Mi Casa en Vermont has Gardens

And it is already time to leave.

I meet the parents, Ken and Dian in southern Vermont at where else? A BMX track.
Ken gets dropped off with his 1987 Peugeot mountain bike and a homemade pannier. Good times to come.

A historical glimpse into Vermont. We ride on old rail road beds turned to bike ways.
Stopping off at slate mine, manmade lakes and state parks, we meander on back country roads.
A minimums of one dirt road a day. Sleeping in while the beaver does his morning work.

"Don't know what’s worse; the wind, the cars or the road..." KCM on the afternoon ride on route 30 into Middlebury VT. He understands the touring life after that night, when we are lacking a place to lay our heads and the bend in the river just presents its self with picnic table to boot.

Our days are longer without watches, we celebrate the summer solstice.

Tear filled eyes great the house that I grew up in and that is lived in by my parents and our cat pepper.

HOME.

Rest in peace Michael Jackson.

Rain on a tin roof is still pleasing.

Since then I've yet to process my trip; I've yet to sit down and organize negatives, slides, prints, essays, journals, T-shirts, postcards and my life quickly gets strewn all over the house. To keep my mind straight and to procrastinate from organizing all that shit I tinker on many projects with multiple compadres:

Helped my sister Emily and Jamie move houses.
Build a 5 speed beach cruzer for my mom out of an sparkly blue road bike.
Refurbish an early 90's specialized stump jumper that I bought for $1 at a yard sale.
Build up a tall bike out of two Huffys named Supiria Dynamo.
Build a garden cart for my mom out of a BMX bike (also a $1 yard sale find).
Build a post and beam wood shed with ken: el jefe when it comes to wood work and liberated materials.
Refurbish a Trek 20" kids bike and sell it for $50 on craigslist, $1 yard sale finds galore!
Build paddle for the canoe.
Build a swing for a tree branch.
Rebuild a liberated Terra Tech mountain bike that had been rotting on a street sign.
Build a Vitus steel framed French road bike to ride cross country on.

Simplicity defined. Ken sees my side of things and together we are the Wright brothers.
He is the mechanic, I am the pilot.

The next person that says I've a lazy bastard for never wanting to work again in my life has no clue what work is. I am my own boss of my time and instead of "asking for time off" or making excuses like "I don't have enough time" I make time for what I want. Focused on tinkering I get to put off thinking about the past trip and focus on grease and threads instead.

He takes me into the mapping world in the Conservation Commissions efforts to save lost pond. He has stumbled upon a mapping error in regards to the Blodgett lot. Located just south of old lot 42 it is misrepresented in the digital paper that the town has on record. The elm tree at the foot of the great ledge holds its true identity but they are staying put and it is us who must go find them.

16.5 feet to a rod, we work with a map made in the woods over two days in 1908.

Steadily more and more pizzed that I am signed up to leave to Bellingham cause VT summer is just so good.

BMX ideal Ed Kelley and my folks watch Triplets of Bellville on the grass outside city hall.

While my Terra Azul was touring down south for two years, its sister was freezing locked to a handicapped sign in Burlington VT. Same year and color and with original Suntour parts, time to get saved for I am can't let beauty rust without a reason. Liberation endorsed by my parents.

Every once in a while a tie is connected from my former life. Thaddeus’s letter comes to my hands after a cat nap. Pepper wakes me and says hello while I read his brief words. He is alive and well and that is all hope.

The woods aren’t left behind ether; Emily, Jamie, Sarah and I set out for a three day hike on Vermont's long trail. Rain, hail, cold, and mud puddle great us and we see a 360 view from the top of Jay Peak. The dogs by the names of Bo Bo Beggins and Spring a Leaker provide for constant entertainment.

Locavor defined; I eat fish from the lake, eggs from the chickens and leaves from my mom’s endless gardens. Playing god can be fun when you get to eat broccoli greens and carrots.

3000 miles in 30 days to come?!...

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