Saturday, Oct 5th
Left the hotel at 8:10, just 10 minutes behind schedule. There were two tour buses in the hotel who were all trying to get breakfast and check out at the same time as us. We got our breakfast and ate it in the room and got out close to on time.
Outside of the city, the horizon was rimmed with low clouds and we drove into the rolling hills driving in and out of banks of fog and mist as we drove through the low lying clouds.
The air was chilly, just 38 degrees. On the first cold day of the year, the van always reads a low tire pressure. We stopped so that the Jedi could check the tires and put air in as needed. A fifteen minute delay, but nothing that should derail the days plans.
We drove over the Erie canal at least three times. Each time there was mist swirling off the surface of the water and all three times I just missed getting a picture of it.
I've discovered the easiest way to communicate with Sweetling during road trips is to text her. She sits in the very back of the van with headphones on and her attention is on whatever she is working on. The Young Chef sits in the middle, often asleep. Trying to get Sweetling's attention either verbally or visually is not often successful, so I text her. The Jedi comments, "Do you remember when you laughed at me when I told you we email each other in the office?"
We drove over the Hudson River and found ourselves off the main highway on all these county roads and state routes. The Jedi said, "This is feeling less like a cross country road trip and more like a drive to a BBQ contest." I, of course, went back to my past time of trying to snap photographs out the window of a moving vehicle. Sweetling spotted Ribbon Candy Lane, which she said was pretty much the antithesis of the long standing winner of weird street names, Bucket of Blood Road, spotted on our drive through the American Southwest.
Our first big landmark of the trip was Mt Equinox in the Green Mountains of Vermont. It was a private toll road to access it. We paid the $35 dollar toll and drove up. The weather was beautiful, clear and sunny. The trees have begun to display their brilliant fall colors and the air was so clear we could see mountain ranges in the distance from both New York and New Hampshire. Young Chef took photos and explored. I delighted in all the grasshoppers. I started a Skype call to Mama, but then Sweetling asked if she could show Grandma around and took the phone and disappeared. I went and found the Jedi and just appreciated the view with him.
On the way back down, Eswin asked, "What's that smell?" at about the same time the Jedi made a worried comment. It turns out that the burning smell was our brakes. The road up and down the mountain was narrow and steep with numerous hairpin turns and traffic going both up and down the mountain. The Jedi was trying to use the transmission as much as possible to slow our decent, but the road was so steep the engine was reving too high and the turns were so tight he had to use the brakes a lot to bring our speed down to go around those blind corners without hitting on coming traffic on one side or trees on the other side.
There was no place to stop or pull over for the first half mile down the mountain. By the time we got to a parking area for a scenic lookout, the brakes were *smoking* and very "spongy" when in use. We sat there for a while to let them cool down completely. The Jedi tested them, and they seemed to have recovered at least enough to try the next bit down the mountain. We limped our way down the next three and a half miles of road, pulling off at every opportunity to rest and let the brakes cool. The Jedi teased the transmission between gears, trying to use the engine to keep us in check as much as he dared. I prayed silently, reciting what lines of Psalm 121 I knew. It was a scary, scary drive down
We had concerned friends waiting for us in Vermont and the Jedi talked to them about the brakes. He also called a friend from Tae Kwon Do, saying, "I know who I'm going to ask...Mr. I-Have-A-Hydrolic-Lift-In-My-Garage." It was determined that as long as the brakes were fully functional now, we should be ok....but we might want to take it easy on them and when we get back to Cincy, perhaps have the brake line flushed (or something to that effect).
We skipped the second mountain we had been considering for the day, and on the advice of concerned Vermont friends, went to the Vermont Country Store. That was a great place. We spent a small chunk of money, and I slightly regret not spending a bit more. There were a couple types of Vermont cheddar cheese that did not come home with us and a bottle of maple syrup that I wish we would have picked up. Still, we picked up several nice souvenirs and ate maple ice cream. yum.
We didn't get to our friends house till close to 6:30 instead of our hoped for 4:30. Both the extended journey down the mountain, the phone calls about the brakes, and the shopping excursion really added up. and yes, I know I just said "both" about three things, but I'm typing on my tablet, and its not nearly as user friendly as one would think. Going back and changing things is a pain.
At our friends house, we enjoyed a delicious salmon dinner. It was the only time I've ever had salmon where the skin was almost the best part of the meal! We visited, and chatted until past old people bedtimes. And then we snuggled down under wool batted blankets. Bliss.
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