Kowabunga

I left Jill and Toms house today around 7:00am only to notice that I had broken one of my rear spokes.  I do not have to tools to fix that, nor could I have the right tools to do it properly, so I had to go to a bike repair shop.  The closest one is in Middlebury, Vermont.  My maps were leading me there, but It was still about 30 miles way.  It would have only been about 20 miles away but the ferry was flooded and no one believes about bridges around here, so I had to ride 17 miles north to go to the next ferry.  Although they were half way through building a bridge up there, come on.  Really?  They even had bridges this big in the 1800s, what the hell New York / Vermont.  Get it together.

Riding in Vermont was just as beautiful as NY.  Not much difference in landscape, but everything is flooded.  I took pictures of this one road that they had to raise 3 feet, and then make a break wall just to keep the water from washing it away again.  The winds in my face the whole way, but only at about 10 mph.  My legs were having the hardest time though.  For some reason I couldn't ride like I was in the mountains.  My legs weren't having it.  Even with my wobbly warped wheel on the back, I should have been able to do these 30+ miles easy, but I guess I have just worked my legs too hard.

Not too far away from Middlebury, my legs were sore, I was exhausted, and I couldn't ride anymore.  My friend Luigi, a friend I met through a friend, told me about couchsurfing.net.  It is a lot like warmshowers.org, but it is for anybody who is traveling and needs a place to crash.  I signed up, made a profile and sent a few people a request to crash on their couch.  There isn't any camping for a while outside of town so If I could get a college kid who had a place for me to crash, that would be idealistic. 

Middlebury is a beautiful town with a very beautiful college campus.  The town was originally a white marble mining town so every building is made out of this flawless white marble.  Churches, admin buildings, the library, science building, cafeterias, statues, everything is this pearly white.  Truly remarkable.  When I got to town I found the outdoors store / bike repair shop.  One of the owners was working there and had her one year old Golden Retriever puppy in the shop.  The Golden's name was Georgia, and was a typical, happy, loving, friendly, playful, pretty Golden Retriever.  She loved to play and I loved to play with her.  The owner got a kick out of me and her dog and made me feel at home in her store. 

While walking around I got a message back from one of the people from couchsurfing.net  His name is Thom, and he just graduated.  He had just couch surfed across Europe so he was more than welcome to have me crash at his apartment.  It was also raining out so to get a place to stay dry is more than generous.  We got some food and checked out the local brewery.  Otter Creek Brewery was the name, and the brewer used to brew at dogfish head.  Really tasty beer and great prices.  Try them next time you are in the east coast.

Side note: Before this trip I truly believed that the majority of people were corrupt and wouldn't help out a sole.  I have to admit I have acted that way in the past, but I always try to be helpful to people, even if I can't help them directly.  Since I started just under two weeks ago my mind has almost changed entirely.  There are so many cool people out there willing to help out a stranger in need.  Maybe it is because outside of a big city there isn't as much crime and people just trust one another.  It is really specially and I am eternally grateful to everyone that has helped me out here on my own.  Without the hospitality of the people I have met, I would not be having a good time.  I would be more shut in, unwilling to trust people, and completely withdrawn.