September 4, 2013 Shelburne --> Burlington - 14 miles or so
Ron biked over from his home in S. Burlington to my motel in Shelburne. We rode back to his house along the bike route consisting mostly of paved designated trails and interspersed with some roads. After about a 30-45 minute ride, we arrived at Ron's house and I met his wife Ellen. They have a lovely home with a beautiful view of Lake Champlain. There is an outside sitting area over which hang vines of succulent purple Concord grapes for the picking and eating. Ron showed me the little 1 room cabin down the side of the steep hill in front of their home which he built. It has windows overlooking the lake and provides a quiet and serene place to hang out.
Ron and Ellen have a very comfortable and inviting home. They live simply, yet their home is tastefully decorated with all sorts of interesting art, books and items that are expressions of their varied interests. They are actively engaged in their community and especially in helping promote and provide opportunities for those less fortunate. As I may have noted previously, Ron retired approximately 10 years ago and is the founder of Bike Recycle Vermont, a non- profit organization that rebuilds discarded and donated bikes and gives them to those in need. In just the first four years, Bike Recycle Vermont provided over 2000 bikes to low income Vermonters, and started a youth training program. Ellen formerly worked as a mediator, with an emphasis in family law. For the past several years, she has pursued her passion for learning and becoming fluent in Spanish. Ron and Ellen typically spend several months in Oaxaca, Mexico during the winter months where they are actively involved in various projects.
Ron and Ellen also have a special interest in cooking. For lunch, Ellen fixed a wonderful soup that I think was a purée of some sort of all types of veggies. I am no cooking expert, but I do love to eat and this soup was delicious. Also had goat cheese and toast on the side.
After lunch, Ron and I biked in to Burlington along another lovely paved bike trail. He took me to Local Motion, the parent company of Bike Recycle Vermont, and I got to meet some of the staff and pick up Vermont and New Hampshire bike route maps to assist in planning the next stage of my bike ride.
We then headed to the main downtown area where the street was open only to pedestrian traffic. All sorts of interesting stores and restaurants lined the street. As we were walking along pushing our bicycles, I heard someone yell, "Kim Basinger!!" I turned to find Diane Henson standing there gaping in shock, and immediately went into a kind of shock of my own. Diane has been a close friend of mine in Austin for over 20 years. Turns out she was staying about 30 miles away in Basin Harbor on a Sojourn adventure vacation and had driven up for the day to see Burlington. The three of us just shook our heads in amazement - what is the chance of just happening to run into each other at that particular spot at that exact time on this very day? As Diane put it, "If I hadn't stopped for that cappachino for 10 minutes, and then at the chocolate shop, we would not have crossed paths." Or, what about the fact that I only decided to come to Burlington a few days ago after meeting Ron and Tom on the way to Lake Placid. Diane and I decided to meet up later for dinner after Ron finished giving me the tour.
Ron and I then rode to the part of town where a lot of the non-profits and service organizations are located. There was an amazing array. For me, Burlington had an aura similar to what I felt in Eugene, Oregon last summer. A great emphasis on the environment, arts, being bike friendly, and helping those less fortunate.
We stopped briefly at the bike museum called Old Spokes Home. The collection of old bikes from the 1800's on was amazing, and demonstrated the various developments in bicycles over the years. In reality, the basic mechanics seem amazingly similar. Randy and I have often marveled at how simple, basic and durable bicycles are.
From the Old Spokes Home, we moved on to Bike Recycle Vermont and I met BRV manager, Dan Hock, and several volunteers at work fixing up bicycles. Ron gave me a tour of the facility and I learned about some other areas into which the organization has expanded. For example, they now offer some bicycles for sale on Craig's list. They also make innovative jewelry out of bike parts which is sold to raise funds to support Bike Recycle Vermont. Ron was even wearing a really cool belt that he made from a bike tire and bike parts. The obvious creativity and vision of the organization as a whole is astonishing to me. I would encourage you to check it out for yourselves at www.bikerecycle.localmotion.org.
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I left Ron and returned to town to meet Diane for dinner. We had a great time catching up on everything that has been going on since I left Austin the first of July. We decided that I would bike the 30 miles to Basin Harbor tomorrow morning and spend the day golfing, biking and hanging out with Diane before heading out Friday on the final leg to Bar Harbor.
Amazing doesn't even come close to describing this day!
Wise decision heading to New York State. See you in Bar Harbor,
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