It was a bit emotional as we left Rochester on sunny Monday morning May 15th. Not having a job, house or exact plan of what your going to be doing can be a bit jarring but hugely exciting at the same time. The van hit the highway around 10:30am and we were off! Cruising east on 90 was a bit surreal as cars passed us and we were able to look right over them (sitting in the van your about 8’ off the ground). Our first stop and the first time that we ate in the van was a Thruway rest stop just east of Syracuse which I’m sure many of you have stopped at many times. This time for us was a bit different though as we parked amongst the 18-wheelers, which made our van, look tiny. We had a quick sandwich lunch as we watched the truckers trying to figure out where they were going and for a few of them how many dogs was too many for the size truck that they were in
After our short lunch we were off again. We got off the Thruway at Utica and took secondary highways from there. From Utica we went through the southern part of Adirondack Park winding our way through little towns and villages. This really made the trip come alive as now we were both saying to ourselves “Can you really believe that this will be our lives for a while?” From they’re however the weather started to not cooperate as much. Off and on strong winds made the van tricky to handle (the steep and rough roads of the eastern Adirondack’s didn’t help much either).
The storms finally subsided as we crossed over the border into Vermont. To us you could feel an immediate difference between NY and VT. Maybe it was just the storm clearing but VT seemed lush and green, as NY was grey and dingy. There were small farmers fields, farmers markets, general stores and the road even had a slight red color to it. Everything seemed more vibrant. As we pushed past the western side of Burlington we could finally see lake Champlain from the Vermont side and it was beautiful. The bright green fields of VT with the Adirondack Mountains of NY in the background: it was an awesome sight to see.
Our campsite for a few days was located on Grand Isle which is the most southern island of the Champlain islands in Vermont. We stayed at the Champlain Adult Campground, which is on the eastern shore about halfway up the island right next to the small ferry terminal that takes cars and trucks across the lake to Plattsburgh, NY. On our arrival we were greeted by JC (Jean-Claude) who we later found out had immigrated to Vermont from France 30+ year’s prior. We had a beautiful site overlooking lake Champlain with the small car ferry going back and forth every half hour or so. As we made dinner the weather fully cleared up giving us a gorgeous sunset and the perfect way to end day one of our trip of a lifetime.
Props on opening the sparking wine properly. It’s a lost art, and you sir, have mastered it!
Now where is your saber?