Date: 2018-11-10
From: VT route 100

To: Lottery Road
Miles today: 6.1
Weather: overcast clouds

First things first. Happy birthday to my son-in-law Alan! He takes such good care of my daughter and grandchildren. He¢s a blessing to our family. Woke up later than usual at our new hotel in Rutland VT. I slept like a baby! It was much needed.  My knee remains the size of a grapefruit. It¢s painful at first but once I get going it¢s ok. I did use an ace wrap on it for hiking today though. Papa Big Swig and I found a local restaurant for breakfast. It was hands down the best breakfast I¢ve had EVER! If anybody is close to Rutland VT. eat breakfast at The Bakery Annex. Wow! After breakfast we got both dogs ready for a short day¢s hike. Seylor Jo and I will start at the south end and hike northbound to the boardwalk. Papa Big Swig and Gypsy Rose will drive around and start at the boardwalk. It¢s only 900ft of boardwalk, but Gypsy will love it. Papa Big Swig will too. It was noon before I jumped on trail. Seylor and I started in a park. We went over a nice wooden bridge with lots of mountain water rushing below. I could see beautiful mountain peaks in the distance. This day is going to be great! I started paying attention to the peaceful river right beside me. I decided to pull out my phone for a photo. That¢s when I noticed two missed calls from Papa Big Swig and 3 text messages.  I had left it set on silent. Uh oh!  I was only a mile in but had to turn around. Last night we saw 7 or 8 car accidents on our way back to the hotel. The snow hit hard and it seems folks have forgotten how to drive in it. We actually used our 4WD in places. Anyway, something happened to the bridge that leads to my pick-up location. I pray nobody was injured. There was a way around it, but that created a two hour drive. I was only hiking two miles or about an hour...mission aborted. It is what it is.  This day is so gorgeous I couldn¢t let it end with a 1 mile NERO. I decided to start back where I left off and put a few more miles in. I chose to northbound it. Papa Big Swig dropped Seylor and I off, then he took the SUV for winterizing and an oil change.The trail started out muddy. The trail ended muddy. I¢ve heard stories about ¢Vermud¢ but I didn¢t really experience it until today. Nonetheless I love Vermont! Friendly folks live here, the trail UPs and DOWN¢s are nice, and I still have views!  I wish I could end my story there, but nope. I¢m a bit embarrassed to tell the rest of this adventure, but it has to be told. Here goes nothing...So I drank a LOT of coffee this morning. Then I had an iced coffee on my way to the trail. After two water crossings with water rushing into my boots, I could wait no longer. Nature was calling.  This is truly the only time I wish I were a boy out here. Sometimes I laugh at myself looking for just the right tree to squat beside. It¢s like I¢m a dog. Seylor will sniff one, nope, sniff another, nope, sniff another and Ok, she¢ll pee there.  Anyway, today I had no time to sniff trees or I was going to pee my pants. I just set my poles down, pulled off my jacket and went about my business. I was on a slight slope. I normally wouldn¢t do that either. I began to teeter a little so I grabbed a small tree behind me to steady myself. THE TREE BROKE! Can you believe that?!?  Down went the tree. Down I went. Bare butt in the dirt! There wasn¢t a soul around to see it happen, but I felt so embarrassed! Ugh!! I stood up, brushed myself off, and pulled my now wet pants back up. Thank GOD I only have 0.9 miles to go. Until Next Time Blue Raccoon (2018) Where¢s your faith?