The Vermont Expedition Society has developed a tradition over the last few years of having a New Year’s Day trail run first thing on New Year’s Day. Having missed the last couple of runs, I wanted to make it a point to be sure to attend this one.

The day started bright and early (well, dark and early) as Jacob and I got up at 5am to meet Peter V. at Brattleboro, VT by 8am. It was cold… like 3 below when we left in the dark. We made it to Vermont with a little time to spare so I made sure I re-filled at Dunkin’ Donuts. Peter arrived and we caravaned south into Ma.

Met up with the rest of the early morning crew and headed pff to the trail. There was a pretty good snow covering (6 or so inches), and 3 or more inch ice covering the waterways.

The going was pretty quick, even with the cold. My picture taking duties were severely limited. For some great shots, look here.

First off, yes I know I’m very late in writing this report. Funny how life gets in the way of so many things (see Ice Storm story). Anyway…

On October 23, 2008 the Vermont Expedition Society gathered in Northern Vermont on the border with Quebec to begin it’s 4-day, 335 mile trek to Massachusetts. What makes this trip special, is that over 170 miles of it are on trails.
By utilizing unmaintained town highways, or class IV roads, the club hopes to draw attention to the possibilities that these venues give to the public for recreation.

I had the pleasure this year to ride along with Jason Merrill, the Executive Chef at The Hanover Inn in New Hampshire. He offered me the co-pilots seat in his rig for the trip, with the plan for he and I to fuel saturday night with some fare we’d brought in. Due to family obligations (and Jason’s work obligations) we’d both missed the first day. We met up with the group late night on saturday. The plan was to meet them at Camp VTXS (Vermont Expedition Society), but the weather that day had put them so far behind in time that we were forced to change plans and meet them at the VTXS Flophouse a few towns over.

sorry for the pic quality… it was POURING!

We spent our time warming the place up and heating up dinner. Jason made his fantastic chili for the crew (30 quarts for 15 people!)

I busied myself with the heat, and making sure the desserts I brought were set up. The crew finally rolled in about 8:30pm. after a 15 or 16 hour day on the trail. We all ate very well thanks to Jason and hit the beds.

The next day started with Brian discovering a leak of ATF into the radiator. He and Chris T. headed off into the morning to patch it up. We made out way on to a great day of trails. And marvelled at Brian completing a radiator tear-down, a trip to Concord, NH from Woodstock, VT and back, and a radiator install in something like 4 hours. The trip alone is around 3! We made great time and arrived at our bed down right on schedule.

A good nights rest had us waking to the final day. After a coffee and food run the group was off on our way. We managed to dig up some nice challenging terrain, along with some really great views. We finished our day and the trip on the border of Massachusetts right about 5pm.

It was a great trip and I really look forward to it next year with all new towns and roads to explore.

It was raining pretty hard, and cold. The lights started flickering and my wife and I knew what was coming. luckily we had enough time to fill the tubs with water before the power went out. Every year we say we should buy a generator…

Power went out, and man did the trees come down. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that before. In the woods behind our house, it sounded like little grenades going off. You hear the tops of the trees coming off and the crash of them hitting the ground 40 or 50 feet down.

Jacob and I went out to see what was going on in town. Most of the roads were impassable because of the trees and all the power lines that had fallen. Having the truck I drive made me feel secure knowing I could get my family somewhere if I really needed to. I saw some people in smaller cars trying to navigate through… and they just couldn’t.

It seems we weren’t the only people looking for a generator either… stores had waiting lists 70 or 80 names long for deliveries of 20 generators… and of course the entrepreneurs kept springing up on the sides of the road selling generators out of uhauls for a 30% markup. My wife and son spent the time in a hotel. I stayed home to take care of the dogs and birds… thankfully the gas fireplace works when the power is out. It got chilly, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t manage. We found a generator 5 days in… and I got a lesson in home wiring as I fitted it up. It’s a nice feeling now knowing it’s there. If there’s a problem again, we can live comfortably here until power is restored again. Well, Jacob will miss watching spongebob…