108 Mile Trip to Newport, VT

On Friday, April 28th, I left from Burlington on a bus bound for St. Albans with my bike, with the intention of biking to Newport, VT. This was my first long (100+ miles), solo bike trip. Honestly, at the beginning of every piece of writing I've ever done, I feel like I'm starting one of those writing assignments you got in elementary school where you were required to write 5 complete sentences. I always wrote "it was fun" as my second sentence. I biked to Newport and back! It was fun. Let's talk about what I saw.

St. Albans to Richford on the Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail

The start of the trail is so pretty! The entire Rail Trail was so gorgeous, I would absolutely bike this thing again and again. It started with so many tree tunnels, I felt like I was in the music video for "Put Your Records On," which of course meant I started singing it. The tree tunnels eventually gave way to a large opening with a bridge, and this was where I first stopped. The views from the bridge were so lovely!

After I finished my granola bar and drank some water on the bridge, I continued biking on down the rail trail. I saw a few birds during this section, including a few blue jays, which are always a joy to see. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any pictures of them, but that's only because I'm an awful photographer. It was fun to see so many birds though! I passed a few farms and rolled through some more tree tunnels. I was surprised at how empty the trail was, but then I remembered it was a a Friday, and I was lucky enough to be taking work off. I didn't stop again until I reached Enosburg Falls.

In Enosburg Falls, I stopped at this cafe called The Flying Disc. Well, okay, it was listed as a cafe on my map, but this place actually also sells records, used video games, used movies, bike parts, stickers, earrings, etc. It was honestly one of the coolest spots I could have run accross, and I was practically giddy when I got inside. They somehow also sell delicious smoothies for $3? I got a strawberry banana smoothie for $3. I don't think I've ever paid that little for a smoothie. While I was in the store, multiple other customers stopped by, which gives me hope that everybody appreciates how cool a spot this is. I drank my smoothie while walking around browsing. I saw some interesting DVDs - including a copy of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie, an old Criterion Collection release of the Silence of the Lambs, and at least 3 different copies of Moulin Rouge. But before I started hopping around the store singing "Come What May," I found the crown jewel.

Yes, that is a copy of two Brady Bunch DVDs, but don't worry, they had the entire Brady Bunch collection. That's right, folks. This is the story, of a man named Kason, who found the entire Brady Bunch collection on DVD. Did I buy it? No! But I did have the Brady Bunch theme song stuck in my head for at least twenty minutes following my visit to Enosburg Falls, so the DVDs still worked their magic. I did end up buying a t-shirt from the Flying Disc because I truly loved it. Apparently, Enosburg Falls has some alien lore? The man behind the counter wasn't clear about what exactly it is, but that was enough for me. I bought the UFO Enosburg Falls shirt.

The Flying Disc certainly gets a 5-star review from me. I didn't know that there was a place where you could buy a $3 smoothie and a $3 DVD, but there is, and folks, its in Enosburg Falls. Afer my smoothie, I got back on my bike and continued down the rail trail.

I passed another bridge and had to stop and take a picture. I noticed at this point that I had yet to include my bike in any pictures, so I went ahead and included Margot this time. My bike is named Margot because I had a friend in high school named Margot who biked across the entire Southern US. I haven't spoken to Margot since college, but hopefully she would be honored to know that I named my bike after her. Also, Margot is just an extremely cool name.

During this section of the ride, I also saw a bunch of little fluffy cows. They were so cute! I can barely stand to look at little fluffy cows without melting, but of course I stayed and moo'd with the cows for a few minutes. The bonus of this stop was that I then had the song "Little Fluffy Clouds" by the Orb stuck in my head, but I was instead singing "Little Fluffy Cows." At this point, I was almost at the end of the rail trail!

