Rochester, VT

So we went up up up today, and then down down down. Rochester Gap was our route from Lebanon, NH to Rochester, VT with a large, steep uphill (apparently the most difficult day of the trip) followed by a long downhill. Since I am a climber (during cycling races) today was very fun for me. It was difficult, I'd estimate grades of about 15% maybe, I'm always bad a estimating gradations. In addition to that there was a bit of rain, and on the downhill there was a ton of rain. Not only did that mean I rolled into Rochester sopping wet and cold, but I wore down my break pads, luckily they are fairly easy to replace. In Rochester there is an awesome little bike shop, with some very knowledgeable and nice mechanics, they have all sorts of cool things including a drawbridge that you can pedal up and down, and some tall bikes too (two bikes welded on top of each other). It's called Green Mountain Bicycles, a definite must see if you're in Rochester. There are a ton of other cool shops, including the bakery with free wifi with some darn good chocolate cookies that go well with cool milk. It was a good day.

The last two days I have been working on the Upper Valley Habitat for Humanity build site in Norwich, VT. We put up a second layer of plywood on the roof with an air layer underneath to keep the shingles (which will go on next). That wouldn't be too bad except the roof was at like a 60 degree angle so we had to keep putting up supports for ourselves as we reached the top of the roof, which we finally did. Since I am a bit nervous about heights this was a good way for me to get over that, which I did since it would have been slow work otherwise. Unlike some Habitat sites where volunteers seem to just be doing menial tasks while other more experience carpenters do the actual work, I felt like I was an important part of the team, at the end of the day we actually made something more than just a clean floor or smoothed dirt, it was great. We got great support from the Lebanon community, showers at the local health club, wonderful meals every day from different churches and the Lebanon Rotary, and great hosts who were super enthusiastic about us being there.

That will probably be the only posting from Vermont since tomorrow we are heading into New York, where we get to go over the state line on a ferry.

This is not Disneyland, or Hollywood. I'll give you an example: I've read that I flew up the hills and mountains of France. But you don't fly up a hill. You struggle slowly and painfully up a hill, and maybe, if you work very hard, you get to the top ahead of everybody else.
-- Lance Armstrong