Date: 2010-05-29
From: Sutton's Place, Manchester Center, VT

To: home in Newport News, VA
Miles today: 0.0

At the Manchester Center library Take It Easy looked at the weather forecast for the upcoming wk(we have about 7 days of hiking remaining before we reach Hanover, New Hampshire, our goal). Forecast calls for temps to hover around 80 by day, 60 or warmer at night(perfect for those hateful insects to continue to feed on us), with several evenings where thunderstorms may come in. Before, during, and after dinner we discussed how we felt about continuing on, knowing that those remaining miles would not be pleasant. We took a vote, and agreed to have our 2010 hike conclude here in Manchester Center, VT. Take It Easy made dozens of phone calls to locate a VT town, any town would do, with a rental car available. Word of advice to ya'll out there: don't bother calling rental company's 1-800 phone numbers; they never have accurate info. Instead, call the local office for each rental agency. The local staff knows what is available and the details. Went to bed with this plan: catch the 7:20 a.m. bus to Bennington, VT($2 each for 25 mile ride!-- a lot cheaper than taxi!), go to Bennington Enterprise office where there is a car available. We have to drive that car down to NJ, pick up our own car, then shuttle the rental car back to Bennington, VT, then both of us jump in our own car and ride home to Newport News. Whew, driving back and forth to Bennington simply to return the rental car will be a timeconsuming pain! But, it is what it is. In the morning the bus driver dropped us off right next to the Enterpise office in Bennington,VT around 8 a.m.. Enterprise was still closed so we ate breakfast at the McDonald's across the street. We hustled over to Enterprise when we saw employees arriving; and thanks to Dana, the manager there, secured a rental car that we could drive one way to the Enterprise office in Mahwah,NJ, dropping the keys into the dropoff box, eliminating the need to drive the rental car back to Enterprise here in Bennington,VT! Best of all, it turned out that the Mahwah,NJ Enterprise was less than a mile away from where our car was parked in Mahwah! With a gas station for fill up next door! Can't beat that! Thanks, Dana! We stopped for dinner at a Famous Dave's restaurant(our 1st time to eat at one). Had good bbq sandwiches, then back to driving. "Amber Alert" signs were posted during our drive searching for abductors of a girl from Stafford, Va. We were relieved to learn later the girl was found safe in Florida after being wrestled into a van by her family when she refused to move with the family to Florida. We arrived home just before 10 p.m. so glad to take showers and sleep in our own stinging insect-free bed.We're not in the least disappointed that we didn't get to Hanover, NH this year. We want our memories of hike miles to be free of thoughts of misery, and based on the past wk of hiking, we'd surely have suffered those last miles in order to finish. Best that we end on just an itchy note, not a long-suffering, stung-up so much we couldn't sleep or enjoy our time on the trail that last wk.We met lots of nice folks(Tom Levardi offers hikers help in many ways), entered pleasant towns(Kent, Conn was wonderful), saw neat sights such as moose tracks, moose scat & porcupine scat, noticed that we didn't see any stone fences along the AT in VT, didn't see rhododendron north of Mass., and had amazing reunions with hikers such as Johnny Blackbean and Further from past hike yrs, as well as with new hike friends(our 3 ladies group).According to the news, Burlington, VT recorded a high of 91 degrees Tues.,May 25, tying a record for that date in 1946. In Montpelier, VT the temp reached 87 degrees Wed.,May 26, breaking the record set in 1978. We don't expect fair weather hiking, but the combination of heat and being continuously round-the-clock devoured by insects would've been a nightmare.As we drove out of VT, we noticed a ruffed grouse standing on the shoulder of the road watching us. The grouse turned its head, following us, as we passed by. Maybe we'll be back his way sometime. Wilderness awaits.Thank you for all of your well-wishes. May you have good luck, health, and happiness on your journey wherever it leads.Yellow Jacket and Take It Easy