One of the last interesting things I saw before I got to Richford (and the end of the rail trail) was this bench, offered by a local church. The sign on the side of the bench says "Come to me, all ye who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," which is Matthew 11:18. The sign was perfectly well-maintained. The bench, however, was missing its seat. It was impossible to sit on the bench. I laughed heartily at this. I wanted to sit and eat another granola bar at this point, but I guess Jesus simply wasn't there to give me rest. I had to keep biking. Luckily, Richford wasn't too far, and as soon as I saw the sign signalling the end of the rail trail, I sat down and ate a granola bar. The rest of the trip was going to be on shared roads, so I psyched myself up to experience the "thrill" of cars again and got back on my bike.

Truth be told, I expected to have more pictures from the Canadian section of this ride, but it was surprisingly boring? The fact that I rode through Canada at all though makes this a trans-national bike trip, which is how I'm going to introduce this story from now on. I had to ride on a highway for a brief time in order to make it to the border, which was the most stressful part of the ride. I passed more than one truck with a Trump flag waving out the back, and I think my deepest fear when biking is being run off the road by a conservative truck driver who hates cyclists. I don't think this is a rational fear, but it is mine. When I got to the Canadian border, the border guard was very nice, though he was confused that I was neither staying in Canada, nor did I have any other vehicle. But I was only stopped for about four minutes. This section of Canada was quite a bit hillier than I expected. I remember driving to Montreal, and the area around Montreal is remarkably flat. This area was not flat. I was on very rural roads, so I didn't have to contend with cars at all, but I did have to contend with my aching calves. The only really interesting thing I saw in Canada was a historical marker for an old school. I snapped a picture in honor of the tired historians who put it together, particularly since the road it was on gets very little traffic. Eventually, I made my way across the border again in North Troy and found myself once again under the thumb of the US healthcare system.

This section of the trip was mostly through very rural, mountainous roads, which again meant I was out of the way of cars. It also meant it was extremely hilly and on dirt, which I wasn't entirely prepared for. I did enjoy the beauty of the alpine forest though, and the change in flora was enough for me to push through. During this section I also ran into an older woman walking on these same dirt roads. She stopped me and asked if I was local. I mentioned that I wasn't, and she said that she was having some car trouble and she wondered if I could ride back to my car and give her a jump. I explained that I had ridden my bike all the way from St. Albans. She then said "wow, aren't you adventurous!" which of course made me feel great. I told her that she could use my phone, which luckily still had service, and she called a family member who came to save her. She was very grateful to me and said "I hope that someone does something kind for you in the near future." Her wish came true! Stay tuned!

Despite the rough riding in this section, the crest of every hill came with a truly remarkable view.

No picture could possibly capture what it felt like to be on the top of these mountain roads, so I've attached a screenshot from the film Only Yesterday to give you the vibes. That's right, folks. We achieved full Ghibli. I wanted to take a million pictures but I was always so disappointed that I couldn't capture what it felt like to be staring at the Northeast Kingdom. I will say that I felt a bit odd, because I knew I was standing on one of the most beautiful spots I've ever been, and yet it was such a non-traveled mountain road, I bet very few people have ever been there. And that made me think about how many infinite places there are just like this all throughout the world, and how it would be impossible to see them all. We are both blessed with the opportunity to find transcendantal beauty wherever we are, and also cursed to never be able to see all that the wonderful world has to offer. Anyway, you should listen to "One Summer's Day" from Spirited Away, which played through my head.

After riding through the mountains, I finally came down a hill and right into a view of Lake Memphremagog. I had made it to Newport! One of the first things I saw out of the forest was this absolutely hilariously big McMansion house. I mean, folks, who among us doesn't want an absolutely massive garage that may or may not bleed right into the house? It's hard to tell exactly how this building works architecturally. But look at the beautiful lake! I rode right into Newport and stopped at the Newport Natural Cafe, bought myself a hummus wrap, and checked in to the Newport Inn & Suites. That evening, I took a bath of course, but I also watched The Fate of the Furious. The only Fast & Furious film I had seen previously was 2 Fast 2 Furious, so I'm glad I'm keeping exclusively with the punned titles.