Covered Bridges

Vermont – Monday, Sept. 24

Today is “state transition day” – finishing up with Vermont, and heading to……Connecticut! (This was not the original order of how I was going to visit states, but my sister and some of her family will be in Hartford this weekend for a wedding, so it’s a good opportunity to catch up with them for a visit, and some walking – haha!)

But before I leave Vermont, I still have my last donation to make, and a Covered Bridge Scavenger Hunt to go on. I had not yet sent a care package to someone in the military, and that’s something I want to do every week, so the unit I got an address for is an air force unit in Afghanistan – their requests were for green socks of all sizes (I couldn’t find those – may have to find an army supply store or something and mail another box); travel-size toiletries, especially shampoo; snacks; and puzzle books/books/dvds. I ended up getting 4 puzzle books, about 30 sample size shampoos and conditioners, body wash and lotion; trail mix, nuts and Halloween candy. The Wal-Mart I went to was one I had passed several times on the rainy night coming into town, but when I wanted to find it, was it easy to do so? No! I knew it was in town, and had to stop twice to ask directions – the GPS failed me for one of the few times so far. And then I headed south toward the Massachusetts border, and found a post office in Manchester, and took care of the customs forms and packaging up the goodies. Then Tula and I got in a couple of our few remaining Vermont miles of walking, and passed the flagship store for Orvis, and the American Fly Fishing Museum and the Orvis outlet – it was all in a pretty area on the outskirts of Manchester.

Then I was off on a scavenger hunt to find the 5 covered bridges in this local area before leaving the state. I had directions, but was following them backwards since I was going from north to south instead of vice versa. I drove through pretty countryside and small towns, and was successful in finding, and driving and walking across, all bridges. The last town before the border was Bennington, and Tula and I walked the last mile and a half, and then at 5:15 we drove out of Vermont, into Massachusetts en route to Connecticut.

I don’t know anything about Connecticut, and haven’t even looked at a map. All I know is I’ll be entering the northwest side of the state, since that’s logical from where I’m coming from, and I’m driving into a blank chapter that I’ll soon start filling up!