2006 Rally - Introduction to Vermont By Muriel Farrington, Pre-Rally Publicity Chair

January 3, 2006

Vermont - the Green Mountain State; the name brings visions of what it's like, even if you have never been here. The marketing gurus like to say Vermont is a "State of Mind." We Vermonsters are working busily to make your visit to National 2006 at the Champlain Valley Exposition Fairgrounds a memorable one.

And, if you want to come early, our 'MOA Board of Directors has arranged the exclusive use of the entire campground at Vermont's Lake Carmi State Park, just miles from the Canadian border, about 40 miles from the rally site. You'll be able to stay there for a small fee beginning Monday, July 17th with checkout time at 11 am Thursday, July 20th, then proceed to the 2006 Rally site in Essex Junction. There will be more details on Lake Carmi in the coming months; be assured, there will be a lot to do. We have Canadian riders who will have maps of Quebec routes and others with suggested rides through Vermont, New York and more. Ted ("Heifermeister") Hall will be running a special edition of the Puppy Dog Ride, a mostly-graded dirt, two-day ride from Massachusetts to the Canadian border, complete with a hero section or two. There will be more details on this coming as well.

The Champlain Valley Exposition Fairgrounds consists of large areas suitable for camping, a designated RV site and thousands of square feet of air-conditioned buildings for vendors and seminars, on-site food vendors. The average July temperatures are a high of 81F, low of 58F and a mean of 71F. Shuttle buses will be in operation from the fairgrounds to downtown Burlington in the evenings.

The 'MOA Hospitality Booth at the Rally will have information on places to visit, places to eat, things to see and roads to ride. But since you'll want to attend many of the planned seminars during the rally, you really do want to come early or stay late.

New England covers a relatively small area compared to much of the U.S. and Canada. You can cross Vermont east to west in about 1-1/2 hours and from north to south in about 3 hours on the inter- states (but who wants to ride them?). You can cross New Hampshire in about 2-1/2 hours, and be on the Atlantic Ocean and in Maine in another few minutes. While road surfaces in more moderate climates are smoother, we do a pretty good job of keeping up with winter damage. Dirt roads are graded after mud season and, barring torrential rains, are often as smooth as newly paved roads.

Expect to see small villages with large, well-maintained colonial homes built around central greens, usually dominated by white church spires. Often you'll find country stores with an amazing array of goods. Dan and Whit's in Norwich, Vermont has a slogan, "If we don't have it, you don't need it." If you find yourself in Norwich (in the eastern part of the state on the Connecticut River), visit Dan and Whits - and be sure to go behind the meat counter where you'll find the hardware department; go further and you are in the hunting/fishing section, followed by the pet section followed by the tools, gardening, seasonal, paint... sections... until you find yourself in "West Norwich." And then go next door to The Norwich Inn Pub. Sally Wilson, the pro- prietress, offers very good meals and a congenial atmosphere.

We'll have much more information on closer places to visit, including downtown Burlington. Home of the University of Vermont and located on the shores of Lake Champlain (we tried to make it a Great Lake), Burlington offers something for everyone. The Church Street Marketplace is loaded with wonderful little shops and places to eat, and offers many cultural activities. Shelburne Museum, located on Rte. 7 just south of Burlington, is a restored 1800's New England village. Thirty-seven buildings have been dismantled, brought in from other places and reconstructed in a 45-acre village setting. The SS Ticonderoga, the last remaining side wheeler steamship in the U.S., is on-site. You will find it is easy to spend a whole day there roaming the grounds and walking through the different areas. The Vermont Teddy Bear Company is located in the same area.

The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Burlington contains 12 exhibit buildings and is the home port of the Philadelphia II, a full-sized replica gunboat from Benedict Arnold's Revolutionary War fl eet. Another replica, a schooner named the Lois McClure, also resides at the museum along with remains of shipwrecks, prehistoric dugout canoes and numerous documents and related artifacts. The Museum has helped "write the book" on underwater archeology.

The Rock of Ages granite quarry and Museum are located in Barre (pronounced berry), Vermont, about 40 minutes from the fairgrounds. The quarry is about 600-feet deep. During the week you can watch the quarrying operation and sculptors at work. The museum has some excellent displays and computer exhibits, along with a video presentation of the company history. Besides gravestones, Barre supplies quality stone used in fine buildings in many distant places. Skilled Italian sculptors immigrated to Vermont to work the stone. You can see examples of their work along Rte. 14. A side trip east on Rte. 302 takes you by Hope Cemetery, filled with some of the fi nest examples of the sculptors' work from ornate carvings to more modern, elegant memorials to race cars and soccer balls.

Plymouth, Vermont, located in the central part of the state, is the site of President Calvin Coolidge's home. A large portion of the original village has been preserved and gives you a good idea of what life was like during President Coolidge's time; it is an effective time capsule in which you'll feel like you are there watching Silent Cal taking his oath of office.

For those with an interest in geology, two of my favorite examples of extreme geological folding are found in rock cuts along side of highways; one along the Bennington Bypass (Rte. 279) in the southwestern part of the state, and one at the South Barre exit on I-89 in the central part of the state. The Connecticut River delineates where the "coast of Africa" collided with Vermont during a prehistoric collision of the continents, pushing up the Green Mountains; New Hampshire was "left behind" attached to North America, as the continents again drift ed apart.

Hikers may want to walk parts of The Long Trail, which runs from the Canadian Border, near Jay Peak to Massachusetts, southeast of Bennington, or parts of the Appalachian Trail (the AT). Vermont rivers and streams are known for trout fishing. And ride to eat? Ben and Jerry's home is in Waterbury on Vermont's famed Rte. 100, just a nice ride from the rally for an aft ernoon tour and ice cream; The Trapp Family Lodge is in nearby Stowe, and Cabot Cheese is not far away, in Cabot Vermont.

And did I say anything about the riding? In the coming months we'll be telling you more about riding in:

• The Intervale: the rolling landscape between Lake Champlain and the Green Mountains
• The Gap Roads back and forth through the Green Mountains
• The Northeast Kingdom
• The Champlain Islands
• Quebec
• New York Ferrys and the roads in New York's Adirondacks
• 90 miles of twisties in southwestern Vermont
• An update on the Puppy Dog Ride, a mostly-dirt ride from Canada to Massachusetts
• And you'll have a chance to "Follow the Cows" (without riding through what they habitually leave behind).