Scenic Byways and Road Construction

This morning we were up and out relatively early (for us).  We left Gold Brook Campground at 9:00AM but made a couple of stops for supplies and fuel so it was 9:30AM before we were zipping down the highway.  Actually, we weren't really “zipping” at all.  First, we missed a turn and had to find an alternate route back to VT 100 (Scenic Byway).  VT 100 is a 2-lane highway and was in terrible shape.  It was broken and cracked and had a lot of potholes.  There was also a great deal of road construction (resurfacing and “patching”) going on.  This work was being done by many different work crews on many different sections of the highway.  It seemed like every ten minutes or so we would come upon on a flagman and one-way traffic.  It got so bad that at one point a large sign warned “PAVEMENT ENDS – MOTORCYCLES USE CAUTION”.  Why only motorcycles?  What about the rest of us?  Why is the pavement ending?  This section of highway was in such bad shape that almost all the pavement was so broken up that it was almost non-existent.  Fortunately, it was a fairly short section.

After three hours of driving we had only managed to travel 95 miles and were in Quechee, VT.  We decided to stop for the night at a KOA near Quechee Gorge State Park so we could check out the Gorge.  Plus this is a very scenic area.  The gorge is billed as “Vermont’s Grand Canyon” and is somewhat impressive but is definitely nowhere close to the Grand Canyon in size.  It is 165 feet at its deepest point and has a river running through it.  There is a one-mile trail along the rim of the gorge and I started at the midpoint and walked to one end.  There, I could walk out on the rocks to get a view up the gorge towards the bridge.  It was an easy half-mile walk down to the rocks but the return was all up hill and almost killed me.  I had to go back to the RV and take a nap, after which, ice cream was required.

Somewhere along the way I lost my lens hood again.  It’s probably lying about 30 or 40 miles back up the road where I stopped to take a picture.  This time I’m afraid it is gone for good.

Tomorrow we are going to jump on the nearby I-91 and put some miles behind us.  In looking at the map I noticed that shortly after I-91 crosses into Massachusetts it passes a wildlife management area called “Satan’s Kingdom”.  Check it out yourself if you don’t believe me.  We’ll stay on I-91 to Hartford, CT where we will take I-84 towards Scranton, PA.