A thick layer of dew greets us each morning. Fog rises slowly to reveal a display of color that I have a hard time describing. I have never seen the Northeast in its glorious fall attire. Rusty reds, gentle golds, pale pinks billow out like fluff. It’s as if a head of broccoli had been painted by a Picasso. I have joined the stream of “leaf peepers”. In two weeks, Columbus Day weekend will be the height of this brilliant season. I’ll be heading back from the Atlantic coast by then.
The Turner home in Plymouth, Vermont is one of those bubbly, lively revolving door households where you can not help but be devoured by “family.” Its sisters and husbands and neighbors, brothers and children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews and….food, dogs and talk and everything that reminds us of how fortunate we are. Its been one of those stops.
Kelly Siemans has been my east coast connection – helping to facilitate boxes of supplies, suggestions on routes and this much needed 5 day “get myself together” stop. Her aunt Mina Turner and her husband Dick live here. I’m camped under giant Maple trees with the horses in a portable fence next to me. I met Kelly years ago when she ventured to Montana for work at the Glacier Institute.
The weather has been cool at night but hot all afternoon, intense short lived heat like a shot of hot exhaust from a passing car. Fall just may linger on, but the heat will not last much longer. Horses are in good shape, they’ll be a handful when I head out this week.
My last stretch for this year, about 300 miles left – from here to Wells, Maine then back here to Plymouth, then over to Fort Edward, New York where I’ll plant my camp for 5 months. Wait for spring to set me free once again.
I have chosen with the help of Kelly to make Wells, Maine my furthest point eastward. It is the home of Rachel Carson’s National Wildlife Refuge. Like Susan B. Anthony, Stanton and Gage this courageous woman …. Rachel Louise Carson was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose book Silent Spring and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement.
A look behind…
From Rome, New York the trail took me due east one night I spent at John Furlong’s backyard. I rode into Northfield late afternoon and met Rhea an artist with a flare for adventure…. and a host of others at the city park. Rhea found a place for us to camp at her friend Ruby’s farm, then I got passed on to another friend of a friend…. Jim Shriner who passed me on to the Clothiers farm in Corinth, New York who passed me on to Dick Manell for an over night south of Hudson Falls. There I met David and Cathy Lamando at the local diner. They invited me to over night near Granville, New York. Cathy runs a therapeutic riding program. From there I made my way across the Vermont state line and stepped into beauty beyond anything I have ever seen, there is nothing like it. Fall in Vermont…goodness who would have thought?
