we got a tour in the basement that was a series of tunnels turned into a Telescope Museum. This culminated at the reflective Telescope that was on the edge on the property.

Day 6 was the last day of our tour. Luckily for Kathie and I it was a short day, just over 13 miles. On the tour we stopped at the Jersey Girls Dairy. This was near Chester and was run by Lisa Kaiman who had very specific beliefs about how a dairy farm should be run.

Soon after visiting the Dairy Farm we found our way back to the Fullerton Inn where we found our cars, loaded the bikes in the cars and drove to Lebanon, NH where the Eastern Tandem Rally was starting. On the way to Lebanon we stopped at a Vermont Country Store. This was a tourist stop chain in New England. It was a department store and restaurant that was playing on the Vermont Vibe. We stopped for lunch then finished our trip to Lebanon. We arrived in mid-afternoon and found our lodging at the Residence Inn where we checked in and showered. On the agenda was a dinner in Hanover with most of the participants of our tour and all of the participants of the post ETR tour. This was at a restaurant named the 3 Tomatoes. We had a good meal and conversation with a new set of tandeming couples.

Included in the new group was a couple that we ride with regularly at home. Don Schneider and Jean Chen are very active in the DC Tandem community and we have done quit a few club rides with us.

After dinner we went back to our room then started to work our way to the Marriott across the way where ETR was having an Ice Cream Social. On the way we ran into about 6 to 8 couples that we knew from various segments of the Tandem community. It took us about 90 minutes to get to the Ice Cream. Luckily we got there before the Ice Cream was taken. We ate Ice Cream and further visited with our friends then worked our way back to our room for a night’s sleep.

On Saturday we got up for breakfast. The weather prediction for the day way mostly rain. Being that Kathie and I were both fighting colds we decided not to ride but drive to the lunch stop and have lunch with those there. We were not the first to decide to do this. When we got to King Author Flower for lunch the parking lot was full. It took us about 20 minutes to find a parking spot and move to the deck where lunch was being served.

We had a great lunch then walked into the King Author store to look for possible souvenirs. We found nothing but drove back to our hotel for a nap and getting ready for the banquet scheduled for that evening.

The banquet was great and culminated with a round of Contra Dancing, which is a New England form of Square Dancing with a Keyboard, Fiddle and caller.   After the banquet Kathie and I found our way to our room to get a good nights sleep before our drive to Virginia the next morning.

By time we got started on Sunday morning my cold was raging and the neither Kathie or I were feeling very good. We pushed on and were able to get home by about 7:30 that night. We unpacked the car and Kathie got ready for work the next day.