Day 5 – Londonderry VT to Saratoga Springs NY

It rained in the night, but our little Black Diamond tent held up well! We packed up and began heading west again after a breakfast of scrambled eggs (we’d carefully packed them from Kroka). 

We crossed over the Green Mountains by Bromley, riding right by the parking lot to the ski area. The downhill from there brought us right by the familiar Route 7, and into Manchester. 

We took a lunch break in Arlington, and soon after that followed the Battenkill River into New York. 

We had been eyeing Saratoga Springs as a possible destination for the day, but when we heard the Grateful Dead would be playing there that night, we pedaled those 40 more miles with no (well, not too much) problem. The most agonizing hills of the day were actually in New York, which we found to be a little bit offensive, since we take pride in Vermont’s hills.

Of course we had no plan for where to set up camp, so we tried knocking on doors. Our second try found us talking to a really friendly woman who asked about the Vermont Land Trust and our trip, then offered us the guest room with its little kitchen for the night! Thank you, Karen! 

To complete the night that will certainly spoil us for awhile, we got Chinese food and pedaled our unloaded bikes to try to see some of the concert. We were given one ticket (!), and bought a second lawn ticket, then made our way through the crowd, texting our dads along the way.  

It was a great show, and we left before the end to bike back on quiet roads.