Most of our trip has been about exploring new places. Our stay in Vermont was different.
Vermont’s natural beauty is magical, no matter the time of year. October leaf season epitomizes what sightseeing is all about. Golf provides heart-grabbing moments when you get to follow the ball flight against a backdrop of green mountains. Hiking is probably the official pastime of the state. The skiing is good (not great, but good), and accessible to New Yorkers and New Englanders. The state just has a vibe, from the Ben & Jerry’s factory to aging hippie glassblowers to covered bridges.
Ginny and I started visiting Vermont long before we met each other. Then we made our own memories together – our first vacation together with our kids, plus occasional weekends for special occasions or no occasion at all.
We stayed in Manchester, in the southern part of the state (also near our next stop, back west to Lake George, NY).
I also got to scratch a 35-year-old itch. Ekwanok CC is a private club that shares a stone wall with the Equinox golf course that’s part of the same-named resort in Manchester. Equinox has been one of my favorite tracks since the early 80’s and I always looked over that wall with curiosity about what that other course would be like. This trip, I finally finagled my way onto Ekwanok (with a big assist from my old USGA pal, Jeff Hall).
Ekwanok is a classic New England course in perfect condition and worthy of its rank as the #1 course in the state. 
But when we played Equinox the following day, it was like saying hello to an old friend…a scenic friend. 
Monday, we traded our golf shoes for hiking boots and climbed a mountain – Stratton Mountain, the largest ski mountain in southern Vermont.
The climb was steep but the views at the top were worth it (yes, we started our hike in that village in the pic)!
The Stratton bear was at the peak to greet us. 
We also had two exceptional meals at local restaurants and generally ate too much and drank too much the whole time we were there. Just for old time’s sake.
As we left Vermont to go back to Lake George for a balloon festival there this weekend, we had one of those experiences that renews your faith in the goodness of people.
Interstates, U.S. highways and state highways are all okay for us to drive The Big T on. They all have bridges strong enough for our 18-ton load and overpasses high enough to go under without bumping our 12-foot-tall roof. Things get less certain when we’re on less travelled roads.
Our route from Manchester to Lake George included a long stretch on a county highway. This turned out to be fine – until we got to an old bridge with only a 10-foot clearance and a weight maximum of 10 tons. Fortunately, Ginny was driving ahead of me instead of us towing the Jeep behind the rig. She sent me an SOS when she got to the bridge, which gave me enough time to stop and make a u-turn before getting to it. Just to add more spice to this little hot sauce moment, I also was getting uncomfortably low on fuel (during our hour-and-a-half drive, we’d passed one gas station, which didn’t have diesel – did I mention that Vermont is very rural?). So we’re pulled over to the side of the road, figuring out an alternative route, when a couple pulls up behind us and asks if we need some help. We said yes and explained why. It turned out that they not only live in the area and know all the roads, the guy is a truck driver and knows all the bridge heights, weight limits and where to get diesel. They didn’t just give us directions, they insisted on leading us to the nearest town and to the nearest gas station (which I couldn’t have gotten the rig into had he not led me to the back entrance that he uses to get his truck into the place). Sometimes, all you can do is shake your head at your good luck, shake the hands of the people who are so nice to you and keep driving.
P.S. Happy Birthday to my daughter Abby!!!