Walking in the rain.....

6:49 am - Thursday - September 27th - Burlington, VT - 53º F, 82% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the south......partly cloudy with a forecast high of 65º F.  We roll our wheels in 3 hours!

Thursday sunrise after two days of rain

Wednesday's rain was due to begin around 12 pm.  We had just spent pretty much all of Tuesday inside due to rain, so we decided to take a walk while it was still dry, and throw in a stop at the local ACE Hardware store to buy some more silicone caulk.  I used most of what I had left in the repair of the artificial turf a few weeks ago, and one never knows when one will need it again, right?  Better to be prepared rather than react at the time and then wish you had planned ahead.....

......we began or walk going east along North Avenue to Institute and then south towards the bike path.  The walk down Institute took us by the local high school, and then through North Beach Campground, a county facility.  Pretty soon we were walking down the hill to North Beach itself......

.....as expected, the lake looked more like the ocean on this storm tossed day....

 North Beach

......in spite of the conditions it was not cold.....probably in the 70's at the time of the above pictures.  We continued west along the bike path back to Leddy Park and then turned north back toward North Avenue where the ACE Hardware store is located.....

......the rain came early, but just as we were approaching the entrance of ACE.  I quickly found the silicone caulking I needed, and bought two tubes.  As we exited the store it began to rain with more intensity.  Thankfully 'home' was only two blocks distant, and we were there within minutes removing our damp clothing and getting into something dry.  In all we covered about 3.4 miles.......within 5 minutes of our arrival home the sky opened up and the deluge began.....

.....at one point the rainfall became so intense we could not hear each other speak.  I think this video will give you an inkling of how hard it rained.  This went on for over an hour.....

.....the rain abated for about 60 minutes around 2 pm, so I ventured out to the trailer to repair the Levelor mini blinds I wrote about yesterday.  It took me about an hour to finish the job, and none too soon!  The rain returned with a vengeance for another two hours, but finally the rain broke around 5 pm, and the lake which surrounded the Newell began to recede.  We are very happy we opted to sit tight for Tuesday and Wednesday to let these storms pass through the area.  On top of the rain Wednesday it was also quite windy, so we are doubly grateful we were not driving.

Restringing the mini blinds

We watched recorded episodes of NCIS and NCIS: N.O.   Both season premiers concluded 'cliff hangers' at the end of last season.  All the good guys lived, and all the bad guys were brought to justice.

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Island Line Rail Trail........

7:08 am - Tuesday - September 25th - Burlington, VT - 51º F, 63% humidity, wind 11 mph out of the south.....heavy cloud cover with a 90% chance of rain today and Wednesday.  Forecast high is 59º F.

One of the reasons we came to Burlington was to ride the Island Line Rail Trail which runs north and south along the eastern shore of Lake Champlain.  The weather for Monday was forecast to be clear and cool, and seemed the perfect day for a long bicycle ride.  It's been a few weeks since we last rode the Carriage Road trails, or hiked, and we were itching for some good exercise.  We woke up to temps in the high 40's, but by 10:30 am it had reached 58º F, which was warm enough to begin riding.  We both bundled up and headed for the bike path......

......within a very short distance we were both glad for every single item of clothing we had donned in preparation for the ride as it was still quite chilly......

.....the initial portion of this 'rails to trails' path was in the shade and when we finally reached a sunny area we stopped to take a few pictures......

 Lots of shade initially

.......after a few miles we were approaching the beginning of the 'Causeway' portion of the trail where there would be lots of sun......

......the 'Causeway' is a part of the old railway line which crosses Lake Champlain near  Mallet's Bay to a large island........

......this portion of the trail is about 2.75 miles over water..........

.......eventually, after 2.75 miles you come to the 'CUT'.....a break in the 'Causeway' which allows boats to pass through and into the larger portion of Lake Champlain.  On the weekends a ferry is available to take you across the 'CUT' to the island.  At this point we had covered 8.25 miles.....time to turn around......

 The 'CUT'

   
......heading back you can see the arc of the 'CAUSEWAY' as it takes you back to the mainland......

.....there is a section of the trail once you get back on the mainland, which is elevated through a swampy/marshy area for about 1/2 mile.....

....by the time we reached the turn off for the Elks Lodge it was about 12:30 pm and time for lunch.  TLE and I decided we were not done yet, and it was time to find some good brews and food.  We checked Yelp and found a place in downtown Burlington called 'American Flatbread' specializing in, what else, flatbread pizza......4.5 stars on over 870 reviews.....must be good, hmmmm?  It was an additional 2.5 miles to the restaurant, however, a navigational error on my part extended the distance by another 1.5 miles.  Nevertheless, we finally reached the restaurant by 1:30 pm....I spent the entire meal apologizing to TLE for making her ride the extra distance.

First up was to choose our brews courtesy of 'Zero Gravity Brewing Company', which is also housed inside 'American Flatbread'.  I chose their 'Black Cat Porter (5% ABV), and TLE their 'Jaguar Shark', a pale ale coming in at 5.6% ABV...... 

The brews

.....for our entree we ordered their 'Pepperoni/Pepper large pizza adding black olives and mushrooms.......

 The amazing Pepperone/Pepper pizza!

 Zero Gravity Brewing

......by the time we finished lunch TLE had forgiven me for being directionally challenged.  Our ride home was at a little slower pace.....

.....we arrived back at the Elks Lodge by 2:43 pm having covered exactly 24 miles burning a total of 1,234 caloric units in the process.  Our average speed over the 24 miles was 10.2 mph.....not too bad!

After putting the bicycles away we settled in for the afternoon reading and napping.  For our evening entertainment we watched recorded episodes of 'Last Ship' and 'Better Call Saul'.  TLE was in bed before 10 pm, but I stayed up to read.

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